Fantasyland!

The better part of this weekend was spent drafting for our fantasy football teams. Our first team - the Boricuas with Luis' brother - involved a live draft at Buffalo Wild Wings. Good location. Its nice being able to order food mid-draft. For the Mentor league, both Luis and I have our own teams. The draft was live but online. Now, we just need the NFL season to get underway.

In addition to plotting our football picks, Friday night was also PWCL's annual shindig. As ever, this is a fun event with a great crowd. I came one number away from winning the Golden Ticket raffle which would have won us a trip to Hawaii. However, I did get an autographed Blazers basketball in the silent auction and PWCL brought in what seemed like some good money so in all, the evening was a success.

In case that's not enough excitement for one weekend, we also met up with our friends the DeCicco's to take in the festivities at Fiesta Italiana that was going on this weekend downtown.

Here's Sharon and Giada. Giada is trying to figure out her new beads...

Mason and Siena enjoyed some good juice, pizza, and gelato...happy kids...
This is one of the best food festivals in town...we didn't leave much on our plates when it was all said and done...

The kids also got to have their faces painted...here's Siena getting prepped...yes, she is excited.

Its a princess in progress.

The princess in progress contines...

And here they are! Mason went with a smiley face and Siena is an official Italian princess.

After face painting, we took in a polka dancing display. Giada LOVED the polka dancing, as did Siena. Here's Giada sporting her new little Italian t-shirt.

Well, I guess its back to work to recover after another busy weekend.

Kris' Movie Review of the week:

The Soloist - Jamie Foxx; Robert Downey Jr. - Its good to see RDJ taking on a serious role and doing so relatively sober. He is a gifted actor and its a perfect role for him to display his talent. Likewise, Jamie Foxx is incredible in this movie. Playing a homeless schizophrenic isn't an easy task for any actor but Foxx is up to the challenge. The best part was that this film was based on a true story. It is a good story from beginning to end. Would I call this a great movie? Probably not. But it is certainly good and especially well acted. Definitly well worth watching.

The 7 Year Itch!!

Tomorrow Luis and I officialy celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversay. As cliche as it may sound, time has gone by soooooo fast. It seems like the wedding was just a week ago. Course, it also seems like Mason and Siena were born days ago...

Yaya and Papa Ron were brave enough to take the kids for the night Saturday day and night so Luis and I could celebrate 7 years. We went to Portland's Saturday market, ate Chinese, saw lots of cool tie-dye, and then went to Kennedy School to see Transformers.

Yes, Kennedy School is one of the McMenamins theater pubs and I no longer know why one would watch a movie anywhere else. Rather than theater seats, Kennedy school has couches and end tables. Oh, and you can enjoy a beer while watching the movie in addition to anything on their menu as well as popcorn and candy. The only thing better would be having a full screen theater in our house.

So, I managed up upload these pictures in reverse chronological order. I noticed about 2 pictures into the elbow but didn't feel like going back and fixing it so I guess my loyal fans will just have to deal with it.

Today we did a river picnic with the Cruz family. This means waverunner, steak and hot dogs. Tio Jr. brought his fishing poles too and with a couple of makeshift fishing poles, all of the kids got to hit the river and go for some fish. There's Siena's stick, er, I mean fishing pole.

Kids, uncle, and fishing poles. Jr. actually caught a couple of fish today but sent them back into the water. Not sure what's up with that. Me thinks they would have made a tasty dinner...

Luis Jose and Jose Luis enjoying some lunch...

Mason practicing with his fishing pole. Are the geese biting today???

This is last Sunday after I posted. Yaya and Papa Ron finally made it over for dinner. We went for a walk after dinner. Papa Ron tried to throw Yaya into the pond. Mason just laughed.

Here's a neighbor's front door. Yes, I am a photography maven.

Yaya loves checking out new houses. Here she is sneaking a peak in a listed house. We hope its empty at least. Its entirely possible someone called the police shortly thereafter. If HGTV is reading now, this lady needs her own show on your station!!! Soon, before she breaks any more trespassing laws.

Movie reviews:

Gran Torino - Its hard to know what to expect from Clint Eastwood movies these days. Will it be a snooze or a hit? This movie hands down was a hit. This was a great story that has not before been told. Eastwood may grunt and groan his way through the dialogue but it is entirely fitting. Great story, great twist.

Transformers - whatever part 2 is called - I have to admit the first Transformers movie exceeded my expectations. So did this one. Luis isn't thrilled that the Transformers don't look the same as they did back when he was a kid but still liked the film. I thought the movie was good too. Entertaining from beginning to end, as was the first one. These have proven to be a good series with a lot of action and humor.

Here's a cool clip from Saturday Market yesterday. A hula hooper and some kick ass bucket drummers. These guys got a pretty good following...

It's a Cock Fest! (shuttlecock that is)

Saturday was the annual Cock Fest. Badminton tournament, that is. This is an annual event that Luis' buddies put on. I say annual but it was skipped last year due some marital discord on the part of the host but I digress.

