Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This has been fun for me. It makes me focus on certain things, and I find myself looking at things in a different way. Some of the criteria was hard for me, so perhaps some of the photos may not be that great, but here is what I came up with for the week.

                                                   1.      Then and Now

 My daughter-in-law at her wedding viewing the framed photos of family members when they were married.


                                                        2                Fingertips

 I love these chubby little fingers that seem to be into everything lately.

                                               
                                3.               Walking empty street

 Chubby bubby strolling down the street without a care in the world.  Good thing we don't get much traffic!

                                                     4     Floor

This is how my floor looks most of the week.  Kids, toys, cats...It is what it is.

                                                         5          Repeating Patterns

While walking the streets in Hong Kong, this looked so good. A nice cold beer to wash away the heat and humidity.

You can view all of the sets here:   http://www.ashleysisk.com/search/label/Scavenger%20Hunt

Calgon, take me away......

This commercial has been playing in my head since I woke up an hour ago. Take me away, take me somewhere peaceful. Ahhh Maui pops in my brain. Warm sandy beaches, tropical breezes, sweet floral air.  OK, I need to snap out of it.  Maui is many month's away!

I've been bitten by the BS bug. Borde/Shaw bug to those that don't know. My darling grandsons have infected me with a summer cold. Not just any cold, but one that has me coughing from my toenails, sinus headaches, and an all over drowsy feeling that I just can't shake.  I'm doing somewhat better this morning, if you count trying to pour coffee in an upside down mug!  Mark was sniffling around last night, so I'm guessing this bug will now turn into the dreaded "man cold" I hope I'm better before this happens, as the "man cold" is always ten fold worse than any disease I can conjure up. At least that's how it seems.  :-)

Our weekend wedding at the beach last weekend brought much fun, revisiting of old friends, and a free microdermabrasion compliments of the wind and sand.  Oh me oh my, did that wind blow!

Note the tablecloths blowing in the wind...at least they were smart enough to put tacks in the tables!

The beach is a fabulous place for kids.  Miles of sand, an ocean, buckets and the things they can do are endless.  Baby boy loved his time in the sand.  He laughed, he threw the sand, and he rubbed it in his eyes.  Not so good, but big boy...now there is someone who takes it all in and makes the most of it. With a simple stick, some sand, and a vivid imagination, he had the time of his life!  He played and played not letting any of the adults in on his magical time.  We laughed so hard as we went through the food line at the wedding to find "the stick" laid out on the food line.  Yes, a certain someone had been there.



The temperatures were perfect, low 70's, and the wind was blowing.  We had complimentary microdermabrasion facials, the wind was in hyper speeds. 

Yes, the beach is a magical place. Adults sit and stare at the waves, and little ones dig and play...oh such fun!

Here are the troops ready to walk to the wedding.  Poor Mark, left his "wedding clothes" hanging on the closet door back home.  Oh well, what's a t-shirt among friends?  We had a pleasant 10 minute walk down the beach to the wedding.  When we arrived, a friend asked, "did you comb your hair today?"  Oh my.  We were asking ourselves the same thing. Why did we bother?  It took 30 minutes that night to get all the tangles out!

No, she isn't trying for the cousin It look alike!
The bride was stunning, it was fun reconnecting with old friends, but the wind drove us out.  We agreed to meet a group at the Pelican Pub and after a 30 minute walk up the beach with the wind in our faces, we made it!  Achilles tendon screaming, face burning, and hair, well let's just say it was not a photo moment.  We enjoyed some food and drink, and great conversation. Finally heading home, baby boy didn't want to sleep. Three naps and the BS bug, Lucy, Chris, and baby left for home around midnight.
Monday arrives, and it's a Rowdy day. The BS bug is bugging, but I go into lock down mode, and Rowdy has the run of the family room/kitchen.  He discovered the copper boiler filled with wooden pellets used for the pellet stove.  Little wooden pellets started being piled here, there, and everywhere, but he's happy, he's not eating them, I let it go.  As the pellets lost their  attraction, we moved on to learning a new skill.  Sweeping!  This was fun, although not too many pellets got in the dustpan..it was still fun.

Rowdy was a good sport, played nicely and we finished our Monday with snacks of veggie straws and Sesame Street. A nice quiet ending to Monday with the B/S bug.

