Halloween Activities

I've never actually liked the holiday of Halloween that much. I think I cared too much what people thought of my costume and the fact that I really just never ate a lot of candy. I do look forward to the fall however. I love the cooler weather, the cider donuts, and the pumpkin patches. This year, we did our usual round of pumpkin patches with the kids.

Here is Woogy at Lee Farms, just outside Portland. Love their cider donuts.

Here is Nibbles doing her favorite thing in the whole world-- ride a horse (or a"moo" as she still says). Nibbles will absolutely throw a fit if she doesn't ride one when she sees it. Maybe we should just buy our own.

Saturday night, I took Woogy out to Fantasy Trails (about 45mins south of Portland). I found it pretty charming. Wasn't too scary and it was geared towards little kids. It also doubles as a X-mas village in Dec.

On Sunday we went to Leoipold Farms (half way to Mt.Hood). I spent my Saturday there with some foster kids, and decided that my own kids would like it too. Of course, they had horses that Nibbles had to ride. 5 bucks for less than a 5 min ride. Like I said, it might be cheaper to buy our own horse.

I remember when I had to push Woogy on these tricycles. Use to hurt my back. Now he can peddle himself.

My new job and other things

Things have been kind of hectic around here with Woogy starting kindergarten, Nibbles returning to preschool and me starting a new job as a Case Manager at Albertina Kerr.
I've tried to "hit the ground running" at my new job only to find a lot of barriers that are a little frustrating. One of the problems I have is that I have no space yet. The employees that were suppose to move out, still haven't, so I've got no place to sit yet. Also, I have no computer or phone access yet, making it difficult for me to do my job. Perhaps the biggest frustration is that I haven't been cleared to start seeing kids yet because my finger prints haven't come back yet. HR says that this can take several weeks to months to be cleared Of course, I've been working with kids for 10 years now, and this is the first time I've been told that I haven't cleared to work. I guess there is nothing worse than starting a new job only to find out that they aren't ready for you yet.
From what I can tell, my new job seems more challenging. I guess this is a good thing since my job at Trillium wasn't very challenging. After a while, it seemed pointless to have a degree. Hopefully this will be a nice balance. Ironically, I already know a lot of staff over at Kerr. Most of them were former co workers or are in some way are related to someone I've worked with. Seems to be a small world.
In other news, Woogy seems to be enjoying his new school. All the schools around here have an all day kindergarten and a relatively cheap after school program. Woogy attends the after school program just a couple days a week when Wah-Wah gets home from work a little later.
My own kindergarten experience was rather traumatic since my kindergarten teacher was rather abusive (she was later fired after I left) so I think I was more anxious about Woogy starting school than he was. So far so good. He seems to be enjoying it. I guess that is all I can ask for.
I'm also a little anxious about Nibbles's starting school. Her preschool is a little far, and with my new job, it is a little difficult for me to get her there. The other option is that she takes the bus. Somehow, I just don't see Nibbles getting on a bus without me, nor do I want to traumatize her by making her. Since everyone at my job knows me, they are understanding and say that I can flex my time. Hopefully Wah-Wah and I can work something out.

Camping and other updates

Like Dust, I've jumped off the bridge. As most of everyone knows by now, I'm on Facebook. Please bare with me while I try and figure out all that Facebook offers. I must say that I was pretty surprised to see nearly everyone I know on it. Friends in Iowa, Kansas, and Oregon are all on it. Everyone I know seems to have "jumped off the bridge."
I guess I like "user friendliness" of blogger, but Facebook offers a lot more. I particularly like the music section "social tunes." What a great way to talk to others about music and rate your albums.

In other news, I turned in my two weeks at Trillium today. It was a tough decision. I usually haven't been given much of a choice on leaving a job. Either I'm told to leave or I have to relocate. I really can't understand why some people job hop so much. So in two weeks, I'll start at Albetina Kerr as a Foster Care Case Manager----wow.

