Holiday 2011 Activities/Update.

Santa's cruisin' Centralia, WA's Main Street!
We stopped at the McMenamin's there on way home from Kanye/Jay-Z.

I need to use this more often!! Wanted Caver to see our Christmas and New Year's Eve photos, so thought I'd post them here for all to see.

Ashe and I saw Kanye West/Jay-Z's Watch the Throne show in Tacoma on December 16, 2011. We had the best time. Ashe kept thanking me for taking him and saying it was the best time he's ever had. I don't know if that's true, but I know he really loved it. No pics from the show, but took a few during the trip to Tacoma. Dennis and Finn went up with us to hang out at Hotel Murano (amazing!!). BTW - if you are ever there, be sure to check out their yummy, delicious restaurant, Bite.

These first photos are from the Tacoma trip to Jay-Z.

Finn at the Tacoma Build-A-Bear, since he didn't get a Jay-Z concert. : )

The art at the hotel...really amazing place the Hotel Murano.

VIEW FROM OUR ROOM AT MURANO - 22ND FLOOR - Mt. Rainier..
The Tacoma Dome, where we saw the show, also, on the right.

We had a nice Christmas and New Year's. Mom's health is improving, so that's good. Dad's doing alright for now. No holiday visits to the hospital for either, so that's great!!

The four of us had our Christmas (Eve) with my mom and dad and Caver's family at my parents' house. It was just the ten of us and such a mellow, fun time. Everybody was in great moods. We kept the adult presents to a minimum (which we always SHOULD do), and the four boys had a blast. Caver made some great appetizers; I got a Honey Baked Ham...was so nice.

Caver, Sean, Tuck, Cade @ Granny's on Xmas Eve.

THE FOUR CRAZY BOYS - LEFT TO RIGHT: Tucker, Cade, Finn, Ashe.

Passing out presents.

Christmas morning we woke pretty early. Ashe and Finn looked at their presents from Santa, while we waited for Granny Elaine to arrive. Grandma Janet was in San Diego with Dennis' family. Holly was with her dad's side of the family.

When Elaine got there, we had some coffee and pastry - the boys opened their oodles of presents and were elated with everything.

Dennis worked Christmas and the next night. The boys and I headed to the Hyatt Place at Portland's Cascade Station for a two night in town vacation (I hate that staycation word!!, yet I just said it)...We just pampered ourselves and relaxed and indulged in food and shopping and swimming. Just a blast with my boys!!

New Year's was spent at home with the boys. We stopped at mom and dad's, but mostly spent it at home. Ashe, Finn, Dennis, and I. I went and picked up Cade and Tucker at a party where they were with their parents. We got home about 10 p.m. and they were up til 1 a.m.!! They spent most of Jan 1, 2012 with us and then we had some peace and quiet. Rose Bowl watching today (Jan 2nd) and that's it!!

The "poppers" (bottles that you pull the strings on) - I kept trying to get them and this is pretty good live action. ;)

Finn & Tuck Whoop it up.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

The Last Couple Months.

We have had a busy couple of months. Finn's birthday...We had a nice Halloween. I spent some time in San Francisco around my (42nd!!) birthday. We went to Andina for Thanksgiving dinner. It has been action packed and a lot of fun.

Finn had a few birthdays, including a dinner (sushi), friends, and separate family party. His actual birthday is Sept 25. Our 10th wedding anniversary was September 22nd. We ate at Red Star for our anniversary. If you haven't been there, it's much tastier than a "Tavern" as the name says. We went to The Original the next day when the boys joined us for our second night at Hotel Lucia.

We had a fun Halloween at Caver's, as usual.

Shortly after Halloween - around my birthday, I hitched along on Caver's trip to San Francisco. We stayed in Union Square at the Hyatt on Stockton.

The first picture is a view from our hotel. Our friends had this room. Poor us - we had a suite : ) with not quite as nice a view. But the suite was bee-you-tee-ful. My sister and nephews had birthday flowers and gift waiting for my arrival. It was so nice to walk into.

Rusty, Tuck, Cade...Michael & Caver @ yummy, yummy Q Restaurant.

At Barbara & Rusty's Richmond apartment after lunch at Hard Knox. It was the tastiest soul food restaurant.

SFMoMA

Union Square and flying home.

Thanksgiving at Andina Restaurant. No cooking for us!!

Seattle with Grandpa Jul 29-Aug 1, 2011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/finashe/sets/72157627212865899/show/

SLIDE SHOW OF SEATTLE PICTURES - TAKEN WITH MY IPOD TOUCH (I forgot my camera). There is a small preview of the pics in the slide show below the link for the show.

Photos of the four boys, Ashe, Finn, Cade, Tuck...

Pike Place, Seattle Center, Pacific Science Center, Restaurants & Streets in downtown Seattle.

