Emily Gymnastics Skills Meet 2009

Tucker's first violin recital

Tuck has been taking violin lessons for about 3 months and today was his first recital. He is naturally shy and overcame mountains of anxiety to perform in front of the crowd. Bravo!

Happy Holidays

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Best fishing day ever

For Tucker's seventh birthday, his Grandma Carol gave him (and me) half day guided fly fishing trip. Our guide, Natalie, took us from neophytes to neophytes catching fish in about 10 minutes. This scenes on this video are from the Crystal River in Carbondale, CO.

Tour De Bonk Postgame

Thanks to everyone who came out for the bonk. Stay tuned for details of next year's TDB.... If you're looking for a good ride this summer, check out Jackson's Ride The Gorge. http://www.jacksonsridethegorge.org/

Here's the TDB movie.

Tour De Bonk May 9

Break out the granny gear, unpack your suitcase of courage and brace yourself for the Tour De Bonk. This is Rob O's annual birthday ride, but since 2009 marks #40, the ride dishes out extra helpings of agony. There are 4 routes, each expanding on the previous. If the full Tour De Bonk seems like too much to digest, you might be interested in one of the other options. Everyone will start together at Healy Heights Park at 0900 on Saturday May 9. The full ride will probably be around 5hrs. There will be a water stop about halfway through and will be available to all but the lite loop.

This is not a an organized ride and is self supported except for the hose in my buddy Tom's back yard to refill your Camelbak. In lieu of a present (which would be too big to put in your cycling jersey anyway, but thanks for the thought) consider a donation to the NW Sarcoma Foundation http://www.nwsarcoma.org/. This is a great organization based right here in Portland that gives direct help to people and families dealing with sarcoma. If you want to make an impact on someone's life who lives in your community, check out the site and toss in a few nickles. Put "Tour De Bonk" in the 'additional comment' section on the donation page so we can see how much we are giving back while having fun ourselves. Feel free to pass this on to your friends. The more the merrier.

Here are the routes

Tour De Bonk

A festival of pain hitting all the high points on Skyline and the some. Old Germantown, Rock Creek, Logie Trail, Springville, Pittock Mansion, Vista/Montgomery to Council Crest are some of the highlights. This route is 65 miles and about 6k of climbing.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/777842701805

Tour De Bonk Varsity

57 miles. 4600 feet of climbing. Excludes Springville, Pittock, Vista.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/736331457569

TDB Junior Varsity

Varsity minus Logie Trail. 44 miles. 3.2 k climbing

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/301030488516

TDB Lite Loop

Junior Varsity minus Rock Creek

26 miles

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/639877783357

The new puppy

Last Saturday we went to the kids' school auction and came home with a dog. We didn't think we were going to come home with a dog, but there he was at the end of the night, sitting in the back seat of our car. The first night was a bit awkward. We arrived home at 10pm completely unprepared for a puppy. I'm not sure who was more in shock, us or him.

We named him Gryffindor after the Harry Potter books but the kids shortened it to Griffin by the next morning, and there it was. Griffin. 

The first few days were a bit rocky. He seemed to prefer pissing inside the house. We played for most of the time outside but he would periodically sneak inside to pee on the floor and come back out to play. By day 3 of this I was at wit's end (to say the least). Things are getting better now as everyone is adjusting and urinating in their assigned locations. 

The kids are stoked beyond belief.

The yellow dog at the end of the video below belongs to our neighbors and was brought in as a sparring partner. 

De Ronde Van Oeste Portlandia

Last weekend was the third running of De Ronde Van Oeste Portlandia. This is one of my favorite cycling events. As one rider says, "There is enough character building here to get a crack whore into heaven." Truer words....

The ride is about 50 miles and is either up or down. The climbs are short and steep, some up to 25% grade. There is no entry fee, no sanction, no medal, and nobody cares if you finish. The road is marked with yellow lions that tell you when to make turns. The Portland riding season begins in earnest when you see a fresh painting to the Ronde lions. The ride starts on a 4 mile ascent up Saltzman road which is either gravel or mud, chose your line. Then it is up to Brynwood, which is the legendary hill of the ride. In the movie at the end of this post, you will see many people either walking or falling over as they attack this hill. Last year I snapped my rear hub on that climb because I was applying so much torque. Awesome!

This is the flyer that announces the race. About 600 people show up at the start. It is pretty much word of mouth. One of my favorite parts is just getting to the start. Pulling out of my street, there are dozens of riders heading to the same place. The closer we get, the more riders join in, like tributaries in a river. Or like termites coming out of the woodwork, depending on your perspective.

These yellow lions mark the course. It is the lion of Flanders and the ride is loosely based on the Tour of Flanders race which happens in Europe the following day.

At the start, we are all smiles. That will be quickly wiped away as we open our suitcases of courage and find we forgot to pack.

The man in front is Ron "Chechu" Kizziar. I am in the clear jacket and Jeff Lahti is the blue arm coming out of my right elbow.

This is me up a climb called College Rd. That is not a smile but a grimace. This climb is featured in the short movie below.

Springs Classics protagonist Jeff Lahti on the final stages of College. The glasses he is wearing were stolen from work. Jeff also buys his formal wear from Walgreens. True story.

Alec Denes making it look easy. At 17% grade, he is hardly breaking a sweat. Maybe it's becuase he just coughed up his right lung a few meters ago. 

You have to admire the riding kit though. He designed the jersey for his ortho group. I may just change specialties to get my hands on one of those.

The finish at Council Crest Park. Right center of the picture is Tucker O, I am standing in front of him.

Overall an excellent day.

Enjoy the show.

">

Photos (the nice ones)thanks to: http://www.dmroth.com

Ice Skating

Yesterday I took Tucker and Emily to the Valley Ice Arena.  All morning long they asked, "When are we going skating?" We had never gone skating and I'm still unsure where their enthusiasm came from. As you can imagine, the ice was slippery and there was a lot of butt time. But damn if they weren't protesting when the Zamboni came an hour later and closed down the rink so the Portland fire department could play a hockey game. 

I figured this would be it  and we would be on our way but they wanted to stay and watch the firemen play pick-up hockey. About half way through the game, Tucker wanted some water but didn't want to leave his seat because he might miss a minute of action. I wonder why he never feels this way about watching bike races, which I can tell you are on TV at our house much more than hockey games. Which is never. Except when Jordan Wand watched the Rangers in our basement. Which was once. For 5 minutes.

Tucker throws down some ice time. He went from Charlie Chaplin to skating on his own by the time we were done.

Emily refused to wear a coat. And was covered in ice by the end of the session. I think she could have skated all day. There may be 2 Ormans in the NHL after all.

There was a lot  of this but nobody complained.
There was a lot of this too. How do people learn to skate without a wall?

Feb and March 2009

Sally (Melissa's grandmother) turned 96 a few weeks ago. Here Emily is giving some help blowing out the candles. If you haven't met Sally, she is sharp as a tack and can play pretty much any song on the piano by ear. After the party, Tucker said, "I like how Grandma Sally opens presents. She takes her time and really pays attention and talks about it with whoever gave it to her." We'll see if that lesson holds up come December.

Tucker feeding the Lorkeets at the Oregon zoo. As I was taking this picture, 2 Lorkeets defacated on my sleeve with extreme prejudice.

Emily has a go. Last time we were in with these birds she freaked out but things seemed to go well this time.

A recent trip to Manzanita. Emily checking out the ocean.

Tucker digging for treasure.

Tucker and Emily with their pals Sophie and Lilly Wand, Alex Thompson.

If you look just down and to the left of the white house, you may be able to see the deer running on the beach. No telephoto on the iphone. Damn!