Author Archives: Nicole

View From the Top: A Hike Around Powell Butte

Today has been a strange one to say the least. Half of my family is sick at home while I’m navigating work craziness. It seems the only person who is even close to normal right now is Samuel and that’s saying something.

As for the weekend… well we had a great Australia Day on Saturday and it went a little downhill from there, complete with some flooding in the basement thanks to a blocked drain. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed but just enough to push a good weekend into not-so-good territory.

So, while I work on uploading photos from our eat-our-way-through-Australia-day, I’ll cheer myself up by sharing some more photos from Powell Butte. Yes, it was weeks ago and, yes, I’ve already posted my photos of Mt Hood from this location, but it’s always a good idea to post photos of a sunny winter adventure when you need a pick-me-up.

It’s also a reminder that blue skies always return eventually.

Not the best photo of Thomas but I like it because he resembles Bigfoot.

Note to self: remove the camera bag before taking a shadow self-portrait.

 

 

Today’s Photo of a Mountain Above the Clouds

When you live in a Portland winter, it sometimes feels like an airplane is the only thing that’s going to get you to a little sunshine. Not a bad view from my window seat to Seattle this morning.

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Today’s Photo of Two Boys Getting Along

Back to work today after a relaxing long weekend that included swimming lessons, a day at the outlet mall where I didn’t buy anything at all for myself (we took some of Kei’s international colleagues) and a nice, relaxing MLK day with my boys.

I captured this photo while we were out for dinner on Sunday night at a very nice Portland restaurant. It was the type of place where we prepped the boys beforehand about there being no yelling, running around or otherwise drawing attention to themselves. And they both behaved beautifully, even after one of our phones ran out of battery and they were forced to share.

I asked them afterward what they thought about the restaurant. Samuel said the view of the city was the best part. Thomas liked that the servers dressed in suits and ties. When you live in Portland, that’s something you don’t see every day.

The Blahs

It seems I’ve hit that time of the year that I refer to as “the blahs.” I think the darkness sucks up every little bit of motivation that I might otherwise have to leave the house and… do something.

So, this weekend, I spent a lot of time indoors doing laundry, cooking and otherwise just wasting time. It was not at all productive and now I feel guilty and like I wasted a couple of days when I could have CHANGED THE WORLD. Not really, but leaving the house for more than grocery shopping may have helped my state of mind a little. I am grateful that I still had a teeny little burst of motivation when it was time to take down the Christmas tree last week otherwise I’m pretty sure it would have stayed up until May.

Not that the weekend was a complete loss. The boys started swimming lessons on Saturday. Thomas took to it again like a duck to… well, you know. Samuel surprised me by actually staying in the pool, the entire time. We last attempted swimming lessons with him about 18 months ago and gave up after a few lessons because it felt like a waste of time and money for him to sit on the edge of the pool and watch the other kids swim. This time he seems a lot more motivated and, although he didn’t participate fully in the games, he did stand in the general vicinity of the other kids and may have even listened to the teacher a few times. Baby steps.

The boys also spent a surprising amount of time outside on Sunday afternoon despite the freezing temperatures. I’ll never take a frozen puddle for granted again. That, and digging a hole in a pile of dirt, kept them occupied for hours.

This week, my goal is to get rid of the blahs. I have a ton of work to do at my day job so I’m not sure if that will help… but I am determined to take out my camera at some stage and capture a little more of our lives right now and I may even do some (gasp!) exercise. It’s about time I started using that gym membership. The more I exercise the more motivated I will be to exercise, I just need to get started.

To close, I’ll share a photo I took on another frozen weekend. Samuel found a piece of ice in the backyard and declared it the “BEST DAY EVER!” I wish I had this kid’s enthusiasm… and fashion sense. Bathrobe and gumboots = awesome!

A Familiar Sight

It would be interesting to go through all of my photos and see just how many times I have photographed Mt Hood – and from how many different viewpoints. It would be interesting… and very time consuming so likely not going to happen.

This view of Mt Hood captured from Powell Butte on a sunny Portland Winter’s day.

Best Face of 2012

When you have two children, how do you choose a best face for the year? This was the dilemma I faced when searching for a photo for the latest I Heart Faces challenge. It seems unfair to make me choose, but if I must…

I chose this photo of Samuel because it reminds me about how much fun it is to have a four year old in the house, even if it can be really tough at times. It reminds me about the value of imagination and how 2012 was the year of superheroes and ninjas and magic and trolls. It reminds me that, while I often wonder about how different my life would be with a little girl in the house, I am so very very lucky to be the mother of two fun, smart, creative boys.

Photo Challenge Submission

Neighborhood Discoveries and Sub Arctic Portland

Over the break, Kei and I tried our best to get the boys out of the house each day for some sort of physical activity. Sometimes it happened and we wore them out enough for them to sleep well but other days saw us barely getting out of our pajamas. When it’s dark and cold in Portland, the thought of getting dressed can sometimes seem like just too much effort.

On this day, we braved freezing temperatures to ride our bikes to the grocery store and then onto a relatively new playground near our house. Nothing too thrilling, but family time nonetheless and a reminder than we don’t need to hike a mountain to get out and have fun with the kids. The playground was built to be accessible by kids with disabilities and the boys just loved it. I can’t believe it took us so long to try it out. My favorite part? The fake grass that looked and felt almost real but came without a side of mud. I’m tempted to lay some in our backyard.

Oh, and I know for a fact that we were braving freezing temperatures because it started snowing while we were at the playground. Not a blizzard, but a few tiny little flakes. Still, I live in Portland so calls of “it’s snowing!” soon rang across the playground – most of them coming from the adults. Those calls faded when the flakes stopped falling about 3 minutes later.

Samuel struck a pose for this next photo. Watch out America’s Next Top Model.

I asked him to let me take a photo of his pink cheeks and nose.

Getting to know the locals.

This adventure marked the first time that Thomas rode his own bike on the road. Kei rode up front with Samuel in the bike trailer and then I brought up the rear. We took the back streets but it was still a little terrifying to know that my baby could drift into the street at any moment. I may have sounded a little frantic at times as I reminded him to watch the road (not me) and look out for parked cars and keep to the right. Still, he did a great job and only complained that his legs were tired for the last 15 minutes or so.

So proud of him, although I needed to find a little zen of my own after the stressful bike ride.

Today’s Photo of A Serious Boy

If often happens that I fall in love with a photo but don’t necessarily have words to go along with it. And too many photos have been ignored because I felt pressure to add commentary.

So, this year, one of my goals is to upload photos to this blog more regularly- some with words and some without.