Record Snowfall

When J was out of school three days and I was out for four last week because of on-and-off snow and freezing rain, we thought we'd hit the jackpot. Winter break came a week early. Then this Saturday, the snow started to fall again, and it hasn't stopped.

We've never seen this much snow in our home town in our lives, and even if it rains non-stop between now and Christmas, we are still guaranteed to have snow on the ground on the 25th. Please, you can stop singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" now.

Although it's beautiful and fun, I had been planning on shopping, and I haven't had a chance. If we can't buy it at the local grocery store, (Fred Meyer, for those of you who love to come here and shop at Freddy's), it won't be under the tree for Christmas.

Crash Curriers

It was a Sunday of family crashes at the cyclocross race. Daddy J took over the camera and took some photos for a change.

The first crash occured as the kids posed for a photo. H lost her balance and took Bubba down too.

Then, Mama had some trouble on the muddy course. This was not my only crash of the day, but it was the only one that John saw. And, well, it was the most spectacular since I fell into the innocent bystanders.

Fall Leaves and Kids Too

Halloween

More photos are posted on the web album, just click on the link to the right; however, here are a few photos from the beginning of the evening.

First, we had the great pumpkin carving. The theme this year was Darth Vader. I dunno; I think it looked pretty good, for a pumpkin.

Then, we had the sea creature predator prey chase in which the octupus chased Nemo and the shark chased the octopus. G, who was a fireman, decided to get in on the action as well.

And before we hit the streets H decided to try on the bad pig mask, so she could be just like her daddy.

Spookarama

Here is a preview of the kids Halloween costumes. I think it is evident that we have one Nemo, but it may not be quite so clear that we also have one octopus.

On Thursday evening we had a trial run with the costumes when we went to Spookarama at J's school. The PTA sold tickets and with them the kids could play games, do a cake walk, karoke, etc and of course they got to wear their costumes.

At the Braun's party on Saturday night, H and G showed off their scary teeth. They looked hysterical, but it was kind of gross because they kept switching teeth.

The Fall Varsity Sports Line Up

We have three fall sports we've all been busy training for: soccer, cyclecross, and potty training.

There are no humiliating photos of H sitting on the potty reading books posted here, but they do exist.

The photo of the kids on the playground is from this past weekend's cyclecross race in Ranier, OR. John didn't race, and I can't take photos and ride at the same time; so I have no action shots to post.

J has been playing soccer this fall. They don't actually play any REAL games, just scrimmage with each other during practice. But they gave the kids a uniform which they were supposed to wear to picture day. I couldn't bring myself to pay for photos of a team that wasn't really a TEAM, but obnoxious mom that I am, I took my camera to take a few action shots while they were in uniform. J has made great strides from the first practice. That day he had a sit down strike on the field and declared that he didn't like soccer and wasn't ever going again. Now, he joins a pack of boys who play soccer on the playground at recess.

J's friend in the middle photo was his best pal at Wee Works. They go to different schools, but they have rediscovered each other at the pool this summer and then again at soccer. That's what I love about this neighborhood. Portland may be big, but we might as well live in a small town.

It's amazing how fast the kids are growing and how much they are both learning. It's something new and funny and cool every day.

cyclocross race

It was a beautiful fall day, and we spent it outdoors at a cyclocross race. I took a lot of photos of friends racing and not so many of the kids, but as you can see, like father like son with the hair on little J.

H is probably looking a bit sad because her mother spent so much time packing bike gear and snacks for everyone that she forgot the diaper bag.

What's with the boy scout uniform? While not everyone is in costume, it's pretty much anything goes at these races. J was jealous of the guy in the Van Halen crop top.

I raced too. I couldn't take photos of that. I had been kind of dreading it--the getting in the way of other racers as I fumbled my way over the barriers and such, but I had a blast. I haven't had this much fun since the old days of mountain bike racing.

You never know; maybe we'll do another race this season...maybe.

