Thursday, March 17, 2011

Community

I love my neighborhood.  Today one of my lovely neighbors Lindsey Smith called and asked if Tommy wanted to come down to her house and play with Conner and Riley.  Of course he jumped at the chance!  Conner and Riley are twin boys who are 6 months older than Tommy.  Tommy had a blast and I was able to have some quiet time and bake (which is my go-to stress reliever).  The other nice thing about today is we did not have the television on the entire day.  Tommy played, Morgan napped and I was able to listen to my music and do tasks that I wanted to do.  It was a great day.

Two weeks ago, my friend and neighbor Heather Wolf had Tommy down to play with her sons - Owen (8) and Sawyer (6).  He had a blast that day too.  He looked at me the day after that  and said "Can I go play at Owen and Sawyer's house?"  I then had to explain that he would need to be invited again - it is hard to understand that when you are four.  But I cherish that he has those relationships with older boys who can teach him right and wrong and whose parents I trust immensely. 

I also love the fact that the kids are playing together instead of just sitting in their own houses being bored or needing their mothers to entertain them.  It is so much fun to see their imaginations run wild and even when Tommy gets home from playing with other kids, he seems to be much more willing to create play for himself. 

I grew up in a neighborhood similar to the one I live in now.  People were/are friendly and there were/are a ton of kids.  I had a girl friend who lived about 5 houses down on the street and then there were the older girls who lived 3 houses down.  I cherish all my memories of playing with my friends on my street, so I just hope I am creating the same memories for my children.

Cheers to community!

AND

Big Cheers to Heather and Lindsey for letting Tommy come play with their kiddos!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Mt. Hood

I wrote this blog two weeks ago...so sorry for the dated info, but I wanted to post it so people knew about our trip to Mt. Hood!  So here you go...

I have so much to blog about and my temptation is to write it all in a single blog, but I am going to have some self control and write about one subject at a time.

Mike was supposed to be gone on a business trip last week, Wednesday - Friday.  His boss ended up getting sick and his family was sick, so they ended up not traveling to California.  Yay for us!  I was not looking forward to Mike leaving again. 

On Tuesday morning last week I was talking with some parents at Tommy's preschool as we were waiting for the kiddos to get out of school and they had taken their kids up skiing over President's Day weekend.  I thought what a fun idea and Tommy is definitely the age I want to start him skiing since I was 4 when I started skiing.  So then daydreaming, I thought wouldn't it be nice to go up to Mt. Hood during the week and have the mountain not be crowded at all.  Then Mike called me and said basically the same thing - although not skiing, just general mountain fun.  So spur of the moment we were headed to Mt. Hood on Thursday last week for the night.  Mike's wonderful cousin Mary Jo came and stayed with Jesse and Molly (the dog and cat respectively).  We packed dinner - meatloaf and a mashed potato casserole - for Thursday night since we were staying in a condo at Resort at the Mountain that had a full kitchen. 

We were able to check in early to the condo on Thursday, which was great because Morgan needed a nap.  The condo was great!  It was two bedroom two and two and a half bath condo with a kitchen and a full washing machine and dryer.  Morgan took a nap and then woke up early so we headed up to Timberline.

We had cheese fondue and beers for a late afternoon snack.  The kids had great hot chocolate.  It was a great atmosphere and made me wish we were staying there.  Morgan was able to meet the Lodge's St. Bernard puppy.  Then of course Mike (the softie) went to the gift shop and bought both Morgan and Tommy a stuffed St. Bernard puppy.

We headed back to the condo and prepared the dinner we brought from home...meatloaf, a mashed potato casserole and asparagus.  Yumm.

We also decided that we needed to stay another night.  It was so much fun to have a mini-spur-of-the-moment vacation that I just wanted to keep hanging out.  So Mike checked with the front desk and we were able to stay!  Yay! 

So the next morning we got up and headed to Summit Ski Area and went intertubing.  Morgan made it down the hill once with me in tow...and Tommy and Mike made it down the hill three times!  They had fun, but then it was time for hot cocoa.  So we sat and enjoyed our hot chocolate. 

We went back to the condo for lunch and naps.  Then we made Carbenerra pasta for dinner.  It was super yummy and totally what I remember from being over in Black Butte as a kiddo during the winter.  It was fun to share that with the kids.

The next morning, our friends the Mitchells came up to enjoy the snow with us.  We had a great time sledding on the golf course by the condo, but as noon approached, it was time to pack up the condo and checkout.  We went to the Zig Zag Inn and all the kids and I had grilled cheese sandwiches and the adults mostly had burgers.  The pizza there looked really good so if we go back I will definitely order pizza.

Time to head home and all-in-all it was one of the best trips we have had as a family.  Really fun just hanging out!

Cheers to spur of the moment trips!

Nervousness

I sit here tonight and my thoughts are consumed with The Shamrock Run tomorrow.  I signed up back in October for the 8K race (5 miles) and thought of course I will be ready.  I have been training and running every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday since then, but I am still nervous. 

I have been training with my friend Sara Monterossi and she has stuck it out with me during freezing weather, ice on our paths, paths being flooding and pretty much everything else you can imagine.  We have been really consistent and have improved so much...the first time we ran 2:30 and walked 2:30 - eight times, we thought we were going to die.  On Thursday we ran for 25 minutes, walked 1 minute and ran for 25 more.  So I think we are ready. 

But of course then my thoughts turn to running up Broadway.  While it does not seem like a big incline, I am scared to death of it.  When I used to work downtown I would walk up that street and it is definitely an incline.  So I am VERY intimidated...now of course I am not running the 15K that is up Terwilliger because I know I could not make that...it would take me the entire year to train for that.   So my current challenge is conquering my fear of running up Broadway - as well as knowing I just need to run at my own pace, not be disappointed in myself.

So wish me luck...I will try to take as many pictures as I can and post tomorrow/Monday :)

Cheers to conquering my fears and the beer post-race!