Author Archives: Nicole

Just Your Average Mild Mannered Reporter

I was cleaning up my desk at work yesterday and came across some toy glasses that had been purchased for an employee prank a while ago (long story). And of course when you come across a pair of black spectacles and you have a child who’s currently obsessed with Superman, you immediately consider how perfect they would be for the “Clark Kent” portion of his costume.

So I took them home and then spent the rest of the evening helping my three year old get in and out of his disguise. The Superman costume was underneath and, in the absence of a suit and tie, he wore the Fireman Sam costume over the top. Glasses can only be worn when the superman costume is hidden. It’s important to maintain the secret identity.

After his bath, he asked me to make a little curl out of his hair in the middle of his forehead. It lasted about 30 seconds before it dried.

He also went to school dressed as Superman for the second day in a row.

One of the fun details of our life right now.

Going Dark

I haven’t had much to say around here lately. Actually, I supposed I HAVE had stuff to say, just not the time to say it.

I still don’t have time to put together anything deep and meaning so, instead, I will share  my stream of consciousness on a Monday morning. You’re welcome.

  1. I joined the gym. Week #1 went very well (4 visits!) and I’m looking forward to quickly becoming addicted to exercise (hah!).
  2. Autumn is definitely here – the leaves are falling from the trees and I’ve dusted off my winter coat. Our Summer was so short that it’s hard to get used to the fact that Winter is just around the corner.
  3. Although I am still firmly in denial, the end of daylight saving over the weekend threatens to pull me kicking and screaming into the new season.
  4. Sunset is at 4:50pm today. A moment of silence please.
  5. Samuel woke up in a great mood today – maybe the end of daylight saving is not such a bad thing after all.
  6. He went to school as Superman.
  7. It hurts to laugh thanks to my Yoga class on Saturday. It’s a good hurt.
  8. I ordered our takeout Turkey yesterday. Bring on Thanksgiving…
  9. …but not before I get on top of a couple of Xmas gift projects. Suddenly feeling very far behind.
  10. Thomas spent a good part of yesterday practicing his writing and drawing on the iPad. Moved a request for one of my own up to the top of my Christmas list.
  11. Catching up on Damages on Netflix. Fantastic new favourite show that I can watch while running on the treadmill – for about 10 minutes anyway (I’m easing myself in…).
  12. I hate ending a list on an odd number.

So I leave you on this Monday morning with a photo that is completely unrelated to the rest of post. Seems appropriate.

The theme for this week’s I Heart Faces challenge is “Black“. Because I had already exhausted my small Halloween photo collection,  I had to go back a couple of months to find this photo that I took on the day we visited the Zoo right before Karin and Mayumi went back to Japan. I love how the sea lion looks like he has his own space in our family picture.

Happy Monday – here’s to being a couple of hours closer to Friday!

Autumn Fun Continues: Portland Nursery Apple Tasting

Last weekend we took part in a popular Autumn tradition – apple tasting at the Portland Nursery. Of course we didn’t realize just how popular it was until we found ourselves standing in line for 30 minutes just to get to the “tasting” part.

It was definitely worth it, though. I had no idea that apples and pears had so many wonderful flavors and, after tasting more than 100 of them, let’s just say that I was glad that we took notes along the way. We left with a big bag of Comice Pears and Honey Crisp Apples – the sweet crunch appealed to all of us and they can apparently be stored for up to 5 months, although I doubt they’ll last that long in our house.

I was only able to grab a few pics here and there because it was very important to maintain a decent tasting speed to keep the line moving.

 

Batman was there of course (best $20 spent on a Halloween costume, ever!)

After the tasting we spent a little time checking out the Scarecrow contest (my favorite below), listening to a couple of numbers from Boy and Bean, a band that took me back to the 30s (in the best way possible) and, of course, some running around the Nursery.

 

It was a fun, and healthy, way to send a sunny October day. I think we’ll add Apple Tasting to our list of annual Autumn traditions.

The First Annual Ishida Halloween Awards

Halloween is over for another year and there is now a big bowl of candy mocking me from the corner of the kitchen. While I do my best to resist the sugar rush, I’ll present you with a few highlights from last night courtesy of the First Annual Ishida Halloween Awards. There are no prizes, only special recognition… Oh, and the awards are limited to the things I was able to capture on camera. Sadly the low light and my very high heels prevented me from capturing everything… Now – on to the esteemed winners!

Most popular costume
Batman, for sure. Followed by Superman, Ironman and basically any other superhero you can imagine. I like that Thomas distinguished himself as the 60s TV show batman rather than the popular “Dark Knight”.

Cutest Superfriends

Best Halloween Investment (Ever!)
After three years the striped tights are still going strong – although the witch’s skirt is getting a little tight. Next year I’ll either have to lose weight or prepare a new costume. How’s that for some motivation to get fit?

Most Creative Pre-Trick or Treat Potluck Dish
Kei’s idea, my implementation. I’m pretty proud of myself.

Best neighborhood Halloween decorations.

Also impressive after the sun went down.

Most Difficult Photograph of the Evening
But with the most adorable photo subjects.

Best Costume
A homemade Angry Bird – no contest. Also takes the prize for least convenient and most treacherous, but definitely worth it.

