Dad Teaching Son How To Skid In Beaverton Oregon

After a nice day at the lake, Jeff decided it was time for Ethan to
learn proper technical moves to lay a long skid on the street. Ethan's
first couple attempts resulted in short little scratch marks, however
by his forth try he was laying down longer ones. This is one of many
tricks Jeff will be teaching this summer and next.

Jeff and Bertha

Trip To Commonwealth Lake Park In Beaverton Oregon

On Saturday we took Ethan and Marcie to Commonwealth Lake which is a
couple miles from our home. The lake is known for it population of
friendly ducks that will come up and eat out of your hand. Here are a
few pictures of the kids and Bertha feeding duck approved food to the
ducks.

Jeff and Bertha

Cherry Season In Beaverton, Oregon

Today is Fathers Day and the kids are helping pick cherries from our
backyard tree to make cherry cobbler. We are able to grab the low
hanging cherries with the garden rake. The higher cherries are out of
our reach and will be treats for the birds and squirrels.

Here are pictures of Marcie and Ethan after spending 30 minutes raking
the cherries out of the tree. Ethan wins the award for the biggest
cherry.

Jeff and Bertha

St. Cecilia Church Expansion Beaverton, Oregon

The church across the street from our home is beginning construction
on expanding the school and the church. The heavy duty equipment
arrived last week and is beginning to move dirt around. We plan on
taking pictures as the project continues onto the summer.

Here are pictures of Marcie and Ethan posing in front of our home and
across the street in front of the construction equipment.

Jeff and Bertha

Super Storm Hits Beaverton For Five Minutes On Saturday

On Saturday we experienced the most bizarre weather event we can remember in the 10 years we have lived in Oregon. At 3:45 pm a cold front moved over our area in Beaverton, Oregon and for about 5 minutes we experienced a 1/4 inch of rain with 50 mile per hour winds.  

Bertha was home with the kids and described the sudden event on par with one of the worst rain and wind storms experienced while living in Malaysia. Jeff was driving down highway 217 in Beaverton and described the sudden pounding rain and hail as making it impossible to see out the windshield of the car for the better part of three minutes. Windshield wipers on high couldn't not sweep the rain and hail away fast enough to see. After the mini monsoon passed, Jeff counted 50 cars on the side of the road during the last 1/2 mile he drove home.

After five minutes the storm had moved on to the northeast and left a trail of snapped trees within a few blocks of our home in Beaverton. See above pictures Jeff took of blown over trees in the neighborhood.

Below is an article which ran in the local paper this morning describing the brief storm.

Here is a radar picture of the storm as it passed over Beaverton. The area in red under the X is where we live.

From Five Minute Storm In Beaverton, Oregon - May 2, 2009

Sudden, severe thunderstorm slams Beaverton

5/2/2009, 7:09 p.m. PDT The Associated Press

(AP) — BEAVERTON, Ore. - A sudden, severe thunderstorm hit Beaverton, cutting power to thousands, killing one person and capsizing two sailboats.

One person died Saturday afternoon when a tree or branch fell on a car on Southwest Barbur Boulevard. He was not immediately identified.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Washington, Columbia, Clackamas, Multnomah and Clark counties.

Power went out to about 30,000 customers of Portland General Electric, mostly in Beaverton, Lake Oswego and Tigard.

Learning How To Pitch A Horseshoe

On Sunday, April 26th, we took advantage of sunny weather and took the kids over to Elsie Stuhr Center to learn how to pitch horseshoes.  First thing we figured out was the distance between the pins was more than the kids were able to pitch the horseshoe. So we modified the rules and allowed the kids to throw the horseshoe about 10 feet.  

We played for about 30 minutes and everyone came away having enjoyed themselves.  Here are some pictures of Marcie and Ethan pitching the horseshoe.  I came across this instruction video that does an excellent job explaining how to pitch a horseshoe. 

Jeff and Bertha

Nicholas Callahan Graduates From Navy Boot Camp

   One Year Old                   Six Years Old

         Twenty Years Old

On Friday January 30th 2009,  Nicholas Callahan, son of Lori Callahan graduated from Navy Boot Camp at Great Lakes Navel Station in Illinois. Nicholas successfully completed eight weeks of Boot Camp and was immediately sent to the Navy Technical Training Center at Lakeland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas to continue his Navy training as a Master At Arms. 