This was the first year I had a chance to play. In years past I was generally either pregnant, had just had a baby, or was thought to be disinterested. Or perhaps they were just afraid of my racket skills.

My teammate and I won one game and lost two so I'm guessing my skills left a little something to be desired.

Luis is a pro though. This could be because he's the only player not drinking but he still knows what he's doing.

The kids had fun hanging out too. Lots of Luis' friends have kids now too (guess we're of that age) so there were a lot of other kids and toys for them to play with.

We spent today at home which is always a nice treat, especially on weeks when I don't see much of home otherwise. Mason watched some NASCAR and Siena watched some Strawberry Shortcake so it was a good time for all.

Yaya and Papa Ron are coming soon for dinner (they're currently 7 minutes late).

MOVIE REVIEW

Miracle at St. Anna - Another WWII movie. This movie had so many plots going on at once that my brain could barely follow it. Or there were so many that I didn't really care about any of them. It also just kept going, and going, and going, and going...with flashbacks, and flashbacks, oy. It all made sense though when we got to the end and I saw that it was directed by Spike Lee. I am not a Spike Lee fan.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Aaahhh, finally a movie I picked out. Its hard to go wrong with Dermot Mulrony and this movie didn't disappoint. The jist of it is that the movie is about a father who gave up one of his twin kids because she had Downs Syndrome and didn't tell his wife. The nurse ended up raising the girl and the movie is basically the story of the 2 families and kids growing up. It was quite interesting and gets 2 thumbs up.

Carousel!

We finally had a weekend day with nothing planned - Saturday. Luis and I loved it. The kids kept wondering where we were going and when. Somehow we've gotten them hardwired to go, go, go!

So, Sunday we went - to the Clark County Fair. You may recall from the blog a year ago that this is the second year we've been. Yes, some of the pictures may look similar.

Mason's favorite rides center around vehicles. Siena's in her element on any ride.

Another car ride. This is Mason's standard facial expression when driving a car. He takes it very seriously. Siena chose the pink car.
Driving yet again.

A change of pace...the choo choo train. Siena was the engineer and got to pull the string that rang the bell.

Back on the cars. This time the older hot rods.

Lets see, is Siena tall enough to go on the tea cups by herself (Mason was too scared)? She wasn't really but the guy let her. Mason went on them later in the day. Something about seeing his sister do it and have fun gives him some confidence.

There she is on the tea cups. No, she's not jumping out. The ride is not yet in motion.

On the kiddie swings. Told ya Siena loves every ride! Wheeeee!!!

Whew. Lunch break. Did I mention that YaYa and Papa Ron joined us at the fair! They live just down the street and I think they had a good time watching the kids enjoy the sites.

Mason and Papa Ron look at "sprinkle heads". Mason has a sprinkler obsession. We don't know where it comes from.

Pony ride! This is their first time riding a pony. Mason's pony was named Dr. Pepper and for as scared as he was of the tea cups, there was no hesitation whatsoever on his part about riding the pony. He was proud as can be.

Here's Siena on her pony "Dolly". Obviously Siena had no hesitation about riding the ponies either. They both loved it!

They loved the inflatible bouncy things too.

Then we saw the animals. Siena thought the cows were too stinky (it smelled like hay). I think we have true city kids. They did enjoy seeing the little chicks though.

Luis taunting a pidgeon.

I don't know what the heck this is but isn't he something?!?

Mom with her favorite animal. Baaaa...

Baa baa black sheep have you any...oh my...

Mason scored a new NASCAR hat to keep the sun out of his eyes.

Yaya and her Bubba...

Luis and Yaya take a break while the kids hit the tea cups a second time.

See, we did go on the carousel. Me too because Mason was a little iffy...

I'm not sure what to call this next segment. There's so many pretty things around Yaya and Papa Ron's yard that it seemed a good place to snap some shots and play with the camera. Therefore this is called:

Scenes from Yaya's Yard:

Note all the bumble been flying around the purple flowers. Thank goodness for zoom features. I don't do bees.

Dut-duhduh-dahhhhhhhhh! I am "Flower Girl"!!!!!!!!

I'd like to dedicate this mole trap picture to Papa Ron...

Yaya's Vegetable Garden.

Movie Review of the Week

Defiance - This was a great WWII story the which has never been told. It was based on a true story, which for me is always a plus, and had words (as in what happened to the people) at the end which for Luis is always a plus. Great movie and well played.

Jumper - Jumper was okay. Just okay. It stars Hayden Christensen who I've never been a huge fan of. Also in the realm of superhero-type moves, the newer Batmans and Ironman leave this one in the dust. It isn't painful to watch but in the end leaves you wondering if the last 2 hours of you life could have been better spent. They probably could have.

And the video clip of the week. We like to call this the "Siena Shuffle"...