Camping Wedding with Kids

Ken and I went to Taryn & Paul's wedding this weekend. It was one of my favorite weddings -- a camping wedding right on a river. They had it a lodge that had cabins for the parents/families and then everyone else camped on site. It was great. I loved how they arranged meals for everyone, had kegs and drinks available and everyone could meander about all weekend. From mountain biking to hiking to whitewater rafting, you could do what you want. They got married in a short, simple ceremony at 5 pm -- officiated by one of our friends.

A bunch of our friends from Tucson flew in for the wedding. San Francisco, New York, San Diego and Tucson were all represented. We organized the camping gear for 8 of us. Many thanks to our Portland friends for pitching in their gear.


The weekend was great. Getting in and out of the tent was comical, but other than that, everything was fine. There were lots of kids at the wedding (10 kids under the age of 4) and 6 pregnant women. There were only 66 people at the wedding, so kids made up a huge portion of it. It was fun to see them all running around and it made everything not as scary for me.

My highlight was babysitting our friends' (Rob & Jana's) twins while they went on a hike. The twins are 20 months and they spent most of my babysitting time napping. When the little girl woke up, I asked if she'd like to get out of her pack and play (crib of sorts) and she raised her arms so I could pick her up. My heart melted a little bit. Then we went on a search for her socks. She was surprisingly helpful. She helped me locate them -- I asked her questions and she'd point to where they likely were, which was great, because I honestly had no idea where they were. We put her socks and shoes on and then her brother woke up. I sat her on the floor with a toy while I went to retrieve her brother. Jonathan was not as helpful. His socks were easily found but completely wet from stomping in puddles or something boy-related. I found some new dry socks, put them on him and was about to take both outside when a horrible stench came from Jonathan's diaper. I watched Jana change them before they left, so I felt OK putting down the towel, getting the new diaper and the wipes. I put him on the towel and got his pants and diaper off only to realize the smell was too much for me. I started gagging. My friend Kristen was in the other room taking a shower and heard the sniffles (not sure if they were mine or his) and asked if I needed help. Knowing I was beat, I immediately said yes. Jonathan started to cry. I gave him the plastic shovel to distract him. He wanted the plastic pail too, but I kept that in case I needed it more than him. More tears. Kristen saved the day and changed him. I was next to her, completely unhelpful. I did help by gagging as I threw the poopy diaper away, but beyond that, I was useless. Ditto for when we realized Ella also needed to be changed. Kristen is my hero. Once she handled the horrible duties of both, we took them outside in the grass and let them play with their buckets and shovels until mom and dad came back. I told the tales of Kristen's awesomeness. Ella was a sweetheart and I loved how she wanted to wear dresses yet still enjoyed sitting on your lap and spilling things down the front of herself. It made me much more excited for a little girl of my own. Ken had a good time with the kids too. He played soccer with the little boys and helped Ella eat her crackers. Both were priceless.

According to the pregnancy book Natascha gave me, I am officially 8 months pregnant as of yesterday. I am 32 weeks, so 8 weeks to go, though normal arrival is anytime between 38-42 weeks. I'm assuming the latter since first births tend to be late, I was late and I'm thinking Katie's a sleeper like me. But either way, it looks like we're now in the single digits. Stay tuned.

Camping

Heading into the woods this weekend for my first camping-while-pregnant experience. Ken got me an aweseome, super-cush dreamtime thermarest for my birthday... a 3 inch thick air mattress of sorts. I am excited to use it and hope that it's comfortable. I've been spoiled from our awesome new bed lately. I am also going to miss the beer. It's been a long time since I've camped without it. If a beer camps in the woods and there's nobody to drink it, does it really exist?

More Easter Photos

More photos from Easter. These are from HfB Dave.

4.875 gallons of beer on the wall...

We always get a k-egg for Easter. This year we got Deschutes Brewery's Green Lakes Organic Amber. Ken had to return the keg tap today, but wanted to save whatever was left in the keg since it was pretty good. He asked me if I had any jars, to which I smiled and gave him access to my lovelies... twelve 1/2 gallon mason jars that he got me for Christmas.

And out to the porch he went. We bet on how many jars he'd be able to fill -- I thought they'd be 2 jars worth, he thought 5. We were both wrong. A total of 4.875 gallons were pulled from the tap. So delectable. I took a sip when we tapped the keg and it was delicious, so I am sad that I won't get to help drink the rest of it, but I'm sure my brother will oblige and take one for the team. And whatever goes flat, I will use for cooking.

Behold, the beauty of our kitchen island (before it went in the fridge):

Easter Photos 2009

Easter Photos have arrived! Many thanks to the Sirkins for taking over 400 pictures of the event!

