Let's Play Catch Up - Sunday

On Sunday we took a tour of the summer homes on the island.  These homes were built around 1900 and housed the wealthly for about 8 weeks during the summer when they would come up from the city for a little break.

The first house we visited was The Elms. This house was completed in 1901 for $1.4 million for Mr. and Mrs. Edward Julius Berwind.

Alex and I in one of the trees on the property.
This was my favorite statue on the grounds.

The next house we visited was The Marble House.  This house was completed in 1892 for Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt. This house became the focal point for Mrs. Vanderbilt's political movement for women's right to vote.
Alex and I in front of our new summer home.
The Tea House on the grounds of the Marble House.  This has an amazing view of the bay behind it.  It also has one of my favorite features, a hidden tunnel from the main house to its basement for the servents to bring tea without being seen.
This is the view from the tea house.
Our awesome tour guide looking through the door of the Tea House at Marble House.

Next... Alex's Birthday

Office Nerf War

In honor of my sons love for Nerf...

Boston Photos

We really enjoyed our day downtown Boston.  We walked quite a ways along the Freedom Trail and saw some great sights.  The day started sunny and then the fog rolled in towards the end.  The kids were real troopers.

The one thing that I found amusing was the old guys standing outside of their businesses shooting the breeze.  Listening to them was a kick in the pants, especially the old Italian guys who I couldn't understand.

Some more pics...

A contrast of old and new.
Notice anything about the teapot?  We thought it was cool.
In this cemetery lies Benjamin Franklin and his parents, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, the victims of the Boston Massacre and many others.
Bell In Hand Tavern.  They claim to be the oldest in the country however their sign says 1795 and as we know from a previous post the White Horse Tavern also claims to be the oldest.  The White Horse sign says 1673... I'll let you decide.

The boy and I at the fountain in front of The Old North Church.
Statue of Paul Revere near the Old North Church.  This is were we began our walk along the Freedom Trail.
This is a memorial for the soldiers and civilians who have lost their lives in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.  Each dogtag represents a life that was lost.

From the New England Holocaust Memorial downtown Boston.  These numbers represent the lives lost in the concentration camps during WWII.  Both memorials we say were very moving sights to see.

Today we toured a couple of the old summer homes built in the early part of last century.  More on those later.

For now I say Happy Birthday to my girly Brianna who is now 12 and is currently serving the Lord in Russia with her mom and grandma.  Tomorrow is Alex's 8th birthday.

I finally found something to match Alex's hair in size...

We had a great day in Boston.  More pics tomorrow.

Eat'n Right

Today I have ate:

Three pancakes

Two pieces of bacon

Two slices of pizza

One cannoli

Three cups of coffee

1/2 a beer - still working on it

and a handful of salt and vinegar chips

Gotta love vacation!

Friday in Rhode Island

Today was supposed to be rainy so we were going to see the mansions in the area.  Well God gave us some sunshine so we headed off for Newport, RI.  What a beautiful town.

We ventured off on foot after finding one of the last remaining parking spaces in town.  It was cool to know that I was walking streets that the earliest settlers and the founders of this country walked.  There is so much history here and many of the buildings reflect that.  This town has the most pre-revolutionary war houses than any in the country due the the fact that the island has never had a major fire. 

At some point I'll post pictures of the door project my sister got me started on.

For now here are pictures from today.

Shop windows downtown Newport

Alex saving the surfer

Portlander's aren't the only weird ones with their dogs

Pell Bridge from the Aquidneck Lobster Co.

Me and the boy

The oldest tavern in North America - The White Horse

George Washington and Benjamin Franklin spoke from these steps

Pell Bridge and a the light house on Goat Island

One of the natives discarded homes

Mt. Hope Bridge this evening when the fog rolled in

My hosts with the mosts

Rhode Island - Day 1

We are here!

I'm too tired to write so here are a couple photos from the trip so far.

Alex saying good by to Vic

A walk down to the water

Alex, Natalie and Mt. Hope Bridge

Jen and Aidan

Nathaniel

Start Vacation - NOW!!!

We are off.

Got the bags packed and are setting to load the pup up for his vacation with Mo (Thanks a ton Mo!).

First stop New Jersey, then on to Rhode Island.

I hope to post daily here and on Facebook.

