The coast...

So, I was lucky enough to have an offsite meeting with work, which meant we stayed overnight on the oregon coast. The hotel is called "The Inn at Spanish Head" - which is right on the beach.

Below are a couple of photographs taken from my room - the first is Sunset, the other is Sunrise. Pretty amazing view on the night I was there.
The smoke coming from the bottom of this picture is actually from our "bonfire" that we had on the night we stayed. It was pretty good standing outside in the freezing cold, being warmed by the head from the fire - which were two significantly sized logs which had washed up on the beach! 

Crater lake - long drive, quick glance...

Tara and I decided to head south to see Crater lake. The weather when we left was average (raining on and off, and getting cold) and we did not know if we were going to be able to see anything. The last time I had visited there was snow across the top, and I was not able to see any part of the lake itself, just the edge of the crater - as the cloud was covering it.

Here you will see some of the strange feeling that we had standing on top. So - imagine that the temperature was around 32F (0C) - then with the WIND it must have felt closer to 20F (lets just say - very very cold!)

We did not stay for very long (for obvious reasons) - but did enjoy taking a look.

Mind you - the drive is a 5 hour each way, so it was a LONG day. Next time we will go at the start of summer, and probably stay at the bottom of the lake at a hotel.


 

Don't they look scary...

This is Cynfor and Jessie (you guess which is which) just before they went out trick or treating. They only lasted until the end of the street - because of the cold weather, but enjoyed it, and were in the spirit.

We had around 20 - 30 kids drop past our house, and we nearly went through 3 bags of "candy" (lollies). All of the kids had gone to some effort in getting dressed up, and all were very polite.

I think the kids are looking forward to doing it again next year!

 

Halloween Fun!

Scary vampire and beautiful angel! Check out the blood on his face!

Dressed up houses in our neighbourhood!

Pumpkin crafting!

Here is the nice looking pumpkin.
The kids are 'helping'! They are excited!
Here is the scary pumpkin!
See it in the dark with candle lighted up. Oops, where is the top gone? 

Cynfor as goal keeper

Look out for that ball!
It is safe now!
Big kick, please!
Watch out! 

It is starting to get cold and wet now...

Well, for us, it appears that the nice weather is going away, and we are getting into the time of the year when there is rain, and it is generally colder. It is funny - my office looks out onto our lake here, and the trees have been dropping leaves over the past month or so. As I look out, there is a variety of colour around the side of the lake, which looks quite nice. (Now thinking about it - I should take a picture!)

On the weekend, Tara and I were discussing how we had not updated the blog recently. I was talking a while ago about how we should post something that talks about things we find "different" about being here in the USA.

Because there has been nothing much else happening, we are looking as though that will be something to write about.

I was going to start by saying "a funny thing happened on the way to the office" . . . It is almost true though. When we first arrived - and this did not happen just once, it has been something we have seen a few times - we saw someone, merrily driving along - reading a book. Yes, you read that right - they were reading a book while attempting to drive their car. We thought this was funny - albeit dangerous, but funny. We also thought that it was likely to be something we saw only once - but it was not. We have seen several people doing the same thing.

So, here are a few other "interesting things" to note (not all about driving);

• It is NOT illegal in Oregon to talk on the mobile phone while driving, although it is discouraged.
• A common phrase used is "there you go..." (specially when watching the kids play soccer)
• When it says "FAT FREE" it does not mean healthy (that applies anywhere)
• The price displayed is only valid if you have a store card (every store has their own discount card)
• Junk mail is not as common here, but if you buy Sunday's paper - you get pretty much 60% junk mail, and 40% news. (We toss the news - it is really not very good quality anyway)
• World news simply means "out of this state" (e.g. news about Washington DC is considered world news)
• Primetime TV runs from 8pm until 11pm. (And YES we do stay up that late, because a lot of the good shows start at 10pm)
• Primtime TV starts ON TIME. (Something that Australia needs to work out. If a show is published to start at 9pm here, it starts right on the dot of 9pm)
• Starbucks is almost on every corner - and inside of Safeway!
• They do things BIG here. (most of the stores are big, the cars are big)
• Petrol is CHEAP here. (Today we saw it for $2.36 per gallon, which works out to around 0.62c per litre)
• It is a disposable society. They seem to love the BIG SCREEN TV, but when the technology becomes old (i.e. within 6 months) they are ready to go out and buy the next best thing
• They serve soft drink in "bottomless" cups - which means they just keep refilling
• They let you take home what you have left at the end of the meal in a restaurant - so you take home what you paid for!

