Magic at the Mill



Zoo Lights



This Christmas, Al and I did a few things we've never done before. We had never visited Magic at the Mill here in Salem and had never gone to see the Zoo Lights in Portland. So a week ago Friday, we bundled up and headed out to Mission Mill. It was really "small town" but fun none the less. Lots of lights, crafts for the kids, special entertainment, a fun model railroad layout, victorian carolers and a very interesting demo on how the mill actually worked (both before and after automation). And their Santa was fabulous looking. I think he was the real Santa. The cost for admisiion was $5 and it was worth every penny. It will be fun to take the grandboys next year.
A few days later, we joined Maryanne, AJ & Porter, Jana, JJ & Finn and JJ's sister Kristy and her 2 boys at the Portland Zoo for their annual ZOO Lights Festival. If you want to see lots and lots of lights, don't miss a Christmas trip to the zoo. It's really incredible to see every tree & bush, every fence, every walk-way, every building completely covered with multi colored lights. It's gorgeous! And all the little boys LOVED riding the train. We will definitely do Zoo Lights again.

Random Pre-Christmas Pictures

Porter showing Grammie the handful of grass he's about to feed Big Brown
My Hearts at Home girls after our dinner and party.
After the Gospel Christmas Concert, we had a nightcap at the gorgeous Heathman Hotel
Fun to ride the carousel with the special Christmas horses

Porter & Santa in front of the playroom tree

It's All Good

We left Hawaii at noon and it was 89 degrees. We arrived home at 9:00 p.m. and it was 39 degrees. The minute we stepped off the plane into the airport, it felt like Christmas. PDX was decorated beautifully and Christmas music filled the air. All the harried travelers were smiling and nice to each other. Even the TSA folks were in the holiday spirit. Now I'm not saying that being in Hawaii wasn't sheer joy, but there is something about dark and cold and rain that makes it feel more like Christmas. I'm so glad to be home!
We hit the ground running as we needed to get the tree up and all the decorating done that 1st weekend home. Al's family was coming for lunch on Dec 3rd and we wanted to have the house looking festive. And, although the decorating is all done, the Christmas cards and shopping are way behind schedule. This morning Porter and I hit Macy's for a few Early Bird Specials and I've ordered a couple of things on-line. But other than that, zilch! O well. A good attitude and a good plan are all I need to get everything done. Hope the grandboys like the mall :-)

Random pictures from the last few day in Hawaii

Woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies and incredible wind. Al just got back from his walk and said that he saw giant palm frond falling from the trees. Our last day on the beach could be interesting. But unless we get a hurricane warning, nothing is going to keep us from spending our last day here on the beach. Tonight we are having Thanksgiving dinner at the golf club here at the resort. It won't be like home, but I won't be cooking so...
Tomorrow we head back to winter so for the first time in a week we'll put on jeans and long sleeve shirts. We'll dig out our jackets and throw them in the carry-on and prepare to change outside temps by 40+ degrees. O well. It wouldn't be Christmas if it wasn't cold and rainy and dark. Bothy Al and I are anxious to get home. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

A Perfect Day

On Saturday, Al hired a captain & his sailboat to take us ocean sailing. Capt. Dan was a really nice guy and he sure knew how to adjust the sails for maximum wind but beyond that he was rather, shall we say, relaxed? He couldn't find several pieces of equipment, didn't know where the life jackets were stowed (we found them) and thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Al could handle the boat...so...he let him. Al steered the boat the entire day and even motored us all the way into the harbor. It's a smaller harbor with some VERY nice boats moored there so Al was quite nervous as he steered us in. Capt Dan was chillin' with his fishing gear while I prayed:-)
The whether was absolutely perfect for a sail and the light winds and small swells made for a delightful day at sea. The highlight of the day was when 7 dolphins came right up to the boat and swam along side of us for about 10 minutes. It was amazing!
Last night, Al and I went to the Muana Kea Resort for dinner. We arrived early so stopped for a cocktail at their beautiful outdoor lounge. As Al drank his 21 year old single malt scotch and I enjoyed a key lime martini, we watched a spectacular Hawaiian sunset. Both Al and I had the prix fix menu at dinner which included squash bisque, skirt steak, truffled mashed potatoes and apple bread pudding. Everything was excellent and the service was great. We even got a gift wrapped bag of macadamia nut bread as a thank you after we paid. Gotta love aloha service.
Like yesterday, it's back to the beach all day. The beach club here is really really nice. So, ice chest and books in hand, we spend the day in the shade of the palm trees, RELAXING! Aloha for now.

