It's a sign... Of what I don't know...

Here it is, Sunday afternoon just a couple of short days before we board a plane to China, and as relatively calm as we have been as the move approaches, both Stephanie and I are starting to get nervous... Butterflies in the tummy for the first time since we agreed to start this crazy adventure.

So I'll get to the 'signs topic' in a few short minutes (honest, this will not be one of my marathon posts), but first I have to comment on what a wonderful 'last weekend' in Portland we are having.

Friday night we had a fabulous dinner out with our friends Val and Matt Kress, Chris and Jean Pal-Freeman and Mike and Karmen Trzupek (I'll have to follow up with a post someday about our theory on how you list a couple - who gets first billing - i.e. Val and Matt Kress vs. Matt and Val Kress... It will be fascinating, I am sure). This group of friends has gotten together for years - birthday parties, sporting events and barbecues - but always with the kids. Sometimes one of the couples will babysit for another one of the couples allowing 2 or even 3 of the couples to go out together, but never all four couples out for dinner at one time.

So this Friday was different! Mike and Karmen's part time nanny and a friend of hers graciously agreed to babysit all 6 kids (ages 6, 5, 5, 4, 2, and 2) so that the parents could have an adult night out together. We had a wonderful dinner at Merriweather's in NW Portland (we were seated just to the left of the fireplace in the picture below).


It was an amazing evening of cocktails, good Pinot Noir, great food and special friends. It was great way to enjoy Portland's excellent food scene and say goodbye to the city and this amazing group of friends... people that have become a support network such that you really begin to blur the line between friends and family. Saturday morning, when we picked up the kids, Jean and I were both crystal clear on one thing - neither of us really needed that last beer.

If you can't tell by now, I lied about this being a short post. I should stop promising that... I start typing and... Well, anyway, Sorry... Honest mistake on my part... And I still haven't gotten to 'the sign' yet... so bear with me... no reading ahead.

Saturday our plans to let the kids play in the pool all morning was thwarted by a morning of clouds, fog and mist that hung around until almost 2:00pm. We met our new friends from Shanghai (The Canfields, also Intel expats from Portland, home for a few weeks this summer) for lunch at a local pub so our kids could meet each other. Their oldest, a daughter named Maddie, has a little babysitting business in Shanghai, and since we are only 2 buildings away in our apartment complex, we plan on using her quite often.

Saturday afternoon was the PEO picnic. PEO is a women's organization Stephanie belongs to which raises money for women's scholarships in addition to being a social and support network for each other. They meet 1/month for regular chapter business in addition to their fund raising and social events. The husbands believe PEO stands for 'Papa Eats Out', which is what we usually do when Mom is gone on Tuesday nights... I am sure some of the men may actually cook for their families, but I know PEO night usually means 'Spaghetti Factory' in the Welsh house.

The picnic is always great, and this year it was hosted by our good friends Brian and Lisa Wing. So not only did Stephanie get a chance to see and say goodbye to some of her PEO sisters, we got to see the Wing's and their kids one last time before we go. It was one of the classic Brian and Lisa BBQs - the kids run around playing, actually leaving the parents alone for the most part, burgers and dogs flying off the grill, all the beer and soda and water you can handle, and just great company. Oh, and my favorite snack food in the world - Lisa Wing's 7 layer dip... If there was a reliable way to mail 7 layer dip from Oregon to Shanghai, I would pay whatever it took.

When we got back to the hotel, the kids were filthy and over tired... last night it seemed like a complete pain, but looking back on it the next day... that's probably the top 2 symptoms of a great BBQ - filthy and overtired kids.

This morning was a busy morning... Nonnie is up in Portland for the weekend to see us one last time, and Olivia's little girlfriends are having a 'going away party' for her. It's my good friend Mike Trzupek's birthday, and they are down for the weekend from Seattle, so for his birthday he wanted to play golf. I was a little concerned about playing so close to heading out, but given that all our stuff was moved this week (shipment to China went out Wednesday, and storage truck was filled on Friday - house is empty), and the girl's would be at the 'going away party' for Olivia, Steph and I thought it could be squeezed in.

