First snows and holiday preparations

We've spent the first part of December getting settled back in at home and preparing for our first Massachusetts Christmas.



The day we arrived home, we had a fun overnight visitor - Mama's friend from Corvallis, Jenny, who was here interviewing for pediatric residency positions. Of course, since Caden is a hopefully pediatrician, he and Jenny had lots to talk about (e.g. come play Thomas with me, Jenny!). Over the weekend, Mama got together with Jenny and Elise, her other close high school friend who is a grad student at Brown U. The girls had a fun night out and overnight in Boston and came to Swampscott for brunch. Everyone woke up to the first snow of the season on Sunday morning!

Caden had two stomach flus about a week apart at the beginning of the month, fortunately only causing him to miss 1.5 days of school. We set him up with a 'sick bucket' and let him veg in front of Thomas the Train, Tractor Adventure, and Wiggles DVD's. The bugs didn't get him down too much, and he enjoyed going to the Marblehead Christmas parade with Dada.

On the 14th, we joined the crowds for some Christmas shopping and picked out a Christmas tree (a Balsam fir) at a local tree stand. The tree is beautiful and reaches right up to the ceiling! Caden has been very excited about everything related to Christmas this year - Santa, Rudolph, the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, and the Christmas tree. He helped us decorate the tree and, occasionally, un-decorates it to play with the (accessible) ornaments.

Caden also enjoyed rediscovering some of his favorite Christmas toys and decorations, including his Christmas train (photos and video to come) and the advent calendar Auntie Misty made.

Every day, Caden gets to open one advent package from Nana and Boopa, which has been a fun evening activity. Here he is in his new digger PJ's, playing with Playmobil Christmas figurines...

Last weekend, we got our first big snowstorm of the season. Just like last year, we waited at work until the flakes started to fall (on Friday) - celebrating with the students by eating take-out Chinese food - then sped home when the snow started to beat the traffic. Matt went out to measure the accumulation, and the 12 inch ruler almost disappeared - we got about 16 inches, total.

We ventured out on Saturday for some snow play, but the snow was too powdery to make a snowman or pull Caden in the sled.

Caden got quite cold but recovered quickly when we introduced him to hot chocolate and marshmallows!

Sunday, we ventured out by car to Caden's friend, Mabel's, Princess Party. Unlike our experiences last year, the roads were not well-cleared and driving was...interesting, especially since we were following directions and street signs were covered with snow. Fortunately, we made it there fine, and the snow turned to rain while we were there, making driving easier and slushier on the way back.

At the party, a Snow White-look-alike dressed the girls as princesses and boys as pirates, then coordinated stories, songs, and crafts. Caden got to be the eye patch pirate and surprisingly left the patch on.

One of the other excitements of the month was the opening of the brand new YMCA, which now contains both Caden's school and Mama and Dada's exercise facility. The center is amazing, and Caden has especially enjoyed being able to run around in the gym (and, soon, gymnastics center) when it's too cold and icy to go outside. Tuesday was the last day of school before winter break, and we went to a small party when dropping Caden off. Here he is saying 'cheese' with his wonderful teachers, Wendy...

and Christina.

Now, here it is Christmas Eve, and we are about to head over to the church near our house for Christmas carols, then to our neighbor's for an Open House. The snow on the ground has been a solid ice block since Sunday but is now starting to melt in the 45 o F heat. It looks like we will have a melty white Christmas, tomorrow!

Here's hoping Santa brings you lots of treats tonight!

