Project 365
“Don’t. Take. My. Picture!”
“See? Sometimes we do play well together…”
“And then the moment passes.”
“OK – you’ve got 5 seconds and then I want to see the picture on your camera and we’re not all going to look at once so you’d better get used to it.”
Today’s I Heart Faces challenge reminded me of how I haven’t yet posted the rest of the photos from when the Kellers came to visit.
I chose this photo (with much difficulty) from the hundreds I took that day for a few reasons:
We had a wonderful weekend filled with extended childcare options that allowed us to see a movie, a 40th birthday celebration with a view of Mt Hood, a family hike/carry to a beautiful hidden waterfall and a meeting with a 500 pound sturgeon named Herman.
This week promises work, work and more work – oh, and some golf for Kei.
Happy Monday.
OK, so these are not officially shades but I just couldn’t bring myself to post a photo of Samuel in his freebie orange pampers sunglasses (the pair we got with his swim diapers). Let’s just say that I thought this photo was a little more classy for the latest I heart faces photo challenge “gotta wear shades”.
This past weekend was our first really hot weekend of the summer and my little water baby in the photo above showed his love of the sun by spending most of the weekend in the blow up pool in the backyard. My other baby (the almost 5-year-old one) showed his love for the hot weather by getting wet under a water spray at the baseball and then taking off all of his clothes. I wonder if you can get away with that after you turn five…
I went through my photographs looking for an appropriate image for this weeks I heart faces “suprise” photo challenge and this image jumped put at me. What’s less of a surprise is the crumbs that are so clearly visible around the mouth. It’s a common sight in our house, and on this boy in particular.
We had a fun weekend which included a gathering with girlfriends to discuss charity golf tournament marketing strategies, a Japanese Obon festival at a local Buddhist temple, brunch with some new pre-school parents (feels nice not to be the new kid in town anymore) and chocolate bananas cooked in the backyard fire pit. (yes, chocolate bananas!). Oh and I managed to squeeze an (overpriced) hair appointment in there as well.
I also woke up this morning to discover that my one and only crush managed to get himself married over the weekend. Let’s all have a moment of silence please.
It’s been a little since I’ve taken out my camera to simply record our everyday lives so on Sunday, the first day of August, I decided to record each of my boys’ favourite things – right at that moment.
Samuel – Frozen blueberries. When this child finds a food that he likes he really latches onto it. This month is frozen blueberries, Trader Joes turkey meatballs and watermelon (when I remember to buy it). Diapers have not been much fun.
Thomas – Star Wars (as if there was any question). We went to Target on Sunday and he was literally jumping up and down with excitement when he saw the figurine that he REEEEEEAAAALLY wanted. Thankfully he had enough money in the piggybank to cover it. We’re planning a trip to the local Star Wars store in the next couple of weeks where he will be free to choose his own birthday present – with a spending limit, of course.
Oh, wait! I have one more boy with a favourite thing. This was totally unplanned, but when Kei asked me to take a photo of his brand new golf club (yawn!) I realized how perfectly it fit with my theme of the day.
So I present my other boy with his brand new toy…
This weekend includes a meeting with friends about a charity golf tournament that is near and dear to my heart (I plan to share details soon), a get together with a couple of fellow pre-school parents, a desperately-needed visit to the hair salon, a Japanese festival and a little R&R (if I can fit it in). Bring on Friday afternoon!
So the person who said that summer was a slow time was crazy – or they didn’t have my job. Either way, it seems my blog is suffering. I have been meaning to post more pictures from our family visit for… well… a month. I guess life got in the way. When’s my next vacation? The story of their visit continues…
So what do you do when you have two teenage boys, and one almost teenage boy, come to visit you in Portland? You call on a friend who works at the biggest sporting gear manufacturer in town and ask them for a tour of the campus of course! (thanks Corey)
The afternoon began with a visit to the Nike employee store. I have no pictures but all you really need to know is that we spent a lot of money. We ALWAYS spend a lot of money when we visit the Nike employee store which is why we visit only a couple of times a year, and why we are grateful that it is just far enough away from our house to be a teeny bit inconvenient to visit on weekends. I’m sure we’d be broke otherwise.
The Nike campus is just like one big sports museum – especially on Friday afternoons in summer when the entire working population seems to be off playing golf. Each building is designed to pay homage to a particular sport. Some I knew well (Tennis; Golf), others I just had to browse the artifacts and pretend that I understood (Soccer? Anything ending in “ball”?). Nevertheless, it was all very interesting and the entire time I found myself thinking about how much longer the tour would have been had my father been there to read each and every word on the displays. Maybe we’ll take him on a tour next time he comes to visit. I’ll bring a book to read.
Here are a few photographs from our visit. The lighting was bad thanks to some crappy Portland weather (yes, in July!), but I managed to capture some great moments of our extended family enjoying all that sports memorabilia has to offer.
I couldn’t resist the reflection on this one.
Walking in to the first building (I love having extra hands to push strollers while I take photos).
The world cup was in full swing and they had a display of the Aussie uniform. I have no idea who this guy is but he’s Australian so I took a photo. I cling to anything – especially now that my four year old has started making fun of my accent. It helps me maintain a little national pride.
That’s Corey, our friend and tour guide, showing us where Nike is on the big ball-map-thingy. My kids were too scared to go near it but a ball despite the fact that a big ball floating in water is pretty cool. I want one for our backyard.
Two of the three nephews and one child. I am also grateful for almost-eighteen-year-old-boys who like to keep four year olds entertained. Seriously. I almost wish I had one of my own.
This is Tiger Woods. I know that because I read the sign.
Another thing we should have in the backyard – an art installation consisting of many spinnable bicycle tires. It could keep a toddler entertained for hours.
The artist in me found this to be very impressive – a baseball player made entirely out of recycled materials including bottle caps and old baseball bats and balls.
The next two photos make me laugh. Two brothers in perfect synch.
We also enjoyed a few sculptures around the beautiful campus. Between the art, the lake and the amazing exercise facilities, it almost made me want to quit my current job and camp out until Nike gave me one. I’m buying a tent.
Finally, we ended up at the John McEnroe building – something I can relate to thanks to a childhood living across the street from a tennis court and a brief season in the top girls’ tennis team at our club. It was brief shining moment in my otherwise insignificant personal sporting history. Forgive me if I dwell on it a little.
Our tour ended after about two (very rainy and fun) hours, and I can now say that, after 7 years of living in this city, I have seen the Nike campus. One more thing marked off my list alongside that of planning a successful outing that would appeal to three teenage boys, their parents and their (very) small cousins. Oh, and Kei enjoyed it too. A great day.
Nicole Ishida Photography 