It’s been a busy couple of weeks. But I guess life is just sort of busy now anyways. In no particular order:
- The weather has officially turned over to Fall and we’ve been getting a lot more rain lately. I don’t mind it yet and the cooler weather has been a welcome change. The next couple of days are supposed to be sunny and I’m looking forward to it.
- My kids and I went to the big box home improvement store and picked up a bunch of Halloween decorations. I dipped into some savings for Christmas because my son is all about this holiday. We got a little witch that dances and sings, a skeleton dog, a fun wreath, and some headstones and dirt to make our front garden box look like a graveyard. It’s so much fun seeing these things through the eyes of a 4-year-old. My daughter is about 20 months and she isn’t quite as into them yet. In fact, she’s a bit freaked out by the witch :D.
- The pumpkins I grew did turn orange! I cut them off their vines a few weeks ago and made sure they got lots of sunshine. The largest of the two turned all the way orange and the smaller one is still a little green, but it made me happy to see they had actually turned because I wasn’t sure if they would.
- I started constructing a Mystery Machine (Scooby-Doo) out of boxes I’d procured, just shaping them into a van for now. This week I promised my son we’d paint it. I already got the paint from Joann last weekend, just looking for the time to get it started before Halloween. The idea is that I’ll place it on our wagon and take it with us Trick-or-Treating.
- This past weekend we checked out a new park in Hillsboro that has a giant troll play structure constructed out of wood. The kids of course loved it. This area really does have a lot to do for kids and is really family friendly.
- My son and I got our Flu shots early last week and my wife took our daughter to do the same. Still have to schedule our Covid boosters. P was running around the doctor’s office and crawling around on the floor. The hospital staff didn’t know what to make of it. I just shrugged and said “he’s 4”.
- Last week I was busy cleaning up files and finishing some last minute projects as I was exiting my last role at work, and this week I officially started my new job within a different department. It’s still early, but so far - so good, and the people are really nice. It’s a very different world from what I’m used to, but I welcome the change.
- I bought a treadmill and have been keeping up with using it just about every day, sometimes in the morning and other times in the evening. My wife, who was skeptical at first, is even using it a bit herself. I’ve just been throwing on a podcast or some Italian music (I’m trying to learn) or a show and going to town for 30 minutes to an hour. Nothing too intense yet, but I’d really started to feel like my body was working against me lately and figured I’d gone long enough with not having a more regular routine. Hoping I can keep this going and maintain a good, healthy habit. I feel like I’m sleeping better and my mood is improving, too.
- I spoke to my mom a few days ago about her and my dad watching out kids while we go to Europe, hopefully in the spring. Sounds like they are definitely up for coming out to Portland and holding down the fort, which would be awesome. A little scary considering we’ve never left our kids for that long, but my wife and I are pretty much on our own out here without much support from family. It will be good for us to do something for ourselves, however strange that aspect may be. Having had that conversation, I feel like we can finally start planning it for real. I would like to visit my ancestral homeland of Vigo di Cadore, Veneto, Italy for starters. Shar seems really excited to be checking out the Dolomites as there’s lots of good hiking to do. We haven’t decided where else we might go, but that’s top of the list.
- I’ve never watched too much sports, but I got an ESPN subscription for this winter because apparently the Lions are actually doing pretty well and I’d like to watch this as it’s never occurred in my entire life. My son and I watched the Red Wings last night and they won, 4-0 against the Blue Jackets.