Most Creative Porch Pumpkins

Our potluck hosts also put in a great effort.

Happiest Sugar-Filled Superheroes, Princesses, Turtles and Dolphins.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween. Now, I must go and take care of some candy. I’ll let you determine exactly what that means. 🙂

 

Five Things Friday: Movies for Halloween Weekend

It’s the weekend before Halloween which means America is abuzz with all things ghoulish. While I don’t fully understand why people become so excited about decorating their front yards with skeletons and headstones (seems a little morbid to me), I CAN get into the spirit with a great scary movie – whilst wearing my witch’s hat of course.

I love scary movies. Actually, let me clarify that. I love suspenseful movies – the kind that keep you guessing  and then surprise you with an ending that you didn’t quite expect. I’m not a fan of the movies that try to outdo themselves with gore and violence (the SAW series will not make it to my Netflix queue anytime soon), I like scares with more intelligence twists and fewer decapitations.

So here’s my top five.

You’ve probably heard of them all before – I’m not an art house scary movie girl which is probably why I didn’t pursue a career as a film critic. That, and the fact that my writing often pushes grammatically-correct boundaries.

1. The Sixth Sense (1999)
Remains one of the biggest twist endings in movie history and takes you a wild ride along the way. Bonus points for turning my teenage popstar crush into someone unrecognizable.

2. The Others (2001)
Although this movie was largely panned by critics (and my husband), I find it creepy, moody and very scary. It’s also easy for me to empathize with a mother who seems to be losing her mind.

3. Silence of the Lambs (1991)
I can’t believe this film is 20 years old – which makes me WAY too young to have seen it when it was released. It remains one of the creepiest, most disturbing movies I have ever seen and explains why I have never, ever bought a bottle of Chianti and cant stand fava beans.

4. The Shining (1980)
Another movie about descent into madness. Earns bonus points for starring Oregon’s own Timberline Lodge.

5. The Omen (1976)
The original, not the remake. A demon child, a Catholic church conspiracy and just enough blood and gore without crossing into gratuitous violence.Also made me never, ever want to name a child Damien.

Honorable mentions:

I’m sure I missed a bunch – apparently I haven’t watched many scary movies during the past 10 years. Please share your own favorites in the comments so I can bring my Netflix queue into the 21st century.

Early Pumpkin Picking

We did the pumpkin patch early this year for a few reasons:

  1. I was trying to avoid going after the Portland rain has set in and the pumpkin patches become on massive mud patch, trampled by thousands of people.
  2. The weatherman promised we would have a sunny day… and then said it likely would not last. When you live in Portland, you make the most of the sunny days, especially in October.
  3. I wanted to get the Pumpkin Patch thing out of the way. It’s one of those American traditions that I have embraced (and enjoy) but, if I leave it too late, I feel as though it’s infringing on my ramp up to Christmas. I realize that Thanksgiving is in the middle there as well, but I can’t wait until December to begin thinking about gifts and Xmas music. And, thanks to my annual takeout Turkey dinner, Thanksgiving is one of the easiest holidays.

We skipped the Pumpkin Patch last year. Having just returned from a couple of weeks in Japan, it was just a little too much. This year we decided the more the merrier and invited our friends Amelia and Alison (and their Mum Suzi). Our destination? Plumper Pumpkins Patch.

I promise Samuel was there – he just started the day a little camera shy.

And a little tractor shy. He and I walked behind the very-slow-moving vehicle.

The best thing about plumper, besides their good selection of carve-worthy pumpkins, is the number of kid-friendly activities they have available. We spent at least a couple of hours exploring corn mazes, sliding down hay bales and saying hi to some farm animals. I tried not to think to much about the fate about to befall the dozen or so turkeys.

Oh, and before you peruse the rest of the photos, I want to point out one small thing… Neither of my children are wearing sweat pants – the first time this has happened in…well…ever! Sure, it was mainly because I was yet to do the laundry and I refused to allow them to wear pants with holes in the knees, but I consider this a HUGE accomplishment. They’re both very attached to their “soft pants.”

Bonus point to Samuel for managing to dress himself in pumpkin colors. The perfect choice for blending into corn mazes.

Hay ride.

Obstacle Course and string maze (harder than it looks).

Races down the hay bale slide (faster than it looks).

Farm animals (smellier than they look).

And the duck races.

Finally, after a run through the kid-size hay maze, we were ready to pick out our pumpkins.

Not those ones, of course, they’re just pretty to photograph.

Then it was off to lunch where the impatience of a long wait for food was eased a little thanks a little invention from Steve Jobs that we like to call the “sanity saver”.

A fun day with friends. Now to find a little time to carve my pumpkin. I think I might carve a ghost design this year.

Five Things Friday: Things I Love

Quick FTF post today. See what I did there? With the abbreviation? 🙂

1. School pictures that are actually worth paying for.

2. Photos that perfectly portray the personality of a three year old who loves to jump (complete with the tongue sticking out for concentration).

3. Photographing fun charity events.

4. That an Aussie won said charity event.

5. The weekend is only hours away.

Plans for this weekend include a little apple tasting at the Portland Nursery (something we planned to do last weekend), more organizing and running errands and, I hope, a whole lot of relaxing with my boys.