What's Wrong With These Pictures???

Memorial Day weekend was quite fun-filled.  But there is something missing.  Look through these pictures and see if you can find out what it is before you reach the end.  Good luck!

Here below the Mattias' traveled to Central Oregon (Grass Valley) for Keenan and Molly to try and meet the Easter Bunny.  Although this is his "home," he must have been on vacation for he was nowhere to be found.  

Further southeast near Fossil there was a road-block--a moving one fortunately. 

 

Living in Portland it's not that often that you can see real cowboys/cowgirls.

And it's not that often that cows brush up against your car.

Keenan was obviously greatly entertained by the unusual citing/experience.

He soon forgot those cows, however, when it came time to set up the tent and camp for the night at Ochoco Creek.

Everyone was so excited to sleep in the tent, they went to bed early.  But. . . no one was tired yet so. . . out came the camera.  Great faces everybody.

The next day on the way home, a stop was made at Big Summit Prairie.  Beautiful!

. . . And a stop at Blue Ridge Mine

An awesome view of Three Sisters

. . . And a final stop at the Metolius River

. . . So what's missing from these pictures???. . .

ME!

  I wasn't there for any of the adventure.  I was here. . . working all weekend long:(

But don't feel too sorry for me.  I had a whole night to myself and my paycheck this week won't look too bad either.  

He Did It!

Wow!  What a star-studded American Idol night!  2 hours of musical performance after musical performance of  famous musicians (e.g., Keith Urban, Fergie/Black-eyed peas, Jason Moraz, Cindy Lauper, Steve Martin) dueting/combining with terrific american idol performers from this current season.  I was, of course, nervous much of the night but not as much as last year when I REALLY wanted David Archuleta to win.  Would it be another rocker winning--Adam--or would it be a pop/acoustic star like Kris?  Nearly 100 million votes and although they didn't mention the vote spread, I believe it was my 30-plus votes that put the come-from-behind, dark horse, Kris Allen as the . . . . . .WINNER!   Congratulations Kris!  Your response to the announcement was a little bit of a let-down, but I understand that you were a little "shell-shocked" and probably still haven't absorbed the greatness of the accomplishment and accompanying title.   Can't wait to see what creative artistry you will come up with on your album.  

A Family Paddle

It is Saturday.   Mom (me) doesn't have to work and the only time commitment for the day is a tune-up for the car.  "What do you want to do today, Marin?" asks Kevin.  "I don't know.  What do you want today?" asks Marin.  "We could go for a bike ride, hike to see some waterfalls or. . . . go for a paddle," suggests Kevin.  "It's going to be a warm one," replies Marin.  "It's after twelve," says Kevin.   Hmmmm.  Well. . . after some deliberation (Molly didn't want to hike and Keenan probably wasn't going to last long in the burley) we (surprise, surprise:)) decided on a family paddle.  Exciting, yes?  Of course!  After we packed all the gear, got the kids dressed in water clothes/shoes, loaded the canoe onto the car and drove to the Tualatin River, unloaded the canoe, hauled it to the river (it is VERY heavy), loaded everyone in and listened to Molly yell at Keenan to "sit down!"  for  5 miles, it was. . . something.  Exciting?  Not quite.   But enjoyable, memorable and worth all the work and energy.   Keenan didn't fall out of the canoe this time and did 100-times better than he did last year being able to entertain himself by repeatedly dropping the rope into the water and pulling it back out, as well as doing his share of the paddling:).   Molly enjoyed paddling as well, but gets easily frustrated and annoyed by her brother and when you are in close quarters with no where to escape, well. . . you can imagine OUR frustration.    So in-between moments of relaxing, enjoying the calmness of the water and the warmness of the sun there was the "Leave your brother alone Molly!" and "We are the parents Molly" and  "Stop yelling, you're scaring all the wildlife away" and to Molly and Keenan, "That's enough splashing!"  

I'm just keeping it real, but at the same time, I don't think that after 10 or 20 years the bickering will be what we remember the most.   Looking at the pictures below and Keenan attempting to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat"-- the smiles, the family togetherness, the actuality of doing something out of the ordinary is what we'll remember.   And what we will continue to do.    

