Westmoreland Asays

Edward as Gollum I took Edward and Ian camping at White River Station, south and east of Mt. Hood. Aaron's friends invited him for a trip to Cannon Beach, so he missed out. Our church sponsored the event, so we let them feed us hearty meals for dinner and breakfast. Normally Aaron or Meg helps me set up our huge tent, but Edward stepped up and provided the helping hand I needed to set up our camp. The boys enjoyed playing by the river and exploring the trails around the campground, and one of the older boys even let Edward shoot his BB gun rifle. Later in the evening Edward decided he was Gollum and led Ian and I (and another father/son from our ward) around some cool trails that took us across the river to see even more territory. Mr. Grumpy Pants He kept saying, "Come hobbits's," and then raced ahead and expected us to keep up with him. After the night captured the camp, we retreated back and found the group watching a mormon-themed video. I find it high-la...

So. Cal.: a different kind of paradise I was fortunate to attend a three-day, company-sponsored learning conference in Huntington Beach, California. The weather was perfect--mid-70's and sunny (at least by lunch time)--which was nice because I tried to spend every free second I had outside to maximize my time there. I was able to stay at the Hyatt Resort where the conference was, which made life simple. Beautiful beaches abound Orange County I arrived on a Monday afternoon and had a little bit of time to explore the city and do some pre-conference homework (scavenger hunt). After the evening get-together social, I stripped my clothes and shoes and ran nearly-naked on beach as the sun set over the Pacific, maybe five or six miles round trip. I ran a little earlier on Tuesday before attending an evening social with those in my division (ADP has two main divisions, and I'm apart of the smallest one, which accounts for only about 20% of the company's revenue). My cal...

Meg let me choose all of the events of the day leading up to Father's Day, within reason, of course. I chose to ride bicycles downtown for a series of evenst, beginning with a "Portland Underground" tour. We got to go underneath a restaurant in Old Town/Chinatown where the owners, many, many years ago, would perform various deeds of mischief, including the capture and holding of slaves to sell to ships sailing to the Orient. There really wasn't a whole lot to see in the "underground," which was little more than a basement, but the guide had stories aplenty and tried really hard to convince us that there were ghosts still haunting the underground. We didn't experience anything special, but I am somewhat skeptical of such supernatural things, though not completely disbelieving either. Dining at Departure Adjusting to the suddenly hot and bright overworld was overwhelming, but we rode to Departure , a restaurant at the top of the Meyer and Frank bui...

Ed eating #4 of 5 treats for the evening Last year I told the boys they could choose between camping out with their peers at the school or their peers from church, even though the two events were on separate weekends. They chose the way of the church . This year Meg suggested we attend the school campout and offered to pay our way, regardless of whether we wanted to go on the church campout or not. Of course she wasn't planning on camping with us, so she was just looking for an excuse to get us out of the house so she could spend a night out socializing with her girlfriends. Other than the potluck dinner, there weren't any activities organized, so the boys roamed the school grounds with their chums while I followed them around taking photographs. Lights out was at 10:00 p.m., except for the crowds of socializing adults just outside our tent talking the night away.

Meet Shelly--or is it Shelli? Our first living pet joined our household last month. This is huge, breaking news, as Meg and I very publicly loathe the idea of sheltering animals inside our living space (raising chickens in a coop outside? maybe some day). One perk of having kids who are mildly allergic to pet dander is that we have a legitimate excuse for rejecting the kids occasional plea for adopting a pet. Somehow this one slipped through the cracks. May I introduce Shelly, a 15-year old western box turtle. She lived with another family in Westmoreland who, ironically, became too busy with their young children to take care of her anymore. Meg found a listing for Shelly on craigslist while looking for someone who might have lost a cat, as one had recently showed up on our porch and refused to leave. I figured it was a stray, as it had no identification, but Meg insisted it belonged to someone. Meg doesn't like it when I tell this story, but just before bringing Shelly home, E...

Goldi-locks Llewellyn Elementary hosts a fabulous carnival at the end of each school year. Meg joined the committee and organized all of the concessions, which included four very different food carts. Because the lady was working the carnival, I won the privilege of following Ian around the campus and helping him participate (Aaron and Edward roamed the carnival without need of help or supervision). Similar to my critique of Outdoor School , I was impressed at the level of detail and attention and the smoothness that everything operated. The only difficult thing was getting the boys to walk home with me when the carnival concluded.