Portland Marathon Weekend

The first weekend every October brings us the Portland Marathon. Although neither Heath or I run the marathon, we like to go down to watch my uncle Jim run it. In the past we've done the 5 miler as well, but we took this year off...which ended up being a good thing since neither one of us slept well the night before due to a stuffy hotel room and a fussy, coughing little boy. We didn't make it to see Mariah's 5 miler race, but we did get to cheer Jim into the finish line.

Portland is one of our favorite cities to visit....we actually got engaged there some 6 years ago. It rarely rains while we are there, so we get to enjoy walking around the city and the Portland Saturday market. We also love the fact that we get to hang out with the Boyles too. Dad even came down with us this year! I've only been trying for 5 years to get him to come down.

We all met up Saturday at the market and listened to music, did some artsty shopping and got in some people watching. Saturday evening we met in Ruthy and Jim's room for a special wine tasting for TC's (Jim's mom) 82nd birthday. After that we went to a favorite restaraunt, La Terratzza and had some more wine and great Italian food.....celebrating TC and Virinda's birthday with creme brulee'! On Sunday, after the race we all met up again for lunch and Guinness at Kell's.....a great Irish pub near the Market. We had a really good time, even with Mr. Fussy Britches :) Grayson is doing much better now that he got some serious sleep. Oh by the way....he ended up getting an ear infection...which we got diagnosed on the Friday before we left....thank goodness!

Harvest Time

Yesterday, Grayson and I went and picked out some pumpkins out of Grandpa's garden......and get a few other things as well.

This looks like a good pumpkin!

Hmmm.....what to go check out next!??

A STUDY OF VITICULTURE
By: Jessica Bright

One of my most favorite things in the fall is seeing the beautiful color and contrasts. I just love the grape harvest time (so does Grayson). Grandpa's vineyard is growing larger and better every year. One day we hope to have enough for some winemaking! But for now, we are happy to admire their beauty and eat them up!
A few years ago I actually looked into getting into viticulture (study of grapes and winemaking)....but the closest school was WSU. So....we will do our own studies over here!




For more photos to view and order prints:

Harvest time

More Texas pictures

Reading about Kubota tractors with Grandma Tammy. I know he looks like he is frowning, but he is really serious when it comes to tractors....and he is making his tractor noise "run-run-run".

The next day we spent going to Eurotazza Coffeehouse for coffee and breakfast, then to a couple parks to play. This was the second park we went to that had a big water feature that we could dip our feet into. Grayson would have gotten totally into it if we would have let him!

Grayson and Aunt She-She (Sheila)

Grandad with the grandkids

Our last night was spent at Uncle Julio's Mexican Restaraunt. Definitely a must when you visit Texas. Yum Yum!!

Grammie and Grayson

Grayson was so good all day despite the fact that he was starting to get sick. He was really trying to smile, but just a had a runny nose instead.

For more photos go to this link:

Texas 9-2007

Finally.....some Texas pictures!

Ok.....I finally found a few minutes to post some pictures. Mr. Grayson is still sick and has been quite needy with me. He found some papers to play with while I upload these first few pictures. This is only the beginning of them....I've got more to put on later. I know people were chomping at the bit to see pictures, so I thought I would at least get a few on.

I had to first start this off with this cute picture of Grammie Sue's new American Bulldog puppy, Sadie. She as so darn cute and smart. Grayson really enjoyed playing with her...that is, until she pinned him down to the ground with her sloppy kisses.

On our first full day in Texas, we got to go visit cousin Gracie at her school for Grandparent's Day. Grayson really liked her right off the bat and wanted to sit in her lap and hug her.

Grammie with her grandkids.

Grammie, Bibi (Heath's grandma), Gracie, Grayson and me at the school.




Grayson's new friend Jaci, going in for the kiss! There was a lot of kissing going on. Jaci is the daughter of Heath's friend Andy and wife Marissa. Jaci is 11 days younger than Grayson.

The next day we went with Grandad to visit with Grannie (Heath's grandma). Grayson really enjoyed his time with Grandad and took to him quickly.

We had a really good visit with Grannie.....Grayson had fun reading with her and pushing her walker around.

After our visit with Grannie, we went to aunt She-She's house to stay a couple days. Grandma Tammy joined us and we got to hang out with her for a day.

We're back....

Grayson and I arrived today around 11 am after an interesting plane ride. First off....we had a great time visiting Grayson's Grammie, Grandma Tammy, Grandad, Aunt She-She, cousin Gracie, Bibi, Granny, Keira and Jared, Andy and Marissa and 16 month Jaci, and all the dog-dogs. It felt like a short trip, yet it also felt like we were gone for longer than 5 days. We had beautiful warm, humid Texas weather....warm nights that I sooo miss! Nothing beats a warm night to walk out into from a cool house. Not the other way around! We spent quite a bit of time in the car driving to visit family, but it was all worth it. A great experience for Grayson!

