busy busy busy

We've been having lots of fun adventures this month - most of them not yielding picture-worthy moments - and have all had pretty packed schedules. For a short, wintry month, February has been a little crazy so far, and promises to be just as busy through the end.

Sebastian has both indoor soccer and basketball games every weekend, usually both on Saturdays. He is a great competitor in both. I love seeing him run hard and do his best and improve his court/field sense (finding empty space, being aware of his own teammates and the other team).  In soccer, he's really developing his skills in passing and playing defense, and is much more confident in challenging an opponent with the ball.  He's also enrolled in afterschool cooking, Spanish, and art classes, which keep him busy until 3:30 or so.  He's taken to the cooking class with enthusiasm, which thrilled us, because he was a little reluctant ahead of time - afraid of the sharp knives and hot stove, mostly.  They've made mac and cheese, chicken noodle soup, vegetable fried rice, assorted bean dips, and for today's class, sugar cookies.

The first-grade classes went on an all-day field trip to the Rice Rock museum in Hillsboro today, and I took the day off work to chaperone them. It was nice to spend the day with Seb, to eat lunch together, and to see him interact with his friends.  The museum itself is a bit small and the tour guide was a little boring, but he seemed to enjoy the displays of petrified wood and dinosaur, colorful crystals, and various types of rocks. 

Liesl has had Monday playdates with two little girlfriends - Camille last week, and Vivienne this week. She adored both days, coming home full of stories about playing dress-up and Frozen and tea-party and ballet dancing.  It was really sweet to see her enthusiasm for girly girly games and play.  She's also really taken to gymnastics class at Omega Gym - she loves to run, jump, somersault, crawl, and play on the trampoline and tumble-track.  I think the class and facility are pretty amazing and am thrilled to have found it.

We hosted a Friday morning playgroup at our house - Valentine's Day-themed - and had 12 moms and their preschool-aged children running around the place.  Liesl and her Popo (a surprise visitor last week!) made heart-shaped chocolate cookies together, which was super sweet.  We created some heart-shaped crafts and both loved seeing our old friends together again. Last year, we had Friday playgroup every week, and I've missed regularly seeing the tight-knit community we formed there.

Adrienne and I are still climbing regularly on Monday nights, and some other moms from our meetup group have started climbing as well,  which has been so fun. I love seeing how some people just immediately feel a passion for the sport and display real grit even on their first climbs.  As for me, I'm improving in my strength and technique and have been able to tackle more and more challenging routes as the weeks have gone by - it's cool to be able to mark definite improvement. I've also been running a bit more regularly, usually between 2 - 4 miles, three times a week, and so am feeling fitter than I have in a long time.

My work schedule has been particularly busy this quarter and promises to be even busier for the next few weeks, as the students prepare for spring registration and then graduation.  It's still pretty fun and interesting, though, and I continue to love the diversity of my advisees and their life-stories.

This past weekend was active and busy despite drenching rains - soccer, basketball, and Liesl's friend Camille had a birthday party on Saturday at a bouncy house place - we both got into the bouncing and jumping and dancing and had a grand time.  (In a side note, my legs were SO sore from it afterwards. Who knew!?)  

 

The kids and I went climbing at Planet Granite on Sunday morning, where both kids did five or six routes. I was especially proud of Seb for climbing two 5.7s and of Liesl for persevering and finally making it up a particular 5.6 route. She couldn't make it the first time, and insisted on trying again (against my recommendation); with some small cheats she made it to the top that second time.  Oh, and we also ate dimsum at a new place called Boke Bowl and it was (amazingly for Portland) delicious! Really really good! We are so thrilled to have finally found a place to get good Chinese dimsum in this city.  And finally, we visited the Central Library and checked out 57 books, which cracked me up. 57! We staggered out of there under the weight of them, all three of us happy as clams to have so much fun new reading material.

Phew! So much good stuff. We are so lucky.

outdoor adventures

I went mountain biking in Forest Park last weekend - a few miles down the old Saltzman Rd trail, and then five miles along the Leif Erikson trail - it was fun, but I don't think I've ever been so muddy. Apparently a few days of sun aren't enough to dry up all the winter mud and goop, and the splattering was intense.  I need mudflaps.

