"Before" Pictures

This picture kind of sums up the state of things for us right now. School's going well for me, but the district has a block on blogger.com, so I haven't been able to keep up with postings. Anyways, we're working away getting ready for Audrey!

So here's sort of a "before" photo of Audrey's room. This used to be sort of a storage/craft room downstairs at Bob and Marilyn's, but after a big clearing, we painted a sealer over the tile, layed down some flooring, and Shatrine went to town on her striped paint frames. She has grand plans for some white moulding as well, so it's been fun seeing it come together. Woohoo! We'll try and post some "after" photos once things get done.

Mindy Smith!

For part 2 of Shatrine's birthday (after the Murder Mystery Dinner), Rob and I surprised Shatrine with tickets to see one of her current favorites: Mindy Smith. It was actually somewhat comical, because Rob and I had been planning it for a long time, and the week before, Shatrine called me into her office and said, "GUESS WHO IS COMING TO TOWN!?!?" I had to tell her that Rob and I had something else already planned for that night, and we couldn't change it around. She was seriously disheartened. I promised her we'd catch Mindy next time she came through. So we went out to an awesome German restaurant, and when we rounded the corner and it said, "Mindy Smith Live In Concert" on the marquee, Shatrine put two and two together. A good time was had by all.

Side note: Mindy is like the official sponsor for Propel. it was hilarious. She was making all of these product placement comments between songs. Fabulous.

Murder Mystery Party

For Shatrine's birthday, we had a murder mystery dinner! We transformed the downstairs family room into a 1920's French Rail Car (complete with steam locomotive sounds and big band music in the background!). We each had personas, and I played a war hero whose plane was shot down over Germany. Fittingly, Shatrine played the part of a princess (an heiress). We had a blast, and Marilyn catered with some incredibly fine French fair... filet mingon!

Exclusive Pregnancy Photos!

As camera shy as she may be, I was able to snap a few at her family birthday party. (She's 6 months prego here). She and cousin Kari shared a birthday crab-fest (Brian brought a bunch of Dungeoness, and we feasted).

Croquero Wedding

Well, I got to make my way down to the "Croquero" wedding (That's the marketing name for it... you know, Crockett + Romero... www.croquero.com). Anyways, it was great to see the whole gang... Stephanie looked stunning, Frank-dashing. Got to catch up with the Sharps as well (here's Pax)

Here's all the college buddies.

Johnny's day at the beach...

This was quite the event. Glenn & I decided to take a last minute trip Saturday morning to the beach... and of course we had to take Johnny because he had never been. Note to self, don't let your your dog drink salt water if possible, and then get back into the car for 2 hours. Ha! Well, it was fun, messy and an all around great day. Johnny made it back safe and sound and I don't think he will EVER drink salt water again!

Spoiler Below

So some friends gave us these great cons in pink none the less. So there is your spoiler.

The Fray

Glenn, myself, my brother Rob, his girlfriend Maria, friends Kevin and Lisa got to take a day off go to Multnomah Falls (first picture) and then catch a great concert at an awesome venue....McMenamins Edgefield! As far as McMenamins goes not only did we get to see an amazing show - where else can you play 16 holes of pitch and putt golf before a concert? (definition - you only use a wedge and a putter the whole course!) It was a great day and highly recommended by all of us. So here is a picture taken by some friends we made that day.

Me and Toad

So this is quite possibly the worst film ever... quality, that is. But if you strain, you can hear it. The first few strains of Toad the Wet Sprocket live in Portland at McMennamins' Crystal Ballroom. Rob and I had a stellar evening reminiscing about old times with Toad.

Side note: It's incredibly strange that all Toad fans seem to be equally terrible dancers. I swear the whole night people were jumping, bobbing, swaying, weaving... completely out of time. But hey, I guess that's why all us nerds were listening to Toad instead of MC Hammer or Boyz 2 Men; because none of us could do the Roger Rabbit.

Baseball in the Northwest?

Even though Portland has no professional baseball to speak of, what is a Krake roadtrip without baseball?!? So after our Goonies pilgrimage, we trekked up north to catch some minor league ball. We watch a AAA game in Tacoma (along with a fire works show) and then ventured into Seattle on Saturday to do the classics (Pike Street Market, the first Starbucks, the Seattle Underground Tour). We also strategically parked in front of Safeco Field, and conveniently caught a Mariners-Tigers game. It's a beautiful field, and they had a cool museum-esque area where John and I recorded play-by-play in a mock broadcasting booth, and John's masterful photography captured this amazing moment:

We then made our way back to Portland where we saw the Salem-Kaizer Volcanoes (the A club for the Giants) and we even caught a ball!

