Some don't like it hot

It finally cooled down enough... It has been 90 degrees or warmer for 11 or 12 days straight- just too much for us in Oregon especially those 100* plus degree days [4 of them in a row that shattered all time high records].

Some of what we did to beat the heat: enjoyed our neighbor's above ground pool, turned on our own air conditioning [most of those who live in Portland area do not have air conditioning which is why the heat wave is really dangerous up here in the NW], saw a double feature for the price of $4 for me and $3 each kid [Star Trek was awesome and Wolverine was alright], use the sprinklers and the hose, popsicles, lemonade, grilled our food outside and realized that ice cream is fine for lunch or dinner, and realized that no matter how hot we were- it is even hotter over there where Dan is. Thanks honey for enduring the 130* days!

Stop and smell the roses

One of my favorite places in Portland is the Rose Garden in Washington Park area and is probably the hardest thing about moving into our house was moving so far from this wonderful garden that the boys and I love take strolls in, play at the Ampitheatre on one side of the Rose Garden, and the playground that we've dubbed "Castle Park" on the other side of the garden... We visited last Thursday:


In case you can't see but there is a bee in the rose...

Solomon using the leaf as a shield.

Me with Solomon and Cyrus

Beach

We went over to the coast to visit some friends of ours. And enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach but still cold enough to wear your clothes into the water...

Local Politics

Portland's new Mayor, Sam Adams, has admitted that he indeed had an affair [no not married] with a 18 yo two years ago after denying the "rumors" for quite some time. Makes you wonder if they really did wait until the younger person was truly 18 years old if you can lie about a relationship...

I have to say that politicians who lie, cheat, or steal should excused themselves from office. Especially if they lie because the trust between the politician and the represented people is lost.
I could forgive and forget should Sam Adams made the honest choice to admit that he did have this relationship with the 18 year old but to deny over and over until *cough* actually it is true.

There is a law that prevents the people from kicking him out of office until 6 months into office...

So frustrating especially when I wanted Sam Adams' opponent to win but that is neither here or there now...
*shakes head* Now I will have to wait and see how it all plays out...

It is snowing today- so beautiful but too windy to really play in. Hopefully better playing day tomorrow. It is about 28 degrees out there. Solomon is hoping and probably will get no school tomorrow due to snow...

New House

Very exciting news today- our offer was accepted and we have bought [pending paperwork] our first house!

This "buying-a-house" business takes up a lot of time... I have fallen behind in cooking, cleaning, schoolwork, and everything else. Even Christmas decorations is late for me this year.
First an update- the first and second offer we put out there had sellers [both were foreclosed/bank-owned] responding with a counter-offer of about $20,000 higher than the listing price with the knowledge of the 6-9 other offers so we backed out as we didn't want to get into a bidding war and the cost of the place that needs instant work/repairs shouldn't be that high in our opinion.
So we changed our tactic. We were not going to look at any foreclosed homes- I don't care what the deal is- it simply takes a longer process to move in and there was always work that needed to be done and with Dan's deployment date looming closer and closer, it wasn't work the "deal" we could get. Then a sweet little detail happened- the mortage interest rate dropped from 6% of when we started the house hunting process to the current 5%- whoo hoo- and that allowed us to have a little more money for the house purchase price. Then we discovered a couple of tax abatements in the area- mostly on new houses. This simply means that you pay very little taxes until certain year which works well for us since Dan's income will increase more than enough to pay the higher taxes when it is time and we could put more monthly money into the house cost. So all said and done- we looked at 8 houses Saturday [mind you Dan was almost done being sick but still with a cough, Solomon's cough is still lingering probably due to his asthma, and I had gotten sick] but at least it was sunny outside. Most were 10 years or newer properties.
We narrowed it down to two and wrote out a pro and con list and decided on "the one" which we made an offer yesterday...
Their acceptance would make it a great Birthday gift for me ;) and I would finally get caught up on my chores and to do list- time to celebrate Christmas and then to pack be moved in January!

*** If you live in Portland and interested in buying a house click here. We really enjoy working with him and would recommend him!

Update on house hunting

The first offer didn't go through so we expanded our search to include the other side of the river in Portland. We found the absolute perfect house. We'll be putting in a second offer on a foreclosed home so hopefully the bank will accept us. The house is so perfect- we'll never have to move again and even Dan loves the house which has never happened before...

Spring Break

We live in Portland, OR and Oregon just had their Spring Break- the last full week in March.
Say the word Spring and what comes to your mind?
sun shinning
plants growing
yeah some rain because we do live in Oregon
So what did we get?!!! Snow, snow, and hail- some nice gusty winds too and completely cold week- I think the high was 45 degrees last Tuesday and the rest of the week in was in the low thirties!!! I had to turn our heat back on.
Now a decent snowstorm would have been okay but usually we have snow then it'll melt and either be raining/hailing or cold and sunny in the afternoon!
The picture is the biggest hail fall we had- it looked like it was snowing [taken Sunday afternoon]!

Valentine Day with city background

When they talk about snow in Portland :)

For those living in California :) when they talked about it snowing in Portland- it starts with Mt. Hood which is the big thing behind Grandpa with the boys [this was taken in August and it is now pretty much covered with snow but not super deep yet as we are having a pretty cold fall- and should be a very cold winter]...