Friday, August 31, 2007

Go Cougs!

Caden is ready for College Football season. He can't wait for the Cougars to start kicking some @%&* on the football field! 9/1 in Wisconsin is the first game! Lets go Cougs!

Moving day

This picture doesn't really show the full impact of the move... Basically everything we owned was packed and crammed into 4 portable storage units that were 6 x 7 x 8. We then had movers to unpack the 4 units into our new permanent storage unit that is 10 x 15 x 10. Most of the stuff fits in the permanent unit, but we have some items at the townhouse too. When we opened the unit doors to unload, that's when things started to go awry.

Basically our bedroom furniture - Headboard and 2 nightstands - were scratched pretty badly. Our boxes with the fine china in it were crushed - turns out they were packed very well by me and did not break! The entertainment center lost a leg and a bookshelf was gouged. This move was definitely hard on our stuff, but it is now safely in our new storage unit.
Now if we could just get our house to sell, we could get ourselves settled in and move on.

A Walk in the Park

Earlier this week, we went on a walk at Riverside park - It was so nice to be outside and doing things. The fresh air was great. We were definitely a site to see - It was my mom, sister, myself, Caden & Charlie and the 3 dogs (our 2 dogs and my mom's dog quincie). I am sure this is one of many walks to come - in fact, since this day, we have gone on 2 other walks in 2 other parks in Spokane.


Caden doesn't really look into it, but I think he enjoyed it.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

More highlights from Rhode Island

For starters, Ashley works at Starbucks - so we went to her work to see her in action - love the apron. On our last day in Rhode Island, Grandpa cooked us breakfast. It was a real treat - everyone enjoyed eating their rations.
Last but not least - some more family photos - this is all 4 generations.

Grandpa & Caden

Grandma & Grandpa & Caden.

There was 1 event that didn't get captured on film and that is Eleanors. We went to a real Rhode Island Clam shack. I rode in the car with Caden, the Gairs and Janet. Grandpa gave me an insider tour of the area. We learned about the old amusement park like six flags and where the prostitutes used to hang out. Pretty lively.


A day at the beach

We went to the beach 1 day during our trip. A day at the beach with a baby - nothing easy about that. Lucky for us, Jan got a little sun tent for caden and we put the pack & play in it. He was able to take a little nap at the beach. We had a nice picnic lunch on the beach and went swimming and surfing in the ocean.
Caden enjoying his tent and not getting a sunburn.

Mick Fenway

That's right, Ashley's boyfriend Chris has a whiffleball field called Mick Fenway in his backyard. This is no small undertaking. He has even created his own league. When we left they were starting the playoffs to find out who would make it to the world series. Oddly enough, Chris isn't on any of the teams in the playoffs. This field is big news in Portsmouth. There was even an article in the local paper about it. Each year Chris improves it and makes it better than before. This year's addition was a press box, the John Hancock sign in the outfield, the owners box (he and Ashley get to sit there) and the dug-outs. Scoreboard

John Hancock sign


Bleachers


Press box - complete with the green monster

One of the dug-outs.

Next time you are in Portsmouth in the summer, I am sure that you can catch a game and a beer at the booster shack.

Caden visits the "war room"

Caden's great grandpa was a marine, he fought in Korea. He has a room in their house that has all sorts of memorabilia from the Marine Corps. Recently while on the base, Nana found a Marine corps baby outfit that says lil grunt on the front and Semper Fi on the behind. It's actually the 18 month size, but we put it on Caden for his visit. Later we will have more pictures when the outfit fits a little better.

All 3 hands - Justin, Grandpa & Caden - looks like Caden might need a tan.

What a handsome bunch! The Gair men!

PawSox Baseball

As everyone probably knows by now, Justin loves the Red Sox. What you may not know is it is next to impossible to get tickets to go to an actual red sox game. So the next best thing is the Pawsox. They are the minor league team for the Red Sox in Pawtuckett. It was somewhat similar to the Bellingham Mariners, but on a larger scale. We missed Curt Schilling by a few days.
The whole family came to the game - Nana & Grandpa, Jan & Pete, Ashley & Chris, Me, Justin & Caden. Caden was so good for the whole game, but I had to change his outfit midway through the game because of the humidity. (Chris wasn't in the picture because he was looking around for ideas for MickFenway - his whiffle ball field at his house named after Fenway park).
It was a fun game, but the Pawsox lost.

Rhode Island Vacation

We just got back from Caden's first trip to the east coast. We went to Rhode Island to meet Justin's family. We had a busy week, but no real plans set in stone. We stopped by a lot of people's houses to meet them and show Caden as much of Portsmouth, Newport and Middletown as we possibly could see in 1 short week.

We started in Phoenix with a 5 hour direct flight. Caden was not interested in sitting still or being held. We spent the first hour with him punching me in the face and grabbing my mouth. fun times on the airplane. After 2 hours, he fell asleep. This is us waiting patiently in the pre-boarding line at Southwest. Even though we got to pre-board the plane with baby, there were still about 20 people who got on before us for medical / special assistance pre-boarding, and the plane was coming from San Diego, so it was not empty when we got on. The good news is, the flight was full, but no one wanted to sit next to a baby for 5 hours so we had a vacant seat between us. crisis averted! After Jan & Ashley picked us up at the airport, we went home to Jan's new house and had a late dinner (midnight) and then hit the hay. The next morning was the Gair family picnic at Jan's house. It was amazing - everyone was present, so we took some pictures as proof.

The picture actually has 4 generations in it - Parents, daughters, grandkids (Justin, Ashley, Lexa & Jen) and the great-grandchildren (Jordan, Caitlin, Tyler, Kirsten and Caden). Pretty impressive.
The next pic is Grand parents with Grandkids and great grandkids.



I know that I look stunning in this pic - We are getting ready for the Pawsox baseball game, and it was raining that day, and a bit muggy. It was all I could do to get Caden in the right outfit and find some pants to match. :)

Friday, August 24, 2007

We have arrived!

The family is back together again - at last! I made it to Spokane in 2 1/2 days of driving. We are all living in the townhouse and my mom is here helping us get settled. Our stuff arrives on Monday and is unloaded on Tuesday. Caden starts daycare on Thursday and I start my job on theTuesday after Labor Day.

That's right, you read correct, I have a job! I am the new Convention Sales Manager for the Spokane Convention Visitors Bureau. My market will be the southwest, so don't worry Phoenix, you haven't seen the last of me.

I will get some pictures up from our vacation in Rhode Island soon. We just got the computer set-up today - almost a week after getting here.

Now if our house could just sell, we would be moving right along....

Monday, August 13, 2007

Moving Day is near!

Moving day is on Wednesday. I have about 80% of the house packed. I should have it complete by mid day tomorrow. The storage pods come between 10am and 3pm on Tuesday. They are as precise as the phone company..... I will start driving to Spokane on Thursday. The house hasn't sold yet, but we are keeping an open mind.