West Coast trip - Thanksgiving weekend

The last big event of our West Coast trip was spending Thanksgiving at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast. Since this year was poised to be our last of about 20 Magruder Thanksgivings, with the Godard family 'shifting generations' after Grandma Jean left us in May, the grandkids/aka cousins decided to host the feast in honor of Grandma, Grandad, and our parents that made the weekend possible for so many years. Unfortunately, Adad had his leg/knee surgery on Tuesday and got home to Corvallis on Wednesday, so he and Ama weren't able to come. That meant that there were 12 of us grandkids & spouses cooking, 2 great grandkids, and only 4 parents to do the dishes. The feast was delicious! Notably, Jerry & Misty's first try cooking a turkey was a rousing success, and Matt carried on the tradition of Great Grandma Guyer bread rolls, usually made by Ama Jo. And what about Caden? Well, Caden was too excited about playing with 11-month old Jacquelyn's toys to eat much dinner - here he is sitting a moment for a photo...

This year happened to be one of our stormy and rainy Thanksgivings (there was one year where Sally and Mama went wave jumping and for a dip in the lake!). We did get a couple of beach walks in

and went down to watch a Coast Guard rescue attempt on Friday. A crab boat capsized near the Barview jetty (Tillamook Bay entrance) and surfboats, helicopters, and bystanders on the dunes with eyes peeled searched for hours. Note the huge breaking wave visible on the far side of the jetty...
We also visited the donkeys. This is Caleb, the same donkey Mama rode her first time at Magruder summer camp in 1988.

Just for fun, here's a surprisingly similar photo from Thanksgiving 2007. Looks like Caden is pretty good at convincing Misty to take him to see the donkeys!

Friday night was Bingo night, and Caden got the important job of helping cousin Meg turn the Bingo cage! It was a rousing game with "O" numbers prompting all of us Beaver fans (exactly 50% of us being OSU alums, plus Sally and Mama growing up in Corvallis) to let out a resounding "O-oh" (being that it was the day before the Civil War game). [Note: back home in Massachusetts, we overheard Caden teaching his toy people how to play Bingo and how to say "O-oh" like an Oregon Stater!]

Saturday, we packed up and went on one last walk to the beach...

then headed back to Corvallis via the Tillamook Cheese Factory (below), lunch at Mo's in Taft, a quick visit at Meg's new house in Newport, and a swing past Reser Stadium on our way into Corvallis.[Look, we take the same pictures every year! That's the glory of tradition - no thought required!]

We spent our last 2 days in Corvallis, enjoying a little more time with Ama and Adad. Caden was glad that, although immobile, Adad could still read to him.

Caden was entranced with one of Ama's ceramic pieces - the waterwheel mill - and Ama (bravely) let him use it for playing house.
December 1st, we took a red-eye back, from SeaTac to Boston. Here's Caden, (pretend) calling Ama and Adad on the pay phones.

What a busy, eventful month!

(If you haven't checked the blog recently, see below for a quick succession of updates from November)

West Coast trip - Weeks 2 & 3

Catching up from Nov. 17-26:

After returning from our Mama-Caden weekend trip, we spent almost a week in Corvallis before picking up Dada and heading to California. Mama had a (self-imposed) deadline of finishing a draft of a manuscript/one of her dissertation chapters by the end of the week. Fortunately for her, Caden did a great job entertaining himself much of the day, and Ama Jo gave Caden lots of attention in the evenings.
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Monday, we were excited to have Amy and Owen spend the day with us! We took them on a 'tour de Corvallis', beginning with lunch at the Dream - before which, a passing fire truck stopped, and the fireman gave Caden and Owen official shiny badge stickers! After lunch, we walked a loop through OSU's Memorial Union and Quad (trying to ensure that Owen grows up into a Beaver's fan!). Next, we went to Avery Park, where the boys played on the steam engine

and climbed on the 'dinosaur bones'. It was a beautiful day. Look - no coats! We ended at New Morning Bakery, where there is a kids' play area. It was so great to catch up with those two!

Monday night, we picked up Dream pizza (yes, we ate it for lunch and dinner!) and took it over to Great Grandma Sorte's house in Albany. Caden was entertained by Grandma's 2 dogs, 2 parakeets, and toys, so Mama, Ama, Adad, and Great Grandma had a chance to catch up. Here's a picture of 4 Sorte generations!