The Girls Are Off

My ladies are traveling right now to Russia on a short term missions trip.  They left Portland bright and early this morning and will change planes in Washington DC to get to Moscow.

You can follow their adventures here.

Kathi's mom is also on the trip so there are three generations serving the Lord together on this little adventure.

Alex and I will take off to Rhode Island on Wednesday evening and you can follow us here and on Facebook.  I hope to post many photo's of our travels together as father and son.

Mouse War

Okay it really wasn't a war.  

Tonight Alex comes running down the stairs to let me know that two of the neighbor kids just kicked a dead mouse up on our porch.  I waited a few minutes and then went to verify the mouse attack.  It was true.  Hey! NO ONE throws a dead mouse on my porch and gets away with it.

I got a piece of paper out of the recycle bin, went out to the carcass, and scooped it up with the intention of paying the kids a visit with their discarded friend.  A small hoard of them were gathered on a neighboring lawn.  Eyes widened as I approached with the stiff.  The two instigators were cool customers.  

I asked them if they wanted it back and the two looked as if they had no idea what I was talking about.  One of the girls who is a friend of my daughters pointed out one of the boys I already knew was involved.  So I tossed the mouse carcass onto the lawn next to him and said to him that I didn't want it back.

When I got back in the house I went to put the boy to bed.  After I kissed him good night he said, "Dad, when you threw the mouse at them it was really cool."  Glad I could impress my kid.

Slurpee Season

Although it is raining today Alex and I walked to 7-11 and got Slurpees.  After they tried faking me out with banana flavor in a dispenser marked as Mountain Dew I ended up with a Coke flavored one while Alex stuck with the banana.  On our walk back it poured and the thunder started.  We got a little wet but the Slurpee is always worth it.

We found that Owen also enjoys the Slurpee.

Overheard when we got home:

"Dad, we should have got mom that thing we saw."

"We ARE NOT buying mom her Mother's Day gift at 7-11"

A Sunday Hike

Today we ventured out to Forest Park in NW Portland.  For those that don't know Forest Park is the largest, forested natural area within city limits in the United States.

Walking along the Wildwood Trail.

The kids at Stone House.

The boy on the wall at Stone House.

The girl after the two mile hike.

The sound of the stream next to the trail captivates me and takes me back to the backyard of the home I grew up in in Tigard.  We went into the Audubon Society and saw a couple of captive owls they have on display.  Having Owen on the hike with us made us feel like we fit in with the Portlanders a bit more.  I would say half or more of the hikers we passed on the trail had a dog with them.

It was a good day with the family.

Mt. Tabor

Today we hung out at Mt. Tabor Park in SE Portland.

We are doing our best to spend Sunday's as a family and trying new things and seeing new places.

We're trying to find a balance between work, school, church, and other things in life that keep us busy...

Before my lady and I...

Blow our tops.

What are the odds?

I call it Boy Floating in Grass

He's a Little Runaway

Yesterday I called home to talk to the family. My daughter answered the phone and all I heard was "Alex AHHHH, bah-WAH-HAWAH, he AHHHHHHHH-AGH WAHH-AAAHHH, Owen UHN-HAAAAAAAA!!!" So like a good dad I immediately hung up and called my wife's cell phone. She filled me in on why I got hysterics. READ EXPLANATION HERE.

All I could do was laugh. I did. Unapologetically laughed while my wife told the story. He packed his bag walked out because he doesn't like spelling or math. He packed a jacket and his blanket. No food, no water, no cash, no pocket knife, no tent or sleeping bag. He's never been a boy scout so maybe I need to work on his preparation skills. What made me laugh was the image of him standing there in the backyard with his backpack looking out into the woods, the great unknown ahead of him, his trusty dog under his arm - a dog who would be gone at the first sign of a squirrel - wondering what the heck he had just committed to.

The question I have is - what possesses young kids to run away. Where do they think they will go?

Mis-heard Lyrics

This weekend we had a chance to rock on Guitar Hero - Metallica at a friends house. It was a good time. My kids love Queen, so when "Stone Cold Crazy" showed up on the play list, since Metallica covered it on Garage Days, my kids wanted to play that song. After the song played Alex said "I thought it was 'Snow Cone Crazy'." We had a good laugh.

