The Greatest Party In The Universe!

Some weekends we have a lot going on.  Others, we barely leave the house.  Last weekend was the latter.  Combined with the March-like rainy weather, there wasn't much blog-worthy.  This weekend, however, the sun was shining and there were festivities galore. 

Yesterday was my cousin Amanda's wedding.  This was the first wedding the kids have attended that they've been old enough to remember.  We all dressed in our finest and were ready to celebrate with Amanda and Tyson.

The girls had a stage and music to warm up to prior to the ceremony.

My handsome boys.

Berren had an upset tummy going into the wedding but was ready and running later on in the evening.  Here he is with his daddy Dan.

What a cool dude in daddy's shades.  He was certainly looking dapper.

Speaking of dapper, Grandpa Art was front and center to watch another of his granddaughters get married. He seemed very happy.

The beautiful mother of the bride - Auntie Jo.

And the beautiful bride!

Mr. and Mrs. Wright!  Talk about a great looking couple!

Mason was most taken with the getaway car - a 1960 Corvette.  Papa Ron, this would make for a great next project car...

There was a table with activities set up for the kids which was such a great idea.  They had so much fun playing.  The melted gummy bears didn't work out so well but it was a good thought.

Luis with Auntie Jo. 

My dad's cousin David and his wife Ann came from Walla Walla for the wedding.  It was great to see them!

My handsome cousin Travis in his groomsman suit. 


The maid of honor Shelley and the bride.  A couple of amazing sisters.

Mom, cousin Sharon, and Aunt Annette visit at the reception.

This picture is courtesy of the photograpic genius of Siena.

Oh, and I was there too.

The kids were tearing it up on the dance floor every chance they got.

Shelley and boyfriend Adam, both in town from North Carolina.

The father/bride dance.  Doug recorded himself singing Butterfly Kisses for this dance.  It was so beautiful that even I teared up.

And then the party really got going.  We all had a great time dancing, especially the kids.  Mason proclaimed it the "greatest party in the universe!"  That may be in part because he had 2 older pretty girls asking him to dance.  I can't blame them.  He looked so cute and was tearing it up on the dance floor.

Siena even got to shake it with the bride!

We all had a wonderful time.

Today was the annual Fairoaks block party.  This year the kids and I were a part of the parade. I actually hadn't planned on being in the parade but the kids wanted me with them and since I was wearing tie dye, I figured I fit in.  Siena got to drive the pedal car while Mason and I sprayed silly string.

Elvis and Priscilly were back this year.  He did a few songs.  It is fun having a neighborhood Elvis.

The kids were dressed up quasi-1950's.  We didn't put a ton of time and effort into the endeavor but wanted to match the pedal car a little bit.

There was a face painter.  Here's my kitty cat.

And Mason with a new 'stache.  Now he looks tough.

Another fun weekend that leaves us tired.  Till next week...

Numb3rs

4 Hours

The amount of time it took to drive from Wilsonville to Seattle to see comedian Mike Schmidt.  I've been listening to Mike for 4 years, starting with season 1 of Never Not Funny when he was the original third chair.  For the last 3+ years he's had his own weekly podcast called the 40 Year Old Boy. 

Mike started out his career in stand up but a one man show is a different beast.  He did his first one man show last August in San Francisco and has been traveling to different cities, performing for smaller audiences, working out the show with the goal of being able to perform it in comedy festivals in the upcoming future. 

I saw him perform this show in mid-May in Portland and after hearing that he was coming to Seattle next to do it, I knew I wanted to go if I could.  Unfortunately Luis wasn't able to make it due to work so again I was solo.  Better solo than not at all though. 

I hung out with Mike for a while after the show which was a blast.  Here's a picture of us outside the theater.

36

The number of times Siena asked my dad to push her on the swing during mom's Kinney family get-together.  He complied a few of those times.

After a killer all you can eat strawberry waffle breakfast and a little Pike's Market shopping in Seattle, I headed back south to my parent's for a summer get-together.

Here's some of my family from left - my Aunt Lucie, Uncle Ron (with great granddaughter Maya), Uncle Leonard, and Uncle Walt.

Siena ate a piece of pie that was bigger than her. 

The little ones came to party - Maya and Peyton.  Both are my cousin Brian's granddaughters.

These girls certainly have their G-Grandpa Ron wrapped around their little fingers.  He chauffered them all around the yard.

3

Number of places we at out last night.

After the gathering, I took the kids and met Luis' at his parent's house where they were spending the night.  Luis and I then went for a grown ups night out with Chris and Sharon.

First we sent to a French restaurant where I had my first ever escargoes.  They were actually pretty good.  From there we went to the Thirsty Lion for some British fare.  Chris and I both had some amazaing Scottish eggs, which are essentially breaded poached eggs...amazing!

Stop #3 - VooDoo donuts.


30+ Minutes

The length of time we stood in line at 11 PM to buy donuts.  Yes, these donuts are that good.  If you haven't seen them on the various tv food and travel shows the place has been featured on, you can check them out at www.voodoodonut.com. 

3

The number of street performers playing for the people standing in the VooDoo line.

8

The number of people who asked us for money while we waited in line.

2

The number of people who offered us money for out donuts as we were walking back to the DeCicco's place.  Take a look and you can see why:

 

1

The number of teeth that fell out as a result of eating a VooDoo donut.  We got the fruit loops donut for the kids and while Mason was eating his half, his front tooth which has been loose for 2 weeks finally came out!  Woo hoo voo doo!