Great job Nicholas, we are all very proud of you.

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Bertha

Running At Beaverton High School

Today we are taking advantage of the dry weather by walking down to
Beaverton High School to get some exercise. Marcie decided to work on
clearing the high hurdles. The weather is partly sunny and 45 degrees.

Ethan Lost A Tooth

On Thursday night Ethan decided it was time to have Dad pull out his first loose tooth. So at 6 years of age, 3 months and 13 days, Ethan is now sporting a gap where his center incisor tooth once was. The tooth fairy arrived last night and left Ethan a $5.00 bill under his pillow. Knowing Ethan he will want to spend his tooth money this weekend.

Jeff and Bertha

2008 Christmas With Santa

Here is a nice picture of Marcie and Ethan with Santa in December 2008. Santa was at Washington Square Mall in Tigard, Oregon. Marcie asked Santa for a remote control helicopter and Ethan asked for a Sponge Bob cartridge for his Nintendo DS.

Lunch At McDonalds In Buellton California

We are heading home from our vacation in California and decided to
fuel our bodies at McDonalds in Buellton, California. Here is a
picture of Ethan and Marcia playing on the McDonalds Play Place. Ethan
is in the yellow helicopter and Marcia is in the red fire engine. We
only have 905 miles left to go to arrive home.

Jeff and Bertha

Making Christmas Cookies For Santa

We are spending Christmas at Jeff's sisters home in Murrieta,
California. Santa will be coming tonight so the kids are making
cookies with Duncan Hines frosting for Santa. Below is a picture of
Bertha, Marcie and Ethan with the cookies they made.

Spent The Night At Joshua Tree Inn

We spent last night at the Joshua Tree Inn, in Joshua Tree,
California. The inn is a rustic place for those with music interests
because of all the music festival posters in the main dining room. We
were told that Gram Parsons died in room 8 back in 1973. We spent the
night in room 10.

Jeff and Bertha

Lunch In Palm Springs, California

We stopped for lunch at Hamburger Marys in Palm Springs, California.
Here is a picture of Marcie and Ethan next to Mary.

Christmas Trip To California

Today we are driving to Grandma's house in West Hollywood, California.
We spent the first night in Patterson, California. Here is a picture
of Marcie standing next to a palm tree.

Jeff and Bertha

Marcie Callahan Team Soccer Picture

Here is Marcie Callahan in her 2009 West Hills Orange Peels team picture. Marcie is in the front row, second from the right. This was Marcie's second year playing soccer and she enjoyed playing Goalie. Good job Marcie.  Click on the above picture to enlarge the picture.

Ethan Callahan Team Soccer Picture

Here is Ethan Callahan in his 2009 West Hills Cool Wolf Soccer team picture. Ethan is standing in the back row on the right side next to Coach Kirsten Klym. This was Ethan's first year playing soccer. Good job Ethan. Click on the above picture to enlarge the picture.

Little Girls Will Do Anything For A Stuffed Animal

I came across this great surveillance video of a little girl showing her mother that it is not necessary to have a dollar to play the skill crane game. The little girl came up with her own method of grabbing the stuffed animal of her choice.

Jeff and Bertha

Marcie In Goal For The First Time On Saturday September 13, 2008

On Saturday, Marcie's West Hills Orange Peels soccer team played against a team from the city of Aloha, Oregon. Marcie's team lost by a score of 6 to 1.

There was good news, Marcie was asked to play keeper (goalie) only 5 minutes before the game started. This was the first time she has ever played keeper and she did a fantastic job. She played the first half of the game and the Aloha team only scored two goals against her. See above video to watch Marcie's performance in goal.

Jeff and Bertha

Ethans First Soccer Game Beaverton, Oregon

Yesterday afternoon Ethan had his first soccer game of his career. He plays on the West Hills Youth Soccer Club for children age 5. The West Hills club is part of the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation Department. His game was held at Garden Home Recreation Center, which was built in 1912.

Go ahead and watch the above video, Ethan is in the white jersey with black socks.

Jeff and Bertha