My clubs are in a cargo container headed to China. So are my golf balls, tees, golf glove, etc. etc. I held out one pair of golf shoes from the shipment, that I'll leave here with Mike, and he loaned me a glove and let me use some of his golf balls. This along with a set of rental clubs, and I was ready to go. Mike recruited one of his old Intel finance friends (Larry Fox) who is retired now, and we teed off at Langdon Farms Golf Club right around 7am.

Mind you, I didn't have high hopes for this round. I've played pretty infrequently in the last couple of years, and I was playing with a hodge podge of equipment, and had to get up at 5:30am to 'squeeze it in'.

When I was playing golf regularly, Stephanie really dreaded the 15-20 minutes immediately after I returned home from the round. She would innocently ask 'how was your round' and I would launch into a hole by hole explanation of how it unfolded... usually explaining how 'I was only 1 (or 2 strokes) over par until - '.... what came after 'until' was sometimes 'the 8th hole', occasionally 'the 12th hole', and once even 'the 18th hole'... but there was always something after 'until' that meant I took what could have been a great round and with some stupid mistake, or series of bad swings, turned it into a 'good round' or 'decent round' or worse. Of course what Stephanie was looking for when she asked 'how was your round' was: 'fine, I shot 82' or 'I didn't shoot well, but the weather was great and we really enjoyed each other's company'.

When I got home today Stephanie and the girls are still with Nonnie at the party, so for the viewing public, I offer my hole by hole review of the round.... OK, just kidding. As if my posts don't already resemble the unabridged version of 'War and Peace'.

This is where I am not sure how to interpret the sign delivered to me today in the form of my best round of golf ever. That's right - EVER. I shot 74. Rented clubs and borrowed glove and... 74. 3 over par on a par 71 layout. Now we played the white tees, so it's not like this is the same spot Tiger tees the ball up, but for your average recreational golfer, and compared to my past performance, this was freakin' amazing!

The day could not have been better; this is what it's like when commentators might say 'the conditions are perfect'... It was cloudy and cool, but with very little wind, and not so cool you needed a windbreaker or jacket; Golf shirts and shorts were perfect. The company was great - although Mike hadn't played in 9 months, he had very low expectations, and was so relaxed that he shot an 82 - a phenomenal score for 9 months removed from swinging a club. We didn't really keep score for Larry, this was really just about him getting to catch up with Mike since the Trzupek's moved to Seattle.

The course, which historically plays very slowly, was not very busy, and we never really waited on any group in front of us and were never pushed from behind. We had time to tell stories and enjoy the company, and enjoy what really is a pretty course.

So now, my confusion over signs... What sign is being sent to me in the form of my best round of golf ever? Part of me thinks 'my last 2 rounds of golf have been 78 and 74, just as I am heading to China to a job where I'll be working 70 hours a week and won't be playing golf for a year or so... what are the golf gods doing to me?"

But really, I look at it and realize... This was a perfect part, of a perfect weekend. We have been surrounded by our closest and best friends in Portland, doing the things we love to do... eating good food, drinking good wine, spending time remembering stories from the past, and talking about the exciting future that lies ahead... And playing golf, a game I love, with good company, at a good course, and shooting a good score... I think the golf gods threw me a bone...

To the golf gods, and all our friends that made this an amazing weekend, I say 'Thank You'.

Farewell to Ohio... For Now...

We were able to fit in a trip to Ohio to see the family before we head off to China. We left Oregon on the 12th of July and stayed in Ohio until the 16th. It was a great visit.

The girls were really well behaved on the way out and the way back, and other than not being assigned seats together and having to negotiate with those around us to sit nearer each other, it was a completely uneventful trip.

We arrived on Thursday and my mom was at the airport to meet us. We grabbed the rental car and headed straight out to the farm, and had take out Pizza from Addornetto's (more about Ads later).

Friday was laid back, with my uncle Kevin and aunt Sharon coming over for dinner along with my aunt Patrice, her husband Mike and their 4 kids. Grandad did up pork chops and stuffing for dinner, and there were plenty of pie's to be had for dessert.