More details on the event are to come, but for now... Enjoy.

April Updates

Lots of things going on around here.

* Baby is still in there. It will be 3-3/4 months this weekend. Amazing that it will be 4 months very soon. The good news is I can still wear my normal pants. The bad news is not for long.

* My parents (who are very excited to be grandparents) are coming out to visit on May 1st for 2 weeks. It will be fun to see them, especially since Andrew now lives here too. My mom wants to go maternity clothes shopping, which I think is very sweet. They'll be driving out and checking out sights along the way -- also visiting Vancouver BC and Seattle while they're nearby.

* My peach tree (the one I planted last spring) has lots of hot pink blossoms. I've been hand-pollinating them with a paintbrush. My asian pear, also planted last spring, has lots of white blossoms that are just about the bloom. I am very happy about these things.

* The basment is still in progress. It is mostly finished, but I'm still working on the molding and learning how to use the compound miter saw. Ken and I worked on it last weekend after I learned how to do it "the hard way". I also have to finish the drywall around the closet doors and paint. That probably won't get done this weekend, because....

* This weekend is Easter. We're having 54 confirmed guests (including 2 babies under the age of 6 months). It is supposed to rain. Good thing Ken built the arbor and we have a ginormous (technical term) tarp we can throw over it and tie down. On the docket for tonight and tomorrow are filling over 1000 plastic eggs.

* I will be sad to not partake in mimosas this weekend. That said, I've learned that OJ, seltzer water and lime is an ok substitute.

* I bought my first pair of non-athletic shoes in 3 years. I can't wait to break them out for easter. It is taking all of my might not to post a picture of them here. But I will write an open-blog love letter to them after Sunday.

* The appraisal came back on our house and we were happy to find out that (despite the economy not having the basement completely finished), it is doing great. We were happy to hear that.

* Work is going well for both of us. I'm writing a grant for my job and enjoying doing it. I'm also going to a conference in Minnesota in May. I'm looking forward to it. My boss has been very supportive of my "condition". The pregnancy hasn't gotten in the way of work except for some headaches that come in the early afternoons. I just work through them, but it stinks. Today, I'm lucky that they started early in the morning. At least it's friday.

* Ken and I checked out a daycare facility last week and were shocked that, despite not needing daycare until January, 2010, we're on the wait list with an excellent chance of not getting a spot. The baby's not even born yet, though I felt like we were going through college admissions. And just like admissions, they took $40 from us to hold our name on the wait list. How sweet. We're going to put our names on a few more places, but sheesh, the daycare situation is crazy. You may want to sign up before you get pregnant. (I'm kidding -- kind of).

* I just got the call that my asparagus crowns arrived. I'll be picking them up this weekend. I'm very excited about them and will plant 10 plants.

* I still can't parallel park in my new car and feel ridiculous.

* I'm really looking forward to next weekend when we have no plans except for catch-up things.

Cribbage Champion

Ken beat out yours truly to win the Cribbage tournament last night.

I knocked him to the loser's bracket in the semifinals and he ended up coming back to beat me twice and win the title. Shaking my fist at him (albeit proud the title stayed in the family).

My family

From this year's Santacon (December 2008). Mindy took this picture slightly before they got kicked out of the bar.

Science of Cooking -- Class for Teens

A friend of mine asked me to teach a class for teens at the local community center where she works. I happily obliged -- besides the fact that she's a great girl, volunteering at her place is how I found my current job.

The class I'm teaching will be 8 weeks long for an hour each week. I got to pick the topic, so my class focuses on the science of cooking, something that I love dearly and know very well. I decided to add the science part in because it's easy to tell kids to "add this" or "stir that", but if they don't know why they're doing it, then what's the point. Plus, if it gets them even a little bit more interested in science (or cooking), then it's a huge win.

The first class in the 8 week series starts tomorrow. Here's the syllabus:



Tomorrow's class is about pretzels. Why pretzels? Because they're easy to make, very hands-on (the students will actually get to feel the gluten forming in their hands as they mix and knead the dough) and they're really, really good coming hot from the oven. It's a great first lesson.

I've figured how many batches of dough I need to make so I can swap dough out as needed. (3 total, in case you're curious). The class is only an hour -- way too short to make pretzels from start to finish (due to rising time). Luckily, I've watched enough cooking shows to know that I can swap out my bowls of dough. i.e. We'll make the dough in class so they can feel what it's like. Dough needs to rise. Swap bowls with a dough that has already rose. They'll get to punch down the dough and roll out their pretzels. Then swap again since the pretzels need a little more time for their final rise. They'll get to boil and season the pretzels before we bake them. Then, we'll still have time to eat them at the end. A lot for an hour, but I did a dry run and had time to spare, so I'm hoping it will all fit.