It's Jana's Fault

Since Jana became my very excellent Facebook manager last summer, I have had zero motivation to blog. I do my FB status updates but Jana does everything else including posting my pictures. However, every time I log in to read other blogs I feel very guilty about not keeping up. So as of today, I'm going to try to post a lot more frequently.

This morning, I'm sitting in a gorgeous condo near Kona Hawaii. The temp outside will be in the low 80s by the time we get on our boat for our big sailing adventure. Hopefully I'll post about that tomorrow.

Yesterday, we spent the day at the beach. It was perfect! Sun, white sand, comfy lounges, yummy tropical drinks, warm water, huge palm trees for shade and a great little restaurant right on the property. Al and I split a sandwich that I'm going to try to replicate at home. It was essentially a caprese salad inside a sweet Hawaiian roll. A little pesto, a lot of fresh tomato and buffalo mozzarella cheese. Deelish!

Last night we ate at the Four Seasons hotel and had the best meal we've ever eaten. And believe me, Al and I have eaten some pretty good meals. Al had a beautiful rib eye steak and I had lobster ravioli. The bread was some kind of knotted rolled pull-apart that was served with a sun-dried tomato/marscapone cheese spread. And might I just say... YUM!!!!! Top off the whole thing with a lovely wine and a couple of fantastic desserts and call me one happy camper. O and the restaurant was on a wooden deck RIGHT ON THE SAND! AND...I WAS WEARING A SLEEVELESS BLOUSE! AND...IT WASN'T COLD! AND...AFTER DINNER, WE TOOK A LONG LONG WALK ALONG A BEACH PATH LIT BY TIKI TORCHES! OK. Sorry. Enough for now. Hopefully I'll talk to you soon.

Blog Blahs

After being without a computer for 3 weeks, I was catching up with all my blogger friends and realized that we all have been in the same blogger blahs boat. Jen and Becca and Maryanne and Jana and brother Jeff joined me in an extended "I'm just not in the mood" funk. It's funny too because I've done a lot of fun things over the last month. Al and I took Sarah and Porter to the county fair. We went to a lovely wedding in Pasedena. Spent an evening with one of my precious cousins and her hubby. Lounged on Huntington Beach for a day. Vacationed with the kids and grandkids in Redding. Nannied for Finn while Jana and I were in San Diego (Jana was attending a conference for her new job). I took lots of pictures of all of the above with every intention of posting them. Do you see any pictures? Huh. Anyway, I'm home now and hopefully I can hop back on the blogger wagon and stay there.

They are NOT the Andretti's

Today Al and Don celebrated their March birthdays at Malibu Grand Prix. Al had never been and boy did he have fun. Apparently you pay for a lap and you race against a clock. With each lap you try to better your time. Don almost broke the track record and Al was not far behind. When they got home they both looked like they'd driven in the Indy 500...dirty, tired and happy. Did I say tired. Al took a nap at Jana's and Don fell asleep in a recliner at Costco. Sheesh, you'd think they just finished Le Mans. Anyway, they had a great time and look forward to racing again.

You know its....

You know it's summer in Oregon when school is out, the strawberries are ripe, the Spyder is out of storage, the top is down and you're not only freezing, but you have to stop twice to put the top up so you don't get rained on. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! It's June for heavens sake WHERE IS THE FRICKIN' SUN?
P.S. I heard that the Nat'l Weather Service has registered 4, count 'em 4, sunny days in Salem since April 1.

Grand Floral Stroll

I made rose garlands for our hair.

Fun people, perfect weather.

Our shady reserved seats.

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde float. Lovely!

Last weekend, Al, Porter, Jana, Finn & I joined 2500 other walkers and kicked off the Grand Floral Parade in Portland. The Grand Floral Parade is a our version of the Rose Parade in Pasedena and is every bit as good (just not as big or famous). The 5 mile walk starts in NW Portland and crosses the Steel Bridge to the Collesium. From there it heads down the east side of the river then crosses the Hawthorne Bridge and meanders all over downtown. 500,000 parade watchers cheered and clapped for the walkers as we strolled down the parade route. Right after the walkers finish, the big parade starts. Marching bands, equestrian units, clowns, crazy motorcycle cops, and gorgeous floats. This family friendly, easy walk will become a DeBacker/Avison family tradition. Next year we'll get AJ, Maryanne and JJ to join us. All had other obligations on the 12th. At the end of the walk, the event organizers had chairs set up for all the participants in a prime parade watching area. No spending the night drawing chalk markers for our lawn chairs for us. We'll just take a delightful walk and watch the parade from our reserved seats. Ahhhhhh!

