The Swoosh

Last time we were in Portland, I got a tour of Nike's campus from Amanda. This time the kids were bigger so we all decided to take a peek. Coming from 2 people who work in school districts, it seemed like a foreign country.  We were there during lunch time and the amount of people working out was astonishing. The culture of health was unlike anything we experience. If you workout you get an additional 30 minutes of lunch.  I don't know logistically how every company can emulate that but what a service for your employees. Everything from the tennis courts, to the gyms, to the pool, to the soccer field was being used. Jenna loved seeing the soccer field where one of her Nike Training Club app's trainer's had a bullhorn and was putting about 200 employees through a crazy workout.

The kids enjoyed it in different ways.  Campbell just thought it was a town with cool art. Noah just looked at the banners of all the athletes.  They got to run a lap on the track and see museum worthy things they won't appreciate until they are older. This trip to Portland really opened Noah's eyes to a lot of sports.  Lacrosse seems to be his new "favorite" sport. My personal favorite moment was seeing a group of engineers (or whatever they are) putting a group through workouts as they tested Sparx gear.

Thanks to Sue for taking us there on her day off, even though people kept trying to stop her and engage her in work :)

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Oregon 2015

What an amazing trip. We crammed in as much of the Pacific Northwest as we could but still left feeling like we missed a lot.  I'll document the different adventures we had one by one. The trip started on a high note with Campbell flying for the first time that she can remember. The look on her face as we took off was awesome.  Then we landed at Amanda and Sue's resort.  It needs a name like Shangri La or something.  Then we hit the coast, we hit the woods, we hit Nike, we hit the waterfalls, we went to the kid's first concert, we brewed beer with an airshow flying overhead, and mostly we recharged our batteries.  Our hosts were amazing and for the second time in as many trips, Jenna was checking job openings in case we decided to stay :)  

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Happy Father's Day OR Channeling my inner Ice Cube

Can't really quote any of the lyrics here, but "It Was A Good Day" comes to mind thinking of this year's Fathers Day. The kids are at that perfect age where: 

1. They can do things for me.  

2. I'm still a big deal to them.  

The day started pretty early and went so late it felt like 3 days in one. My card was sweet like only homemade cards can be. Then my gift was a rose bush picked out from each kid. My favorite thing about our first house was the rose garden. We tried transplanting the one I planted when Noah was born but some things just don't move well. I have one failed attempt at roses at our new house but it failed. After 8 years though I'm ready for another go. 

We sat outside under the willow until we were hungry then went to breakfast. The kids helped me fix my Jeep hoist and we took the top off. Topless Jeep ride to go visit Ann and Pops. Back home to FaceTime Dad, who had the good grace to say my tomatoes looked good before showing me his drool worthy plants. Early evening Magga and Jana showed up for a visit this week. The day ended with my new favorite thing. The U.S. Open in the Pacific Northwest. I mean, watching golf while the kids get themselves ready for bed? Yes please. 

Highlight of the day was the kids playing baseball in the backyard. Jenna and I watched through the window for awhile before I had to capture some on video.  

I really will have to up my Mothers Day game next year for Jenna. 

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Coffee and Why We Need It

This morning I stumbled into the kitchen to make breakfast for the kids. First though, I needed coffee. I got a mug, selected my K-cup, put it in, hit the large button, and started making breakfast. I'm not a super hot coffee drinker so I usually let the mug sit for 5-10 minutes to cool off.

Eventually I made my way back to the Keurig but no coffee was waiting on me. The cup was set to the side, empty. I knew I had pushed the button so I panicked but there wasn't a mess anywhere. I chalked it up to a pre-coffee brain. I put the cup under and pressed the button again.  It started pouring out an opaque liquid that resembled tea way more than coffee. So I went and got the coffee expert.  

Jenna had me track down a paper clip so she could "clean the needle." Then she took the Keurig apart and noticed the drip tray was full of coffee.  I mean full.  Sherlock Holmes was not needed to deduce I had run the Keuring without a mug underneath it and the drip tray shockingly holds an entire cup of coffee. Something tells me the clever engineer's focus groups said this was necessary for people like me. 

Jenna, of course, had a huge laugh at my pre-coffee brain and decided to go ahead with "cleaning the needle" since it was already disassembled.  She wrapped it up and (laughingly) told me she started a new cup for me.  I went back to the kitchen a few minutes later to a cup of water.  Not tea this time, but just plain, clear water.  I returned to the expert.

"Run another cup" was all the expert could say through her confused face. The confused face was there because she couldn't figure out how I screwed this cup up when I wasn't even in the room. So I returned to the scene of my morning confusion-still in my pre-coffee brain. At this point we were all almost ready to leave and I still had not had any caffeine. 

I went to the kitchen, opened the Keurig to confirm a pod was in the machine, and pressed large. Hot water started running out of the sides of the maker, pouring down the sides to the bottom, and falling like a wide waterfall into the cup instead of the usual drip. Crystal clear mind you.  95% of the water was making it into the cup so the mess was somewhat contained.   I reopened the top and realized there was no hole in the K-cup. Then I noticed a large plastic piece in the sink.  Mrs. Smarty Pants had forgotten to put the piece of plastic, that actually holds the Kcup, back into the maker before she started my coffee.  Water was just pouring over the closed cup, filling the area with water until it could hold no more, and then letting it all pour out of the Keurig's seams.

I informed the expert of her mistake and we shared a mutual laugh this time at the Thursday Morning Coffee Saga. So finally, I am able to press large and the dark brewed caffeine was pouring into my cup.  Sigh. Life was good. Now it was time to go.  I got the kids corralled and out the door with jackets and backpacks. We told mom goodbye and off we went to start our Thursday.