Rather than just talking, I'm also going to try to have hand-outs for each class. For example, here's tomorrow's pretzel class hand-out. You'll see the recipe on the left, which I've broken down into colored steps (middle column). In the right column is the why behind what we're doing.



So wish me luck on Wednesday night and hope for no whammies. It will be my first multi-day class that I've solo taught.

Game Results

The sibling rivalry game went great. Our team had two plans going into the game:

1. Ken offered: "Free beer for every two times anyone gets Andrew out. I'd say every time, but given he's a rookie and it's a 40 minute match.....that could get pricey."

2. Brian organized: "Also, in the first game we should do our best to make sure he only plays for a few seconds by teaming up with all 3 of our first balls without any regard for our own personal safety. "


Andrew warmed up with his team. He was a nervous cat because he hadn't worn shorts in so long. Teams lined up. 3 shots fired immediately at Andrew. Andrew's out (by Ken) but so are two of our players. Game was good overall. We were tied 2-2 and then we came back to win 6 in a row, making the score 8-2. Andrew did very well, he dodged, had a good arm and even attempted a catch (very hard for rookies to try -- especially their first time out).

After the game, he rode to the bar with his teammates. We met them there and bought them a few pitchers. At one point he had 5 pitchers on the table in front of him. He was happy.

There were 40 teams playing last night. Most have ~10 on the roster. Assume 1/2 go to the bar on any given night, so we're talking 200 people. Plenty of people for him to meet over the next few weeks. So, a great start for him. We're glad he's connected with the sport. He even seemed to enjoy it a bit.

December Flashback

Wow, a month since I last posted. Sorry about that. Luckily, only good news on the Roko front. Here are some of the things that have been going on:

• My brother Andrew arrived and has been living with us since early December. He got a job near our house as the manager of an art supply store. He's very happy -- he likes the people he works with, he's on salary, has benefits and he can bike to work. He's getting accustomed to Portland, some things he really likes (art and music scene, friendly people, bike lanes everywhere) but other things he's still figuring out (girlfriend is long distance, there's more rain here than in Denver, disbelief that he signed up for dodgeball and is responsible for a business). I've been cooking a lot with Andrew. He's learned to make different breads, gravy, pancetta, etc. He likes baking bread the most and even made some when we were out of town for a week.

• Christmas was fun, especially because it was very white this year. Portland got a crazy winter storm and my work was closed for a week (just before xmas). We had snow drifts 2 feet in places around our house. Kinley was very excited. Ken snowshoed to work everyday. I skied to my dentist appointment! Here are a few pictures from the holidays:


Watching Ken's childhood train go around the tree

Waking up on Christmas morning to realize Andrew and I put on the same clothes




• The homebrew Ken and I made turned out! It's a hoppy amber and uses hops that we grew in our backyard. Pretty exciting! In contrast, the sauerkraut and tomato pickles that we were fermenting didn't work. Both had a not-so-lovely layer of mold. We threw both in the compost. I'd rather have beer than pickles, so I'm ok with this.



• Ken and I went to Mexico for Dave & Kristen's wedding. We left for Puerto Vallarta on December 30th. We stayed there for New Year's and then took a 45 minute water taxi to Yelapa, a town on the beach that has no roads/cars. D&K were married in a lovely, small ceremony on January 3rd. We were in Mexico a week. Here are some pictures of Mexico and their wedding:
  
  
  We went to a mojito bar one night in Puerto Vallarta. They had glasses upon glasses of them lined up, ready to go
  
  
  The group at the mojito bar.
  
  
  We ate cricket tacos one night
  
  
  Dave & Kristen rented a big boat to take all of us from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa. We had to transfer boats (in middle of the bay!) so that we could get ashore. Imagine all the people, baggage and even Kristen's wedding dress being transferred to this smaller boat. It took 3 trips to get us all there. Tim, our tallest guy, carried Kristen's dress so it wouldn't get wet. Here we are arriving on the beach of Yelapa.
  
  
  They had our casita keys ready for us on the beach. Here is the beach of Yelapa with the mist coming down the mountains. It was a beautiful, quiet beach with mountains all around. Taryn took this one. We went ashore smack in the center of that beach.
  
  
  
  The casitas of the hotel. Ours was the 2nd from the left. You can see our beach chairs where we sat in the morning/evening.
  