Finally, Portland has a AAA team: The Portland Beavers (San Diego's minor league affiliate) and even though there wasn't a game while we were there, we managed to sneak onto the field... and into the club level restaurant... and into the locker room (talk about lack of security!?!). Despite my anxiety, John also perused through the training room and on into the sports medicine room, laundry room, etc... Is anyone really surprised?

Goonies Pilgrimmage

For John's 30th birthday, we surprised him with a trip to the pacific northwest. How do you surprise someone and convince them to get on an airplane? That's another story entirely. Well, we had several adventures ahead of us. Despite arriving late Thursday, we left bright an early Friday morning to take advantage of all the day-time possible. First destination: Tillamook and the Tillamook Cheese factory. (yummy samples, yummy ice cream... too many choices).

Despite a slight detour (after an hour down the road, we realized I left the camera at the Ice Cream counter pictured above), we arrived in Astoria, home of the Goondocks. If you are lost right now, stop what you're doing, rent "The Goonies" and continue your life now enlightened. So we re-traced the steps of our beloved Goonies:
(John watching Chunk's car chase from the opening credits)

(Posing in front of the famed County Courthouse... which though currently out of operation, remains nestled next to the police station, so recreating the gasoline fire column was out of the question)

(And finally, the ultimate in Goonie-lore: Mickey's house. Here I am doing the truffle shuffle... classic).

Professional Pyrotechnician

Yes, I am a professional pyrotechnician. I was on a barge on the Willamette River in downtown Portland shooting off the largest fireworks show in Oregon on the 4th. Pretty cool stuff. Rob and I went down at 8:30 Wednesday morning, and spent the entire day prepping mortars, loading shells, running electric cabelling, foiling and securing triggers. Good times. I love the sweet smell of gunpowder in the morning. (sorry, no napalm). At times throughout the morning, we nearly passed out due to the heat. Despite warnings to lather up with sunblock, which I did, we worked non-stop from 8:30-4 before stopping for lunch and reapplication of sunblock, I missed a couple of spots, and am sporting some nice burn spots on my ankle, neck, etc. While it has a tough day of hard work, it was worth it as we were able to cruise down the river on a barge full of explosives. Then to see the crouds of cheering people as we passed under the bridges was pretty cool. The show was pretty amazing... especially sitting behind some safety shelters on the back of the tugboat. The show was for the Portland Blues Festival, so what seemed like the entire city lined the banks of the river to watch the show. Sadly, the shells were just a tad too loud for us to enjoy the music choreographed to the show. Shucks. Maybe next year, I'll bring a radio. Which reminds me, Rob and I had a fun conversation topic: if you could choreograph a fireworks show to any song, what would it be? My current top choice: Remy Zero's "The Glorious #1"... epic

I'm employed!

I got the ideal teaching job this last week. Of the 9 or 10 applications I had out, there was one that I was really hoping would pan out. The school district is amazing. From looking at their vision and mission, it's really like a large public-school version of the small private school I'm leaving behind in Texas. They place a huge emphasis on professional development (they pay 100% of graduate work... yes, 100%), and focus on ethics and leadership as well. Needless to say, I'm quite excited. I'll be starting the day teaching yearbook 1st period (which doesn't start until 8:30am), and then after my prep period, I'll have one section of 9th grade English, and then 3 sections of 10th grade English. So it looks like I'll be reading To Kill a Mockingbird, the Odyssey, Romeo & Juliet, Of Mice and Men this summer. I'm looking forward to revisit some of those as it's been a couple of years since I've taught 10th grade.

Settling in...

So we arrived safe and sound and hit the ground running. Our stuff is scattered between a storage unit down the road and the Weik Auto Shop. To our pleasant surprise, A ton of people the previous weekend (led by Rob and Uncle Jim) descended on Shatrine's old bedroom and stripped the carpet, laid new drywall, etc. So it was like a clean slate when we arrived. So we've been painting, and expect to get new carpet in tomorrow. Uncle Jim came by today as well and helped me tear out the carpet in the downstairs family room, so when that carpet comes in next week, we'll be able to start making that our own little family room refuge.

The Last Leg...

We had a great time in the Bay Area with my family. Did our first bit of baby shopping... Babies R Us... good stuff...did you know Jeep and Eddie Bauer both make strollers!? Crazy. Anyways, we also got to meet up with the Armerdings (Sam, Karin, Caleb & Zach) as well as Roger for lunch. We then spent a family night like old times...Oceans 13...BBQ Ribs...exciting rounds of NERTZ "late" into the night (well...past Dad's bed time, anyway). We also got our first "Mother's Day" and "Father's Day" gifts. Yes, Andy and Marty are pretty excited about becoming "Opa" and "Gram."
After what were quite possibly some of my Dad's best batch of hash browns ever, we hit the road for our last leg of the trip. Even John showed up for the 5:30 AM breakfast and send-off.
We just stopped at Maxwell Rd. in Glenn County (perhaps a sign!?!).Should be to our new home by 5:00 tonight!

