A New Place to Play

I've come to realize that Portland is a city full of treasures that are just waiting to be discovered.  I don't think we'll ever experience all the the fun and exciting things the city has to offer, but we're sure having a blast trying.  The most recent gem we visited was discovered by my friend Meadowlark as she was looking for somewhere to have a play date with our kids.  It's a beautiful park called Leach Botanical Gardens that is so close to our house that I'm surprised we've hadn't discovered it before.  It's right in the city, but is so peaceful and quiet you feel you're out in the country.  Max, Evelyn, and friends Brady, Ashton and Blake had so much fun running on the trails and exploring the park.  We sat at some benches near a giant stone hearth.  It's hard to describe, but I can say it was absolutely beautiful.

The boys hanging out in the hearth

Having a blast running through the woods

Snack time!

Cottage in the woods

Brady was cracking Evelyn up!

Silly kids

We're looking forward to having more play dates there.  The kids had so much fun and I have a feeling there is much more of that place to discover!

Running in to Fall

My favorite season has arrived!!!  Today is officially the first day of autumn, but our new traditional fall kick-off is when Matt does the Warrior Dash race.  It's a hard-core 5k filled with obstacles that ends with a mud pit covered in barbed wire and jumping through fire.  Matt is a pro and loves it.  And after the race is over, there is a band and giant turkey legs for the runners to enjoy.  This was Matt's third year doing it.  Maybe I'll be joining him next year.  We'll see...

Future Warrior

Waiting for Daddy to race

My boys

The kids having a little sword fight while we were waiting for Matt to finish

Unfortunately, my camera battery died before I could get some pics of him finishing and going through the barbed wire and fire, but I did get a shot of the end result on my phone.

Finished, filthy, and exhausted

Matt is also currently training for his third marathon.  One of our other new traditions is for the kids and I to meet him at the Saturday market downtown after he finishes his long runs.  There are fountains there that the kids love to run in  and Matt enjoys sitting and relaxing with a Rogue beer when he's finished.  The summer temps stuck around for most of September, so the kids got a few extra weeks of weather warm enough to play in the water.

Matt has been running quite a bit, but at least we can all have fun with it as a family.  I can't wait to see him and Julia finish the Portland Marathon in a couple of weeks!  Pretty soon we're going to run out of space for all his medals.  He's an extraordinary guy!

Musings of a "Non-Working" Mother

Over the span of my childhood, I wanted to grow up to become (in no particular order) a doctor, veterinarian, ballerina, environmental lawyer, oceanographer, President, or movie star.  As I went into college, I decided to dive into the world of forensics.  And for the record, this was BEFORE CSI came on tv.  At first I wanted to focus on psychology, then ultimately decided on anthropology.  Never once did I ever see myself as a stay-at-home mom.  I wasn't even 100% sold on the idea of having kids.  I wanted to be self-sufficient.  My parents were adamant about my brother and I getting a good education so we could provide for ourselves, and I had no plans to do anything but that.  Even when I met the man of my dreams and knew we would have kids some day,  I still continued on to grad school with a kick-ass career on my mind.  Not working was never an option for me.

Fast forward to 2007.  I was finished with grad school, Matt was finished with nursing school and we got married and moved to Portland.  The plan was for me to put my MA to good use and find a job and Matt would work for a year or two before attending OHSU to get his degree in Nurse Anesthesiology.  But those plans didn't quite pan out.  I was having no luck on the quest for a perfect job and discovered I was pregnant with Max.  SURPRISE!  I gave up on the career hunt and decided to stay with my current employer, REI, since I had such great health insurance.  And in spite of the fact that it wasn't my dream job, it was a great company to work for and I was content there.  But after Max was born something changed.  While I was happy to be working again after my leave, I discovered I missed him terribly.  I cut back to 30 hours a week, but still no longer felt content.  My income barely covered the cost of childcare.  After several months, it became evident that to handle my workload, I needed to work 40 hours a week.  I had to make a choice: either work more, or let them hire someone who could give more time to the job.  I walked away and never looked back.

