Uncle Phil's Palace

Last weekend, Al and I met dear friends Nancy & Curt Kendall in Eugene for a basketball game at the new Matthew Knight Arena. Let me just say, WOW! The entire facility is first class. Other than the size, you feel like you're in an NBA arena. The exterior of the building is beautiful and much like Autzen, the long stairway to the entrance gets you revved up for fun stuff ahead (and we went in the back door). Inside there are a couple of things that are baffling. The first being the floor. As you can see from the picture, it's brown and has trees and they are brown. Oregon's colors are green and gold. Don't you think green trees might have been a better choice? Also, our $41 seats were three rows from the top of the bottom level which was fine. However the next tier up, hung over our heads and impeded our view of the stats board. Some architect goofed I'm sure. On the plus side, the Knightvision scoreboard was fantastic, the food was good, the seats were comfortable and the place was rockin'. There's nothin' like college sports if you want to have a good time. Alas, the Ducks lost to Stanford but that was the only downer of the day. Thanks N & C. for makin' it happen. Love you.

Phoenix In February

Jana was scheduled to attend a conference in Phoenix so she and JJ and Finn and Al and I decided to make a mini vacation out of it. What would be nicer than to get of rainy grey Oregon and head down to warm sunny Arizona? In a horrible trick of fate, the sun was out beautifully, but the valley was experiencing the coldest temperatures in 82 years. None of us packed with that kind of cold in mind so we all ended up buying some more appropriate outer wear. Finn was sick with a cold the entire week were there so we didn't do much visiting and Jana and JJ missed a few dinners out so they could get Finn to bed on time.
Jeff & Kerry opened their home to us so we invaded in force. One tends to forget how much stuff you have to take when you travel with a baby. We had a delightful time catching up with Jeff & Kerry and their daughter Katie, and brother Randy and his sweet Robin. We had a Taco night (of course) and made the trek into Jordan's (our favorite restaurant when we all lived in Phoenix). We spent a couple of hours at Encanto Park, the site of many Sunday picnics, birthdays parties & duck feedings. The park is in the heart of downtown Phoenix and it is really lovely.
Once at the hotel, Finn & I just hung around while Jana was busy during the day. We brought our dinners in so Finn didn't get sicker and so he didn't expose others to his cold.
It wasn't exactly the vacation we had expected but it was really really nice to spend a little time with my brothers and sisters in law. And truth be told, I like Phoenix best when it's blisteringly hot. Next visit will definitely be in the summer :-)

Christmas 2010

Can anything be more fun than experiencing Christmas through a child's eyes? How about 2 adorable children? We had a wonderful day with our kids and grandboys. The boys were a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff, but they had a fun time none the less. Finn loved the paper and boxes and Porter loved his vacuum and guitar. I had so much fun taking pictures of the boys that I didn't take many of anyone else. I think Jana took the one of the boys and me. Later in the morning, Marek & Suzie and Rhonda, Lauran and Lyndan came for our traditional Christmas brunch of egg casserole, fruit and cinnamon rolls. It was so delightful to relax with the extended family. We sat around the table for several hours and visited and laughed and caught up with each other. We don't do that often enough. 2010 was a very good year and our Christmas celebration was the icing on the cake.

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.