  
  Their pool overlooking the Pacific. The pool had giant boulders in it -- you could sit in the pool on various rocks and look out onto the beach or water.
  
  
  Kristen and Dave threw a welcome dinner for everyone on the night that we arrived. Here are Kristen, Ken and I at the welcome dinner
  
  
  
  Afterwards, they threw a bonfire on the beach and kept the beach bar open. Here is the bar on the beach where Jana and Paul are getting drinks after the welcome dinner.
  
  
  Taryn brought outfits for Dave and Kristen to wear at the bonfire.
  
  
  
  The old gang on the beach with big toothy grins
  
  
  
  Team Roko Demolition at the bonfire
  
  
  
  We hung out on the beach the next day. Their wedding was at sunset. Here is the wedding aisle before the ceremony, made of palm fronds, bamboo mats and bougainvilla
  
  
  The ceremony
  
  
  Dave and Kristen just after they got married
  
  
  Walking back down the aisle as the mariachis sing to them.
  
  
  Nate, Ken, Karl and I suprise the bride and groom with luchador masks we got in Puerto Vallarta
  
  
  The posada where the wedding reception was held
  
  
  The bride and groom at the reception
  
  
  Me with my bride, Ken
  
  
  
  The next day, Dave, Ken and others searched out a place where they could watch the Vikings/Eagles game. There was one place up river. The road to the sports bar is never long.
  
  
  Dave in his Eagles' luchador mask and sarape, watching the game with friends. Dave was very happy that day.
  
  
  Dave & Kristen before we all head back. What a great wedding and vacation!
  
  
  

Soap works

My soap turned out!

I read that it has to sit for a couple of weeks after making it since the lye can still be caustic. I was giving some to a friend but wanted to test it first, since nothing says "happy thanksgiving" quite like a chemical burn. So after drywalling Thursday morning, I went to take a shower with my soap. I grabbed a bottle of vinegar on my way (to neutralize the lye in case I started burning). Ken was very confused as I took the bottle of vinegar to the shower with me. We were telling the story to some friends later who advised Ken to never ask about weird girl behavior. Suffice it to say, I never needed the vinegar and my soap turned out great. Who knew you could feel so clean after bathing in bacon fat?!

Happy 35th Ken!

Today is Ken's 35th birthday.

We are going to Marne's tonight for our dodgeball team's pumpkin carving night. It will be nice and relaxing -- perfect after a busy weekend. We threw him a surprise party on Saturday night. It took a month of planning and he had no idea. There were 40-50 people that gathered while Ken was watching a sports event downtown. When we got the call he was on his way home, everyone piled into the garage and yelled surprise when he opened the door to put his bike away.

He said he didn't have a clue. After the cheering, we turned on all the outside lighting. We had a blast. Everyone played a different role in the surprise -- some distracted him, others brought pumpkin pies, others helped set up and prep food. We had a keg, food and lots of games. One of our friends even made a spiced rum-filled pumpkin with a spigot (similar to this). She even put viking horns on it and gave it X's as eyes. It was awesome.

I prepared a sKENvenger hunt where 4 teams were randomly assigned and had to compete against each other to finish 10 sheets ranging from Ken trivia to collecting photos and videos. Photos are coming soon, but some of my favorites were:

• A video of a teammate “giving birth” and dedicating their performance to Natascha. (she gave birth to her first child earlier that day. We now have 4 videos of creative births - complete with "water breaking"... they are hilarious).
• A video of a teammate singing karaoke

☐ +30 points if it’s a solo
☐ +30 points if the teammate dedicates the song to “my lover, Ken”
☐ +30 points if the dedication is said by a man or lesbian teammate

(there is a karaoke bar around the corner from our house -- there are some very hilarious dedications and performances. Surprisingly, all 4 teams sang to Ken!)

• Of a “look how many people we can fit in here!” picture (imagine a whole team in our shower or in Ken's crotch)
  

In all, it was a great time. I still can't believe he had no idea. I'm so relieved it's over. Keeping secrets is hard! Which is why I didn't tell anyone over email (including Ken's parents) and tried to tell as few people as possible even when I saw them in person (Caroline and Rob, I was dying to tell you when you were in town).

Speaking of, happy birthday to Caroline as well! She and Ken share the same birthday today.

New York Visitors

We had an awesome time with Rob and Caroline, who visited us two weeks ago. Ken knows Rob from school in New York and they spent a long weekend with us. We got to hang out, tour around Portland, go wine tasting and head out to the coast for some R&R.

Kinley waiting to see who may be coming to visit. This is a very typical picture. Dave and Kristen's wedding RSVP is in the mail slot.