Last weekend was our big camping trip with our home group from church. I guess everyone knows by now, that I'm not a big camper. In fact, my camping trip with Dash, Dust, Dar, and A Forest was my first camping trip. This last camping trip had it's ups and downs however.
First off, the camp site was a 1/4 of a mile away from the cars. I arrived late when it was dark and wandered through the woods for a while until I found it. Anyway, being far from the car made dragging the gear a real pain.
My second problem was that the site had a no camp fire sign. How can you camp without a camp fire?
For Wah-Wah's early birthday present, I brought her a inflatable kayak. Unfortunately, we didn't have a pump that would work on it (one minor mistake). Luckily, Wah-Wah found a guy with the kind of pump we needed and we were able to inflate the kayak.
Here's some pictures of our camping weekend:



This was our camp site at Oxbow Park, just 15 minutes outside of Portland. The bigger tent on the right is ours. It was suppose to be a 4 person tent, but it was awfully tight. I guess it could hold 4 really small people or 4 regular people if they slept on top of each other.
Here is a picture of the Sandy River where we camped at. I think Wah-Wah took this picture since no one else was up this early. I spent Saturday afternoon just laying and relaxing in the river. Sure it was cold, but very refreshing.
Here are some of our fellow campers playing in the river.

Here's Wah-Wah bringing in her kayak after it's maiden voyage down the river. She took Nibbles down the river about a 1/4 of a mile. Apparently Nibbles hated it and screamed the whole time. I guess the kids will sit out on our next kayak adventure. We had to carry that kayak all the way back to the campsite so others could use it. Without a pump, we couldn't deflate it to carry it. I got to go down the river finally at the end of the day.

After getting back from camping, I went to go see Neil Halstead at the Doug Fir. Neil is a great singer song writer whose warm (yet often humorous lyrics) sounded nicely in the "log cabin" atmosphere of the Doug Fir. Neil's sound was pretty stripped down to just the basics. He even played a few tunes from his band- Mojave 3.

Oaks Park

My birthday turned out to be a beautiful day in Portland. To celebrate my birthday, we took the family to Portland's only amusement park--Oaks Park, because nothing helps you remember your age better than going to an amusement park.
Anyway, Oaks Park is no Disney World or Worlds Of Fun for that matter. It is however a great deal. For $11 to $14 dollars you get a bracelet to unlimited rides. No admission price, no parking price, and you can bring whatever food you want. For under $50, we entertained a family of 4 for the afternoon.

Here's Woogy on the kiddie coaster there. It was a pretty bumpy kiddie coaster and it scared the heck out of Nibbles. Woogy, however seemed to really enjoy it and must have rode in 6 times. I was pretty impressed with some of the rides he decided to go on. Who knows, when he's older maybe he will be one of those roller coaster enthusiast who travels the country for the ultimate thrill.

Nibbles doesn't like speed or bumps, but apparently doesn't mind altitude. Here's her and Wah-Wah getting on the Ferris wheel.

Here's Woogy and Nibbles in one of those kiddie rides. I would have gone with them, but I would need the "jaws of life" to get back out.

Here's Nibbles on the Merry Go Round.

Here's Wah-Wah in the Rock-o-plane. This is like a Ferris wheel only the cage you are in spins around. Much to my surprise, the kids went on this with us. It kind of freaked them out. I should have trusted my gut and not allowed them to go.

the kids's birthdays

Another kids's birthday season is over. Having two kids birthdays that are two days apart has it's advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages being that Wah-Wah and I have to plan two parties and order two cakes. But the advantage is that at least it is over till next year.
This last weekend started with the annual Rose Festival in Portland. It's a pretty big celebration and even has a parade that rivals the Rose Parade on New Year's Day. The Rose Fest also signals the start of summer in Portland (but with temps in the 50's and 60's you wouldn't realize that it is summer). This year, 4 Navy battleships came into port. I decided to get on the Max and take Woogy down to the waterfront.


When I was a kid, I grew up in Virginia Beach VA near a naval base. I remember as a cub scout, we routinely got to take tours of ships that were in port. As a kid, I remember thinking it was pretty cool to go on board a battleship, so I wanted Woogy to have the same experience. Woogy and I got a tour of the USS Gary. Woogy was pretty excited and enjoyed climbing all the ladders. However, after an hour, Woogy got really bored.
Here's Woogy on the bridge. I guess the Navy doesn't mind having kids play with the helm.

On Sunday, we invited kids and parents over from our Tuesday night home group over for a party for the kids. Technically, it was Nibbles's party, but both kids were brought gifts. I got Woogy the new Indiana Jones Lego game for PS2. I figured he would love it since we enjoy playing the Lego Star Wars games so much. Personally, I find the puzzles on this one to be a little more challenging than the Star Wars games. We have been playing it every night so far.