Most of the week, it was just Ama, Mama, and Caden at the house, as Adad was working over in Eastern Oregon. Here's Caden on Thursday, helping Ama get ready for Dada's arrival and Adad's return by baking some oatmeal scotchies.

Friday, when Mama and Caden were about to head to the Portland airport to pick up Dada, Ama got an upsetting phone call. Adad fell off a ladder while working on fixing the roof of the Wallowa Lake cabin (another tree fell on it, just 1 year 1 day after last year's that punctured the roof). Adad was then at the hospital in Enterprise, OR and was later transferred to the hospital at OHSU by 3 of Caden's favorite means of transportation: jet, helicopter, and ambulance. Adad spent the next 5 days in the hospital, having surgery to repair his shattered left leg.

Friday night, after picking Dada up at the airport, we were all unsure where to go or what to do next... Adad and Ama were en route to OHSU by jet and car, respectively. Fortunately, we happened to be within a few miles of Amy, Brian, and Owen's house. When we called to see if we could stop there to collect ourselves, they SO generously offered us dinner and, later, a place to stay for the night with only ~5 minutes notice. After all the worry of the afternoon, we ended up spending a wonderfully relaxing evening at their cozy house.

Saturday, we headed back to Corvallis (Adad was being moved frequently, so thought it best we wait to visit), and Auntie Misty came over for dinner and a movie. As usual, Caden had a blast with Misty, who has an amazing amount of energy for playing and reading books!

Sunday, we drove south to Bodega, stopping at the Olive Pit (Caden *loves* olives) and for dinner at In & Out Burger (where Caden discovered a love of cheeseburgers). We spent 3 days catching up on fieldwork and in meetings; Caden spent 2 days with Cherrise. As usual, all of our Bodega pictures look like this...

Wednesday, we drove up the coast, arriving at our hotel in Yachats, OR well after dark. Caden could hardly bear to sleep, he was so excited that he could hear and see (pulling the curtains aside) the ocean from his crib! Thursday, after a delicious breakfast and watching the waves a bit, we headed north to Magruder to help with final dinner preparations...(to be continued...)

West Coast trip - Weekend on the Gorge

Still catching up from November!

Our second weekend on the West Coast, Mama and Caden headed up to the Columbia River Gorge to visit the Blairs and Tanja. On the way, we stopped at the Bonneville Dam and nearby fish hatchery. Even though it wasn't the right season, we still saw a big salmon swim by through the fish ladder, and Caden was impressed by the huge sturgeon at the fish hatchery.

In The Dalles, Caden had a blast playing with Conor and Sofia! Sofia is even old enough to read to the boys now, and Conor seemed to like having Caden around, too ('hey, I like you, what's your name again?').
Friday, we took a day trip to Tri-Cities to visit Tanja, who was back from Africa to have her baby (little Leah, born exactly 2 weeks later!). We spent a beautiful, sunny day together, especially enjoying the huge play structure and remote control airplanes and helicopters (!) at a park along the Columbia River.

Before we left on Saturday, between 2 early morning service calls, Mike was nice enough to give the kids a treat: a tour of some awesome machines at the CAT dealership where he works! Mike demostrated the workings of - and Caden got to sit inside - a humungous bulldozer...

an excavator digger...

a loader...

and a roller, which really made the ground shake!


On the way back to Corvallis, we stopped by Multnomah Falls. Caden was very impressed by the waterfall, and he insisted on hiking up to the upper bridge. Mama agreed, as long as he walked the whole way himself, and he did a great job hiking up and down. The waterfall and remote-control helicopter were the most exciting and talked about parts of the trip!

Our first mother-son Mama-Caden trip was so much fun!

Stay tuned for another update tomorrow!

West Coast trip - Weeks 1 & 2

Mama is joining as 'guest blogger' for the recounting of November - an exciting month! Caden and Mama spent most of the month on the West Coast, with Dada joining us at the beginning (for the Western Society of Naturalists Meeting) and end (for some time at Bodega and with family over Thanksgiving).

