Portland, Part II

I got up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready & walk to the MAX to ride downtown. Thankfully it was only 3 blocks from the hotel & it only took me 6 minutes to walk there. Unfortunately it wouldn't take my credit card (but I later found out it was user error...) and I started to have a bit of a panic attack imagining various scenarios of calling Bob & having him bring the children, trying to make it back to the hotel and then back again and and and....

Back to the thankfully - there was an older gentleman decked out in his race gear who was also having technical difficulties. His response to the whole issue? "Let's just get on. And if they ask we will just tell them it wouldn't work!" Ummmmmm....sounds good to me. And as I was about to discover, there were so many people that got on between our stop & downtown (there finally wasn't room for anymore people) no one could have asked us even if they wanted to!

Andrea and I ended up running the entire way together. There is just something about running with someone else that makes it that much easier. And let me tell you what. When I got to mile 6 I was SO THANKFUL that I only had 7 miles to go - not 20!! I may do another marathon someday, but not anytime soon.

We crossed the finish line together at 2 hours and 22 minutes. Not too bad. The amount of food at the finish was staggering. Puts all other events that I have run in to shame. But since I felt like throwing up at the mere sight of food I just gathered some goodies for the girls, got my rose, sapling (which is now planted in our backyard), pendant & charm, and long-sleeved shirt and met my support crew.

We re-boarded the "train" (by far Etta's favorite part of the entire weekend) and headed back to the hotel for a shower before leaving town. Next time, part III.

Andrea and I posing for our post-race shot. Mae was dead set on using my finisher's medal as a teething toy. Boy, she really went to town on it!

Portland, Part I

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Portland so that I could run the Portland Half-Marathon with my college friend and roommate, Andrea.

To start the weekend Mae awoke with an approximately 103 degree fever on Friday night at 9:30 pm. I made a call to a friend/mom/nurse who recommended a medicine dose regime that we followed religiously all night. Saturday morning dawned bright and early and Mae seemed fine - fever broken - so we headed out. Made it to Portland around 3:30, found our hotel, ditched our stuff and started for down town to get registered.

Let me stop here and say that neither Bob nor I are big city driving people. But after a bit of stress we made it to The Hilton Portland, I got all my goodies and we got back on the road to meet our friends for dinner.

After we got back to the hotel Etta watched a bit of TV and then we went swimming in the indoor pool. Silly me, I thought it would be a warm pool since it was inside. Not so heated. But Etta loved it and it made the hot tub all that nicer.

After we got back to the room (and watched more TV) Etta decided she wanted Bob to sleep with her in her bed. Works for me since I had the race the next day but...Mae had a bit of a relapse and woke up every hour all. night. long. 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 and 4:00. Thankfully she was only 3 steps away.

I'll continue with the rest of the story next time, but for your enjoyment...

Etta settled right in to the hotel life. "This is my bed. But this is the bed that I will watch TV in until I want to go to sleep."



Mae hit the hay early after a quick bath while Etta & I were swimming. Bob didn't even have a chance to get her pj's on. We took this picture because she sleeps just like her Grandpa Eddy!

Go Cats Go!

Dear Uncle Erik,

I wore my Bobcat overalls for the first time yesterday. To school!! I really like them. So does my dad. Do you think they come in his size?

Thank you.

Love,
Etta



Dear Aunt Molly,

I wear my red Converse All-Stars to school almost every day. They make me run fast as fast. I'm glad that you know red is my favorite color.

Thank you.

Love,
Etta

Sharing the Love

Etta doesn't usually like to share.

But if Grandma Cathy is buying, and there is huckleberry ice cream involved, she is willing.

Note the spoon in the left hand heading away from Cathy. That would be directed at Mae who was screaming for her fair share from the stroller.

Red!

Red is Etta's favorite color. So two weeks ago (yikes!) when Beacon was having their "spirit week" and the color RED was the pre-k/k color for a Tuesday we were all very excited.



Even her backpack is red!



These are Etta's classmates. Since she just "visits" two days a week I'm not sure if they really even notice her. But it does seem like they are talking to her a bit more and including her. She doesn't seem to mind, there are a lot of fun things to do at school!

Same Same

Mae is starting to like to be "same-same" just as Etta seems to be growing out of "matchy-matchy". But if Mae doesn't have a shirt on after dinner (due to messiness usually...) Etta definitely wants to match. And if Etta is reading books - well then, sister better darn well have a couple too!

Outside Eating

Etta has become very interested in doing different things outdoors. She really really wants to sleep outside in a tent, but I have pretty much decided that we missed the boat on that one this year. Next summer we will attempt that.

But the one thing that she has been asking to do that we can accommodate is eat outside.

The people around the block had a garage sale a few weeks ago. As I don't really want to bring anything else into the house - and don't have any extra money to bring anything else into the house - I did not stop by. But the next week I was walking by and noticed a children's plastic picnic table in the back of their pick up buried under a bunch of other stuff. I decided to take a chance and wrote a note asking if they were going to take it to the dump or donate it, but that we would be interested if they were getting rid of it. The girls and I went on a stroll around the block and left the note in the door. That evening the man called and said that they were just going to take it to the dump and I was welcome to it. He did mention that the top had a crack in it. Since I was mainly interested in having an outside table I didn't mind. So I went over later and picked it up. Etta loves it. It works for what we wanted. I didn't have to pay for it. And it's not ending up in a landfill (yet). I have been following The Non-Consumer Advocate for the last few months I am very excited about my find. Things do seem to appear if you wait long enough.

[Although I am now going to be keeping my eye out for a table that fits me.]