PDX Pix - August 2013

August - things are a little bit out of order, pardon the disorganization.  Aside from our the Baby-Q party, we also traveled to Santa Fe to celebrate Kate's parents' 50th wedding anniversary with a family gathering.  Santa Fe far exceeded my expectations.  Its elevation of 7000' give or take keeps it nice and cool, and the surrounding mountains and mesas make for a gorgeous landscape.  The stark contrast in topography, weather, architecture, food, people, art style, any many other factors made it an interesting place to visit!  I'd readily go back some day.

Other than that, we spent a lot of time around Portland, working on the house, visiting with friends, and nesting away waiting for our new arrival in September (or maybe October?).  Here's what we've been up to.

The garden!  Check out the mutant carrots we got this year.  Delicious, but often unusually shaped.

Along the food theme, here are Kate and Carla at a Latin cooking class.

Some nature in our yard.  The bees loved these flowers.

Anyone want to identify this common bird that seemed to always watch me pick raspberries?  Where's Alex Price when you need him...

This one I know - hummingbird out in the front yard.

Arroooooooooooooooo!

Emma and Ari hanging out with Calvin during their visits for the Baby-Q party.

 Emma got to feel some kicks!  Not that that should be surprising - this baby kicks an ungodly amount.  At least we don't ever have to wonder how things are going in there!  I hope in-utero activity does not directly indicate how wild of a child this guy will be.

Beth and Soheil

We finally installed our kitchen backspash!  Kate is placing the tile here.  The finished product is below.

I spent some time in the garage getting our cornhole set ready in time to use it for the Baby-Q party.  I hope we'll be able to get this out every now and then through the winter when we have a dry day to challenge each other.  Any future visitors had better hone their bean bag tossing skills...

Find the typos... (from the pool bar in Santa Fe)

Kate at the old Bishop's Chapel in Santa Fe.  32 weeks.

 Santa Fe vista

Mountain biking with nephew Davis in the Tesuque Canyon area

There was a little corner store/restaurant with some neat murals - the Tesuque Market, if you ever find yourself in Santa Fe.  Neat spot.

The Santa Fe airport was remarkably nice.  It had some pretty Southwestern architecture and an extensive display of model airplanes - each with some sort of relevant history in the area.

On the flight home we had fantastic views of Mt. Hood on the PDX approach.  If you're ever flying into Portland in the daylight, get a window seat on the left side of the plane.

This is the group that I rode the Portland Century with - 102 miles around the western hills and farm country, punctuated by some delicious rest stops.

Banjo has found a new "seat" on Kate's lap.

Mikey and Ann playing bags in the back yard.

Games!  I think we're playing Hanabi here, a new one where you hold your hand facing outwards and work together to try to win as a group. 

And just because it's awesome, here's another picture of the fruit baby.

Adam also presented us with this amazing original art.  I guess we had better start homebrewing again soon, huh?

And this comical shirt to go along with it.  Hah hah hah.

Next are a few pictures from the Bandelier National Monument, a native cliff-dwelling peoples habitation site in New Mexico near Los Alamos.  We were able to walk around the area along the canyon floor, through what is left of the larger structures, and even into some of the cave dwellings.  The canyon walls were pock-marked with caves and holes all over, making for a very unusual landscape.  Bandelier is an interesting mix of natural beauty and cultural history - not likely to be on your way anywhere but I'd recommend a visit!

We'll end August with this - I'm not sure what is going on here.  September promises to be an interesting month!  Either we'll have a baby by the end of it or we'll be expecting one any minute.  At least I'll be back up-to-date with photo-posting.

Happy end of summer, everyone.

Baby-Q Party

I guess part of the common tradition preceding the having of a baby is the having of a baby shower.  Kate and I weren't really into having a traditional baby shower, but we were happy that our friends pushed us into having some sort of party to get friends and family from different parts of our lives to come together for a summer afternoon.  It turned out to be a wonderful gathering and we were humbled that some of our friends and family from out of state even made the trip. Thanks to everyone that came and made it such a fun and memorable party, especially the Crams for hosting in their lovely yard!  Here are some of the scenes from the day:

Adam and Mikey went to quickly to work on a fruit-masterpiece...

Our newly-finished cornhole set was a hit and got a lot of good use.  Here we have a match of Tom and Sophia vs. Connor and Soheil.

Kate and Beth

Elena the artist at work decorating a onsie

... aaaand here is the finished product - a fruit baby complete with watermelon perambulator and pineapple wheels!  Some people are talented.

Here's a group of Portland friends.

Tom, Ari, Jeremy

 Noah and Teagan share a blanket with Banjo (See, Cara?  We feature your child, too!)

 Here's an obligatory belly shot.  This is at about 34 weeks.

Mother and daughter

 Connor and Bob discuss bag-toss technique

Banjo.  Awwww.

Onesie decorations

The extra-long table spread in the Cram's side yard

With Mike and Lauren and their 4 month-old Ensley

What a pretty family shot of the Seattles!  Only missing Beth.

Thanks for a great party, everyone!

Phish at the Gorge

Yes, I've been a Phish fan since...  well, let's just say I have fond memories of putting Maxell XL-II cassette tapes into padded envelopes to mail off to strangers with a promise of some new phish show coming back on the magnetic reel in a few weeks.  My fandom went on hiatus overlapping the band's actual hiatus, but a mix of nostalgia, renewed interest in a rejuvenated and once again productively creative band, and a desire to finally visit one of the more renowned outdoor concert venues around got me interested in making the trek to central Washington to see the phab four again for a two-show stop at the Gorge Amphitheater.  Kate and I chose to camp off-site (at Vantage, right on the Columbia river) which seemed to be a popular spot among fans seeking a little more quiet, sane camping area with close proximity to the river for swimming.

We caught two shows - one each on Friday and Saturday nights - and in between did some exploring of the high desert of central WA, the nearby troves of petrified wood at the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park, and went swimming in the chilly but refreshing Columbia river.  Here are some photos from trip.

Night 1 on the lawn at the Gorge, taking in the amazing vistas. 

Fandom in the form of a boy scout uniform.

The Gorge is one of the few venues where the further you are from the stage, the better the view is.  Amazing rich palates of color on the Gorge changing as the sun set and the stars took over.

Here's Kate at the overlook just to the side of the stage area.

Donut cape and vest fandom.

I caught part of night 2 down on the floor around the FOH area.

View from the side.  As always, the light show is one of the aspects of a Phish show that makes being there much different from simply listening to a recording after the fact.

Focused.

A great couple of shows.  It was fun to see them again with Kate for a more enjoyable performance than the last time we saw them, inside in Boston in the winter in 2003.  Even Mr. Miner ranked the Gorge (night 2) as the best show of the tour!  Glad we were able to make the trip this summer.

Aside from the concerts, we went to the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park.  Here is one of the installations on the hiking trail.  All of the main petrified wood pieces were protected in these gated enclosures to prevent theft, I guess.  Kind of odd, but still impressive samples.

At the visitor center there were some remarkably intact log pieces.

 

As well as some very cool native wall art inscriptions from nearby areas, moved to the visitor center due to some construction somewhere.  Pretty neat! 

Tucked out of the way, this was an enjoyable state park.  Lots of petrified wood around - even the stone used to make the entrance sign was constructed out of blocks of petrified wood!