On Friday, Ken took them on the tram. Here's the view from the top of the tram.


Rob inside the tram.



We ate sushi on Friday night. On Saturday, we drove 30 minutes to Oregon wine country. It was a beautiful day. All of the grapes are just about to be harvested.


Kinley waited for us to finish wine tasting in the car. His head was out the whole time... even though there was a giant, delicious sandwich right next to his head. He never touched it. I was impressed.


Ken and I outside one of the wineries. Caroline called Ken an "urban sherpa".


Rob and Caroline outside one of the wineries


We arrived at the coast just as the sun was setting. Caroline had never seen the Pacific before.


Rob looking out.


Me eating wild blackberries that I picked while watching the sun set.


Fog rolling in.



The next morning, Caroline and I decided to go clamming. Here is Caroline putting on her rubber thigh high boots.


Here we are just about to go out. Caroline and I went out in the rain while the boys (Kinley included) lounged around.


Me clamming in the mud.



We caught 8 clams and called it quits. We went to eat cheese and ice cream at the Tillamoook factory instead. Then we came back to Portland for their red eye flight back to NY. In all, we had a great time and it was so fun seeing them!

Backpacking in the Wallowas

Ken and Kinley are traveling to Eastern Oregon this weekend to go backpacking in the Wallowa mountains with friends. Unfortunately, I can't go for time off reasons. Sad, but I'm looking forward to having the weekend alone. My goal is to finish drywalling the washer & dryer area of the basement. It's been a long process and I'm sick of looking at that area. Ken leaves Friday morning and comes back Tuesday. That gives me quite a few days to do the work and hide the evidence (read: mess). I'm hoping to even have it painted by the time he gets back. Can't wait.

Also on the itinerary is Natascha's baby shower and going to our friends' house for games and hanging out. Should be fun. I also want to do a lot of gardening. I have some plants I want to transplant and divide.

But sadly, more than all of this, all I can think about is going to sleep in my new bed. I've been going to bed at 9:30 every night this week. I wake up at 8 am. I am still tired. I want to sleep more. I can't wait.

Corey Maynard Olympics

Our friend is very competitive and some of us are throwing an Olympics in his honor. It's taken a couple of months to plan and our first events were last night. I placed 4th in Cribbage. Levi placed 3rd in Shuffleboard. Ken competes in Darts and Scrabble tonight.

Behold, the Corey Maynard Olympics

Hood to Coast 2008

Ken's team finished the sub-200 mile relay race in 30 hours, 56 minutes and 39 seconds. They had a great time. There are 12 people on a team and they break into two groups/vans. Van 1 runs while Van 2 rests and vice versa. They started at 8:55 on Friday morning and arrived in Seaside, Oregon at 6:30ish on Saturday evening.

All of the runners play dodgeball with us, so they were the Dodgeball Run Kids (or DRUNKS for short). All of the photos are here, but here are a few to get you started.

Ken's van before the race on top of Mt Hood:


Here's Ken leaving the Timberline start on Friday morning:


Ken flying down Mt Hood at a 6:37 pace. Apparently he checked an incoming text message as he was running.


While one van runs, the other sleeps. Imagine this times thousands, scattered along the Oregon woods and roads.


Here is the finish line in Seaside. Kinley got to run around the beach and play fetch in the ocean while we were waiting for the runners to arrive.


And here is the team leaving with their medals of completion. It was a long day. Everyone should be very proud of themselves.



I watched Ken's transition under Portland's Hawthorne bridge on Friday night before driving to the coast with Kinley. We rented a house on the beach and a few of us went down early to go crabbing on Saturday morning. We woke up before 5 AM and hit the road. We rented a boat, traps and got bait (fish carcasses and chicken -- crabs looovvvee chicken) and were on the bay near Rockaway Beach shortly after 6 AM (high tide that day).

There were six of us and our first pull brought up at least 30 crabs, about 6 inches deep in the trap. Most were females or too small to keep. At the end of our 3 hours, we caught 7 Dungeness crabs. The boat outfitters cleaned and cooked the crabs for us on the spot. We ate for brunch and drank a beer by the fire while we dried our stinking wet clothes.



On our way back, we decided to do a shellfish tour. We went hunting for mussels and clams but there was a red tide advisory so we decided to not eat any mussels. And our clam hunt was a muddy bust.

Overall, we had a great time. Crabbing was great* and the trip was terrific. We got back around 4 pm. Ken watched a movie and I drywalled the basement some more since it was raining.


* I have washed my shoes out twice by hand and they've gone through the washing machine twice. Nasty crab water and clammy mud is a difficult smell to remove.