Thursday, November 6, we flew into Seattle, met up with Nana Kathy and Boopa Barry, and headed north to...Canada! Unfortunately, the customs official didn't have a stamp to put a first mark on Caden's passport. While Mama and Dada attended the WSN meeting, Nana and Boopa spent time with Caden, watching all the excitement out of our upper story hotel room windows (planes, boats, construction vehicles, etc.) and taking Caden to the pool and on outings around Vancouver.



Saturday, Caden got to ride a bus with Nana and Boopa to the Vancouver Aquarium, where he was especially impressed by the active octopus.

We were all so glad that Nana and Boopa could join us for the long weekend - it will make it hard to ever go back to attending conferences without them!

Sunday, we dropped Dada off at Sea-Tac and spent the night in the Portland area with Auntie Erika and Uncle Brad. Monday, Mama and Caden said 'good-bye' to Nana and Boopa and headed over for a beautiful sunny visit to the Portland Zoo with Amy and Owen.

Caden and Owen had lots of fun together, running up the paths and, here, pretending to be mountain goats (apparently mountain goats 'roar'!).

Mama and Caden spent the next few days at Ama Jo and Adad Bruce's house in Corvallis. Neither of us had spent any relaxed, non-holiday time in Corvallis for several years, so it was great to have time to introduce Caden to some of Mama's favorite spots, including American Dream Pizza and The Beanery.

Also during the week, it turned out that we were in town for the unveiling of OSU's new child beaver mascot, Jr. Benny. The unveiling happened to take place at the Child Development Center, the lab preschool that Ama Jo directs, so I got to attend! I got a t-shirt, stickers, and my picture taken with Jr. Benny (the photo, below, is the result of Mama promising to let me play with a fire truck puzzle if I stood still for a second). To top off the fun week, the next day, Jr. Benny and I were on the front page of The Barometer (OSU's newspaper, see the article here)!

What a fun start to our trip! More about weeks 2 & 3, coming soon!

Indian summer

Now that it has cooled off in New England, we’re remembering warmer times last month. In early October, Mark and Anne visited, and we had fun showing them around Halloween-crazy Salem and feasting at the annual Biology Department clambake at the Marine Science Center. It was our first real New England clambake, and it was quite an event. We arrived about an hour before the lobsters came out of the pit, but the students had been working since early that morning to dig the pit and prepare the layers of tasty goodness. Everything had a salty-smoky-marine taste (a rockweed layer added flavor and kept things moist), including lobsters, clams, corn, onions, potatoes, and hot dogs. Yum! Caden was especially interested in the seafood and ate both clams and lobsters with gusto. He was so excited about the bright red crustaceans that he grabbed one to show to his friend Summer and ended up chasing her all over with it.

The weather stayed relatively warm through mid-November. We enjoyed lunch on the outside deck the weekend before Halloween, and temperatures were in the 60s until just over a week ago. However, when Dada flew back to the west coast on Friday morning to rejoin Mama and Caden, it had dropped into the 20s and snow was in the forecast.

Clambake!

Lunch on the deck

Pumpkins!

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Captain Caden

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The night Caden wore his wolf suit

One of Caden’s favorite stories—just like his parents—is Where the Wild Things Are, and this year for Halloween, he decided to be Max. For weeks leading up to Halloween, we’d ask him what he was going to dress up as, and he’d answer, “Max, in his wolf suit!” It was Mama’s first “from scratch” sewn costume, and it turned out amazingly well.

Caden wore his costume at his school party on the 28th and, of course, on Halloween. He loved announcing to everyone what he was dressed up as, and he was a cute and polite trick-or-treater, saying “trick-or-treat,” and “thank you” to all of our neighbors.

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Halloween songs at school

Trick or Treat!

Scooping seeds

Happy Fall!