How cute is this?

Today Jana and Finn and Porter and I took a little shopping trip to Life Source in South Salem. Porter just started walking this weekend so I thought...why not have the P man push our cart. He loved it and was the talk of the entire store. He just walked up and down the aisles smiling at one and all. He did stop to look over the merchandise several times but decided to stick with the bananas, lemonade & yogurt.

Happy Birth Day and Birthday.

On May 14th, Maisie Claire Lee was born to my neice Sammie and her husband Austin. As you can see she is a beautiful baby. Truly. What fun to have a girl baby in the fam.

May is also the birthday month for my little pal Sarah. She turns 4 in a couple of days so I took her to Red Robin for dinner. She was thrilled to have a special dinner with a surprise treat for dessert and a couple of presents to open. There were lots of laughs and messy fingers, chocolate milk and an adult hot fudge sundae compliments of Red Robin, balloons and a whole bunch of servers singing and clapping as they celebrated Sarah. Needless to say, I dropped a very hyper 4 year old off at home...right a bedtime. HeeHee.

Yesterday, The Zoo Really Was.

A heads up for next year to all of you who decide to do Mother's Day at the Oregon Zoo; be prepared for rediculous crowds. The gorgeous weather and a Mother's day brunch made for a gigantic crowd. We did have a good time though, even if we didn't get to see all the exhibits. Porter loves the animals and it's a treat to be with him no matter what we're doing. When we got home, Jana and JJ had prepared a lovely meal for us; beef brisket, delicious asparagus and mashed potatoes and carrots. Al made a cake on Saturday so we enjoyed that for dessert. It was so great to be with new mom Jana and old pro mama Maryanne to celebrate the day.

A Fun Couple of Weekends

Happy Birthday!

Key Lime Cake - so good.

Grandpa and his boys.

Grammy & babies r us.

Beautiful flowers and beautiful Porter.

Such a good helper!

Enjoying the gazing balls.

We have been suffering through another typical Oregon Spring...sunny and warm, cloudy and cool, rainy and cold and hailing and really cold, all in the couse of 6 - 8 hours. Twice, Porter and I left the house to take our walk in the glorious sunshine. When we had reached the point of no return at Staats Lake, the rain and wind blew in and drenched us both with cold cold golf ball sized drops. I had thought to bring along a waterproof covering for Porter but it's not recommended that you put a plastic garbage bag over a baby's head and face. So although Porter's body was dry and warm, his little face was wet and cold. It's an interesting study in mental toughness to be a mile away from home, have a crying baby in the stroller, AND have an overwhelming need to pee! But we made it home and after drying off and warming up, all was right again.

Crazy Oregon Spring is also the time when annuals need to be planted. So we packed Porter into the car and headed off to our favorite nursery where we purchased petunias and other wonderful color spots to fill our yard and pots with lovely color all summer long. Al planted 7 huge pots with an asortment of flowers so they should be gorgeous by the time summer shows up.

Last weekend, Jana and Finn, Maryanne and Porter and I met my niece Sammie (Jeff and Kerry's eldest) at Washington Square for lunch and shopping. Sammie is expecting Maisie Claire any day now, so it was fun to squeeze in some girl time with her before her big day. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory then picked up a few things at Pottery Barn for Kids, Jack & Jill's and Baby Gap. Sammie was hoping that walking might get labor going and maybe it did just a little. I got an email from her this morning and she's having some stronger contractions as well as some other indicators that L&D is coming soon. Can't wait to meet you Maisie!

Last night at our family dinner, we celebrated both Corban and Lauren's birthdays. As they will be out of town on their actual b-days, we combined them last night with a taco dinner. AJ made yummy margaritas and we kicked off "taco season". With the Enns' 2 b-days, then JJ's at the end of May and finally AJ's in early June, Thursday night dinners will have a decidedly "Cinco de Mayo" feel for the next couple of weeks. Birthday people get to choose their dinner and they all choose tacos. Ugh! Fortunately they all like different desserts so it's not completely a lost cause.