Monday, July 27, 2009

World Beat 2009

It was over 3 weeks ago that our family attended the World Beat festival in Salem, but as usual, I'm slow about posting. I actually had the photos downloaded and arranged a while back, but it's the writing part, that gets me every time. I should change my blog name from "Marin's Meanderings" to "Marin's Photo Album" which also would probably be misleading since I rarely appear in any of the pictures because I'm always behind the camera. Anyhoo, we decided last minute to take up my parent's invitation to come down and we are very glad we did. We saw a lot of great musicians, ate some fine ethiopian food and the kids kept busy dancing, playing at the playground, and putting together creative creations with the diverse array of recycled goods at one of the booths. It was a very warm day, but nothing like we are experiencing right now. Thanks mom and dad for inviting us to the party! We had a grand time.

Banner over the main stage with a barely visible band warming up.


Mom, Dad, and Keenan enjoying one of the bands.


Lots of delicious ethnic food and colorful dress.


Keenan banging drums made out of recycled materials. Of course, I love the mallets made with tennis balls.



Keenan's egg-carton craft creation. He was so proud of his work, he carried that egg carton around for a long time afterwards.


The kids working their imaginations.


Molly's finished creation. The cardboard she made her structure on is actually an empty fabric spool?? (not sure of the name)



Yep, there's Keenan hanging tight to his egg-carton while dancing with dad.

Some short video-clips of one of the bands and the entertainees. In this first one Kevin thinks I am only taking a photo and not videoing, thus the "posing" with Keenan.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A Day At the Coast

A couple of weeks ago our family went to the coast for a day. We had heard the weather was going to be 70 degrees and partly sunny, but as usual, the weatherman lied to us as it never reached 60 and was cloudy the whole time. We did have a great time, however--who could not at the coast--and had some extra-ordinary entertainment while we were there.
Our first stop was Gearhart beach and had I known we were going to end up at one of those beaches where cars are allowed down onto it, I would have told Kevin to choose another one. Nevertheless. . . we were there and the kids were eager to get out and start playing. We built the usual sand "castles," threw a frizbee around and frolicked in the water. Later on we saw a dunce-bucket (some others at the beach used a much more descriptive title ((mine is taken from Cyberchase)) drive pretty much right out to the ocean and get stuck in the sand. It was low tide, but not for long as you can tell from the first picture below, the water was close to reaching the engine area. The lack-of-intelligence guy kept walking back and forth from the car while his girlfriend was left to sit in the driver's seat. No one quickly came to his aid as they knew what an idiot he was when they saw him drive nearly right into the ocean. Later, however, a very good samaritan, who also got his car briefly stuck in the sand came to the rescue along with another vehicle and a good tow-rope. They pulled that car out of the ocean and what did that guy without any common sense do in response??!! Drove away as fast as he could without even a thank you! "What a dumb____!" to quote one of the spectators. We then speculated that he left fast because he called 911 and they were probably on their way (which they were). I swear. . . . Anyhow, at least we got some entertainment for a while.


Here is the stuck car attached to a long tow rope just moments before it was pulled free


Here is the car getting rescued and starting to drive away

Here is the car going, going, gone.


Here is the sheriff and tow-truck responding to the 911 call

Here is my family playing innocently in the ocean during much of the drama










Here is Molly feeling cold and wanting to go.


Next stop: Astoria


Overlooking Astoria from the Astoria Column Monument (not the actual column)

Kevin and Keenan at the top of the Astoria Column

Can you see Molly, Keenan and Kevin way up there?

164 steps down to the bottom
From the Astoria column, we drove to downtown Astoria for some delicious seafood. We then wandered the docks before heading back to Gearhart for some very expensive ice cream cones which Keenan dropped as he was attempting to climb on top of a stool. I was really drooling over the fudge, but didn't want to pay $12-a-lb plus an 1/8th of a lb of that would add 5 lbs to my hips so. . . why spend the money when a moosetracks ice-cream cone will only add 2 lbs to my hips???

It was a good ending to a fun and interesting day.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Wall of Keenan

A while back I posted about decorating Keenan's "new" room. I didn't take a picture of the wall next to his bed because I had only a small 8x10 portrait of Keenan on it. Well. . . after having the fantastic photo shoot of Keenan at the beach by my sister, here is what the wall looks like now.

Before

After


My photo doesn't do Deirdre's photos justice




Kevin's not quite sure about seeing so much of Keenan--the photos are 11x14, but. . . I just love to go in his room and look at the wall. He is such a handsome boy (I know, all mom's say that, but it's true!!) and Deirdre did such a great job capturing who Keenan is: fun-loving/playful, tolerant and BUSY. You could tell he was getting annoyed by all the picture-taking at times and purposefully would not look at the camera, but he endured it well and Deirdre only needed to take 100-150 photos before we found just the right 3 :). Thanks so much Deirdre!


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Summer Fun

Summer is fully upon us now and even though the days can be long, tiring and a test of my patience, we have had some very fun days. Molly is currently in a partial day-camp called "It's a Small, Small World" and today they went to China (yesterday was Mexico--tomorrow, Italy). She is enjoying that so far as well as swim and tennis lessons. You may think that is a lot, and it is for 2 weeks of the whole summer. The rest of the time we are not as scheduled. Here are a few pictures of the places we've been--fun times when afterwards Molly tells me, "You're the best, mom!" Aaaaaaw--kids can be so sweet.

Oaks Park
Little Chipper Pre-school Rides

The cars: A Keenan favorite



The roller coaster: Molly's favorite



Our friend Karen and daughter Claire enjoying the slides:)


Keenan was very fascinated by Chipper the Squirrel and would glom onto him every time he would see him.


The potentially dizzying hot-air balloons


Kids always love milk'n cookies. . .

. . .Except for Molly who didn't like her cookie.


The kids with Chipper (and Keenan man-handling) again.



Oregon Children's Museum
Molly face painting herself "just a little bit this time mama."


Clay creations


The great tire pit


"Keenan the Builder, he can build it!"


. . .And be a master DJ spinning records 20 minutes later:)



Sunday Parkways: North Portland
I wasn't here for this activity (once again, working), but it is a pretty cool event that will occur a few times over the summer. The city closes off a 7 square-mile loop in a portland neighborhood and people can come and ride bikes, walk, roller-blade--engage in any non-motorized transportation they would like to along these closed-off neighborhood streets. There are also fun activities for the kids (this time a "circus") as well as opportunities to try out different kinds of bikes (see Molly above and Keenan below).


Keenan hula-hoopin' it up


Very tricky Molly


Here Keenan rides his bigwheel and directly in front of him, Molly on her pink bike. They didn't go far--maybe 1/2-a-mile, but they had a great time, nonetheless.