1st Day of Kindergarten

I know; this update is a few weeks late. J's first few weeks of school have been a bit tulmultuous as he has figured out the cafeteria, made new friends, given up "rest time" in the afternoon and "had to do a lot of reading." At the end of the second week, things seem to be going much better.

Daddy dropped J off and took a few photos of the scene. J looks a little intimidated in the first photo. Can you spot him in the second?

One special attraction of his new school--riding his bike to and from school. The school, Beverly Cleary, has two campuses. Hollyrood, his campus, is tiny--only nine classrooms total. It used to be a small k-3 that merged with another neighborhood school to form a k-8. The Hollyrood site only houses k-1 now. It's pretty nice; very intimate. However, I'm already anticipating what will happen when H starts school--we'll have to drop off and pick up on two separate campuses.

That, however, is in the future. For now, we'll just try to make it through kindergarten.

Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthdays

This past weekend was all about getting older--for better or for worse. The Currier family had invites to four birthdays this weekend.

Each birthday took place in a different park around town. It started with the oldest first--Kyu's birthday was on Saturday. I believe the official theme was "dork games." He's seen here playing croquet. On Sunday J's first party from 11-3 was for a girl in his class last year. He had to keep his energy up, though, because the double Braun birthday party was from 3-5.

BJ the Clown made an appearance at this party, and I got some great pictures of the kids laughing and yucking it up with the clown. (Now, in general, I'm NOT a fan of clowns, but BJ is awesome. )

24 Hours in Newport

24 hours in Newport

Newport, Oregon 3:00 PM Saturday to 3:00 PM Sunday. Ever since J's birthday party, when he adopted a wolf eel from the Newport aquarium, he has been begging to go. So we spent Saturday night in Newport with the Brauns, a quick end of summer trip for us and a before baby trip for the Brauns.

We stayed at this great inn on the beach, but the kids could have cared less about the view. They wanted to jump on the beds!

We went to see the tide pools below the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, my favoite part of the trip because it provided many photo oportunities. And of course we went to the aquarium.

When we got to the aquarium and began searching for the wolf eel, we discovered there wasn't just one--there were several adults and a slithering mass of young-uns, so we're not really sure WHICH ONE J adopted. It didn't really matter because he became obsessed with the giant octopus anyway.

The kids seemed to have a great time hanging out together. I have a few pictures of the babies, uh, I mean two-year-olds, H and G, exploring together. Click on the web album link to see the whole photo story of the weekend.

North Carolina

Okay, I've finally uploaded the photos from our trip to North Carolina. They are just a click away because I've added a link on the right hand side of the page called "summer photos." However, if you can't find that link try this one. http://picasaweb.google.com/hillary.currier/080715TreasureIsland

(Actually, that's a link to our pirate adventure; however, all the new albums are public, so you should be able to get to all NC photos from there.)

To summarize: J and H had a great vacation.

Even though we remembered how sea sick J had become during last year's Barta Tournament, we thought it was just the rough seas, and did NOT medicate him before leaving on the first day. This turned out to be a big mistake. What was surprising, however, was how game he was for the next day on the boat. Apparently, it never even occured to him that he could complain and say he didn't want to go. He had one thing on his mind, catching a fish. So, we loaded him up on Dramamine, and the second day went smoothly. He caught a 10.9lb dolphin fish! (See photo below.)

Another highlight for J was a 'behind the scenes" tour of The Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. And of course all the cousins enjoyed catching pin fish off of the dock by Gandmommy and Grandaddy's house and going to visit the next door neighbor and feed the fish in her pond. One evening J came back soaking wet; he had fallen into the pond while trying to catch a tadpole.

H is in a possessive stage right now. She enjoyed getting in MY suit and going on MY boat with MY daddy. (See photo.) She hated being left behind. She was as happy as could be whenever she got to get on MY boat with all of the cousins and be part of the action, like going on the pirate treasure hunt and even taking a spin tubing.

Our days of fun in the sun behind us, we returned to sweatshirt weather, which has given way to mostly sunny 78-82 highs. I know many reading this blog will be jealous; however, we sure will miss the nice warm water.