Last night I was playing Metallica from my iTunes and he asked me to play that song. When I laughed and said "you mean 'Snow Cone Crazy'"? He said, "I thought it was 'Don't Go Crazy' before I thought it was 'Snow Cone Crazy'".

Silver Falls

The sun came out so we decided to make a break for it. We ended up at Silver Falls. It is such a beautiful place.

There is Nothing Like a Powerful Testimony

Recently I've seen a few video testimonies linked on the web that are truly facinating and powerful.  They come from Iamsecond.com.

This one is very powerful.  Former guitarist for the band Korn, Brian "Head" Welch.

God is good. Stories like this one must be told.

Got a story?

Stair Jumping

There is a new sport in the house, it is called Stair Jumping. One night this past week when I came in the door I was immediately warned by Kathi about the mess in the stairwell. The kids on the other hand were excited to show me their new activity. They had stacked all of the blankets and pillows they could get their hands on in the landing of the upper stairs. They proceeded to show me how they jump from the top of the stairs into the cushy pile at the bottom.

Brianna's big jump.

Alex's cannon ball.

As a kid I remember doing things like this. Our house in Novato, CA had a long continuous stairway that we would slide down all the time. The house in Tigard had a stairway like we have which is split in two steps. There we would climb through the railings and jump down all of the time.

This just goes to show that kids will create and invent on their own using what is available for fun.

Images of the Ideal Bike

For a few years now I thought it would be fun to build a bike.  Inspired by the coolness of Jesse James and what he does with metal at West Coast Choppers my dream to build a bike was born. Over the years I have seen many bikes, met a few builders and have attended a number of bike shows - throughout that time the image of my bike has developed.

I appreciate many styles and makes of the chopper.  Matt Hotch of SoCal (Fullerton) has a cool modern style that I like;  Zero Engineering has a junkyard cafe-racer uniqueness; Billy Lane of Choppers, Inc. has a rugged, rough-hewn style that is cool; Jesse James has raw chopper stylings that will stand the test of time.  All of these guys have influenced the bike that is in my head. 

Kevin Alsop of Big Bear Choppers has kits for bikes which would take a few of the difficult steps out of the process of building my own bike.  First, my mechanical experience is very limited, although my aptitude is high.  Second, I question the whole licensing issue in the State of Oregon and have a little research to do.  Big Bears kits come ready to assemble minus the paint and are also ready to be licensed as a motor vehicle.  Kevin comes close to my ideal with the Screamin Demon but at my age I think a softtail is probably a necessity.

Recently though I saw the bike in my head already exists.  Want to see it?  This blew me away.  All but one small feature is almost exactly how I picture my future bike.  Maybe I'll bypass all the heartache, fun, and satisfaction of building my own and just jump into the fun of riding by buying one of these.  The only thing that stands in my way is the lack of $20K in disposable funds.

Well here it is in all it's coolness and black.

Those of you paying attention are wondering what change I would make to this thing of beauty... I want spoked wheels.

For more images and information of the bike check out the link here.  Or if you're feeling generous you can order it for me ;-) as an early birthday gift.  To the fella's at South Side Kustom's - Nice Work!

For now I will stick with the nimble, quick, and fuel efficient Buell that I ride.

Duck Art

Brianna is loving her art class at St. Stephens. She loves her teacher.

One of the projects had ducks as the subject. I now have two duck pieces on my wall at work.

Priceless.

I love them.

I wish I could share them with you but my scanner hates me today.

For now picture a duck flying along a range of hills during sunset. That's it, got it? -that's one of the pictures.

Now picture a duck standing there looking at you like he knows something you don't. Got that one? That is the second picture. Sassy duck, I know he knows something.

You can always stop by the office to see them. I like lattes so bring one with you (just not from Dutch Bros. - Sip City preferably)

Show the kids some Queen...

We were doing a little Costco shopping the other night and I saw a video I thought the kids would enjoy.  I tried to suprise them but they saw it.  As part of their homeschooling we try and expose them to new and fun things.  One of my specialties is music.  Over the years they have grown to love Queen - who doesn't right?  The attempted suprise was a concert Queen did in Montreal and the video was called Queen Rocks Montreal.

So tonight we watched it start to finish and when it was done the kids went upstairs to get ready for bed.  When they came down they entertained us with these get-ups...

What can I say?  Who am I to squelch the creativity.