fall weekend

It's another weekend of soccer and friends here - two games on Saturday, two on Sunday, and Campbell's birthday party at a climbing gym. Jasper and I made it out for a 6 mile run in Forest Park this morning - phew! - and after the soccer games we wandered around NW Portland for a bit. We had lunch at Life of Pie pizza, bought birthday presents, and picked up some pints of Salt & Straw ice cream. In the late afternoon, the kids played with neighborhood friends - I overheard some talk of Truth or Dare, but opted to not investigate any further (I find feigning deafness/ignorance to be a useful parenting tool). There was dancing in our garage - Liesl did ballet, Sophia tap, Ray hip-hop, and Sebastian showed off the funk. Meanwhile, I baked - morning glory muffins and a gingerbread cake. The air is crisp in the mornings and the leaves are changing color... feels like fall out there.

Girl Scouts

To my great surprise, I have found myself co-leading a Girl Scout troop this year. I've never been a GS girl, and I have my doubts about aspects of the organization, but this group of Liesl's friends is sweet and fun, and my co-leader is the wonderful Elena, and we are running it as a cooperative endeavor and the other parents are creative and ambitious and super fun, and so here I find myself.

Our first adventure was a short hike and scavenger hunt in Hoyt Arboretum. We distributed a list of natural objects they had to find; I printed a trail map and let them choose which direction to go, marking our progress on the map; we collected leaves and flowers for an art craft project; we made fairy houses in the forest. It was altogether fun and hopefully a bit educational.

I taught them how to use each other's backs as table-tops. They loved it.

A Liesl fairy in the woods.

They were amazed by the exposed roots of this tree in the creek bed.

Back row: Chloe, Nina, Campbell, Ella, Elia. Front row: Diya, Alexis, Maya, Phoebe, Liesl. No Nora.

It looks like another clearing, but this is the famous fairy garden.

Snacktime, and a completed scavenger hunt sheet.

The Arboretum map, and our route traced in blue marker.

Making leaf crowns.

We gave them all Brownie sashes and their first badge: a forest adventurer!

soccer madness

We have had two full weekends of nonstop soccer  - Liesl has played two games on two teams both weekends, Seb's team has played in various locations and twice this past weekend - the Portland Thorns had a semifinal and then championship games - soccer team photos and a Thorns photo contest...  We're all in. :) Liesl scored six goals in her rec game on Saturday, in the pouring rain.

The 2018 Blunicorns!!!

Go Thorns!! They didn't win the championship, but we had a lot of fun creating a photo to cheer them on (Courtney posted these on Instagram and Twitter, to try and win a contest.)

Random photo of Sebastian playing soccer, with his bright new cleats. His team played and won on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.

Me and Liesl and the Thorns game - the boys were also there, but elsewhere in the stadium.

And just for fun, a non-soccer photo. Sebastian had to do an artistic project about the autumn equinox, and after some stalling and whining, he really got into it. He spent a lot of time looking up info, drawing pictures, and getting excited about what he learned. It was really cool.

September swing

We are back in the September swing of things - school, work, homework, school events, soccer (lots of soccer), ballet, hip-hop, playdates and birthday parties ... and of course football season!

 

The Steelers are not off to a particularly good start, but that doesn't mean we can't get ourselves and Jasper all dressed up for game days.

Liesl had an afterschool playdate with Campbell that lasted through dinner - they are so sweet together. They played outside, they played dress up, they sang and danced, they made Lego structures, they took down an impressive quantity of food.

We had back-to-school night on Thursday last week -- an opportunity to meet this year's teachers and see the classrooms. I loved Sebastian's portable class - the peace corner, the MC Escher drawings, the funny puns and word play. And we loved Liesl's all-about-me poster. Favorite place: Italy.

This weekend was crazy and different for us. On Friday, Steve flew to NY for his cousin Danny's wedding, so he was gone until Sunday night (we missed him!). Sebastian had a soccer game in Bend, three hours away, so on Saturday morning he hopped in a teammate's car to get there - the game was at 2, there was a party after, and then he was staying the night with his friend Cason and his dad. (As it turned out, he got carsick on the mountain drive, and threw up, and sat out the game... but still had a great time at the after-game pool party and the overnight stay!)

So it was just Liesl and I together -- in the morning, she played in a rec soccer game with the Blunicorns, against a team that included our old friend Vivienne. I really enjoyed catching up with Crystal on the sidelines and letting our golden/labradoodles romp with each other. After the game, it was home for a quick change and bite to eat, and then off with Elena and Nora, and Campbell, on the Max train to the Portland Thorns semifinal soccer game.

They dubbed themselves Fierce, Fire, and Ferocious! So cute. (Elena and I were apparently Fun and Fast, no double entendres intended from the 7-year olds.) The Thorns game was fantastic, really competitive, really hard fought, and the Thorns won 2-1 to get into the championship game.

Back home again, and another quick change, and then Liesl was out the door to a sleepover birthday party at Elia's. It was unicorn-themed; there was a pinata and pass-the-parcel, and cake, and almost certainly too little sleep. But Liesl loved it and had a great time.

 

I proceeded to go out to a wine bar, Dame, with my friend Michela, and enjoyed the wine, food, and conversation immensely. I also enjoyed sleeping in until 8 - unheard-of luxury! the next morning, before I had to go and pick up Liesl in order to make it to her LYS competitive soccer team game. 

We returned home and reconnected with Sebastian, and ate some lunch, and then sweet Liesl did the most sensible thing possible and curled up for a long afternoon nap. Weekends are hard work! Back to the usual schedule this week --

Labor Day weekend

We had a really lovely and low-key Labor Day weekend, with some adventure, some rest, some chores, and good times with family and friends. Mom and Dad came south for a quick visit - a chance to check in after our summertime travels, to go watch an LPGA golf tournament, to eat delicious Thai food together at Pok Pok, and to introduce the grandparents to the joys of the board game Clue. I was a little skeptical of going to watch golf - not sure it would keep the kids' attention, since neither plays the game - but it turned out to be quite fun to walk the course and watch these amazing women hit the ball so far and accurately. To top it off, Steve managed to catch a glimpse and a screenshot of mom and dad on NBC when they were broadcasting the tournament. Two seconds of blurry fame!

On Sunday morning we went for a longish hike in Forest Park along a trail we hadn't previously explored (Firelane 15 and the last few miles of the Wildwood), and it was good to reconnect with our forest after so many city days in Italy. We came home for lunch and playing Clue with mom and dad before they drove home. And then in the afternoon, I napped and Steve zoned out and the kids ran around with their neighborhood friends, setting up a club, exploring the forest, riding bikes. Some neighbors had an impromptu Labor Day party/BBQ, so we spent the evening hanging out with some old friends and some new ones, eating and drinking an assortment of food, while the children ran around outside and into various houses, a pack of 15+ kids of various ages, culminating in a kid talent and fashion show. It was the perfect end-of-summer evening.

We probably should have spent Monday on chores and errands and finally getting into back-to-school mode, but instead we ran away to Cannon Beach and enjoyed another sunshiny, gorgeous day of perfect weather and the ocean. Jasper was thrilled. We did all of our favorite things -- walked a couple miles, threw the football and frisbee, played beach baseball, dug some holes, flew the kite, ate fish and chips at Tom's, and got saltwater taffy. What a magical summer it has been.