Because My Family Doesn't Read My Other Blog

...I am putting two links up to two recent posts from my RCMT blog later in this post.

Not that I am complaining about the fact that my relations for the most part don't frequent that blog. It is more for friends and fellow cyclists and this one of more for the family. This is also why when you click on my name to see my profile this family blog is not listed. I see no reason why the general public needs to see the cheesy things that we do here in this house. I don't go out of my way to tell people about this blog. If someone finds there way here, so be it, I don't mind. On the flip side I don't expect my family and extended family to care about my bike addiction or the subject matter over at RCMT. I usually just hope that they don't roll their eyes when I mention the word "bike" in a conversation.

Anyway...first off here is a post about El Gaucho, the finest restaurant I have ever been too. CLICK HERE There is some other disgusting stuff on that post too...but I tried to keep it fairly vague.

Then shortly after that post we started eating Spam around here for the first time in years. Spam rocks. CLICK HERE for the Spam post. Ryan asks for Spam now almost daily.

I tend to be a little more free with my descriptions and subject matter in RCMT blog, but nevertheless, both posts apply to goings-on in our family. But to the two people that may actually read both blogs, I apologize for boring you with old posts.

What's going on here

Here is a shotgun blast of one-liners with some of the goings on here:

Jack is a Sunbeam now.

Colin likes his Jonny-jumper chair that hangs clamps on the top of any doorway and he gets some serious bouncing going.


Ryan is doing so well in school and his reading is just amazing--especially when compared to the beginning of the school year.

Bridget is the Primary secretary, and would love to be released.

There are those who chose to open their own solo practice and those who have to--I am the latter.

Bridget is becoming an increasingly good cook, with the last two dishes she has made being among my all-time favorites.

Colin is still on Prevacid for his acid reflux.

Considering we have an infant with acid reflux that doesn't sleep especially well, we, and especially Bridget, are remarkably sane.

Jack would like to have his birthday party very soon, as within the next few days.

Ryan is going to have his 6th birthday party in a couple of weeks at an indoor jungle-gym composed of mostly lots of inflatable slides and play areas.

Jack's birthday is at the end of July--not in a few days.

I have been riding my singlespeed road bike the 13 miles to work and back most days to try and get back in shape and lose my winter/holiday weight gain.

My singlespeed road bike has a 42 chainring up front and a 16 tooth cog on the rear wheel and when coming back home up our hills this gearing has been known to cause me to almost cry from the pain.

Ok, so maybe the singlespeed does not quite hurt to the point of crying, but definitely similar to having someone kidney punch me while I am riding up some of our hills because I refuse to get and walk--it really does hurt, but it hurts less each week.

Mice are harder to come by for Clyde, but he still manages to bring one to the back door occasionally.

Bridget is currently reading a very worthwhile but very depressing book, "Life and Death in Shanghai" by Nien Chang.

Bridget has been running around 12 to 13 miles per week as a part of a running program aimed at participating in a half-marathon in May.

Ryan is a very social child, with friends from school and church often requesting play-dates with him.

Both Jack and Ryan are very interested in Colin and making him feel welcome in our family, sometimes this is shown by waking him up by their roughhousing when he is napping.

Colin is much easier to care for than he was even a month ago, but still, please let this be our last newborn....please.

I will hopefully be up and taking clients next month and should have a website up around the same time.

I am still planning on working at the bike shop while things get going with my "firm".


More stories later, but considering what is going on the world, things are pretty OK here.

Colin at 4 months

Another Jack Story

Tonight I put Jack to bed. Because he took a nap he got to stay up a bit later than Ryan did. Jack snacked on some pretzels and had a miniature Milky Way candy bar during his bonus time. I went off to his room with him and tucked him in. He started to complaining that he was "sooo hungry." I reminded him about how much stuff he had just eaten. He insisted that he was hungry. I told him no each time and then finally said that he had complained enough and that he could wait until breakfast. Ryan was already asleep and I didn't want Jack to keep talking and thereby waking him up.

