Parades and bubbles

Took photos of a parade and an art festival in Wilsonville today. You can see the photos at www.flickr.com and then search for Wilsonville Spokesman.

After I got home Jen came over and we played with bubbles on the back porch. I noticed that we had a lot of photos of Violet, and Lilly was getting the raw end of the deal. So I changed that tonight.

If you look at the slideshow at the upper left, you can see a bunch of bubble Lilly pictures.

I am wiped out, sunburned and have a bunch of freelance writing to do tomorrow, so I am going to eat ice cream and veg for a few minutes.

Have a good weekend.

Pat

Fun at Silver Falls

Had an interesting day on Monday. We went to Silver Falls and noticed that pretty much everyone in the valley had the same idea. I usually only go to Silver Falls when it's raining or snowing (or when I was at The Appeal there was a movie being shot there, a suicide or missing hiker).

Anyway, billion people, two little kids and things were just nuts. We had fun, but it was crazy keeping an eye on Violet and Lilly. We are like that, we don't let them just run, we like to keep track of the little buggers.

I got distracted and Violet disappeared. We ran around calling for her, and then noticed she walked down to wade in the creek (with about a billion other little kids). We had a good lecture, but we decided it was time to go home.

A good scare will do that to a fun day.

Well, I have stories to write and photos to go through. I uploaded the photos from the trip to Fickr (the slideshow at the upper left).

Pat

I liked the new Star Trek, for the record

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'


I found this funny and thought I would share.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. I plan to take a bunch of photos of the girls and post them. Maybe even a movie or two. :)

Pat

Dance OFF!

Tonight I came home and the girls were dancing like crazy. Violet is feeling better after three days of 103-degree temperatures and a pretty nasty ear infection. Lilly is climbing now -- it's like living with a small version of the movie "Cliffhanger."

We have been very busy, and with my Mom and Dad at the coast this week, a holiday on Monday, we have been having some babysitting issues. Hopefully that will all work themselves out next week. Yikes.

Of course I have the city of Silverton newsletter to put out next week too, so it's going to be crazy. I can't wait for my birthday week, as it should calm down a little mid-June.

Well, off to take a walk and enjoy the sunshine and get some exercise in.

Pat

Ear infections and the new V

So ABC is going to have a new V miniseries. I think the classic '80s one should be left alone, but whatever.

Violet has a pretty bad ear infection, so no sleep for us.

Oh and in the clip above I feel like the reporter, until the woman (alien) says "Wouldn't this interview advance your career."

Well, off to a busy day.

Pat

My birthday

My birhtday is coming up and I thought I would give you guys some gift ideas. OK, one gift idea.

Give me this, and it will be the best birthday EVER!

I prefer slate gray, but I'm not too picky. :)

Ballet performance

Cindy is such a stud.

She took BOTH kids to Violet's dance performance the other day. She let me stay home -- they didn't want too many parents at the small retirement home where they performed. She also wanted to take Lilly so I got 90 minutes of a quiet house. Yes, I know, blissful!

Here is the performance, Violet is in the middle. It's pretty funny.

Photos from the beach

Last month we went to Lincoln City for a week. I have been lazy and not getting these up on the blog. So here are some shots.

Man I want to go back to the beach...

Ford, where quality is job 1

I don't know if any of you remember, but a couple of summers ago, I purchased a car from Newberg Ford.

It was a lemon. The headlights would randomly go out at night. The entire electrical system was fried and I spent a bunch of money on a car that I was hoping would be a nice little commuter.

We fought with Newberg Ford, because they also never processed the title, so I couldn't get it changed to my name or even sell the darn thing until they got around to it. They also never gave me the full-sized spare tire they promised.

Overall it was a horrible buying experience -- we had two of those that year because when we bought our van at Gladstone Toyota it was horrible as well. I guess we got spoiled with the Saturn walk in and buy a car and not get jacked with.

Anyway, we got this letter in the mail the other day. Yes, it was printed upside down.
Now I know why Ford never got any of that bailout money -- they filled out the forms upside down. Their bottom line was the top line. Oops.

The best part is in the letter Steve Clay says, "If you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me." Sure Steve, you will be a big help as long as it doesn't involve loading a printer or doing any type of office work.

If this is how their promotional material goes out, I wouldn't trust them with financing or trade-in paper work.

Pat

When are they doing the Cindy one?

I can't wait to see Cindy's ad. :)

Cindy Johnson
Garbage man of the software industry
She does the code no one else wants to

Happy Mother's Day

Saw this today and had to share.

Enjoy.

Where have we been?

Yes, I have been slacking. Between work, vacation, playing with the girls and continuing my elusive search for the things that keep Cindy happy, I have neglected the blog. Oh, and Facebook had something to do with it too. Dang Web 2.0.

Here are some updated photos I took this weekend. I promise to be better out here. It doesn't take long to update and more relatives visit this than my Facebook page.

Hope all is well with you, and I will try to post more here. Again, sorry.