Future American Idol, Keenan Mattias, singing "Row Row Row Your Boat"

A Few Meanderings for the Week

Here's a glimpse of what my life was like this week.  Starting with Sunday:  Mother's Day.

On Mother's Day (May 10th), I woke up to delicious pancakes (one cut in the shape of a heart:)) in bed made my dear husband at the urgings of my beloved daughter, Molly.   After enjoying the pancakes, I was a little thirsty so I wandered downstairs for some juice.    We then quickly got ready for church as I needed to be there early to play for sacrament meeting.  I was subbing for the regular organist and was pretty prepared with the hymns she had assigned me.  Unfortunately, the bishopric decided to change the opening hymn to one unfamiliar and I had to play an extra sacrament hymn as we were waiting for the bread to arrive.  Eee-gad!   The thanks I get for being willing to fill in last minute!   Good thing I was wearing good deodorant because I was sweating!   On a different note, should I be offended because I saw some mothers with a plastic box of chocolate-covered strawberries and others (like me) with none?!  What happened to the days of old-fashioned corsages or potted little plants for ALL the mothers in the audience.  I've mostly gotten over it though because Kevin gave me this cute little purse (picked out by me:)) from going-out-of-business Joe's and we all had a great time later in the afternoon down in McMinnville picnicking with my parents and Paul, Ellen and Cash.   I didn't get any photos of the park/picnic, but I think Ellen did.  Stay tuned to Ellen's blog (right, Ellen???:) 

As we were driving in the car, Kevin was trying to get the kids to tell  some of the things they love about me being their mother.  Keenan, of course, didn't understand what was going on, but Molly came up with a few things including: "she plays with us" and "she's nice" and "she feeds us breakfast" and "she takes me to school."  Yep, I'm a chauffeur, chef and friendly play date all in one.   With all of these qualities (and more!) I think that Mother's Day should be celebrated on more than just one day of the year.

On Wednesday my tennis team wrapped up the final match of our season.  We left Sunset Athletic Club with a win and a 3rd place (out of 9 teams) positioning.  We felt pretty proud of ourselves as this was our first year in the "E" league having moved up from "F" last year.   I have played with some of these ladies for over 8 years now and it has been a great, fun ride which I hope to never have to give up.  This summer I've joined a World Team Tennis team with some of these same ladies which I do believe will also be very fun.  

On Wednesday night I also attended an orientation for a bilingual--spanish--magnet school which Molly had recently been accepted into.   This was a VERY tough decision to make as Molly would have to change schools, speak and learn to read/write ONLY spanish until 3rd grade AND be taught to do all this in a classroom where spanish will be spoken by her teacher 90% of the time!  Can you imagine?!  Well. . . we are giving it a go and committing Molly/ourselves to the next 5 years at this school and hope that Molly won't hate us for doing so.   We're trying to think of the future and the great skill/value of being bilingual.  I mean, Paul, Jesse, Scott, etc--aren't you glad you became fluent in Spanish?   I know I'm glad I learned all the Spanish and Cantonese that I did, but wish I was fluent like Molly will most likely be by the time she is 13.   I'm trying to convince myself that we are doing the right thing. . . 

On Thursday my parents came to Portland to do some temple work and spend the evening/night with us.  We had a delicious meal at Sweet Tomatoes (sorry you missed out Kevin) and then after the kids went to bed played 3 games of Settlers until 1:00 in the morning.   Love those late nights!  (Especially when I win 2 out of 3 games:))   Earlier in the evening, however, we stopped at K-Mart (grandpa forgot his toothbrush) and Grandma, Molly and I helped Keenan pick out his first big boy underwear (Yes Ellen, you've inspired us).   Keenan had used the potty a few times successfully (as shown below) and thought it might be time.  Well. . . . he went through 2 pairs of Diego underwear within the first couple of hours of wearing them and then tonight as he had just put on his last clean pair, he is running around the living room when I see a couple of brown bouncy-ball size brown pellets fall out of his underwear.  Gross!  Molly laughed loudly and Keenan took off up stairs to the bathroom.  After I emptied the remaining pellets from his underwear into the toilet I said, "That's it!  No more Diego's for you!"  . . . For a few days at least.  Potty training is an exhausting, disgusting job.  As I was picking those poop pellets up I felt like one of those dog owners who carries bags with them as they are out walking their dog in case their dog does their thing.   Only in this case, I have to shampoo the carpet too.  Ugh!  That will just have to wait til tomorrow:  "Everybody!  Wear socks!"  