We also got the kids this bouncing house that inflates in seconds. It's pretty easy to set up and the kids seem to enjoy it a lot, despite the fact that it has pushed my car out of the garage. Most of the kids that came over for the party seemed to enjoy it.

Here's the kids enjoying Nibbles birthday cake. Every year Nibbles runs out of the room crying when every one starts singing "Happy Birthday." I hope she gets over that some day.

Today, we had Woogy's party after his preschool. We invited his whole class over to a park right after school for pizza and some cake. Woogy enjoyed getting all the presents and received more gifts than he gets at Christmas. Apparently Nibbles doesn't like any one singing "Happy Birthday", because she took off crying again when we sang to Woogy.

Woogy's first Beaver's Game

Today Woogy attended his first big sporting event--his first Portland Beaver's game. The Beavers are not exactly a major league team, but they are closest to a major league team in the area (In all honesty, they played better then the KC Royals did in all the games that I saw).

Anyway, to support little league baseball, the Portland Beavers gave out discounted tickets to dozens of little league clubs in the area. Hundreds of little leaguers showed up in their uniforms at the ball park today.

I decided to take Woogy hoping he would at least be interested in watching a inning or two. I thought this would be a memorable experience for him if nothing else. So we took the Max (the train) down to PGE park in downtown Portland and waited in line for a free jersey. Afterwards, I got a very messy, but delicious chili cheese dog. I wanted to teach Woogy that the joy in going to a baseball game is the snacks.

After the game got started, Woogy began to get into the game and asked a lot of questions and began to wonder why his T-ball team never gets any outs. We took a break for a few innings by playing some carnival type games, then went back to the game. Much to my surprise, Woogy wanted to stay till the end of the game and cheered for the home team when they won. I wasn't actually expecting his interest to last that long.

After the game, all the kids got to run the bases. On the way back, Woogy said he had a great time. I guess that is all you can ask for you first baseball game.

Kansas Vacation 2008

It was great to see everyone during our Kansas vacation this year. I must say that I really miss the place. I never would have thought that our old home could be such a great vacation destination that everyone here enjoyed. Here's a recap of the last week:

Thursday 5/15
- we woke up at 4am to catch a 5:30am flight. Wah-Wah usually gets up at this time, but she was actually up earlier. I guess she was excited. Anyway, after the horrible experience last year (being stranded in Denver over night), we had no problems and arrived at KCI in the early afternoon. Uncle Lovey (that's what he is called) picked us up and took us to Aunt Kim's house. That night, the kids and Wah-Wah went to visit Wah-Wah's dad, who was in town and staying at the Holiday Inn. The kids went swimming while I went to Homers to meet with A Forrest and Dust.

Friday 5/16
I rented a Toyota Prius and drove up to Iowa to see my old college friends, Dave and Doug. I enjoyed the drive in the Prius (and the gas mileage). That night, we had a couple of beers at one of our favorite places in Des Moines- the Royal Mile. It's a old style British pub that has as much charm as it's enormous beer selection.
Wah-Wah and the kids went to her older sister's Angie's house for a family reunion of sorts. Our kids really love Angie's home in Randoul. It is in the middle of nowhere, but has over a dozen horses roaming around. Woogy and Nibbles love spending time with their cousins. Woogy got to spend the night over there.

Saturday 5/17
-Dave and I went to the Des Moines Farmer's market which is every Saturday morning. I didn't actually see a lot of fresh produce, it was more like a lot of ethnic food and crafts for sale. Every time I'm in Des Moines, I can't believe how much it has grown. When I first moved their 18 years ago, it was a dump. It is actually turning into a pretty happening place. After breakfast at the Farmer's Market, I headed back out on the rode to visit my sister in Harlen IA.



(Aunt Angie, Wah-Wah, Nibbles, Aunt Kim, and cousin Jesse)

While I was driving around Iowa, Wah-Wah and Aunt Kim decided to take all the kids to World's Of Fun on Saturday. They went after 4pm and saved a couple of bucks. The kids had a blast (or so I'm told) at Camp Snoopy.

Here's all that went : Cheyanne, Woogy, Cody, Dusty, Aunt Kim, and Jessie (Nibbles isn't looking at the camera).