Beautiful Black Butte

Settle in folks.  This is going to be a long one.

Black Butte Ranch is a resort community 8 miles outside of Sisters.  The community of Black Butte Ranch was developed starting in 1970 on the site of the former Black Butte cattle ranch directly south of Black Butte.  The first residents arrived in 1971.  The Cruzes arrived in 2011.

I've been to Black Butte quite a few times.  As a kid I came 3 times with my parents, and usually with a friend or cousin Heidi.  Once I got to know my friend Sarah, I came many times with her and our friend Laura as Sarah's parents have a house there.  We actually rented their house for this trip.

We arrived on Monday.  After several hours in the car, Luis, Yaya, Mason and I were ready for a walk.  Apparently the walk ended up being longer than we had anticipated.  Luis had to return with the car to pick up Yaya and Mason.  I should note that Yaya could have made it had it not been for the fact that she didn't wear socks with her shoes.

The next morning was canoeing time.  Siena was a trooper and paddled with Luis and I.  Mason, not so much, though he brought a paddle along, just in case.

Mason's head occasionally got in Siena's way.

Siena later found the perfect lap to lounge on to watch Sponge Bob.

Wednesday was to be lava day.  Unfortunately for us, the lava wasn't ready for us.  The lava tunnel was closed.  Fear not my blog friends.  For information on the tunnel, see the July 2009 blog posting when the kids and I visited the tunnel.

Anyway, we walked around the gate at Lava Butte. Lava Butte only experienced a single eruption, some 7000 years ago.  The eruption began with a fissure spewing hot cinders to form the cone. In the next phase, a river of hot basalt flowed from the base of the small volcano to cover a large area to the west with a lava flow which remains largely free of vegetation.

Here's part of the group in front of one of the large lava balls.

Here's the kids, with the Lava Butte cinder cone behind.

Mason is checking out one of the many tunnels.

Yup, that lava goes for miles.

The photographers get their picture taken too.

Yaya and her girl.

This little guy came to enjoy some of our Propel water.  He seemed particularly fond of the kiwi strawberry flavor.

They came up right next to the kids.  One of them even went right up to Siena to check out her shoe.

Here we are, going right through the closed gate.

The hiking continued with a .5 mile walk to Benham falls.  This is an old water level measuring contraption.  We told the kids that if they didn't listen to us, we were going to send them up there.

Mason by some of the raging waters.

At the falls. 

Benham falls are the largest falls on the Deschutes river and considered to be an unpassable Class 6 rapids.  They were created by the Lava Butte eruption 7000 years earlier.  Lots of white water here.

Siena takes one of many breaks on this hike.

We later got some lunch at Red Robin in Bend.  Mason drew a picture of Black Butte which he is proudly displaying.

And of course some Ben & Jerry's for dessert.

Thursday was the day for the hike.  The one to the top of Black Butte.  Black Butte is an extinct volcano rising a bit over 3000 feet from the surrounding plateau.

Yaya and Mason were brave enough to attempt the 2 mile hike to the summit with me.  Mason got tired though and Yaya stayed back with him.  I think she could have made it to the top but she was a good grandma and stayed with her boy. 

It was a tough hike.  It's 2 miles, entirely uphill.  Plus the total elevation at the summit is over 6000 feet above sea level so I found myself getting extra winded as well. 

I made it though and the view was spectacular.  Here is a view of the 3 Sisters from the summit.  North Sister is the one you can see most prominently, with Middle Sister and South Sister to the left.

Also from the summit, the house in the distance was built in the 1920's and served as quarters for the forest rangers stationed at the fire lookout atop the summit.

Here is the fire lookout tower.  Note also the charred trees.  This was caused by the 2003 B&B Complex fire which burned 90,769 acres in central Oregon.  A lot of the remains of this fire can still be seen on Highway 20.

Here's Mason with his stick antler back at the trailhead.

We later went to the pool at Black Butte for a swim.  I was sitting on the side of the pool when Luis swam over.
Luis: Rainn Wilson is here!
Me: Where?
Luis:  The guy over there with a bald spot lime me!
Me:  Is it the real Rainn Wilson?
Luis: Yes, it's the real guy. 
At this time we notice the lady to my right smiling.
Luis (to her): Do you know him?
Lady: Yeah, I'm married to him.

We chatted with her for a couple minutes and Luis eventually went and said hi to Rainn, who was nice and friendly in return.  For those of you unfamiliar with Rainn Wilson, here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainn_Wilson  He's most known from The Office.

Friday morning was horse riding!  Mason loved riding Joe the horse!  No fear whatsoever.

Siena had a good time on her horse, Cougar, as well.  They were considered "Lil Buckaroos" and walked around a big corral area with Luis and I leading each of their horses. 

Papa Ron made a horse friend too.

We left for home on Saturday, with a detour to Kah-Nee-Ta on the way.  The big pool was crowded but nice.  Definitely warm water.

Yesterday Luis had work and the kids and I did nothing.  It was fabulous.  Today is the 4th of July and we went to the annual Torland family picnic.  This picnic includes all of my dad's aunts and uncles and there family so there's always a lot of people I don't know.  Siena found one little girl she knew though.  Hi Ellia!

A picture was requested of all of the 2nd cousins present.  Don't even ask me everyone is.  I know me, Travis, Amanda, Heidi, and Jay B.  Beyond that...no clue.  Papa Ron?  Care to take a stab?