You are a cute, little imp.  

And finally, American Idol (of course).  Danny's gone.  As much as I loved his You Are So Beautiful rendition, I enjoyed Kris Allen's Heartless better and voted for him Tuesday night all through the second hour of "The Biggest Loser."   Like Randy said, Kris is "current" making him a major draw for younger viewers (plus his boyish good looks can't hurt:)) and over the past several weeks his artistry has led me to favor him over Danny.   Danny--farewell to your well-tuned raspy voice.    Kris--knock Adam dead next week!   I think he can do it if Adam chooses to feature his wild, over-the-top tongue-thrusting side.  We shall see. . . 

Chocolate Monster

Keenan normally isn't a huge ice-cream fan, but he sure LOVED the ice-cream cone he got at Baskin' Robbins during their 39-cent scoop night a few weeks ago.   I think it was the M&M candies hidden inside the chocolate that made it so delectable.   Keenan can't eat a raisin without getting all messy and sticky (okay, I exaggerate a little bit), so if you can imagine him eating a big melting glob of chocolate ice cream, it's understandable why I had to get my camera out.  

Okay, I had to throw this one in, because it is just gross:)

CA Day 7: One Last Stop Before Heading Home

Day 7: Homeward Bound

The final morning, Kevin got the kids showered, dressed and fed, while I went to work cleaning Scott's apartment (the least we could do to repay him).   It's always nice to come home to a tidy place when gone for a while.   So after leaving some gourmet chocolates on a freshly laundered and made bed, we headed off to Newport Beach.  The weather was perfect, 75 degrees, sunny with a nice breeze.  There were very few people--a handful of surfers.  Molly had put on her bathing suit under her clothes, so off came the clothes and she strutted around the beach like she was a native California beach bum.  

The water temperature was just right so Molly, Keenan, Kevin and I could wade in the water. 

Keenan spent most of his time running in and out of the water.  Every once in awhile he would run up the beach to look at the big earth movers moving sand around the beach.  They would roar by us on their own marked-off super sandy highway.

The tan Molly with the white Mommy.

We had a great time at the beach, but knew it was time to head back to the car and get ready to head to the airport when Keenan fell into the water.  This really wasn't a surprise to Kevin and I as our son is fearless and is not afraid of the water.  He would run out into the receding wave and wait for the next one to race in.  As he is high-tailing it to "safety," laughing all the while, his luck ran out.  A bigger, faster wave caught him and dumped him into the white wash.   When Kevin brought him up to dry sand, Keenan was drenched and had sand all over his body.  When we put  a new diaper and dry clothes on him, we found sand in all of his lower body crevices.  It was going to be a very uncomfortable flight home for him.

As we headed to the airport, we stopped at In-N-Out burger for the second and last time in California:(.  At the airport, there was a gentleman who was on our same flight home to Portland.  As he looked at the Mattias family in their t-shirts, shorts and sandals, he informed us that when he left Portland this morning, it was raining and 40 degrees.  He told us that it would probably still be raining and 40 degrees when we got back to Portland.  Ugh.  

It was a fairly quiet flight home since Keenan fell asleep on the plane, just after we took off.

The gentleman was correct.  It was 40 degrees and raining when we landed in Portland.  Kevin had to whip out some socks to cover up his cold, naked feet.  And we had to search through our bags to find jackets for Molly and Keenan.

It was a grand trip to Southern California.  As always, it was too short.  We got to see some of Kevin's family (but we would have liked to have seen more of them and for a longer time).  Molly and Keenan had some great experiences at Joshua Tree, Hollywood, Disneyland and the beach.  