I am sure there is more things that we will find as we stay here longer, but I thought I would share a few with you for now.

Soon it will be Halloween, then after that is thanks giving, then Christmas. There are a lot of houses with decorations for Halloween, which we hope to post some pictures of. Thanks giving will be a new experience for us - by the looks of things though, Turkey may be short this year, so we may have to just get away with having sliced deli turkey!

Cynfor's 9 Birthday!

Check out the new look of our home

 
 
 
  

Cynfor's first day of soccer!

Today was Cynfor's FIRST game of soccer. He played well, he even kicked a goal for the second half of the game. It was a bit warm today, so he was a little tired, but loved playing anyway. Check out the video of his kick-off. It only goes for 20 seconds, but you see him kick the ball ! Go Blast! (The name of his team.)

Click here for video...

School play ground

Cynfor is playing soccer with his friends in school.
Jessie is playing with her friend on Monkey bars.
This is a picture of half of their play ground. No way I can take a picture of the whole ground! They are big on sport! 

Children's Playground

This is the park about 2 minute walk from our house.











Cynfor and Jessie are playing with their friends. 

New house pictures - after the move in...

Here are some pictures of the house AFTER we have moved in, and Tara has unpacked the majority of our boxes. Doesn't it look more homely! (Check out my 32" LCD TV :o) ...)

NOTE: The picture link below is the same as before, we have just added more pictures to the link!

Our Rental House (September 8th 2006)

Aug 2, 2006 - 40 Photos

Cynfor's new soccer look...

Cynfor has been enrolled into the local soccer group, and here he is with his new uniform on - doesn't he look smart! He is going to training on Monday and Wednesday nights - just started last Monday. The coach is already saying he will be an asset to the team! They play on Saturday mornings - before 12 mid-day, and generally play around the local area. He is excited about his first game, and loves getting out on the field and playing with the kids. It is a lot of fun, with a lot of involvement from the parents - a good social exercise!

Unpacking and boxes everywhere...

The move in so far has gone well, we even have a TV to watch! (Although there is still an issue with nothing on - we are also short of channels - no cable...)

There are boxes all over the house at the moment, as we sort through things, although the number of full boxes is getting smaller by the hour as we are continually unpacking things.

The kids rooms are pretty much all done. We are ALL glad to be back in our own beds, after two months being in other beds that were not our own.

Tara has spent all day today sorting through the kitchen stuff, and unpacking more and more boxes. We found out very quickly that our kitchen in Australia had A LOT MORE cupboard space in Australia vs the USA.

The neighborhood is also quiet - by comparison to the noisy Portland streets (which we kind of miss sometimes!) Our next door neighbor said hello as we were moving in - this was kind of required, as the truck which held all of our stuff blocked their driveway as well as our place. The whole unpacking process was finished by just before we left to get the kids from school at around 2pm. The kids came home to most of the work being completed.

We have arranged for internet access as of Tuesday of next week (fingers crossed) - and that should mean we can get our home computer online again. At the moment it is sitting idle ready and waiting for the "blue cable..."

As soon as we have the internet back, we will send through some pictures of how things look after the unpacking. We are pretty close to getting everything set up the way we want it.

Keys to the new house!

We have the keys to our rental house, and will move in on Monday. We have taken some photographs of the house without any furniture, etc. so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

After we move in, we will take more pictures so you can see what it looks like with the furniture inside!

Our Rental House (September 8th 2006)

Aug 2, 2006 - 18 Photos

First Day to School

Today is Cynfor and Jessie's first day to their new school.
They seem enjoy it very much. They couldn't stop talking about it on the way back... 

Trip to Seattle

So, here we are in Seattle. We visited the flight museum on Sunday, and saw a retired Air Force One place. (This plane carried the president during the 1950's, and is now retired, and no longer in use.) There was an old Concorde also, which allowed us to look through how people used to travel when the Concorde was in the air.

We also visited the Seattle "Space Neddle," which had an amazing view of above Seattle. Because it was such a lovely day, we got to see A LOT !

We visited the "Pike Place" Market, which is where the fresh fish market is. It is extremely popular, and quite busy. There were many bargains, but we did not purchase anything fresh - as we did not have the way to take it home to Portland with us. The last picture is taken from Western Seattle looking back at the city skyline.

All in all, it was a lovely trip, Tara met up with some friends, and we saw a lot of the "tourist places" in Seattle.