Band From TV

A little about the Band from TV Melanie, Nick and I went to see on Saturday:

http://www.bandfromtv.org/

Greg Grunberg (drums), a veteran of shows such as Alias and Felicity and currently starring in the NBC hit HEROES

Teri Hatcher (vocals) currently starring in the ABC hit DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

James Denton (guitar), currently starring in the ABC hit DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

Bob Guiney (vocals), who appeared on THE BACHELOR and is currently seen on TLC's DATE MY HOUSE

Bonnie Somerville (vocals), starring in ABC's new fall series CASHMERE MAFIA

Jesse Spencer (violin) currently starring in the FOX hit HOUSE

rounding out the band are accomplished musicians Chris Kelley, Barry Sarna, Jon Sarna, Chris Mostert and child-star turned bass player Brad Savage.

So my interesting note of the night was that I found an all access pass just lying around and was able to get into the arena area about 40 minutes early, save us up front seats and then go down on the field to get closer pictures (although the pics from our seats were pretty good!). I just wish my camera talent was better. I probably took about 100 pictures and only 3 or 4 are really good. I also was able to get a picture of Nick with Greg Grunberg at the baseball game. He was very nice and takes a great pic (that picture is on Melanie's camera, so I have to get a copy!) I tried hard to get decent pictures of Greg on the drums all night but he wasn't in the best of lighting and his drum kit was almost always in front of him.

We had a great time singing along with songs Like Mama Told Me, Temptation Eyes and the Devil Went down to Georgia (Jessie plays a mean electric fiddle!).

SCOOTER!

Yes, we finally picked it up and it is home.

We had a pretty long day yesterday driving up to Portland and back. Bill is think about getting one as well (still working the motorbike trade).

I still need to pass my endorsement tests and get plenty of practice as this is a whole new experience for me! I also need to look for a helmet. Wasn't really liking the helmets at the dealership and was just tuned in to getting my scooter at the moment.

Taking the written test this conming week (hopefully Tuesday!) and then it is practice, practice, practice!

Pier Park

We went to Portland yesterday to get the scooter! On the way home we stopped at a fairly new (Oct 07) Dreamworks park off the St John's bridge. The Pier Park skatepark is pretty cool. Three separate bowl areas and a grinding/trick area. The deepest bowl has a full pipe. Pretty cool with a 11 1/2 " drop in at one end and a 9 1/2 ' exit at the other end. William dropped in at the 11 1/2' end and popped out on the other side but lost the grip on his board which slid back into the bowl. He had to go in to get his board and had a hard time getting back out - there is a ramp but you have to get a running start just to hit the hand holds (someone finally helped him by grabbing his board so he didn't have to climb and manuever the board). He decided that bowl was too much work!

The park is in a pretty industrial area of Portland and was a different experience with nobody wearing helmets and the only person with pads was a 50 year old man! Here is William in one of the bowls (sans helmet)! It is funny how he can blend in and start chatting with others so easily at almost every park.

We also stopped at the St Helen's skatepark on the way home. Seems like a brand new area with bikers and skaters. Pretty nice trick areas and nice bowl transitions.

New Cannon Beach Skatepark

I took William, Alberto, Pierre and John to the new Cannon Beach Skatepark on Sunday. We arrived about 10:30am and there weren't that many skaters. Since the skaters were little guys, my boys took over the bowl within a short timeframe and had the little guys in awe. here are a couple of pics of the guys in action.

Will, of course, was the first to jump something! My quote for this bowl is it tiny but mighty because I think everyone fell at some point. The bowls are tight with lots of good turns and plenty of grinding space.
About 12:30 the bowl started to get conjested so we hit the road and went to Seaside. By that time, the marine layer was burning off and we had sun for another couple of hours of skateboarding. Seaside wasn't as fun after Cannon Beach.

By 3pm we were back home - the best bowl! I dropped the guys off at the park and when dad went back after 5:30pm to pick up Will - he showed him some new tricks and dropped in the deep (12 foot) end of the bowl!

Boy's Road Trip to Las Vegas

Bill and William headed for Las Vegas on June 27th to attend the Beatle's convention. Before they left, I asked William if he could e-mail me pictures of the trip and I could post them on the blog. Well, I only received one from the actual convention

. . . and it was set up not really the final booth!

The Beatle's fest wasn't all we hoped it would be, expensive to get in and the venue wasn't easily assessible in the hotel. Leason learned.

The boys did have a nice stay at the condo Lois outfitted them at - thanks Mom/grandma for the nice digs! William decided the master bedroom was his for the stay. Both enjoyed time at the pool.

Here are a couple of other pics going to Vegas (notice they are mostly Oregon sites)

The guys hit Six Flags in San Jose on the drive home. That was a complete success! Thank goodness, because I haven't lived down that Six Flags in Dalles closed because of flooding when William and I visited 3 years ago!

Bill took William to a skateboard park in San Francisco and William got to try a different skateboarding experience (oh yes, the skateboard was one of the first items packed for the trip!). Bill said that some kids tied their jeans around their butts and left jockey shorts for the top half showing (sounds lovely) and that they called themselves little gangsters! Glad that isn't going on in Astoria!

John had the boys stay over in Napa with him and they enjoyed a good evening of barbeque and (I'm sure) stories of their youth.

Boys arrived home July 4th at about 7:15am, tired but having had another grand adventure!

Catching Up!

Okay, I am terribly behind . . . I know, I know!

I've hired a new accounting clerk and she started last week! It was hectic but I made it through a month doing double duty.

Paul Lee flew the coop a few weeks back. He was determined to get out and did. He wouldn't answer Bill and left on a fairly rainy day and that evening it was 49 degrees over the evening. I was not hopeful of his return, but Bill kept searching for him. No Paul the next several days and Bill finally placed an ad in the newspaper in case Paul decided to cozy up to someone and was just awaiting a "LOST" ad. The ad ran for a week, no word! Paul had been gone for 2 weeks and the weather was awful - mostly raining (and raining hard) weather never reached 55 during the days and the evenings were in the mid to low 40's. The day before Bill was ready to haul off the cage/home, he received a call . . .

Yep, Paul is back! He flew uphill about 3 blocks to a constructions site for Randy Stemper's new home and was wandering around on the roof. Eventually he saw this guy that kind of looked like a younger version of Bill and decided he needed to go down and be on that guy's shoulder. The guy took a liking to this very friendly and strange bird who just hung out with him the rest of the day and they went home together. He bought a small cage and kept Paul safe, warm and fed. This guy doesn't get the paper so he didn't see the ad Bill placed but a buddy of his did and so the day after the last ad ran, he was told the owners were looking for the peach faced lovebird. Paul and Bill were reunited and Paul has been catching up on people food, green chili and coffee since arriving back home (he was on bird seed while on his walkabout!).