While everyone else was having a great time at Worlds of Fun, I was spending a quite afternoon with my sister. It was a pleasant visit and I got to see my baby nephew. My sister talked with me a lot about our mom's deteriorating health. That was kind of a downer, so on the long drive back to KC, I listened to Rosie Thomas's When We Were Small album. The album was a perfect back drop to the summer sunset driving across Missouri. I think Rosie has one of the warmest voices in music with some very introspective lyrics. I found myself being so retrospective listening to this album, that I had to hear it twice.

Sunday 5/18

On Sunday, we got up and went to Church. Overland Park really feels like a church home to me. I like were we are now, but Overland Park is were my faith really began. I missed most of Pastor's Phil's sermon since I ended up talking with someone about my job and foster care in general. Afterwards we went to Chuck E. Cheese with A Forest and his kids.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we went to A Forest's cousin's graduation party at Shawnee Mission Park. Here is a picture of A Forest shredding it up on a kind of a skate board. I have a nice video of this, but I can't seem to download videos on my blog for some reason.

Monday 5/19
On Monday, we went to Deanna Rose Petting Zoo. I use to go to this place all the time with the kids, but I've really come to miss it. We have nothing like this in Portland. You really begin to appreciate something when you no longer have it. We ended up running into our old doctor. I didn't want to bother him, but I did go up and tell him "thank you" for taking care of our family when we lived in KC. I think he appreciated it, and told me that he quit his practice a year ago. I told him I thought he was a good doctor despite acting very bored on some of my appointments. I reminded him of the time he gave me a spinal tap because he thought I had meningitis. I asked him to pose for a picture with Nibbles since he delivered her. I thought it might be neat someday to show Nibbles a picture of the man who delivered her.

After Deanna Rose, I met up with A Forest to go see the Cure at Starlight. We picked up some dinner at my favorite restaurant in the world-- Oklahoma Joes.

Sadly, I'm down to one Z-man a year (my arteries are grateful for that). The Z-man is the best sandwich I ever had. Nothing else compares. The fries are pretty good too.

After a delicious meal at Oklahoma Joe's, A Forest and I headed to Starlight to see the Cure. The Cure is one of my "pillar" bands. Meaning, I got into them when I first started listening to music back in the 80's and they have shaped my taste in music like U2, the Smiths, and REM. Starlight is a great for a summer night concert, and it was pretty crowded for a Monday night. Shows like this are great for people watching, but the Cure's audience is getting older (like me) so I wouldn't say we saw a lot of people "gothed up." The Cure played a lot hits from their massive catalogue and few new ones from their forth coming double album. All the new tunes sounded pretty good. However, it was clear that lead singer Robert Smith wasn't feeling so well and was having pretty bad voice problems. Unlike some singers (Depeche Mode 2 years ago), Robert Smith pushed on for almost three hours. By the end of the set, he could hardly sing the chorus of his songs. I've always thought he was one of the coolest singers ever.

Tuesday 5/20

On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon at Hillsdale Lake with Aunt Kim and Uncle Lovey. Lovey has a speed boat and was kind enough to take us all out on it for some tubing. Lovey and Kim even had some wet suits that fit us. I have never been dragged across a lake at 30mph. I think I would have enjoyed it a little more if Lovey would have slowed down a little.

Here's Wah-Wah in tow. Wah-Wah impressed everyone with how long she stayed on. Nibbles got a little upset when Wah-Wah fell off. She thought we were leaving Wah-Wah stranded out in the middle of the lake.

After a afternoon at the lake, we went out to the T.Rex Cafe with Dust and Golden. T.Rex seemed like a good idea if the kids started acting up. My thanks again for Dust for rescuing Woogy when he got trapped between a wall and a table.

Weds 5/21

On Weds, we spent the day at Aunt Angie's again. Nibbles picked up some new cowgirl boots and rode a rather stubborn pony.

While Woogy and Nibbles played with their cousins, I broke my own personal record for the "most amount of time on a horse" by riding for three hours. I found that there was something romantic about being on a horse. The hero always rides horse after all. Here I am on a horse named "Easy." I rode around the pasture for a while he did nothing but eat the grass.