Saturday was the big day. We got the cousins we were missing on Friday night all together (Patrick and his wife Ruth, Peter and his girlfriend Bevin, Ruth, Allison and Elizabeth), in addition to Kevin and Sharon, Mike and Patrice, and their friends Butch and Sue. Also, my cousin Danny and his wife Kathy were able to come down. It was quite the crew.

The weather was great, and we sat out in the yard under the shade of the trees and ate, drank, played cards and cornhole, and generally enjoyed a lazy Saturday afternoon at John O.'s place.

Sunday was a day of rest... We mostly read books and played with the girls, and then headed into my favorite restaurant for dinner - Addornetto's http://www.adornettos.com/history.html. It's just your average everyday family Italian restaurant, but has special meaning for me having gone there for many dinners over the years I spent in Zanesville growing up (summers and holidays).

Monday meant back to the airport and 2 planes home. As I mentioned, the kids were great. Hopefully they weren't using up their good behavior, rather showing us what we have to look forward to on our trip to Shanghai in a few days.

Below are some pictures from the visit home to the farm... hope you are all doing well.

Some of the cousins: Pat, Ruth, Allison, Elizabeth, Bevin (Pete's Girlfriend) and Pete

Olivia watching Elizabeth and Ruth Sing

Sunsets over the Hayfield

9 Days and Counting....

I guess you could call this the home stretch... At this point, I am totally overwhelmed. I might crawl into a corner and cry if it weren't for my 'super program manager wife' who has us in some semblance of 'we might be ready when the packers show up on Wednesday'.

Did I say 'Wednesday'? Please excuse me while I crawl into the corner and cry... OK, that's over I feel much better... OK a little better... OK, when I finish this - it's back to the corner.

So seriously, a couple of updates...
1) We are not selling our house. We just moved into our new home, in the neighborhood we coveted, about a year ago (a year and 1 week to be exact). Steph convinced me we should not sell - and I eventually agreed with her... a pattern that has developed over the last 10 years, much like crying in the corner has developed over the last week. We hired a property management company here in the Metro area that will find a renter and manage the property for us while we are gone. They take 8% of the rent, but in the long run it will be worth it!

2) We are not selling my truck. It was harder than I thought to sell a big (relatively big, but not 'Brian Wing big') truck in the age of $3/gallon fuel. I talked to one F-150 owner that has been trying to sell his rig for over a year. Steph will tell you I was never really intending to sell my truck... While I never WANTED to sell it, I was serious about doing so. That being said, I am not sad to be storing it, and having it to come home to in 2 years - not to mention being able to use it when we come home - mostly for Steph when she spends the summers at Lake of the Woods while I stay back in China with the 100 degree heat and 90% humidity!

3) Our friends Brian and Lisa and Shelly and Ray hosted a going away party for us this weekend. The amount of effort they went to was amazing... from a spread for 50 people to back-up plans for rain.. it was quite the event. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the other folks that put their heart and soul (and backs) into the effort.

Shelly's folks, Bill and Nancy Dodge helped out immensely, from Nancy getting down on her hands and knees to draw the 'Party This Way' and smiley faces in sidewalk chalk and Bill accepting everyone's direction on where to haul stuff around, in and out, and then his expert oversight of the young bucks running the BBQ.

Lastly, special thanks to Clay Askew, Ray's younger brother - who recently relocated from Alabama to Wilsonville. Clay gets special thanks for significant contributions as well as being the only person we have met who's OCD complex rivals that of our good friend Lisa. Seriously, who organizes a beer cooler, to insure no one has to hunt around for their choice in beer? I swear, he was 1 step short of installing waterproof dividers in all the coolers!

We really felt loved and blessed as this afternoon went on. We had so many of our closest friends and their kids in attendance. Also, some folks we had not seen in years, or at best intermittently. If you were there, and are reading this - thank you so much for joining us and saying 'goodbye'.

I have posted some pictures of the days events at the end of this post, check them out - some of the pictures of the kids are great.

The adventure begins in 9 short days... please excuse me while I head to my corner!



Duck Duck Goose in the Park












Kurt and 'One of the Twins'












Boys and Ice Cream


Ray and Shelly












Gary Keyes and Rob Murdock