Competition in Disneyland.

Take that, Stephen Parker! I love it. A ride at Disneyland that involves keeping score and competition. Brilliant. The Toy Story-inspired "Astro Blaster" is my new favorite ride at Disneyland. We had a great day with Kristine and Keira and Karisse McCarty (Tom was working on some Disney Channel spots, not to mention it was celebrity day with the new Nemo ride opening the next day, so he was busy). Stephen, Koryn, and Sidney met up with us, and we had an awesome afternoon inspecting the new Pirates of the Carribean ride, and Koryn even had her phone stolen out of their stroller while we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride. Great fun. Actually, it turned out pretty nice (stolen goods excepted) because Stephen and I got to go "back stage" to file a police report with the Anaheim detective. And since the girls had to take their time eating and taking shifts to use the bathroon, Stephen and I also snuck on the Tower of Terror... excellent.

Cobalt Season in Santa Ana

So Shatrine wasn't feeling when we finally pulled in to LA, so she laid low with Tom and Kristine in Brea. I made my way down to see Ryan and Holly, who happened to be on a mini-tour in the southland. We thought we were going to miss them since we'd be in the Bay while they were in LA, but it just so worked out that they were in concert in Santa Ana (just 15 minutes from where we were staying). So I got to see them and Paxton. Ryan Bell from Hollywood took some cool shots to capture the evening, so I thought I'd post a link here to some of the pictures he took. Thanks Mr. Bell! (The picture at the top is one of Ryan's). Can you belive Paxton made it through the entire concert in that sling. What a trooper! Holly even rocked a melodica over his cooing babbles. Half the time, he just seemed entranced with Ryan's voice (Cobalt Season Ryan, not Photographer Ryan). Coolest part of the evening? Ryan played Koyannisqotsi (sp?) in the background during the concert, and at one point, he was singing about getting on the metro, and at it was like "Dark Side of the Moon" and "The Wizard of OZ"... people were sliding their BART tickets and getting on the train. Fun stuff.

Mobile Web Assistance

After leaving Amarillo, we were trying to calculate how far we could comfortably get, and we decided on Gallup, NM. So I called my Mobile Web Assistant (AKA Stephen Parker) who found us a Hampton Inn and Suites just outside of Gallup. Since we already checked and found there were no Sheraton pillowtop matresses on our route, this Hampton was a pleasant surprise because the bed was like sleeping on air. Thank you Stephen. If you don't have a Mobile Web Assustant, I highly recommend you book one before your next cross country trip.

Loading,Unloading,Loading...

We're in Amarillo on our way to eat lunch at the Big Texan. Our tow dolly is getting repaired at the Budget branch out here, so we are taking a long lunch. Well, we're far enough removed from our loading debacle, and I've cooled off enough to now tell the story.
First of all, let me just say we have the greatest friends. Shawn came out early Wednesday to move the big stuff with me, and Sara and Kate from school came and boxed up the kitchen. Sheesh. Not to mention Stephanie who was pretty much at our house for two days. Amazing. If not for them (and the later to be mentioned...yes, there were many more helpers), I would have surely gone insane.

Well before I get all worked up, let me ask you this question. If you were moving out of your little 2 bedroom town home, and you went to rent a truck and they told you they had a truck that would hold 1-2 bedrooms, 3-4 bedrooms, or 5-8 bedrooms, which truck would you rent? Well, after filling up the truck we rented, we realized we miscalculated because it only fit half of our things. So our unbelievable moving crew of the Lyons, the MacDonalds, the Barnes, the Ferris', and the Seegers, We had to completely unload everything and take back the 3-4 bedroom truck we got. Can you believe that!?! Talk about false advertisement! By the time we unloaded everything, the Budget rental place was closed for the day, so we had to push back the departure a day. We slept on our airmatress dreaming of a Sheraton hotel pillowtop and got up early the next day to trade our 16 foot truck in for the "5-8 bedroom" 24 footer. So our champion neighbors, Steve, Michael, and Lee came out to move all of our
stuff for the THIRD time. This time on coincidentally the hottest day of the summer to date...at the hottest part of the day from 1:30-5:30. Phew. They were invaluable...what great friends.

We're On Our Way!

Well, we finally made it on our way. I'm writing this from our Holiday Inn & Suites (free internet) Room... one hour into our journey. Yes, we finally got everything packed up and it was 9:00 when we realized that the tow dolly on which our Honda is being towed has a malfunction in the lights. So rather than wait an hour for the emergency roadside to come and hopefully fix it, we decided to drive an hour and get to a hotel and get a good night sleep (as opposed to on the floor of our empty house on an air matress)... well, we're exhausted, so I'm going to hit the hay. I'll tell of our packing adventures later.