So here I am now.  A proud stay-at-home mom of two smart, healthy, beautiful kids.  I'm a little ashamed to admit I always looked down my nose on women who were "just" moms.  But as I began my journey into parenthood, I met many other moms who were smart, fashionable, active, and think for themselves.  I have yet to see a pair of mom jeans.  Nobody drives a mini van.  God help me, I'm the only one who wants a mini van (they're so practical!) and I get strange looks whenever I mention it to my mom friends.  I still get a bit self-conscious when someone asks me what I do.  But I am slowly getting over the need to inform people that I have an MA after telling them I'm a mom.  I am proud of what I do, and I know that staying home with the kids has been great for all of us.  Matt will be going back school in the next couple of years and I'll have to go back to work then, but I know I'll never regret taking this time to be at home with our kids.

What I've come to realize is this.  Being a mom is never easy.  Our choices are never easy.  I know women who went back to work full time after having kids.  Some love it, some wish they didn't have to.  I know women who walked away from great careers to stay home with their kids.  I know women who went back part-time.  We all have feelings of guilt whether its because we feel we're not at home enough or because we feel we're not contributing enough financially.  The thing is, we have to do what's best for ourselves and our families and we need to stop judging each other for the choices we make.  I don't call myself a full-time mom because ALL moms are full-time moms.  It's not easy work and we all need to be supportive of each other.  And that's my two cents for the day.

My current employers.  I can't think of any better reason to take a few years off work.

Welcome to the World, Lauren May!

Of all the fun and exciting things that happened this summer, the arrival of our niece was the best event of the season!  On August 13th, at 1:34pm, my big brother Tyler and his amazing wife Ma welcomed their perfect baby girl into the world!  Everything went smoothly and mother and baby did great!  Needless to say, I, along with all their other family and friends were overjoyed.  Lauren is beautiful, strong and just perfect!  And knowing who her parents are, I have no doubt she'll be one of the smartest girls I know.  We are hoping to go out to Denver to meet her sometime in the next couple of months.  Max and Evelyn are almost as eager to meet their cousin as I am!  I will be counting down the days until I get to hold my darling niece in my arms.  Until then, I'll have to make due with pictures and Skype. 

The first photo sent of Lauren

Darling little peanut

Lauren admiring her mommy

She has beautiful blue eyes!

This happy Grammy now has two granddaughters to spoil!

Serious face

Such a little beauty!

So welcome to the world, Lauren May.  You are a lucky girl to have such wonderful parents and so many people who love you!  Your auntie is one of them and will see you soon to shower you with kisses and hugs. 

We Love Oaks Park!

It's true.  We really do love Oaks Park.  Both kids have a blast every time we go.  For those who don't know what it is, it's a very old amusement park down by the river just outside of downtown Portland.  Every Tuesday and Wednesday morning in the summer, they have preschool time before the park opens.  Kids under the age of six get to come to the park and ride on all the kiddie rides without having to deal with the crowds or bigger kids.  Afterward, there is a story time for any kids who want it.  It's such a great thing to do for/with the little ones.  We've gone there with the grandmas, playgroups and this summer I had to chance to go with an old friend from high school, Tara, who was in town from Seattle and her daughter who is about Evelyn's age.

The kids and friends.  Evelyn didn't like that ride very much.

Big slide!

Evelyn going down the slide with our friends Blake and Cindy

Max and Grammy on the tilt-a-whirl

Evelyn and Eliza from Seattle

So cute!

Evelyn and Grammy riding the train.

Max still doesn't like the train, but loves the roller coaster.  Go figure.  BUT on our last visit with Sue, he said he wanted to ride it as we were leaving.  Unfortunately it was closed for the day, but maybe next time.  I'm sure we'll be making many more visits to Oaks Park in the future!

Summer Fun 2012

I can't believe another summer has come and gone!  Summer of 2012 was most definitely a great one for us.  This year we picked a whole lot of berries, visited with Grandmas, had some fun play dates, did the Portland Bridge Pedal, made a few trips to Oaks Park (more on that in another post), played in the sun, watched Max participate in his first race, took some more swim lessons, celebrated the arrival of Ma and Tyler's beautiful baby girl (much more on THAT later too), and wrapped things up with a quick trip to Seattle.  In short, we crammed a whole lot of fun in to a short couple of months.

