After the weekend we’ve had around our house, I feel I need to do a wrap up to start the week off.

Friday night’s plans to go to the B52’s were thwarted by rain.  Actually, let me clarify.  The torrential rains we were frequent and ran almost right up to when the concert was going to start.  We decided sitting in downpours of rain was not our idea of a good time on a Friday night.  (It was also maybe 65 degrees out on Friday night too, so cold and wet is not fun.)  We opted instead for pizza, beer, and the rest of the series True Blood.  While I hated not using the tickets, the point was to have fun not be miserable.

Oh, and a word about the True Blood series on HBO.  It is over the top in comparison to the books.  Some of the characters are dead on.  Others are totally different with hints of the original characters in the book.  And, there is a hell of a lot more sex in the series than in the books.  And, killing vampires in the series is gory in the series – no ashes here.  The mystery that is straight from the book is done very well in the series.  But, I digress.

Saturday morning, we moved the chicken coop thanks to some friends.  We bribed them with Voodoo Doughnuts.  Gonzo hurt himself for about the 10th time on this project.  Thankfully my friend is a trained paramedic, so we could quickly determine if stitches were needed.  Not in this case.  I have decided my husband should not be allowed to use power tools.  His ability to make good decisions on how to use them takes a back burner to his desire to just get the project done.  The night before, I witnessed his frustration lead to another injury.

After the coop was in place, we picked up the chickens.  The silkie one became my friend.  The woman selling her didn’t have a box to put her in, so I got to carry her around.  Gonzo had to pick up his bike from the bike shop a block away from where the chickens were purchased, thus the reason for carrying her around with us.  She was not going in my car unsupervised.  I got some interesting looks.  The funniest being the guy sitting in the window of the restaurant who did the greatest double take I have ever seen.  Hilarious.

Then, after getting the chickens home and inside the coop, we had to finish packing for the camp out.  We got it all packed up in Gonzo’s little Scion believe it or not and headed out to the camp site.

While I am a huge believer in always being prepared, I decided that I, once again, am a light packer.  We were going to be there less than 24 hours, so clothes, hats, tent, sleeping bags, flashlights – were about all we brought.  Food was being provided.  We had had a late lunch on the way out there, so I didn’t see the need to bring lots of snacks.  We would be eating dinner about 3 hours after arriving anyway.  Some of these other families were setup for a week of camping.  It took them an hour to setup camp and another hour to tear it back down.  It was amazing to me.  I should also mention that we were literally about 10 minutes away from civilization.  We were in the woods, but not in the middle of nowhere as some of these people would have you believe from their stuff.

A good time was had by all.  The spats were minor.  I got caught up on all of the parental gossip.  Got to experience for myself why on of Gonzo’s kids has problems.  Wow, is all I have to say about that family.  Way too much drama.  One of the moms who is an amazing woman is now divorced.  I applauded her bringing her four kids with her on the trip.  The younger two are 2 & 4, I think.  The two oldest are 12 and 9.  The four year old scared the hell out of mom and his 12-year-old brother.  It was dark, the kids had been playing in the field, and he just disappeared.  While there are only so many places he could have gone, the dark made it a shit load more difficult to find someone and dangerous as well.  They were just casually looking for him, but I could sense she was about 30 seconds away from panic. And I could tell she was embarrassed that she lost a kid.  I said something to the other adults who had not noticed and started searching.  I found the little boy hiding behind a tent on the edge of camp.  He was crying and hiding because he thought one of the girls was going to tell on him and he didn’t want to get in trouble.  I assured him he was far from being in trouble, we were just all scared he was lost.  After that incident, we called the kids together for campfire and smores.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and broke camp.  We arrived home to see that the chickens were still happy, and we declared quiet time.  Naps were definitely needed.  Except the girls decided to get into drag out fights that were loud.  I was successful in getting both of the girls in tears and in bed for a nap. It was clear to me that if they didn’t get more sleep, I would have to kill them later in the day.  The naps were for their own safety.

After naps, we went on the Sunday Parkways bike ride with the girls.  It was awesome!  They close off about 8 miles of roads in North Portland for people to bike, walk, run, scooter, whatever.  The busy streets are controlled by police officers, so the route is safe.  This one had a figure 8 sort of loop.  We did the four mile loop which started and ended three blocks from our house.  The girls did pretty well.  It makes for a slow ride, but it was fun.  And, I finally got Indigo to understand what “stop swerving” means.  I swear that girl will take out a bunch of cyclists with the way she swerves randomly on her bike.  Most of the houses along the route were having parties with friends who were clearly enjoying the rides, then coming back for a bbq.  Indigo declared this the best Father’s Day ever.  In a few weeks, they are doing another ride in a different part of the city.  We are going to try to go.

After the ride, it was runs for both Gonzo and me.  In a week, we do the Beat the Bridge run – and I’m not feeling ready for it.  I haven’t run the distance we are running yet.  I’m sure I’ll be fine.  I just would rather have at least one 5 mile run under my belt beforehand.  Time has been the challenge, however.  I did about 4 miles yesterday, so I am feeling better.  We’ll see how this week goes.

After the runs, we went and ate sushi.  It ended up being a late dinner, but the timing was definitely good.  We got into our usual sushi place and got a table almost right away.  DJ convinced Indigo to try sashimi (the raw slabs of fish on rice).  Indigo liked the white tuna.  She popped it in her mouth like an old pro.  The regular tuna didn’t go over as well.  But we applauded her for trying it.  For dessert, we got gelato.

Like I said, the weekend was definitely action packed and full of excitement (both good and bad).  I almost feel like I need a weekend from my weekend.  Hope everyone is having a good Monday!!