Today was a teacher planning day, so Sebastian was off from school. Yay!!  It was sunny and warm, and so we met up with the Delloways and Hoangs to go for a hike in the Gorge - Latourell Falls. It was just the right distance - 2.5 miles - an easy loop hike, with a big waterfall at the beginning and another at the top. Definitely worth a return visit. Especially since I forgot to bring my good camera.

sunny "winter" day

I almost hate to post these pictures when there's a blizzard in NY, but Sunday was a beautiful day - clear, sunny, and unbelievably warm. The birds were out and it smelled like springtime.  Of course, it's January, so this is not seasonably normal weather - global warming? freakish winter? Regardless, we enjoyed it.  There was some morning fog but when it burned off the day was sublime. 

In the late afternoon - after Sebastian got to play soccer on the field for an hour - we drove over to the cemetery on Burnside to see the mountains and city.  We got a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood, still with snow on top despite the recent warm weather.

 

We had a new babysitter come in the morning for a couple of hours - Steve and I went out for pastries and a walk around the Japanese Garden. The children were extra close all day long in the face of a new outsider. It's super sweet to see them rely on each other for comfort and support.

Mount St. Helens, with Mt. Rainier behind it.  Note the fog still blanketing the north part of Portland.

And then we just got silly, asking the children to jump on the grassy hill while I tried to capture it with the camera. It took a LOT of takes, especially to get the timing right with Liesl. Super fun.

Ta-da!!! Both children airborne.

basketball season

Some blurry, grainy, not-very-good pictures from Sebastian's first basketball game on Saturday morning.  He enjoyed it, except that he thought the other team was allowed to do too much traveling and double-dribbling. :)

In other news, his soccer team lost on Saturday afternoon by a very wide margin. We don't know how bad it was, because they stopped keeping score at 7-2, but it was carnage. Sebastian took the loss surprisingly well, continuing to try hard and do his best during the game, and shaking it off afterwards.  He crashed into bed on Sat. night, slept an hour later than usual (6:35!), and then was starving all day today. Eggs, bread, cheese, apples, crackers, banana, nuts, granola bar, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, rice, bacon, and then for dinner a bacon double cheeseburger and pasta alla carbonara. Both. It was crazy.

Sunday adventures

On Sunday we went out and about: the morning at OMSI, building earthquake-proof towers, investigating bottle rockets, learning about the Port of Portland and its shipping containers, testing out sailing ships and paddle-boats, and various other super fun things.  To our amazement, delight, and embarrassment, we discovered another entire wing of the science museum devoted to hands-on experimenting and learning for older children. We have always visited the young children's playroom and the permanent and special exhibits on the second floor. Today we finally walked down the other hallway - for some reason, I thought there was only the planetarium and a submarine in that wing, both of which cost extra fees, and neither of which we'd ever seen. Instead, there was an enormous hall of amazing science play. I feel so sheepish and regretful that we've been there a dozen times and missed out on the coolest room! We even took visitors there and failed to show them the good stuff! I'm sorry! On the bright side, we can't wait to go back, and we're so excited that Tom, Angie, and Rio gave us an annual membership for Christmas!

We had lunch at a new-to-us Latin American restaurant called Teote - very tasty arepas, guacamole, beans and rice, chicken and pork belly. And then we got properly outfitted and tromped around Hoyt Arboretum in the afternoon drizzle.

 A giant wishbone that became two walking sticks.

cozy Saturday

Saturday was a lovely, cozy, rainy Portland day.  Sebastian had sports; Liesl and Steve painted and pretended and read books; I went for a run and baked bread. It was sweet.

My office ordered new chairs and I brought home the enormous box they came in, to serve as an instant fort/house/ship/whatever.  Both children fit inside, easily, and were thrilled.

My double-chocolate banana bread, a new favorite. And my boy, having finally lost his front tooth.

 

Steve and Liesl painting a picture, with pirates and mermaids and the sea and sky.

Sebastian had a basketball practice in the morning with his new team, the Falcons. His friend Frances' mother is the coach and he has multiple friends on the squad. First game is this weekend! And then in the afternoon he had his first game with a new-to-us indoor team, consisting of many friends from school who compete in an indoor league.  He declared that the double-header of Saturday was his best day ever and can't wait for next weekend.