March 1st Trip to the Oregon Coast

Greg was talking about doing a video only blog the other day. After our adventure to the coast yesterday, he was talking about it more and ready to start it. I talked him into making this a video blog. I'm obviously having a hard time keeping up with it and the change will be fun. So here is video of our trip to the coast yesterday. There were few times when I realized Greg was recording us. He uses our camera so it looks like he is getting ready to take a picture. I have to confess when he opened the window to film outside, the rain was quickly soaking through my jeans and I was a little irritated. It's a shame I'm confessing it because I didn't know he was filming and glad that my expression and words did not betray my inner emotions too much. Another funny thing, when Greg is filming us walking up the bridge to look at the sea lions you can see the camera lens blowing in the wind. After the sea lions we went back to Seal Rock and went below to the beach that Greg, Otto and Solomon we overlooking. It is there we crossed the little stream on the rocks and saw some awesome tide pools. Greg took lots of great pictures, hopefully they will be on our Flicker site soon (see our Pictures link). We had a great day and as you see the weather changed frequently, always beautiful.

Almost Library Day

I took the camera to the library this day intending to take lots of pictures and tell you all about the times we go to the library. However, after the picture with the kids in front of the sign I forgot I had the camera and never took another shot. Now, I could still tell you about the day, but I'm going to make you wait until I have some more pictues. Hopefully, at that time, I will also have more time to write. The bike trail the kids are on is nearly one half of our walk. It not only keeps us off the street and away from traffic, but it has this long curb which is great fun, though it does add some time to the walk. We have been going to visit Greg's grandma after the library as it is within walking distance as well. Olivia always takes a nap on library days. I will have Greg ride the route with his bike. It has a computer that tells the mileage and then when I write about our library days I can include the distance we walk. It is maybe 2 miles total. Not too far, but good exercise.

I was looking through our pictures and found a few from a ride I didn’t write about. On New Year ’s Day we went for a family ride on a bike path that begins not far from us and goes to Tigard, almost to Greg’s old house. In fact, he took Louis, Otto and Solomon on the same path in… December? maybe November, and they rode by the house so the boys could see it. It is a long trail, maybe 7 miles, nicely paved. It does cross a few roads, one is especially busy, but the others have light traffic or crosswalks. It was cold New Year’s Day, but not wet. We went maybe 6 miles and I got a piece of glass in my front tire. If we had brought a tube we could have changed it, but we didn’t. Greg rode back quickly with the oldest three and the younger two and I waited for him to come back with the truck. That was when I began to feel really cold. The kids ate some snacks I’d brought and we played “I Spy” and ran up and down the sidewalk. It was sure good to see Greg when he made it back to us, and he had the heater going full blast… ahhh.

Being the youngest and the first girl, Olivia is the most photographed member of the family. We will enjoy that for now and I will be making a conscious effort to get some pictures of the older boys. Be sure and check their blogs because I am requiring them to update them at least every 1-2 weeks. It would be easier if we had an internet connection at home, but they may have finished their blog entry and have to wait a week before we get to the coffee shop so their entries may be logged late. Anyway, I did get a picture of Otto and Solomon playing with silly-putty. Olivia is playing with a few of the stickers Uncle Rick and Aunt Kathy gave her. She also received a dress-up chest from Grandma and Grandpa Straub and you see her modeling a couple of those. Finally, she was helping me make dinner last night by cutting up some Calamata olives for our burritos. Here is also a different night when I am making tortillas, Olivia is collecting some cilantro leaves and Henry is putting away dishes (at least you see he is an active member of the home).

Trails, Blogs, etc.

I cannot believe how quickly time passes. It has been over a week since I posted last, but it seems only a couple of days. Maybe life is just not that interesting; it doesn't seem like much has happened. Greg was going to go riding at Falls City on Sunday, but decided to go for a hike with the three oldest boys instead. They went on a trail in Forest Park and had a great time. The weather was beautiful, though the trail was muddy. Louis wrote about it on his new blog (link added: Adventures of Louis).






Speaking of blogs, we had to get Henry a new one. It has been so long since we have been on it that we couldn't figure out what e-mail, username, password, etc. we used to set it up. We decided to just let it go and start over. Isn't life great when we can do that? So I changed the link and he will add something shortly (he has to finish his school work first). Otto wants to start one, too . He also needs to finish his school work and have something ready to go before I even set it up. They aren't getting their school work done because everyone wants to see the pictures we choose and the template we pick, etc. It is fun and even educational. It's great when they look forward to writing. Their typing is improving as well.




As usual, Greg took a lot of wonderful pictures on their hike as you can see. I have been practicing my guitar everyday and that is fun. I practice until my fingers can't hold down the strings becasue they hurt so badly. I wish the callouses would build faster. I will continue to work on them.