 Tuesday was a child free day, but the B/S bug had me laying low.  This is the first summer cold I can remember, and it irritates me that it's kicking by behind like is.

Wednesday brought Teak over, and busy busy boy likes everything BUT toys!

The floors are getting a lot more character thanks to Mr. Teak.  :-)

"Hello"  "Hello"  the boy loves phones

This week also was the arrival of the butterflies.  I sent away for caterpillars for Ty.  I thought it would be great fun for him to watch them go through their life cycle.  Imagine my surprise when he informed me that he had done this in kindergarten!  Now I went to his classroom every week, and I never saw caterpillars!  Anyway, as the little guys made their chrysalis, Lucy was grossed out and they came to my house.  When we returned from the beach, we had one butterfly.  The instructions told us to only keep them for five days, then set them free.  The kitties thought that the butterflies were toys for them, and I was not in the mood for the butterfly habitat being batted all over, so Ty came by and we set them free.
 Not exactly as I imagined, but hey, if I've learned anything it's that I shouldn't have expectations of people or how events will turn out.  Life has it's own course, and my imagination doesn't always come full circle.

 Just know, in my mind, it's all good, even if real life doesn't follow that course.

I heart faces: Water

This week's challenge is water.  Cool clear water. What could be better?  A young boy learning to fish. I love this capture.

Check out the other entries at

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2011/07/photo-challenge-water/#more-5689

Scanvenger Sunday

I have found a new site with photo challenges.  This is my first week at this, so here is my interpretation of what the criteria is.

check out other entries here:  http://www.ashleysisk.com/search/label/Scavenger%20Hunt



 Scavenger hunt

I found myself searching for my family several times during this beach wedding yesterday.

                                                                HAT

                                             The groom put on his fedora for cake cutting
   Clear 

 I think it's clear, the joy that they feel at becoming a family. It was a total family wedding with vows for the children promising to respect, love and listen to them.




                                                                  OUT OF THIS WORLD

The sun setting into the ocean on this perfect evening while sitting on a sand dune was totally out of this world to me.


                                                                    SPRINKLES

Baby boy's first time in the sand, and oh did he love it! Sand was everywhere!



                                                      MUSIC TO MY EARS

Children playing is music to my ears. These rambunctious boys were having so much fun with their boogie boards, and their yells and laughter were music to my ears.

Grandsons

Who would have ever guessed that such joy would come in the form of snails and tails and puppy dog tails? I swear these two grandsons bring more joy into my life than I knew was possible.  The six year old is growing so quickly I can't stand it. He will be in school full days as a first grader, and I know that our time together is so precious..

Blueberry picking has become a tradition.  He eats as many as he picks. Hopefully he won't get too big to continue doing this activity with his Tutu!

His little brother is 10 months old, and is showing so much personality. I need to enjoy this baby stage for I fear this one will be a wild one!  He blows kisses, smiles and says Tutu to melt my heart..in fact he's becoming quite the parrot and tries to say many things.

We will be having a weekend at the beach, and I can't wait.  sand toys, camera, waves, sand dunes..oh I hope it all is as wonderful as my imagination!

I offered to take Ty to the movies.  I told him winnie the pooh was playing. He informed me he's too big for Winnie the Pooh.  ACCCKKKKKK! How can this be????

Photo challenge: Props

The son of a hunter, this was a given that the baby would have a photo taken with this prop. To see more prop photos go to
http://www.iheartfaces.com/2011/07/photo-challenge-props/#more-5595

Bare on Bear

Mother/Daughter Get Away

Last weekend was a much anticipated get away for Lucy & me.  We had tickets to American Idol,and a room in Portland.  Ty was with his dad, and Teak was with his dad.  All the planets were aligned and we were off for a fun day and night in the big city.

When Lucy was a little girl, each summer we would do a mother/daughter back to school shopping trip. It started out as downtown Salem, and lunch. Then grew to Portland and dinner. After that it was Portland and a night in a hotel. Slowly the trips graduated to Seattle, Chicago, New York, and then she was a married woman, and the trips slowly came to a close.

Those were wild and wonderful times.  Going back in time isn't possible, but moving forward from where we are, is always an option.  Moving forward, mother, daughter time...first stop, NW 23rd street for some retail therapy.

If on NW 23rd in Portland, I highly recommend a stop here for a slice, at the least!

Wonder if free home delivery would mean them coming to Keizer.  Probably not..