In the drop off line at 720AM I was feeling pretty good.  I love laughing at myself as much as anything in this world.  All I could think was that together, Jenna and I make a whole; UNLESS we haven't had coffee and then we might make one half.  I reached down for my cup to have my first drink of caffeine of the day.  I forgot the cup at home.

Ketchup

"three tomatoes are walking down the street- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. baby tomato starts lagging behind. poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and smooshes him... and says, catch up!" - Mia Wallace [Uma Thurman] em Pulp Fiction

Noah loves this joke.  One day when he's much older I'll sit him down and we'll watch Pulp Fiction together.  I bring it up here because I feel I can't catch up. We had a whirlwind December with family coming to town and a lot of milestones.  Noah got his black belt.  Cam had her first recital. Then the holidays and our typical 4 Christmas'. I feel so far behind now I don't even know what to post first and how. 

I asked Noah to write the post for achieving his black belt.  Still waiting.  I don't want to post Cam's recital because it feels like I'm skipping Noah's black belt. Don't want to post Christmas because it feels like the rest of December didn't happen. Ugh.

So I'm breaking the ice with this.  I will post them all soon and if they are out of order then so be it. To come full circle, I'll finish with one of Campbell's favorite jokes.

Know how to get Lady Gaga's attention?............Poker Face

Settling into spoiled

There are moments when a puppy is about the last thing you want to deal with at the end of a long day.  Then there are these moments.

Sullivan's Oliver Duke

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.  Helen Keller

This weekend was pretty great.  We have been shopping for a new puppy for awhile.  We've talked about it as a family.  We've talked names and we've talked breeds. Jenna and I were finally set on either a Brittany or an Aussie.  Looking for local breeders we found a good Brittany breeder not too far away, Valley M Gundogs. I contacted the owner and got a good feel about him and his pups. At this time he had a litter just born so it would be awhile before they were ready. 

We really wanted it to be a surprise for the kids at Christmas but the breeder sent us a picture at 4 weeks old that melted our hearts.  To sum up an epic negotiation, we went to visit last week, just Jenna and I.  He had two from the litter left to choose from and we fell in love with both.

We took pictures while we were there and that night we played a game with the kids looking at pictures of dogs on the internet. "Do you like this one or this one?"  We snuck in the a picture of the two puppies and they both chose the same one. 

So Saturday afternoon, the kids were told we were going spelunking at at private cave south of Fayetteville.  We drove up to Valley M and told them they needed something extra for this adventure. 

via YouTube Capture

Obviously they were crazy beside themselves. It's funny how the name came to be. We have talked for a long time about a dog and we've had the conversations with them. We were all agreed we like the names Rex, Ollie, and Duke. Jenna wasn't crazy about Ollie but she liked Oliver with Ollie as a nickname. So Rex, Oliver, and Duke were all on the table without any real resolution. Then BAM, it's time to get a puppy and the only word that comes out of their mouths was Oliver. Go figure.

So we drive up to the house and this follows.

via YouTube Capture

How timid they were in the beginning was pretty comical but they warmed up quick.  The ride home was crazy. He was everywhere but there was no way he wasn't going to be in the back seat with them. Finally Jenna had to get back there to bring some calm to the madness. 

via YouTube Capture

We took him to PetSmart and lavished him with everything a puppy could need or want. Noah read to us that night from his new Brittany book. It was a pretty awesome day.  

Oliver settled in easy. He has zero fear of his crate and mastered the doggy door on his second day. I've been nominated as full time night watchman but that's okay because Jenna wakes up an hour before me so she has to deal with hyper-Ollie :)

The kids? Well the kids are in love. We all are.


End of fall baseball-2014

We wrapped up fall baseball last weekend in Bentonville.  Noah played well which has him fired up for the Spring.  I think he catches the bug at the end of every season ;) 

The team really meshed well the past few weeks.  The boys made it to the championship game which was awesome.  Noah had to face one of his best friends, Jack in the final game.  He was really nervous batting against his buddy, but had a couple of quality at bats and hit the ball hard. The  highlight of the tournament was Noah making a diving catch and doubling a kid off of first base.  The opposing team had the video.  You can't see it perfect but Noah is the third baseman. 

The end of the season is always bittersweet. Baseball just takes a lot of time, the boys could use a break.  At the same time, our Titans family has really gelled and you hate to not see them for awhile.  Very proud of all the Titans; the players, the moms, the siblings, and don't forgot those handsome coaches.

10/25/14

Ugh!

Our whirlwind summer has come to an end. We started with baseball, went across Arkansas, the U.S. and even North America.  Our home computer has decided to slow to a screeching halt and  I haven't been able to devote any time to it so at this time my patience hasn't been up to the task of going through the photos. There will come a day though where I take the photos hard drive and plug it into my laptop and share our adventures.  Today is just not that day :)

Farewell #2

The problem with having 2 phones and a camera on a trip is its hard to gather all the photos together for an album.  Okay, it's not "technically" hard but it's all about finding the time. So until I  can find the time I'll just let you know we had a great weekend.  An unexpected highlight of the trip was dinner at the T-Rex Cafe.  How awesome is that place? The game was great.  Jeter got a hit and scored a run.  The Royals prevailed though on the backs of two huge home runs so there was drama and there was some offense. Noah was crazy into the game to the point he wouldn't let me take his picture when the Royals went ahead.  It rained during the day so we didn't get much pool time. The kids were up late two nights in a row but spirits were good and they were troopers.  Here's a pic until I can get it all compiled.