Mother's Day Special!

I am very fortunate to have a couple of amazing women to celebrate on this Mother's day - my mom and my Grandma Kinney.

I am the 20th of 20 grandkids on the Kinney side of the family and am several years behind the next closest grandkid which I think helped to form a special bond between me and Grandma K.

Despite some unsavory 70's dresses, my mom and I have always been close.

This is my mom and I with my Great Grandma Torland, another wonderful woman in our family.

Grandma Kinney also had more Great Grandkids than I can count, many of which I am closer in age to than my own cousins.  This is Grandma K and I with my second cousin Matt Worley.  I believe this is at my cousin Denise's wedding.

Part of why Mom and I have always been able to get on so well is that we both have a sense of silly.

Several years later, this pink dress of Mom's became one of my favorite dress up dresses.

First day of school - Mom was there to walk me to the school bus!

No one is a better sport than Mom.  Every weekend morning, I would lug all my stuffed animals into her room and she would talk to me with a different voice for each animal.  Who does that?!?  It is still a special memory.

We taught each other how to french braid.

Did I mention a silly streak?

Throughout all these years, we saw Grandma Kinney frequently.  Lots of lunches and dinners where everyone would argue about who had to pay and Grandma filled us in on the family gossip.

The era of big sunglasses.  Matched the big bangs.

In 1992 Grandma and I went together to visit Craig and Janene in Chicago.  She may have been my Grandmother, but she was a fun traveling companion.

Grandma and I take on the city.

Kinney family picnic - 1994.

Grandma K lived with us for a few years while I was in college until she passed away.  I may have been an independent college girl at the time, but between two easy going parents and a very accepting grandmother, we all got along great.

Looks like a typical exchange between us...

I can see so many traits of Grandma Kinney in my mom as a grandmother.  I know that Mason and Siena will have the same wonderful experiences and memories of her that I have of my Grandma K.  She is always there for them and loves spending time with them...and them with her.

After that little jog down memory lane, it's time to circle back to the present.  We've had a very busy couple of weekends.  We spent yesterday in Eugene at the Pac-12 track championships.  Yes, there are pictures.  I sent them to my email from my phone but they are lost in the ethernet at the moment so you'll just have to wait a week.

This morning we met the Cruzes for breakfast and went to my parent's in the late afternoon to have dinner.  And to play...

It was a super nice day in the upper 80s and the kids loved playing in the water.

Slip and slide.

And spit.

Some good grandmotherly snuggles to warm up a girl cold from the  pool.

Root beer floats and ice cream were on the dessert menu.

Happy girl!

We took the kids straight from the pool and into the bath.  I was able to sneak a mohawk on Mason before he realized what I had done and combed it flat again...

And a brief preview of coming attractions for next weekend.  Why yes, those are 9 Quiddich brooms!

Vikings and Voodoo

Mason has been drawing maps and looking at pictures of Portland State for the last couple of weeks.  Luis had taken the kids there to look around once last summer but he wanted to go look around again.  We're up for anything that may, in some way, encourage college in the future so we loaded up and headed downtown.  Since we were in their neighborhood, we called up the DeCicco's to see if they wanted to meet up for dinner.  Sharon and Giada were in southern Oregon but Chris was game for our little adventure.

Siena gave us a pose by the strange sculpture on campus somehow celebrating women.  This was shortly after some women espousing equal pay marched by us with a sign that said "Viva Vulva".

Mason consults his map outside the PSU library.  We walked through the sky bridges between Neuberger, Smith, Cramer, and Lincoln.  We also checked out some of the newer buildings.  I have to say, I was a little dismayed that they fixed the stairs in Lincoln.  The grooves from years and years of feet were cool.

From Portland State, we headed further downtown to dinner at Macaroni Grill and dessert at where else...Voodoo donuts!

We took a chance this time around and ordered a dozen of their choice.  Since the gal saw that we had kids with us, she gave us a fair number of kid friendly donuts, including the bubble gum donut, blue something or other, Coco Puffs, and a couple Marshall Mathers (marshmellow).

Siena couldn't be happier with her M&M donut.

4 Cruzes in a fountain...

Speaking of a fountain...

2 Cruzes in a fountain...

We just got back from Kendra's 12th birthday party.  Luis took on Andre in a battle of Wii soccer.

Then Andre and Mason did battle.  Such focus...such concentration...

Kendra asked for $$ for her birthday and scored big time!

I also took 3 hours out of my life this afternoon to organize all of the books, movies, and music in our den by color.  Oh yes..I did.

Sunny Days

I know I missed posting last weekend.  My 2 followers must be concerned.

Last weekend was plenty busy.  Siena had dance on Saturday morning as usual.  Then I met my good friend Sarah for our sometimes monthly coffee date.  Weeds were pulled.  We all had worked up a pretty good appetite by dinner and were ready to try someplace new.  Our neighbor suggested we check out the carts on 43rd and Belmont (one block from Movie Madness).  It was like stepping into an episode of Portlandia, albeit a tasty one, with dreadlocks, Birkenstocks, and knitted hats galore!

There are various food carts and good eats galore!  Even spinny chairs!

We all tried something different.  The kids opted for the sushi and had it gobbled up by the time Luis and I had gotten our food.

I got the calamari sandwich, topped with coleslaw.  Yes, it was as amazing as it looks.  Luis had some sort of Asian Mexican fusion.

There were many more carts that we wanted to try but for me, none more than this one which was unfortunately closed on this day.  Why yes, that sign does read "Viking Soul Food".  Bring on the lefsa.  We'll be returning.

After a rainy week, we received a visitor from a long lost friend this weekend:

Both kids have recently mastered riding their bikes on 2 wheels so yesterday we went for a family bike ride on the newly finished Trolley Trail not far from our house.  It's an old trolley line that has been paved over to make a pedestrian walkway/bike path.  We rode down to a neighborhood park, played a bit, and headed back.  It took a couple of hours and the kids got tired but it was so nice to be out.  Oh, and I got a sunburn of course.

Today we had the Cruzes over to celebrate Gloria's birthday.  Luis barbecued and the kids played in the yard while we enjoyed being out on the deck.  Admittedly I didn't take enough pictures this weekend but it was just so nice being outside and soaking up the vitamin D that I didn't bother to grab the camera for once.