Two Miles per Weekend Part 1

I started a private journal during the first three months of Covid, but life got way too busy and I stopped writing. Our family has been trying to get outdoors to keep sane during this strange time. After summer camping, paddle boarding and kayaking, we've been trying walks/hikes we can all enjoy even in the cold rain and mud. We put on our boots, warm clothes and masks to tromp around in the PNW woods if we're able on the weekends. I thought it would be hard to find something three and six year old appropriate, but we've found reasonable trails each weekend during this past month.

This weekend was Hamlin Park about 15-20 minute drive from our house and plenty of trails to make a nice little 2+ mile loop. The pictures show blue sky, but don't let that fool you....

First Trailer Trip!

In case you haven't heard the news.....Emily agreed to let me start researching trailers now that we have our new towing vehicle and I've promised her no more tent camping! As part of this quest I've decided we should start renting a couple trailers to test the waters before buying.

Our first trailer trip started on a high note with Audrey coming down with an ear infection the week before our little trip and then on Friday morning of our trip Emily waking up with Audrey's cold. No matter she was a good sport once she couldn't convince my Mom or sister to take her place in the trailer. So we set out to South Seattle to pick up our little 1975 Bright Blue Boler!

 

This guy rents 4 trailers out of his Columbia City house, but I'm not sure how he stores them all. As you can maybe see there's like 2 inches on either side of his high walled driveway so my first task was to pull the trailer out without scraping it on the side while turning into a busy crowded street. The trailer was oddly clean and smell free considering it had just come back from Burning Man.

Audrey could barely contain her excitement.



















So off we went to Mt. Rainer with our little trailer weighing under 1000 lbs!
















Pretty cozy for 3 of us, but worked great.

Emily's Dad came up for an afternoon from Portland and found us a nice view of Rainier.




















Camping like activities ensued such as hiking,

finding cool trees,




















playing in the sand




eating marshmallows (getting ready for them in this pic),

and being completely exhausted from the toddler fit about putting in her own hair clip I think it was?

Looking forward to the next trip with Mickey, Donald, and my little family :)

Super Awesome Pumpkin Patch Family Photo!

Time for my once a year blog post/update. Really my intent was to show the sequence of less than ideal family photos we tried to take today. Audrey just moved up in daycare to the two's room (from Koala to Kangaroo) and they asked us for a family photo to put on the wall of families in unit two. So for the last week, I've been looking at the other family photos thinking... ok I got this, 1) find a picturesque location, 2) make sure Emily takes sunglasses to avoid her classic eyes shut pose, 3) get Audrey to stay in one position for the 10 seconds the camera timer needs for set up. No problem!

Picture 1 aka Waiting for Emily

Picture 2 aka the grass is the most exciting thing here

Picture 3 aka the grass is definitely more fun than Moms

Picture 4 aka the chair won't stop me from moving

Picture 5 aka not this again

Picture 6 aka put me down dammit!

Picture 7 - untitled
Picture 8 - only way to keep Audrey still....

Here's a couple more from the night before...

Our (Emily's) Attempt at One Month Photos

We've been seeing all these adorable one to three month baby photos posted by our friends on Facebook. You know the ones with the little number in a circle babies hold or have place don their tummy. So Emily thought why not track her monthly progress in comparison with a stuffed animal...This is Audrey's version of the picture taking event for her one month picture:

"Hey! What the H is this?!"

"Not comfortable!"

"I'm not sure I like this..."

"Seriously? We're doing this?"

"You know I can't hold my own neck up right?"

"Is this cute enough?"

"JAZZ HANDS!!!!!"

"Your trunk is hitting me!"

"I want outta here!"

"Take Two"

Stay tuned....

Stay tuned for a new blog Emily and I invented after reading other blogs with significantly more drama-ful and exciting lives...

I think we'll name it: Unbelievable things that happened to me again!

I'm not sure when we'll start writing it, I mean I guess we'll have to wait for something unbelievable, but it's coming so watch for it...

time for a blog update

I just realized that I haven't updated my blog since February! So this update is for the three people that have my blog on rss feed, yes you, you know who you are...

I'll start with most recent happenings first

1) Today - bus adventures
Another fun bus adventure today. I learned a couple new facts on today's bus ride coming back from campus:

Fact 1) The craziest people ride the 48 on a Saturday afternoon.
Fact 2) The crazy people all sit in the front of the bus right in that area with the three seats facing each other and the two sets of two facing front.
Fact 3) Crazy people recognize crazy and all start talking to each other.
Fact 4) Crazy people own guns at a higher rate than do normal people.
Fact 5) Crazy people lie, really you have 2 ex-wives, three girlfriends and a friend's girlfriend after you?

2) Thursday night 3pm - 4 popular restaurants 2 blocks away from our house burnt down


3) This summer - two old Eugene friends moved back into town




4) This summer - Then one old Eugene friend moved out of town.









5) Emily and I bought a new camera for our honeymoon - it has a smile function that we tried out on all our friends. I think it stopped working...









6) After almost two years of wedding bliss Emily and I decided to go on our honeymoon












7) I switched jobs and now work for the University of Washington.

8) This is taking too long, I've only just reached what happened since July!

9) Feb through July = work + school + work + school

The end

reading, reading, writing, writing, writing, old people

I figure since I have three papers due this week, why not waste a little more time writing. Only this time I can talk about fun mindless things. Forgive me friends, it's been 8 months since I have written....and now you say what have you done in the past 8 months? Well I can't even remember, but I know there was some interesting stuff that happened. I guess I could try and tell you 8 highlights in the last 8 months.....

1) I spent the autumn months learning public policy management frameworks
Framework: a basic conceptual structure used to solve or address complex issues

2) I became fascinated with the Snuggie


3)My band played at an old folks homes for a Valentine's day dance and I was paid with Valentine's pudding and blush wine (that tasted like punch and made my trombone taste funny). I wanted the pink peppermint ice cream instead of the pudding, but sadly they had run out. It was pretty fun, there was a man dressed up as a large heart and a lipstick contest.

4)I discovered Cara Cara oranges, so tasty!

5)I made a song with songsmith

6)I finished the whole season of MTV's A Double Shot At Love (why? I don't know but my mind needed a night off after reading about framework after framework in managing the public policy process, does anyone really think stakeholder analysis is a framework? Isn't it just common sense? I guess I could write a paper about how to efficiently squeeze toothpaste out of a tube and call it a framework...)

7) I made a haiku
black cat stares at me
mind melding will get my food
or i scratch your face
(actually I just made that up now because I need an eight things and I'm coming up short)

8) Emily made a limerick too (she is studying for her generals and needs a break from reading about the medial rostral prefrontal cortex aka nerdular nerdance)
there once was a small stripey beast
who only wanted to feast
he demanded his kibble
but then wouldn't nibble
and my patience was soon decreased