After a few seconds, Jack said something close to the following:

"Jesus wouldn't like that"

I didn't quite get where he was going, so I asked him what he meant.

"If Jesus were alive here he wouldn't like you saying that."

"Saying what?"

"If Jesus were alive he wouldn't like you saying 'no' when I said I was hungry and saying I had to wait until breakfast."

"Ooohh."

He paused and then rolled toward me as I was beside him and his bed as he said, "but that's OK Daddy. I still love you."

"I love you too, Jack."

Geesh. Good thing I have Jack on my side.

December Snow Sledding Video

Well, we had a couple of weeks around Christmas time that were rather snowy and cold. We tried to make the best of it by making snowmen and sledding. This was the first time that Jack was able to do any real sledding. We started small by going down the little hill in the front yard. Once he was comfortable with that we went out to a nearby street and went down that. The street run was a bit longer and higher speed. Then the went to park the next day with Bridget and some friends. In the first video you can hear another boy from church, Zach, yelling because he was scared. Jack was fine with it. Ryan, of course had no issues doing whatever. He loved it.


Here is a run with Ryan and his friend, Tyler:


Then a day or two later we went to another park with a steeper hill. I wish the hill had been both steeper and longer, but...we still have a blast.




Good times, Good times...

December Pictures

I still have to upload January pictures, but anyway...these were all from Chistmas and Christmas Eve for the most part.









..

Jack on Picme

We didn't have a VCR or DVD recorder so I had to record it low tech--with our camera's video recorder. Sorry it is so shakey and at a slight angle. Oh, and the phone rings about halfway through the video. Again, sorry 'bout that.

Holiday Pictures

Santa came to the hospital where Jack and Colin were born and we visited him there. Jack was a little hesitant to meet him.


Making a Gingerbread house.


And you may be wondering where is Colin and what has he been up to. Well, he spends a lot of time on Bridget's hip or sleeping or eating. But occasionally he gets a ride in a dump truck. Or he plays with Winnie and Pooh in his bouncy chair. And he is bundled up because it is chilly around here.

Snow...Pictures

The house this morning. It has been pretty windy, gusts over 30 mph, and so none of the snow on the roof survived.

Sledding this morning...


This was just the warm up. We got going much faster and longer later going down the nearby street.

After a bit of this Jack was ready to go out to a street with a bit of a hill to it. We were able to sled about around a 100 yards before coming to a stop. We must have sledded that street for over an hour before the boys just got too cold and wanted to come in. I don't blame them, it was 23 degrees and their little feet were getting cold from the snow getting into their shoes and melting.

I promise, there really are steps under the snow.























This picture was taken back when the first snow fell a week ago.

And this is back when we actually cared to shovel and sweep the snow away. Now, we just did the steps and let the rest lie. This was taken 6 days ago, last Monday.

Snow....serious amounts of snow

For the second week in a row we were told that church has been cancelled. We have gotten about 8 inches of snow in the yard today, with drifts that are quite a bit deeper. The Portland International Airport is shut down, as are other airports in Washington. Highway 84 is closed and they are trying get to people on some sections of it that are stranded. Epic.

We had our own little adventure today. We were having a get together at Ilene's house today with some extended family on Grandpa Leroy's side and for some reason, despite the weather we went on with it. Some were coming about a 100 miles or so from the south which made their trip interesting. Well, mostly slow. But their trip down ought to be worse. We arrived home is safety. Our main problem was the windshield icing up.

Earlier in the day, I was told to stay home from work and as a result I got to go sledding with the boys. And we had a bunch of fun and that was back when there was only about 2 inches of new snow (there was 2 or three inches of old snow/ice from earlier in the week below that). Tomorrow is going to be a blast for sledding. This seems more like a storm that we would have gotten in Utah--and it would be a strong one for there too. But in Portland--this is storm borders on a disaster. We don't have the equipment to handle a storm of this size very well. As a result of the past storms over the last week Ryan will have a 3 week Christmas Vacation instead of the planned 2 week one. He missed all of last week due to weather. I was never so lucky, geesh.

Anyway, I will post some pictures tomorrow or Monday.