Sue drove the kids and I back to Portland after our Montana trip (Matt had to come back earlier for work) and stayed with us for about a week.  We had a lovely, relaxing visit.  The kids enjoyed playing outside in the perfect weather and we even took a trip to Portland's GORGEOUS rose garden.

Sue and my little rose at the Rose Garden

Love this picture captured by sue. 

Shortly after Sue left, my mom came for a visit.  We kept pretty busy while she was here.  We had to make another trip to one of the local berry farms to pick some raspberries (mom's favorite), went to Oaks Park, and yep, played outside. 

The kids and mom (Max could barely keep his eyes open after a very busy morning)

Max has inherited the raspberry addiction that my mom and I have

Evelyn found a way to make jumping on the trampoline a bit more exciting

Matt signed up for the Mount Tabor Doggie Dash with Margie.  The old girl is getting a little thick around the middle, so he thought it would be fun to do an 8k with her, although I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it.  He also signed Max up to do the 1/2 mile kids fun run.  Max did such an amazing job and was oh so proud of his purple participation ribbon.  He has the bug now and wants to do more races with daddy.  I'm sure Matt will oblige. 

The racers

Evelyn had a fun day too.  She'll be old enough to run next year

The kids doing a little race of their own

Stretching is important before a big run

And he's off!

Almost to the finish line

So proud

Matt and Margie finishing their race.

We signed the kids up for swim lessons again.  Max had his first solo lessons and did great!  I was worried he would want me in the pool with him, but I don't think he even noticed I wasn't there.  I was in one of the other kiddie pools next to his with Evelyn, so I still got to watch him in action.  Evelyn did great as well.  Her favorite part was jumping off the edge into Matt's or my arms.  I wasn't at all surprised.  :)

Happy little swimmer

Jumping!

Concentration

Every summer, Portland has an event called the Bridge Pedal.  Portland is known for all it's bridges crossing the Willamette River to downtown.  There are 10 bridges total.  When you sign up for the Bridge Pedal, you have the option of going over all 10 (30+ miles), going over 8 bridges (16 miles, I think) or going over 6 of them (13 miles).  We did the shortest one since we didn't know how the kids would like it and since it's been quite awhile since we've ridden our bikes for more than a couple of miles.  Boy, were we glad we made that choice.  I was exhausted at the end- some of hills were pretty tough!  And I wasn't even the one pulling the kids behind me!  But we had a blast.  The scenery was fantastic, there were bands on some of the bridges, and treats were offered at the end.  We can't wait to do it again next year!

All ready to go!

Taking a quick pic on our first bridge

Beautiful Portland

Before our trip to Seattle, Matt's sister Julia came through town with some friends doing the Hood to Coast Relay.  We got to see her briefly as she ran through town, then again the next day when she and some of her teammates stopped by for breakfast before leaving town.

Max giving Julia a good luck kiss

Posing for a quick picture

Then she was off toward the coast

Our last event of the summer was a trip to Seattle over Labor Day weekend.  Matt's family goes every year for Bumbershoot, a music and art festival.  We stayed at a very cool old hotel right next to the Seattle Center (where Bumbershoot is held) so we could all come and go as we pleased.  The kids and I spent Saturday at Bumbershoot, and Sunday with my dear friend Lynn who lives in Seattle.  It was a great weekend!  AND the kids got to see Goyte.  I used to play the video for his song "Somebody I Used to Know" on Youtube and the kids for whatever reason just love it.  The started calling it the music show and would get so excited whenever his song came on the radio.  So they were pretty stoked to see him live.  Then on Sunday we got to play at a nice park with Lynn and visited the Ballard Locks so the kids could see the fish swim through the fish ladder.

Playing in the kid zone at Bumbershoot

Max with Grandpop, watching a band

Face painting!

Fun at the park

Lynn giving Max a climbing lesson

Watching fish at Ballard Locks

The kids with Lynn

And a few more random summer pictures...

Messy girl

Blueberry picking!

Max LOVES carrots from our garden

I brought the car seats in to clean the car.  The kids wanted to sit on them instead of any other chairs

Stretching with daddy

They climbed in by themselves, but couldn't quite figure out how to get out