4th of July...Central Oregon Style

I know the 4th of July seems along time ago in these dog days of summer, but our first experience celebrating America's birthday in Central Oregon has all of the best elements of both good tragedy and good comedy, so I couldn't resist sharing them with you. Again, I apologize for the delay in blogging -- who knew setting cursor to screen would be so challenging for a gal who has a computer for a fifth appendage!

The day here started like most of the rest have during our Bend sojourn...with a good dose of home improvement. After doing the IKEA shuffle (assembling dressers and tables) and engaging in some good ole' patriotic shopping (Target, Costco and Ross anyone?), we moseyed across the river footbridge to Bend's very own "Old Fashioned 4th of July" in Drake Park. Let me tell you, these Bend folks know how to throw a festival. They had amazing food, footraces, and the highlight of the day for all you pet lovers -- the annual pet parade featuring no less than a flying dog! The boys loved participating in the Flying Fish Fling (that's Spence @ the fish "flinger"), a game where they were able to launch plastic fish in a huge sling shot toward a target into the Deschutes River. Fish that didn't flop through the hoop were culled into nets by volunteer kayakers. For boys who would love to grow up to be engineers designing challenges for Survivor, this was festival nirvana!

After a patriotic lunch of Thai satay and noodles in the park, we went home to more home improvement. As the day wound down, the boys' mood and energy level continued to degenerate. In one of our finer parenting moments, Chris and I "cancelled" fireworks for the night and told the boys, "You're too tired. We'll do this next year." Does "Bah humbug" apply in July?

Needless to say, we came to our senses as Jackson reminded us "How can you do that?! I really want to see the fireworks?" Aah, the wisdom of babes. Anyway, as controlling and "in charge" as I can be at times, even I wasn't sure how I was going to "cancel" all of the fireworks, mini-explosions and the burning hill in Bend, so off to the fireworks we went. And this is where the story gets good...(Sorry, I needed 4 paragraphs to get to this point. I've never been known for my brevity).

Remember, Oregon is a wee bit North of Cali, so the sun stays out quite a bit longer here. Fireworks don't even begin until 10:00 pm. We loaded Jackson in the car (Spencer fell asleep waiting and couldn't be roused to join us) and headed toward the Pilot Butte. As Bend Newbies, we didn't know if we were driving to find a place to pay and sit and watch the fireworks or looking for an official viewing site in a "safe zone". However, as we discovered on our short drive, Oregon is a libertarian kind of a place -- do what you want, have fun, don't bother others, and don't make us suffer through a lotta tough government rules and regs. Translation: setting up your lawn chairs in the street (and I mean the main thoroughfare through town) to watch fireworks seems perfectly safe and reasonable. We decided to keep driving and ended up at the Thriftway Market parking lot about 500 yards from the fireworks staging spot at Pilot Butte.


Now, this wasn't just a meeting place or a safe place to park our car while we ran into the market to get Skinny Cow popsicles to eat while watching the show (and by the way, since when do popsicles have 3 grams of fiber?!). This was a full-blown, NFL big-game Sunday (or at least Oregon Ducks big game Saturday -- no NFL in Oregon) type of tailgate with pick-up trucks, country music, western wear and tons of fireworks being set-off and enjoyed in the parking lot while we all waited for the city's big show to start. I don't mean near the parking lot or in the vacant space next door to the market. I mean full-on Roman candles, sparking cones, and many other pyrotechnic wonders exploding near cars, the market entrance, and next to shoppers exiting the Thriftway. Did I mention that Oregononians are a bit Libertarian...or perhaps just live and let live.

The highlight of the night was watching Jackson's pure wonder and unadulterated joy at the scene overhead and in the parking lot in front of him. His constant utterings of "Oh yeah!" and "Good one!" confirmed to me that along with his Sri Lankan, Lithuanian and various European bloodlines, the boy has some good ole' boy blood running through those little veins. Jax, that brown skin has got some red tinges around your neck area. Needless to say, it was a 4th of July we won't soon forget. Tune in again soon for more of our adventures (and misadventures) in the big O (Oregon, that is).

Bend Adventures...Part 1

After an uneventful drive 10 hours northeast into Central Oregon, we arrived in Bend shortly before dinnertime on July 1st. Chris and a local college kid unloaded the entire U-Haul truck in less than an hour (thanks Chris!), while Sharmaine, Grammie and the boys arrived and got the Pilot cleared out from our trip.

In typical Sharmaine and Chris frenzy fashion, we weren't satisfied just to arrive on a beautiful, balmy Oregon evening and walk over the footbridge across the Deschutes River to visit the local Bend Farmers Market. After a quick dinner dinner, we sprinted out the door, climbed into the big U-Haul truck and headed out to a local bed store, Costco and Target to buy as many things we needed in a 90 minute period.

Let's just say that shopping after a 10 hour drive and very little sleep is not the best idea. We ended up with an electric dryer for our laundry room which needs a gas model and other things that looked good in the stores but didn't really fit the bill when we got home. At one point during the shopping trip, Chris and I were in a near trance in the bedding aisle at Target looking for bed linens. Like a seasoned game show hostess, Chris showed me numerous duvets while I nearly fell asleep on the dust ruffle shelf unable to decide which I liked. As he reminded me and the boys later, he didn't even know about duvets until he met me. My, how far he has come!

We arrived home from our zombie shopping trip to find the entire kitchen unpacked by one amazingly tireless Grammie and two very tired, but excited boys. Piece of advice: always bring along an excited, hard-working grandparent (if you have one available to you) on these great life adventures and transitions. The extra set of hands and the encouragement goes a long way. Thanks Mom! We couldn't have accomplished all of this without you!

On day 2, we hooked up with a local contractor who showed up at 9:00 a.m. in the morning to begin repainting some of the rooms in the house. The last owners had a particular fondness for very dramatic, intense colors. Can you say midnight blue, crushed grape and Halloween pumpkin orange? The intrepid contractor painted around boxes, suitcases and two very antsy nine year olds who at times wanted to paint or at least to remove his prep tape and drop cloths. The familiar refrain of "Are we there yet?" morphed into the "Is it dry yet?" Hey Spencer, I think the answer is "No" when you can drag your thumb down the wall and come up with a thumbprint full of green paint (boys' choice for "their" room).

This is the beginning of Day 3 and already at 11:11 a.m. Chris is off to the dump with tons of trash and the many "gifts" left behind by the last tenants including a huge 50 lb snow tire for a monster truck. The painter is painting away happily, the boys are reading (a bit under protest), Grammie is sleeping and Sharmaine is typing away on the laptop, a familiar activity no matter which state or country she finds herself in each day.

Check back soon for another update, more of our "after" pictures of the house (check out the boys lounging on the sectional in the freshly painted main room) and the story of our first July 4th celebration in Bend. We're waiting to see if the local firefighters set the Pilot Butte on fire during the annual fireworks show. Locals tell us that the annual "accidental" fire ends the celebration each year. We're looking forward to the burning mountain and much more excitement in the next few days!