Nuttin' but the best...

We had a simple birthday celebration for Naomi. This is the way it is when you have a good swim birthday.

With swimming into its final stretch with league and city championship meets going on, there's very little time for anything else including birthday celebrations. We'll do something more substantial for Naomi later.

Here's a short video from part of our celebration.

Uncle Chee's 70th!

Happy Birthday Uncle Chee!

Ryan: Who's Uncle Chee?

Me: One of Mom's uncles.

Ryan: Oh...

Me: Remember Tyler? He's Tyler's Ojiichan.

Ryan: I think I remember Tyler.

Me: I think when you see him you'll remember who he is.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

It was a birthday weekend as our Ryan turned 6 this past week. We decided on a "Star Wars" theme at home. Let's just say that we survived. As one of the other parents said, "Imagine if these eight were your own." We tried to keep them occupied with games and activities. Started with a gathering activity (making Star Wars masks) as the party goers arrived. We had a Star Wars obstacle course, a Star Wars "pin the tail" game, an asteroid scavenger hunt, and a Death Star pinata. Here's what Ryan had to say about turning six:

2008 Summer Trip - Part III

After our early evening of shopping, we phoned the Oregon Emotos. They were out and about, but we got in touch and made arrangements to get to their place in the evening after dinner. Dinner was a quick stop at the Elmer's located near the Woodburn outlet stores. Elmer's is an Oregon institution. They opened in Portland as a breakfast place serving primarily pancakes in 1960.

The next morning we woke up to the arrival of Yuki, Lianne, Ojiichan, and Obaachan to join in the fun to celebrate Alyssa's birthday. Ojiichan had said earlier that he wasn't going to make it so everyone was surprised to see him. So off we went to Meeka Sushi for Alyssa's birthday lunch. Diane's parents were there waiting for us so too was Chuck. He was apparently on his way to eastern Washington for a gig that evening and decided to swing through Portland (never one to pass up good Japanese food).

The food was great just like some of the reviews that we found for the place later on. This was topped off by the traditional singing of Happy Birthday with Ryan adding his own twist as you can see in the video below.



So when will Alyssa be asking for the car keys now?

After lunch we drove out to the Bonneville fish hatchery, where we were able to feed rainbow trout and check out sturgeon. The hatchery is located at Exit 40 east on SR 84.

Spending time with family is always one of the highlights of our trips to the Pacific Northwest. Before leaving for Seattle, we were able to spend a little time with the Lee family (Diane's younger brother and his wife and two kids) from Detroit. Here's a picture that we took of the kids while in downtown Troutdale for an ice cream break.

Naomi's 8th Birthday

Naomi has what's considered a good swim birthday. The cut-off for the swimming age groupings is June 15. This means that next year even though she will be 9 before the end of the season Naomi will still swim with the 7 and 8 year olds.

However, having a summer birthday when many families are setting off on their final vacation before school starts is no piece of cake. Further complicating matters for swimming families such as ours are the twice a week swim meets. This will be the second year in a row that Naomi's birthday party with friends will take place well into August.

This evening after a swimming team event at the swim club we bought pizza and a cake to have a small family celebration at home. Earlier in the day we went to the newly renamed Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This was part of our birthday gift for Naomi along with the first two Harry Potter books. Yes, we're one of those families who had not yet been bitten by the HP bug.

We've been to Discovery Kingdom now on two consecutive weekends and have probably only seen about a third of the place. This is mainly because we've gotten late starts for both visits. The good thing is that it's only about 30 minutes away and we do have season passes so we'll likely be going back. They do have a new attraction featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. We (including Naomi) were slightly disappointed with Thomas Town. Maybe we were expecting too much, but it seemed to be geared to the under first grade crowd and was smaller than what we expected.

Summer Birthdays

It's known that having a birthday on or near a major holiday is a major downer (especially if you're still at the age where you're losing teeth and know that they will be replaced naturally). What is sometimes overlooked is that there is an entire season that mixes like oil and water with birthdays. Of course, we're talking about summer.

Naomi was a summer baby. Interestingly, her birthday is the same day as her cousin's. Also, Carson who was the ring bearer in our wedding increments his age on the same day. Her aunt's friend who was on duty as a nurse at the hospital about the time when Naomi was born also has the same birthday. There are at least two more people that we know who have July 29 as their birthday.

We've learned that July 29 is a good birthday for swim team purposes because the age cut-off is June 15. This means that Naomi will be swimming in the 7 and 8 year old division when she is almost 8 and almost 9. So a common response to hearing Naomi's birthday is, "oh, that's a great swim birthday!"

However, we get the impression that her league meet might be an annual occurence near the end of July. This year the meet was on her birthday and the day after. So instead of gorging herself on cake and ice cream, Naomi spent her birthday trying to stay cool, eating fruit and drinking water while waiting to swim for her team the Ygnacio Wood Seahorses. Perhaps going out to celebrate their 3rd place finish and her individual achievements after the meet was enough to offset any disappointment for not having a party on her birthday.

So this year her party with friends is scheduled for the second week of August. Based on the responses so far, we're beginning to think that perhaps a birthday party in July is not too bad after all. For next year, we're considering a swim party in June.