While my girls were marching in their first parade, I was travelling to Portland for another Portland Beavers game. When I got on the flight, I asked the captain which side of the plane he was going to put Mt. St. Helens on. He told me don’t worry, he’d put it on both. I wondered what he meant, but soon found out when he took us on a little side trip flyby of the volcano (after getting permission from air traffic control). I got this video as we passed by the first time:
On the way back I got some still photos, plus Spirit Lake and the Toutle River Valley. Also included in this gallery is a link to the live flight tracker, where you can see how we flew out of the way! Later in the evening I got some nice photos at the PGE Park fireworks display.
Written by hbrown on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 ( One response )
As us three girls were out walking this morning, we discovered that the adjoining neighborhood was doing a parade and they invited us to join. So we walked around the block with all the other kids riding trikes and bikes. Their first parade!
Written by pbrown on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 ( 2 responses )
Murphy Brown came to live with us in 1998. Heidi and I were living in Medford at the time, and she really wanted a dog. She spent a bunch of time trying to decide on a breed and eventually settled on a Corgi. I remember the first time we met Murphy. She was about two years old, and her name was Candy Cane. We had driven up to a dog show in Grants Pass to meet her. She was living with a bunch of German Shepherds on the Oregon Coast because her original owner had left her at home to go to college. She was skittish and not very social. But Heidi fell in love, and we brought her home.
Almost immediately Heidi took her to the vet, and we had our first health crisis. She had heart worms, and we had to treat her right away. She bounced back pretty quickly though, and it didn’t seem to effect her after that.
We knew she needed a new name, but we couldn’t think of one right away. One night we were watching a rerun on late night TV and we both thought, “Murphy Brown?” And the name stuck.
Murphy followed us all over the Northwest. From Medford to an apartment in Spokane, to a house in Spokane, and an apartment and house here on the west side. The longer she lived with us the more her confidence grew and the more outgoing she got. It seemed like it took her about a year to actually bark around us, but once she started, it was tough to get her to stop!
We didn’t always see eye-to-eye on everything. She loved to leave her hair on everything she touched, and seemed to particularly enjoy rubbing up against my pants when I was most dressed up. She used to freak out when we’d turn the TV off, and when we’d leave the house. She had a bad habit of peeing in the house, but most of the time that was our fault for forgetting to let her out.
When our daughters arrived over the past couple of years, she was a model canine citizen. She was patient with Charlotte and her grabbing hands, and never once did anything aggressive. She followed Heidi around and kept her company during the many feedings that come with having babies around.
She had a great relationship with the feline member of our household too. Cougar and Murphy could often be seen cuddling on the floor, and Cougar would get upset when we took Murphy out of the house.
Murphy had been getting sick for the past few months, but you are never really ready for the end. This morning when I came downstairs I knew right away something was wrong. She didn’t get out of bed like she normally does, and when she finally went outside she collapsed in a flowerbed. Heidi had to pick her up to get her inside. Heidi took her to the vet when they opened, and after a couple hours of tests it was clear that her kidneys had failed her. Just after noon we went back and said goodbye to her, and the vet put her to sleep. Murphy was 13 years old, and lived with us for 11.
It’s been awhile since we made a post… we’ve been busy! Was in Corvallis for Chris’ college graduation (congrats!) and the Wesolowski’s were here over the weekend and we had a nice Father’s Day yesterday and celebrated Pat.
So, here’s something fun. I signed Charlotte and I up for dance class. We had our second of three classes today. Thanks to the Matthew’s for watching Eleanor! Here’s a video of a full song, we had to “freeze” and you’ll see Charlotte freezes with the same pose each time. We had a blast!
Well, just a couple more days to get through before Pat is home. Whew! Here’s a couple photos from this morning at home. Charlotte has become extra clingy with Dad gone, she literally is running in circles around me while holding my legs, making it a little hard to walk! We went to our friends’ sons, 1-year birthday party this afternoon, so Charlotte is hopped up from a yummy green cupcake. The last 3 days, each time I thought I got both girls down for a nap and thought I could nap, one would wake up so I’m running on steam! But, homestretch now… Enjoy these photos, Eleanor is smiling a whole lot now and I this is one of the outfits I bought for Charlotte a couple weeks ago. Dressing girls is fun — so hard to resist!
For the second consecutive weekend we had great weather while we left town to visit relatives. This weekend we were in Vancouver/Portland visiting the Wesolowski’s and Robbins’. We spent most of saturday at my parent’s place and made that our base of operations (thanks to Jonny and Erin for letting us have their room for a couple nights!). On Sunday we went to Gresham where Heidi’s sister and family live, and saw them and Heidi’s mom. By we got home on Monday Charlotte was pretty frazzled from not getting enough naps, but we had a great time seeing everyone!
Written by hbrown on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 ( One response )
Hi Pat/Dad, I put this together for you, but thought all friends and family would enjoy seeing the girls too. Miss you, Pat, I don’t like being a single parent!
RT @_pbrown: Now aboard AS21 ORD-SEA in 2D. Ground held for flow control in Toronto, was 2 minutes from missing this plane! Too much exc ... 320 days agoMarch 27, 2011
We knew she needed a new name, but we couldn’t think of one right away. One night we were watching a rerun on late night TV and we both thought, “Murphy Brown?” And the name stuck.
When our daughters arrived over the past couple of years, she was a model canine citizen. She was patient with Charlotte and her grabbing hands, and never once did anything aggressive. She followed Heidi around and kept her company during the many feedings that come with having babies around.