Knock Knock Jokes

As I read my sister-in-law, Ellen's blog about Cash, Elmo and potty training, I was reminded of the knock-knock jokes our family has been having a good time telling over the past month or so.   Sometimes we'll be in the car driving somewhere, but most of the time it's sitting around the dinner table.   Everyone usually takes several turns with Keenan taking the most because he nearly ALWAYS tells the same joke.  Potty humor, of course, makes him laugh the most and and we laugh "at him" because he always laughs the hardest at his own jokes which often don't make any sense at all.  Here is the "joke" he always tells which cracks himself up:  "Knock Knock."  ("Who's there?" we respond.)  "Poo poo?"  ("Poo poo who?"  Molly responds ((dad and I try to ignore)).  "Poo poo Elmo! haaaaaaaa!  That may not seem like a very nice thing to say about Elmo, but actually it makes sense to all of us because Keenan has a little potty with a picture of Elmo on it and he knows he is supposed to go poo poo in Elmo (the name we have given the potty).  Unfortunately, he has yet to go poo-poo in Elmo, but we did get a little pee-pee one time.   I know Kevin and I could try A LOT harder to potty-train Keenan, but that requires a lot of work (see Ellen's blog:)), and we feel that since we've been diaper-changing for almost 6 years now, what's one more year.  Ha ha.  

Ca. Day 5 & 6: The Magic Kingdom

Finally, the day(s) arrived.  Kevin and I had been looking forward (sort-of) to taking the kids to Disneyland for quite some time, but  Molly and Keenan had no idea we would be including the adventure in our California trip until the week before.  And even then, having never been there, they really could not imagine the excitement they were in for.  

As you can see from the sky below, it was a gorgeous southern California day (70-something degrees) and we were at the gates early.   You would think Monday and Tuesday would be less-crowded, but with it being spring break in some areas of Ca. (as well as in Oregon), there were long lines just to get through the gates with your ticket.  "Ugh!" I thought, "Is this foreshadowing the rest of our day?"  Well, thank goodness for "fast passes" and the kids being willing (as much as we were) to ride less crowded/popular rides.   We did get "stuck" in a few unforeseen long lines which tested Keenan's patience (and ours), but overall, the lines were tolerable with an average of 20-minute waits.   If you asked Molly what her favorite ride was, she would say, "The Matterhorn" and not because a very nice park employee took us from near the back of the line to the front in order to "make some magic" for us.   Kevin and I, of course, loved Space Mountain and Keenan loved everything, especially if it spinned.   We all (except for Keenan because he was too short) loved the Grizzly River Run at California Adventure, but forgot how wet you get!  I was sort-of laughing at some folks who brought their own rain gear on the ride, but they were probably having the last laugh when they saw all of us who looked like we had just pee-peed in our pants:).  

We thought the kids might be too tired to stay all day, but the first day we ended up staying until the end of the fireworks and the second day a couple of hours sooner.   The kids and I actually would have stayed longer to take advantage of the shorter lines, but dad put his foot down.  He was tired and we were too, but we were running on Endorphins!  No rationality whatsoever.  My feet were KILLING me and Molly fell asleep with her head on the table at the California Pizza Co.  so I guess dad was right when he said it was time to go.   I can now see why people often spend 3-4 days at Disneyland/California Adventure:  There is SO much to do and see.   If I exhibited any reluctance and negativity re: taking the family to an exhorbitantly-expensive, overly-commercialized, tourist-filled theme park where you lose your car in the gigantic parking structure,  the feelings diminished by the end of the 2 days.  I really am looking forward to going back in a few years when Keenan is tall enough to ride the the thrill-rides and Molly still hopefully adores princesses.

The famous Sleeping Beauty Castle
Keenan looking with uncertainty  about being swallowed-up by a giant whale.
The famous tea-cups
A family favorite:  It's a small world.


A "fast pass" to Autotopia
Fitting in a few few rides at California Adventure. 

Molly was hoping to see some disney princesses, but none were ever roaming on the grounds (you generally have to wait in a long line to have your picture taken with them).  She was thrilled, however, to come across Minnie and Mickey and did not pass-up the photo opportunity.  
Keenan missed "seeing" M&M, but still got included in the photo:)
I love this one of Molly with her "ears."