Woogy's first game

It seems odd that despite the steady rain, baseball season is pretty popular around Portland. A few weeks ago I decided to sign Woogy up for T-ball in a neighborhood league. He seemed more excited about playing T-ball than soccer, so I thought it was worth a try.
The kids named the team "The Cheetahs". Basically, if the kids learn the rules of baseball and have fun, that is all that matters.
I've been taking Woogy outside and teaching him how to catch and throw. He does alright and is throwing the ball in the right direction. He's actually a pretty good hitter.
Today was our first game in a long season (16 games). No really keeps score, and all the kids get up to bat. Woogy did pretty good today and scored two runs (I was counting). Even more importantly, he was able to keep focus on the game and not lose interest. We played for about an hour before it was over. That was enough for these kids. Over all, I was pretty proud of him.
I wish they had T-ball when I was growing up. I had to wait till I to wait till I was in fourth grade before I started playing. I remember I wasn't a hitter. I got up and hoped I got walked.

Here's Woogy at his first time up at bat. It was a single base hit.

Woogy at the pitcher's mount (he doesn't actually pitch). He enjoys be at the center of the action, but he really wants to player catcher because of the cool gear.

Woogy at first base. He was one of the few kids that ran when the ball was hit.

Since Wah-Wah has the flu, I took the kids to the Shriners circus tonight. This was their first circus and they both loved it.

Nibbles and school

Personally, I'm feeling a little vindicated now. As I have always said; "I know my daughter."
Ever since the beginning of this year, Woogy's preschool teachers have been asking me when I'm going to sign up Nibbles for school ? I've told them on several occasions that I don't think she's ready for preschool. She will be 3 in a few months, but she doesn't talk or is potty trained.
Week after week, Woogy's teachers have said that the sooner I get her in school, the sooner she will start talking and develop some social skills. They even said they are holding a spot for her. I can see their logic, but I said that I can't even leave her in Sunday school, much less for 4 hours in school each week.
This week, Woogy's teachers then offered me to bring her in to the 3 and 4 year olds to see how she does. I thought their was no harm in that and it would just prove my point that she isn't ready for school. This morning, I took Nibbles into the classroom. Nibbles was excited for about 2 mins, but then when the other kids came up to her, she got scared and hid behind me (this is pretty typical for her). I'm sure it was overwhelming for her too. I then tried to get her a little involved in some painting. At that point, Nibbles ran out the door and to the car saying "Home!"
I drove Nibbles back to her sitter and felt a little vindicated. Sure, Woogy's preschool teachers have background in early childhood development as I do, but I know my daughter too, and she is not ready for school. We held Woogy back a year for preschool because we just didn't feel he was ready despite his teacher wanting to put him in the older class. We insisted and things at school have turned out pretty good for Woogy at school. In hindsight, I think it was the right thing to do. I've worked in child welfare now for close to a decade and I always work on the assumption that nobody knows their kids better than the parents. Hopefully, this will be the end of the Woogy's preschool teachers pushing Nibbles into school. I want to give her another year.

Weekend adventures

After several months of cold rainy weekends, the sun and pleasant weather returned this weekend. As always, we tried to make the best of the weather and travelled up the gorge to Bridal Vail falls and then to Mt. Hood for some more sledding.

Here's Mt. Hood near the top. A lot of skiers and snowboarders around. I truely regret never having learned to snow board or ski. It looks pretty fun.

Here's Bridal Vail Falls. This is around the same area of a lot of the other waterfalls, but it's kind of hidden around a corner. It was a pretty easy hike down to the falls.
The family by the falls

Here's a little clip of me going down a pretty steep hill. It was a little rough, but I'm alright. I'm not as young as I used to be. That's Monty chasing me down the hill.

Sledding at Mt. Hood

This weekend, we took a little afternoon trip to Mt. Hood (about an hour east of Portland). We wanted to take the kids for their first sledding experience. Believe or not, in 7 years, we never went sledding in Kansas or Iowa. The conditions at Mt. Hood are perfect for winter activities. We ended up just buying a couple of sleds when we got there and found some free places to ride down. Everything was fun at first, but Wah-Wah and Nibbles had a rough landing at one point and called it quits. Woogy and I went on and did a few more and slides. Since Nibbles didn't seem to enjoy herself, I might just take just Woogy back sometime. It's a nice escape from a rainy Portland afternoon.