Now we look at home goods, kitchen stores, and talk about what would be nice in each other's homes. I purchased new knobs for my bathroom, and Lucy was starving, so we searched for a quick bite, and hit upon the most wonderful pizza establishment.  Fresh heirloom tomatoes and basil on a crisp delicious crust.  Our number was 18, which was Lucy's old softball number. We giggled over the "how it was meant to be" of the moment.

After this light bite, the shopping continued.  We worked our way through the shops, looking at makeup, handbags, shoes, and all of the interesting things the small boutiques hold.  Shopped out, we headed for downtown and to our Hilton room that we hoped was waiting.

Well, driving in Portland is getting easier for me. I have a small understanding of a few places, and we maneuvered well, finding the Hilton on the first attempt.  Sadly, the room wasn't ready, but we left our bags, and headed out to see what downtown had in store for us.

Lucy's first stop was H&M a discount priced clothing store that we enjoyed visiting when we were in Vienna.  It has been in the Portland area for a year or two now, and Lucy found plenty to try on, and did end up buying a few things.  I even managed to find a couple of headbands.

So reminiscent of the old days, I'm sitting outside on a stool, waiting for the "fashion show" of what she tries on.  Now when I say something doesn't look good, there isn't the "face" or pouting that I won't spend that much on an item.  Being a grown woman, and mother herself, she knows if I say it doesn't look good, it is with her best interest.  Of course she buys her own clothes now, so that part has changed as well.

We wandered through all our favorite discount shopping locations. The Rack, Ross Dress for Less, and then we got the phone call that our room was ready.  We slowly started the walk back and had a few minutes to get cleaned up before the next part of the evening began.

The big city and all of the interesting folks we run across.  This guy was holding a sign, "Got weed?"  Only in the city!

The sculptures and water features are one of the things that make downtown Portland so pretty and relaxing to walk around. The sun was shining, the hustle and bustle of the city was everywhere. The little town girls from Keizer were having a most excellent adventure.

the room was perfect...nice and roomy, and we quickly cleaned up, and headed out to find a "happy hour" to start the evening before the concert began.

 

We walked a while, then ducked into Nordstroms to look for someone we knew that works there.  She wasn't working, so we asked another girl where a good place to go for happy hour.  La Brassiere was the recommendation,and I reminded Lucy that she had gone there for dinner during one of her proms.  It is under new ownership and just recently re-opened.  Only a block from Nordstroms, it was a sure thing for us.

 

There were tables outside, most of which were full, so we  took a chance on the inside seating.  The interior looked like a french bistro right out of France.  We took a booth, looked at the menu, and made quick decisions to try this and that.  Oh me oh my....the food was so delightful, we scarfed it down like we hadn't eaten in a week!

 

 

 

Lucy started with a yummy vanilla martini, and I was thrilled to find Gruener Vetleiner wine that I so enjoyed while in Vienna. These were mere beginnings to a wonderful array of food.

 

 

After the wine and food, we were too full to even think about dessert, but did find the menu interesting, and perhaps another day we will revisit and start with dessert!

 

We left feeling happy and full and made the two block walk to the MAX line.  So slick to grab the train and end up at the Rose Garden.  We had a short line waiting us, and were giggling that most of the attendants at the IDOL concert were older than me! It seemed as though there were a few teens, a few 20-30 somethings, and MANY 50-60 year olds.  So funny.

 

We had nice seats, straight on at the stage, and we were pleasantly surprised at how fantastic the concert was.  It far exceeded our expectations.  This year's group was very talented, and they put together an awesome show that made us tap our feet, clap, hoot, and smile.

 

 

After the show, it was grab the MAX, and head back to the Hilton.  Had a nice night's sleep.  Lucy didn't feel well during the night, but when I woke up, she was all ready in the gym!  We had breakfast, and left our room not quite as pretty as we found it.

 

 

 

 

We headed for K town, but not before stopping at a nursery to find some plants for Lucy's yard.  This was the first time she had left the baby overnight, and she was anxious to return.  Who can blame her?  He is awfully cute.

 

 

 

He lets you know what he needs, and when he needs it, which is usually RIGHT NOW!  Brother returned after being gone for six days, and it was so good to have all well in K town for another night...We planted some flowers, and the sun was shining...mother daughter trips will have to wait for now, as two small boys are wanting their mama!

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