So....now the "interesting" part. I'll get to it soon. Grayson developed a fever the 2nd to last night we were there and had a very rough night with sleeping.....which caused me to have a rough night as well. He woke up with quite a runny nose and a slight fever, but was in great spirits, regardless. We went out and got coffee and breakfast at Eurotazza coffeehouse (which is owned by Sheila, aka Aunt She-She's friend Keira)....then went and played around. That night Grayson looked a bit more miserable, but I was prepared with newly bought Tylenol, Benadryl, Kleenex, nose sucker, etc. It still was a rough night....he woke up almost every 1/2 hour or so until about 2am (I think). I believe we finally got a couple to a few hours of sleep closer to morning. I was kind of nervous about flying with a sick little boy, but it had to be done. So, off we went with drugs in tote. He did quite fine on the first leg of the flight to Albequerque and pretty much slept (thanks to lack of sleep at night and a little Benadryl). Note to readers: I don't normally drug up my kid too much, but this called for it. Anyway, the 2nd leg was a bit more fitfull and he couldn't get comfortable for too long with sleep. So, I finally got him out of his carseat and had him sleep in my arms. That worked pretty well. He woke up with about an hour left until gate arrival, so I gave him some water and he seemed interested in having a little snack. By the way, he did eat some yogurt before we got to Albequerque. So, he had some crackers and some grapes. Well, I think he got a little too carried away and got too many grapes in his mouth. He had them chewed up, but tried to swallow them all and kind of gagged. He has a really good gag reflex by the way. So, some coughing and up it all came!! I couldn't catch it and it went all over the place.....grapes, yogurt and all. Now what a major predicament. The flight attendant was very nice and brought us a bunch of paper towels and garbage sacks. I didn't even know where to begin! So, with an upset little boy I removed all of his clothes and the ones I could remove off me. Thankfully, Aunt She-She put his jammies in our diaper bag this morning so I had something to put him in. I had vomit all over my pants, flip-flop, the carpet, the back of the seat, carseat, etc. Anyway, I somehow managed to get it all cleaned up just in time for our descent. Boy did it smell bad!! I was waiting for others to join in on the vomit-fest. Nobody joined....that was surprising! Note to self (and others): Always, no matter how old the kid, have extra clothes on hand!!

It definitely is somewhat of a challenge to travel with a toddler with all the "stuff" you have to bring. I'm one who has to have the carseat on the plane, so its quite a workout getting everything to the plane by yourself and not piss people off. Everyone seemed pleasant on this trip, to which I am very thankful.

I will post some of our pictures as soon as I get our bags unpacked and the stinky vomit laundry done. I've got some great photos from a great trip!

Hi Y'all!

Well, Grayson and I made our way south to Texas today to visit my in-laws. Heath stayed home due to not having many days of leave saved up. We will be here till the 30th and will visit with several family members in the area. Grayson did pretty well on the airplane but was getting antsy and was really tired.....too much that he wouldn't sleep much. He cried pretty hard one time on our descent into Albequerque...possibly because he was disoriented after waking up from his nap and maybe his ears were bothering him. He did great, however, on the descent into Dallas. He has been having fun here at Grammie's house playing with the antique baby buggy and Grammie's 3 dogs. We will have an event filled day tomorrow, so hopefully he gets a great night's sleep. I will hopefully have some good photos to share when we get back!

Uncomfortably numb

According to Pink Floyd.....its "Comfortably Numb", but my title fits much better!

Bright and early Sunday morning, Heath and Jessica set out on their 1 1/2 hour drive to Enumclaw to participate in the Black Diamond Sprint Triathlon. Grayson was dropped off at Grandpa's house at 6:30 am and snuggled back into bed with Grandpa...all warm and cozy. Heath and Jessica were bundled in many layers of clothing hoping to stay somewhat warm as they watched the temperature climb to a whopping 45 degrees Farenheit! When they arrived at Nolte State Park, where the triathlon was being held, they found that the water temperature was a mere 61 degree Farenheit. Yikes! After setting up their gear in the transition area, they put on their wetsuits to prepare for the polar-bear-club-like event. Jessica looked around to notice that many people had on long sleeved wetsuits....something that she wished she had, rather than the sleeveless wetsuit. She was grateful, however, that it had long legs. As she ventured off towards the water in barefeet she realized that she was getting an ice-cream-headache type feeling in her feet. This did not seem to pass while it also got worse walking along the rocky beach of the lake.

At 9:00am Heath's wave was sent off for their swim. Heath had a bit of a struggle at first trying to get around people and fighting the urge to drown while people climbed on his back. He quickly found a good spot along the outside of the pack and stayed there throughout the rest of the swim. Jessica's wave started at 9:05am in the freezing cold water. It took her a bit to relax and breathe normally so she wouldn't go into panic mode. The cold water in combination with the beginning of the race adrenaline and the several other bodies claiming water rights caused her to get a little bit anxious. Once she mentally fought through it she was good to go. Even though her body got somewhat used to the cold water, it still was pretty darn numb. Again....long sleeves would have come in handy.

Next the two had a transition to the bike. They each took their time so they would be able to warm up a bit. Jessica's feet were still numb! Their bike rides seem to go nicely and they both made pretty good time and passed many people. Jessica's rear tire went flat right at the very end....she was quite thankful that it happened then and not out on the course.

The run came next and Jessica's feet were still numb....the numbest they've ever been in her whole life. The run course consisted of two laps on the trail circling the lake. This was a nice flat course, but one had to watch their footing because of sneaky roots and rocks. Heath became a victim to one of the roots and twisted his ankle and foot pretty badly. He ran on though. As Heath came to what he thought was the finish, he noticed other people running by and continuing on around the lake. He was not aware about the two lap route....and it was too late to continue on. He was slightly bummed but was glad that the race officials wouldn't DQ him and instead doubled the run time that he had done. This still put him in a great standing and in contention for an age group medal. As for Jessica, her feet finally started feeling normal after the first loop of the run. She was then able to kick it in a bit and pass some more people. As she neared the finish, she saw that their support crew of Grayson, her dad, Carol and Natale were all there cheering them on.

Overall Heath and Jessica felt good and thought it was a good race. Apparently this year was actually warmer than last year.....it rained and was 8 degrees colder in the water. Thank God it was a clear day.

(Thanks for reading my long story! Sorry, no pictures yet....we will have to get them from our support crew.)