Sunshine Daydream

Sorta fun to have some sun this weekend. People that know me know I live in Portland for a reason: I don't like the sun...necessarily. I enjoy it on weekends like this one and the one at the beginning of April. I like it when it's unseasonably warm; it comes unexpectedly; it's only a few days in a row; and/or, it's the very beginning of summer. Any other time, I am waiting for the rain to come back. I am an indoors person, and I also enjoy wearing warm clothes - jeans and boots.

This weekend was quite busy actually. The best day in the sun was yesterday, Saturday. I ran all over the place, including some visiting with my parents. Finn, Tucker, and I stayed the night at my parents' house. My dad's recently home after his accident, so the boys have wanted to stay there. Finn likes it when I stay too.

Before going to Elaine and Ole's, I drove Caver and Cade downtown to stay at The Benson Hotel. They had a date that night at the Taylor Swift concert (so cute!!), so Caver got them a hotel for the show. When we drove them down, Finn and Tucker came along. We went for a slice of pizza at Pizzicato downtown and then walked to the Waterfront. I just wanted to get in a little time in the sun. They were ecstatic to look at the half-assembled Rose Festival Carnival rides. I didn't mind them even trying to climb on them, but thought the Funtastic people would frown upon it. I could see it as a serious liability and was surprised that they didn't have more obstacles in place to deter little six year old boys! :)

Oh yeah, Finn said several funny things over the weekend. One of the funniest (and most clever) was when he said: "When I try to rhyme things with Tuck Tuck [his cousin's name], I sometimes almost say a bad word." Yep. He's right.

It was a beautiful weekend in Portland. So many people were out. Just nice.

Christmas.

Christmas at Granny & Gramps'.

(clockwise from left-Cade, Ashe, Gramps, Tucker, Finn)

I dug the car out for the first time today. It took about 1/2 hour...the irony is that it started snowing again (for the hour or so that it actually snowed today) right around 1:30, when I decided to dig. Once we tried to drive away the small new sheet of snow made it slippery. The street had a packed path, but it was slick. We got stuck a few more times right by the house, but Dennis got us out. We brought the shovel and had one hairy spot about one block from my parents' but made it there without having to dig out again.

The Ealys gave Finn a stamp set...Ashe experimented with it on Tucker's face.

My mom and dad were very, very happy to have us there. My mom in particular was going stir crazy being in that house. She doesn't mind driving in the snow and drove at the beginning of this craziness, but this was too much even for her. The boys gave her house some life...we got to have Christmas dinner together.

We opened presents. Dennis and Sean shoveled their stairs and walkway. It was a mellow, nice holiday. Again, I was just glad we could offer my parents some relief from this weather.

Merry Christmas!!

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These were taken this morning - Santa brought two Wii games and a Wall-E DVD. Santa way outdid us.

I Know a Boy, a Boy Called Party.

Finn had a birthday party today. He had a tiny one on his birthday (9/25), with his cousins. Dennis had to work that night and it was Back to School night, so we had an actual birthday party this evening. It ended up being quite festive. It was just family and Lisa's family. We have a big trip coming up in November (shhhh...) so we aren't doing much as far as big celebrations and lots of gifts. Also, we're thinking every other year for "big" parties is plenty.

Finn wanted a dinosaur cake, so Helen's (Bernhard) made him the best cake. I hate cake and I even like Helen's cakes...It was a white cake with whipped cream frosting. I asked them to put a green dino (T. Rex) on it. That's all I said...well, my goodness, this kid got a whole dinosaur world!! He was so excited for this cake, so I'm glad they made it really cool for him. I had a grand plan of making one...yeah, right.

Caver was in Napa for the weekend, so she called and Sean picked her up during the party. I was so glad she could make it. It's uncanny. Her family often misses my kids' birthday parties, because they're always during either Spring Break or Oregon football game weekends. Caver and I joke that her family just never comes to my kids' birthdays...we sorta plan on it.

It was great to see Grandma Janet and Aunt Holly. The boys hadn't seen them in awhile. Some of the party, the kids were playing video games. Later, they went out and played some football. The best part of football was Caver, Ashe, and Cade vs. Sean, Dennis and Andy. Soooo funny. Ashe and Cade insisted on playing against the three dads, but finally, it was agony to watch them...so, the big guns (Aunt Caver) went in and helped them out. Dennis kicked the ball out - Caver caught it - then Cade and Ashe just stood there. Caver yelled "Block for me, you guys!!" They were no help, those little boys!! Anyway, the game ended when Dennis got injured - he got the hugest contusion on his knee - literally the size of an egg...He is quite athletic, but always seems to be getting injuries.

I think that's his last party this year. Two and a half parties for any one person is enough...and, actually fewer than usual. All done for a couple of months anyway. Cade and Tucker have birthdays in November.