Hiatus - Day 25

Training Day 2

Hmmm....it's hard to focus at training when what is taught is not specific to my industry, in fact I deal with very little of what we are discussing. I find myself thinking about what the next few weeks at work will look like, how Grams is doing and counting down the nights until I get to sleep in my own bed again. I find myself (with work applications open in the background) getting up to date on the most recent celebrity gossip instead of paying attention to what is being taught. One thing I do like about this place (that is in dirty Jersey), is the iced tea they serve outside of our classrooms. The thing that sucks is that I can't seem to find it at the grocery stores around here.

Haitus - Day 24

Oh training, you are so fun. We start bright and early at 8am (and this means we have to have made it to the dining hall for breakfast before then). I go to our big group session and then haul back to the break-out rooms to get a decent seat (read as a seat towards the back in a spot where no one can see my computer screen). I sit at a table with my fellow Bostonians and we promptly name ourselves "Dirty Water" (thank-you Charles River). However, we could end up being too much for our fellow classmates and facilitators.

The rooms are nice, but I am very much looking forward to getting back to Boston and sleeping in my own bed.

Hiatus - Day 15

Bye bye to the Hamel's, hello quiet house...too quiet. I kind of liked the little voice of Miss S, running around in her squeeky shoes, saying "Ra Ra", "Pee", "EE", "My", "Bubbles", "Dada" and "Mama". Thank goodness I do live close enough to be able to hop on a plane to go and visit her on the occasional weekend.

Mom, Pete and I spent the day getting stuff for Grams so she would be comfortable in rehab with a few of "her" things and getting myself packed for my work trip to Tacoma.

When we took Grams her good, Pete and I helped her get all prettied up...

**Grams does not like having her picture taken, but we did it anyways.

Hiatus - Day 14

Sad day - must say good by to teh C family after spending the last week and a half with them. I honestly don't remember the last time I spent so many consecutive days with my cousin - it was great! (Note to self: Must move closer so we can do this more often...maybe sometime on my turf.) I had spent the night at mom's house so I got to wake up to Miss S - so fun! We got ready and headed to Elmer's for breakfast. I visited Elmer's quite a bit as a youngster, often on a Sunday after church...or maybe that one time when mom tried to make pancakes for dinner...I won't go there, she reads this blog.

The C family showed up - yay, we get to see Boo again! She is growing up way too fast! Must say that breakfast was super fun with the girlies. They got along great - wish we could have had a few more days to play with all of them.




Said our goodbyes in the Elmer's parking lot and headed back to Mom's. I had some work to do and Miss S needed a nap (so did her mom). Mom and the Uncle headed to the hospital to get Grams loaded into her transport van and then headed to Wilsonville so they could meet her at the rehab facility. They got her settled and figured out what she would for her stay there.

Dad came and picked me up and we headed downtown to meet up with Pete once he got out of work. We wondered around checking out the shops in the Pearl District and stopped in at a bar to cool off while we were waiting. We were sitting down playing some "games" that may or may not have been gambling related, when a group of guys walked in and started playing shuffleboard. Shuffleboard? Oh yes, I too have played this game in Atlanta while at new hire training. First thought to run through my mind, they must be auditors. A while later a girl shows up, who is introduced to the group as the new summer intern and then someone pipes up, "Welcome to Deloitte!". For real? I am good.


We headed down to what used to be Mazzi's (one of the best all-time italian restaurants) and had dinner at Macadam's Bar & Grill. This bar also serves as the host to a bunch of Sun Devil alums during football season. Yay for college football!


Back to mom's for a final game of zilch with the Aunt and Uncle before they take off tomorrow for the other O state.

Hiatus - Day 13

The zoo, the zoo, we're going to the zoo!

Up until this morning, the stay in Portland had been very warm - actually rather hot. This morning we woke up and it was barely 60 degrees outside - I think we all cheered a little when we saw this on the news. (I even wore a sweatshirt tied around my waist in case it was "cold".)

We arrived at the zoo fairly early and got our Dino package. (Dino's are huge this summer...did I mention there was a dino exhibit at OMSI?) The first "attraction" we went to was the 3-D simulator ride, we laughed and screamed, Miss M promptly took off her glasses (same thing happened at Disney last summer). Next was planning our way around the zoo so we could hit every attraction, which we almost did. We met up with one of M's friends after lunch and went on the train. I don't remember much of the route from when I was younger, and I definitely don't remember the parts where you are either looking at the mountain side or looking straight down to the mountain side with Highway 26 at the bottom. Luckily for me, I got to stare at the mountain side when heading back to the zoo from Washington Park (and breath again). Miss M clearly enjoyed the view much more than I did, as evidenced in the picture below.

M's friends had to leave after seeing a few more exhibits so we headed over to the Dino walk. Along the walk they had half-size to full-size replicas of different dinosaurs...very cool. Even more cool - Miss M talking ("Hi buddy!") to the ones that "talked" (aka made noises). Each time W and I giggled a little.

I got dropped off at mom's for a quiet dinner with mom, brother, Aunt, Uncle and Miss S. Headed back to the hotel to pick up my stuff so I could spend the night at mom's house.

Grams is getting better - she heads to rehab tomorrow! Way to go Grams!

Hiatus - Day 12

Day 12 found Miss M in bed all day...boo!

Mom came and picked me up and I spent the day with her, Aunt, Uncle and Miss S.

Just to mix it up, here's a bulleted list of what we did:

• Picked up lunch at a cute cafe near Grams' home
• At lunch in Grams' apartment (mom & Uncle had some tasks to complete)
• Played "Who's who?" with Miss S and the pictures in Grams' apartment
• Went to Wilsonville to check out the rehab facility, yes Grams' "They're gonna make you go to rehab" (it was a nice place and didn't smell)
• Costco run to pick up groceries for dinner (FYI - the $1.50 smoothies at the food court are awesome)
• Mom's house to make dinner with the Aunt and Miss S (the other 2 went to the hospital)
• Dinner - yummy pasta (whole wheat) with chicken, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, a little bit of italian dressing, black olives and cheese (parmesan and feta). So good!
• Gift boxes - everyone got a stretchy frog, candy and a water gun (and a few other personalized trinkets)
• Zilch - we played again, I didn't win but it was fun.

Back to the hotel for the night with M, W & Miss M.

Hiatus - Day 11

Woke up in the hotel we booked at the very last-minute and headed down for some continental breakfast. I had barely finished when I was told by Miss M "Auntie Erin it's eight dot dot five nine", which translated into "It's 8:59 and the pool opens at 9:00". I was reminded again at nine dot dot zero one. I threw on my new suit that I had purchased at Wally World the night before and off we went, leaving M & W to themselves. I got to play catch in the pool...Miss M would jump off of the edge and I would catch her. She hasn't started swim lessons and didn't have her water wings with her, so I was her catcher. I got plenty of pool water up my nose which was rather unpleasant. After an hour it was time to get out of the pool (the one hour time limit had been established prior to even leaving the hotel room) and there was no push-back my Miss M - yay!

We all got ready and headed up to the hospital for a quick visit with Grams. Miss M took her kindergarten book to show Grams the progress she made through the year. We also took her a goodie box from our Rattatoille dinner party that we were going to have. Grams got a stretchy frog, some pretty kleenex and a water gun. We weren't sure if water guns were allowed in the hospital but we filled it up for her, telling her to squirt the Uncle if he got unruly. She giggled at that one. It was nice to see her out of the hospital bed and sitting in a chair. