Winthrop

Here's the pictorial of camping in Winthrop last week. I gotta say lazy days of drinking and sitting in the sun (mostly) agree with me!! I came back with a KILLER tan (which surprises no one) and wanting a beer at 11 every day!!! Going back to work was rough, but I made it...

Portland

I had the opportunity to take the kids to Portland last week. What a freaking great time! We visited our family, the zoo, the arts museum, an old friend of mine, stayed in a hotel and had the BEST WEATHER ever! We left home where it had been raining for two weeks (what??!!) two hours later we were in the beautiful, warm sunshine of Yakima and then on to Portland where the weather was fantastic. Totally great time!

Thankfully, my kids are better travelers (Nintendo DS, books, and a tablet with some kids apps loaded on it makes them less bored) and I even made us a good playlist which neither one complained about and even said "turn this one up" a few times. Good job, Me!

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

FOOD!

The Arts Museum

Arizona

Okay. That was my hike. The top photo is the view from the tippy-top of Camelback Mountain. Holy mother of everything holy what a hike! The second photo is the trail marker. Notice how it points DOWN? Yeah, it's not kidding. The third picture is one section of the rocks I scaled to make the ascent and decent up and down that mothertrucker. So tell me, am I awesome? Yeah, I kinda thought so. I seriously had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into. On the way up the trail, I considered quitting, but I had been reading WILD by Cheryl Strayed and I kept thinking if she can do the fricking Pacific Crest Trail from California through Oregon (alone), I can fricking do Camelback Mountain. So I did. And it was totally worth it.

And this was the pool where I relaxed for two afternoons, and where I would LIVE if I could. I got me a really good desert "tan", its kind of the color of the desert dirt, you know, reddish. But its a start!

And those are the botanical garden. I visited again to see if my photography is any different. All these are iPhone, so I don't know yet.

We were in Arizona because My Honey had a conference to attend and I invited myself along, I think its gonna be a long, long summer at work and I thought I might need a break before the busy gets started ....  Monday.



A little walkie-walk

Took a little walk today. It was really, really nice out, shorts and a t-shirt nice! The dog and I did 6.5 miles here. It was beautiful! -- How come I didn't know this area existed when I was a kid?

Games two through FOUR

Okay, so the rest of our games deserve some air time. We won our division championship. It is true we had a not-so-novice group, but it made it fun. And I learned a lot and.. We won!

Mostly I want to say playing with those upper division ladies could be really discouraging, but they make it a lot of fun and a really good learning experience. They're all in it to help us become better players. They could take a cranky "I can do it better and faster without you" tone but they don't and that's one of the things I love about our hockey league.

They also took into consideration the skill of the other team and tried to switch it up so they were playing unfamiliar positions making us a little more novice.

I had the chance to play wing and defense, I declined center. And I was in the right place at the right time to poke one in for a point during the championship game!

All in all a super great weekend. The kids even had fun staying "in a HOTEL! With a POOL!!" And they got to see their grands and an auntie which is always a good time.

Game one

I'm not sure I will actually post about games two and three, but game one was a great experience and I just want to jot it down.

I'm at an out of town tournament playing with a whole bunch of ladies that are a lot more experienced than me, but at the same time they are having to "play down" because we are in a novice division. Last nights game reminded me why I love this group; they're patient, encouraging and set each other up for success. And they have fun and enjoy doing it.

So this group has a pretty solid defense set-up so I am playing wing. My Honey was giving me some pointers before the game - play like you're 10 points ahead and you want to keep it that way, your job is to be there for the rebound or to take it all the way and hit it in. That kind of stuff.

Well it worked! I was there for several rebounds (nothing made it in) I took it to the net (nothing made it in) and I caught quite a few passes, and even had successful passes to my teammates that were assists in goals! So my personal stats were pretty impressive- two assists and the other team voted me MVP.

Even without the MVP it was a great game! So looking forward to the next two. AND I even get a cheering section :) some of my west side family and maybe some friends will be at the games today. I'm looking forward to seeing them!

The bittersweet? My friend and coach T is at a different tournament this weekend so she is missing it all. I did send her a text about how her little girl is getting all grown up.

Spring Break

This past week the kids have been on Spring Break. They got two extra days off due to conferences. I'm actually glad it worked out that way since the extra days were my days off from work too. My sister-in-law from Portland and her family were in town so I got to spend more time with them than usual, including a little girls-night-sleep-over with the cousins at my house that inclcuded pizza, dressing up, makeup, fingernail polish and sleeping on the floor. Total chaos! But a really fun time for everyone.

 

 During Spring Break-proper, I had to work so I signed Hannah up for a Y program she still enjoys and Bubba did a row and paddle camp. If I were a 4th-8th grader I would have LOVED the row camp, in fact, they should do an adult version! The kids met at the park Monday through Thursday from 9-noon, learned about rowing canoes, kayaks and paddle boards and on the final day they canoed down the Columbia from Confluence park to the boat launch a few miles away. What a totally great time! Bubba had a blast. They also learned CPR and got to explore the conservation areas at the park. Two thumbs up! The Y program is still just right for Hannah, group games, swimming and some arts and crafts. They have both been wore out all week.



Tomorrow we leave for Everett for my final hockey tournament. It's the only out of towner I was able to do this year, the other one I signed up for didn't get enough participants. I took on the responsibility of booking hotels, I sure hope I did it right .... Every email I've sent out since then has had an error in it about something or other so I am hoping everything works out. We have a totally cushy schedule, first game Friday night at 7:30, Saturday games at 12:30 and 6:30. IF we make a championship game it would be at noonish on Sunday so we don't get home too late either! The kids are looking forward to a hotel "WITH A POOL!!" and Cabela's.

Fresh

I was super irritated last week after work so I went storming up the hillside to relieve my irritation, cussing and swearing about how So-n-So is a stupid such-n-such. About how I'm not doing my job wrong but they sure make me feel like I am. About how nothing works right, how it's not my fault. Blah-blah-blah. On and on. Woe is me. Then I turned a corner and I started to realize that I ought to consider some other things like maybe So-n-So might have been having a bad day (or week, or month, or year). I didn't do my job exactly right (I skipped a few steps, we still would have arrived at the same end). There will never be a day in my job where everything works right. Sometimes it is my fault. Then I started down the hill and I noticed all the things I missed while I was charging angrily up the hill. The eeentsy teensy white flowers sprinkled in the new green grasses, these pretty purpley-pinkish beauties.

Madness blinds us. Exercise opens our eyes, and hearts and minds to other possibilities. To the beauty around us.

On my walk today I found this gem: a brand new something or other just barely busting through the newly dampened ground. (We woke to new snow today ...WTF? First day of Spring, my ass!) But its hopeful, no? If these little buggers can make it through a winter and poke out this Spring so can we. It's a fresh, new year. Fresh new start. Push through, unfurl your leaves, reach up to the sunshine. Grow. Live.

But there was this too, a bright blue sky. Ahhh, beautiful.

And this. This is my new favorite view.

I took a right at the Y in the road and ended up here. Soon the hills will look like they are actually covered in a green velvet. I can't wait. Then I know summer is just around the corner!

Finished

For the past year I've worked on this sweater for Hannah. I've ripped it out at least eight times. I finally signed up for a class "how to knit your first sweater" and finished this bad boy.

I don't know who is happier. Me, Hannah or the people at work who have put up with me this past year.

Up next a picture of her in it and then maybe a matching purse!

Rainbow updates

My girl and my work crew have done wonderfully with the whole "rainbow/color of the week" thing.

My girl and I created a FB group where we posted stuff, at work I used an existing bulletin board covered in a dollar-store plastic table cloth to cultivate creativity. Along with an email, something on our in-house system, plus a note in each persons box in addition to signage. Just a few reminders!

Green wrap up

From my Rainbow Girls green week:

RED!

My people came through and there were some fun things posted :)
Blue is coming up ....

What's on my mind?

That person, you know? The one who drives me a little bit batty? It's because I'm just like her. Only less annoying, I hope. But I know I'm not.

That hockey thing, you know the one thing I talked about ALL. THE. TIME. last year? What happened to that? I'm still playing, in fact we scrimmaged this morning. It was good. I think I was loquacious about it last year trying to figure it out, work through it. It seems easier this year, I'm not trying to remember all the stuff I wrote about last year, a lot of it is coming naturally. That's a good thing, right? But the scrimmage needs to be talked about, if only so I remember what my job was supposed to be.

We played "drop-in" style so you never know what position you're gonna play until someone comes off the ice. Several times I found myself playing positions I don't know well. No, that's not it, I was going in to a position that I don't play often (forward or center) so I had to remember what I am supposed to do. Its kind of disheartening. BUT, I did it the best I could, and it got easier each time. (I still hate center, too much responsibility.) I'm trying to get rid of the puck too quickly and without thinking, though, when someone starts toward me. Man up! Evade! You're fast, you can get around them and go! go! go! DON'T THROW THE PUCK AWAY! It never works out ...

We have a local tournament next weekend. It sounds like I'm playing in the novice division, which suits me just fine. Do I want to be on an upper team? Ever? Good question. I don't know. The following weekend I had signed up for a tournament in Idaho. Sounds like its a no go. Too bad, I was looking forward to an out of town tourney. Hopefully the one in April will be a go.

My girl and I just wrapped up our RED week. And I started this color project at work too. I'm a little nervous about it, but ... Well, its just six weeks.

Up the road

Hannah has some kind of flu so she was home sick from school yesterday which means I didn't get out for a walk. Fortunately, I managed to get out for one this morning. Many thanks to My Honey. The above picture is just some ice. In real life it had rainbows shimmering through it. The camera couldn't capture it tho.

This fence post is at about the third mile up the road. Yeah, that means I did six miles today. It took me just under two hours, it was muddy, a little snowy and UP HILL! Its nice to get back out, get moving. After being holed up with Hannah yesterday, it was just what I needed.

Rainbow

The next several weeks will bring a rainbow pallet of pictures. A project I was working on for work morphed into Mustard wanting to do a project of our own so we started Rainbow Girls. In essence the project is to see the colors in life, there are also pieces about mental and physical well being too.

The past week was yellow. So we photographed yellow things in everyday life. This collage is things I photographed on Thursday. The pancakes are a tortoise and a hare (use your imagination and flip them sideways) because Hannah is in a play on Saturday. Maybe. She is a sickie today, so we shall see.

In keeping with our project, I've been more outdoors-active. Dorika and I went up to Mission Ridge and hiked a few miles of the Devils Gulch pipeline-thing. It was soooo quiet. I saw some animal prints, bunnies mabye? and that was about it. Too cold for the birds and squirrels and all that. But not too warm up there that the ground is all sloshy and muddy like up on the hillside. I made a small goal of 100 miles before our April shift change. I am tired of failing my walking goals. I didn't make either of the ones from last year. Life gets in the way, I guess.

Today start a RED week. Stay tuned for RED pictures!

Favorite Vacation Pics

Miami

I love the palm trees

Cozumel

Very colorful at the port

Cozumel

The resort where we did a COOKING excursion!

Cozumel

My dessert plate. I did ALL that

Honduras

I may or may not have taken a rock or seashell of this beach

This was our favorite port!

Shipboard

Our favorite Cocktress at our favorite bar, Alchemy

Yes, she is pouring four drinks at one time!

They were all good, I fell in love with Manhattans!

THE COOLEST

I found the coolest menu planning thang.
It was super cool because this week's menu calls for mangoes which I just happened to buy when shopping the other day! Oh yeah, I signed up. I am hoping it will help me get my grocery budget under control ...

I worked out again

Home from our sunny and rainy and wonderful vacation, and out for a walk with the dog. She sure is glad to get out. Here she is after a 4 mile hike. Looks like she is just getting started, doesn't it?

It felt good to get out, I am so glad I live here. I really do like it, but I will admit 85* was wonderful, even in a "tropical storm". -- That's my description of the rain showers we encountered on our trip.