Hard Working Man

I haven't said anything about Greg's work and want to let you know he is working, and hard. When the bike shop began slowing down because the peak season was ending Greg began looking for a driving job; that is where he has the most experience. He found one driving a sweeper truck. It is a new experience and he gets really dirty cleaning the truck when he's done sweeping. The owner seems like a decent person; Greg will stick with it, working hard. Unfortunately the company has some kind of an agreement with a temporary agency in Portland so Greg has had to work through them for the first 90 days. That has meant a lower hourly wage, no holiday pay, no benefits. We are interested to see what will happen about the middle of this month when we reach that 90 day mark. I'm a lucky woman to have such a hard working husband who desires to take care of his family.

Christmas Past

Another Christmas past. We are so thankful to Derald Dieterich. He is a long time friend of Greg’s family, the realtor that sold our house in 2006, and he came by the apartment a couple weeks ago and gave us a check to help us buy Christmas presents for the kids. It was great! Our kids ask for little and know we often struggle financially so they decide to be content. They are wonderful. It was incredible to be able to buy each of them some of the things they had mentioned over the last few weeks. We rarely buy them toys, none this year, and still Otto said he got everything he wanted. Can you beat that?

Last Summer I told Greg I would like to learn the guitar. I asked for one for my birthday, but there was no way we could pull it off. Well, he took all the money for gifts that we were spending on each other (he said he didn’t want a present) and more he came across and bought a guitar for me for Christmas. He took the older 3 kids when he got it and they could hardly wait until we opened presents this year. I am so blessed with a wonderful loving husband and amazing children.

I was also blessed to have seen both of my brothers, and most of their families. Two of my nephews are serving in the military; one has just finished a tour of duty in Iraq for the last 15 months. It was good to see them both after such a long time. I enjoy good times with my family and often wish we did not live so far apart (California, Sacramento area). It is only a day’s travel, but with gas prices what they are and a day in each direction it prohibits frequent visits. I often look forward to heaven when thinking of my family and desiring to see them more. Another blessing to know they are believers.

Christmas day we spent with Greg’s family at his dad’s home. They are friendly and kind and even though they all live relatively close we see most of them rarely. It was a good time and the kids especially loved the food and fun.

Tonight I am at the coffee shop early to post this while waiting for my friends. It will be the first time we have gotten together in months. In fact, I have not visited with any friends uninterrupted by children since our move into this apartment. I have always had to hurry when on the phone because we are always out of minutes and although Charissa and I have seen each other and talked some there are always others around and time is short. I am looking forward to a relaxing evening and thankful that Greg is supportive of my being out and staying home with the kids.

The rest of this week will be spent cleaning and reviewing schedules and planning/preparing for school to get started in full force again. How wonderful that will be! I’m afraid my kids are not in agreement, but a test of discipline is not a bad thing.

Sorry there are no pictures; we forgot our camera at Greg's dad's house and haven't uploaded since my last update. Extra pictures next time.

Happy Holidays!

I’m sorry it has been so long since I have updated our blog. It was mostly from a lack of opportunity and planning. I am slowly getting everything put in a place in our apartment and scheduling time on the computer will develop into a regular thing soon. The Christmas season also causes things to be sporadic.

We moved to an apartment in Beaverton in the middle of October. It is a three bedroom laid out like a townhouse in that the bedrooms are upstairs with a full bath and the living, dining, kitchen and laundry rooms are downstairs with a half bath. They were willing to take us with all five children which was the most difficult obstacle to overcome. The apartments are old and run down, but the manager is nice and a hard worker trying make improvements. We love the area when we are on our bikes. The library is less than a mile away (we go weekly), as well as Trader Joe’s (our favorite store) and New Seasons (sells Miso and Non Homogenized Milk- We look forward to buying our milk from a farm again, but that will require a little more time.). In the same areas are Powells, Borders, Winco, Fred Meyer, a great 24/7 coffee shop with free Internet, and so much more. Interestingly, this is an area we said we never wanted to live in because the traffic is horrid. Again, we like it on our bikes.

Here are a few pictures of us in the apartment, getting ready for Christmas, and me with my bike in front of New Seasons. The last was taken a couple of months ago; it seems like a long time since we’ve had a warmish sunny day. We celebrated Olivia’s fourth birthday on Friday and took her to our 24/7 coffee shop for some hot chocolate.

I hope you have not given up on my ever updating this site again. I am so desiring routine, but I think I have always desired it and never achieved it. Apparently I should learn to be happy with a “whatever happens today will be good” attitude. I will write again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!