Westmoreland Asays

Mt. St. Helens was beckoning us the whole trip I had planned on taking a vacation day the day before Meg and I were to begin our celebration of 15 years married to each other, but Meg suggested just working through the day as she had class all morning and her job to attend to in the afternoon, and then taking the next Friday off and take the kids to the pool or something. The pool? Nah, I wanted to do something memorable, something they would remember for years to come. While that may seem like a tall order for my boring-routine lifestyle, I think I may have actually pulled it off. Back to that conversation with Meg about going to the pool, I voiced my interest to go to Mt. St. Helens and camp and go on all-day hikes. Wow, that actually sounds really good; I better figure out how to make it happen. I searched semi-casually for a camping spot to reserve, but there was nothing, which wasn't surprising given the nature of the request. There were walk-in spots available, but ther

Ian has reached the age of six. In the past year, he has begun kindergarten, not gotten his hair cut, and transitioned to riding a bike with pedals. Ian had his first birthday party at JJ Jump with half of his kindergarten class, which even included a couple of girls--girls! Ian gets along better with Edward, as demonstrated by Ian always attacking Aaron; he often sits on Aaron's head and never misses the chance to attack whenever Aaron is on the ground. Ian likes to talk. A lot. He enjoys jumping on our neighbor's trampoline, usually with the older kids in the neighborhood. Ian maintains strange eating habits: he will take his breakfast (often chicken nuggets) under the table, while eating extremely slowly, so he can sit near the heater while watching My Little Pony (he's seen every episode about five times) on his little laptop. He may or may not have an Oedipus complex like Edward had, as he says he loves Meg the most and thinks she's cute. Here is a quick interv

The free-spirited, high-flying Edward has reached the golden age of 10. His teasingly-fun birth prompted me to begin this blog , so kudos to him for that. I was happy to spend the evening of his birthday dining on fried fish and mixed fruit at Red Robin and watching the Trail Blazers (his favorite player, Robin Lopez, also shares the same birthday) lose a frustrating game to the Clippers, a team who I hope ends up meeting the Blazers in the playoffs. I marvel at the potential I see in Edward and think he can impact the world in a big, positive way. He remains highly-sensitive to the needs of those around him, and is always free with time and money and sharing his things with others. He started playing the drums in the after-school band, and he continues to be a master video game player. He hopes to translate those skills to designing games some day, and whenever we have moments to walk together he shares all of his ideas for his first game (The Lost Hero), which are not few in numbe

Aging is a gradual process, so why should I worry when the clock officially tacks on another number to my age? Perhaps I should have realized that, as my peers began turning 40, and I would post half-serious questions about their experience, that I had my own issues brewing steadily in the background. I don't think I've had a birthday party since I was six, but Meg insisted on having one for me--something about 40 being a milestone or something, despite my arguments that I had done nothing significant to warrant anything--I had simply aged another year. But I conceded the point. I offered up the idea of a roller skating party--which is probably what my last party was; see, I haven't changed a bit--but I think she laughed that one out of the rink pretty quickly. I get daily emails from Groupon and LivingSocial, and they had something for a karaoke box rental. My half-Japanese side recognized something that could be fun and probably aligned with my personality. I told Meg

Aaron successfully reached his 12th birthday. He choose to have a party at the game room in the basement of the student center at Portland State so he could invite the world. When your birthday falls during Thanksgiving, your friends aren't always available. But he still had a strong crew of 15-20 boys (he didn't want to invite any girls, despite Meg telling me that what he really wanted to do was have a boy-girl karaoke party--not). On his actual birthday, Aaron and I went to Red Robin for dinner (he choose to order from the kids' meal one more time--unlimited refills on pasta is still a huge draw for him) and then attended that night's Trail Blazers game vs. Minnesota. Enough of words and let's get to what most of you want to see: Aaron's birthday interview!

We had yet another rain-free night of trick-or-treating in Portland--that's five years in a row, for those counting. Aaron went with his friends, while one of Ian's friends (and his parents) came with us. Edward was a bit too fast, Ian was a bit too slow, so we ended up a very disjointed group. And like what seems every year, the kids wanted to go home early. I think they are just so anxious to see what they got and to start gorging themselves on their loot. Patience is still a growing virtue in these young boys.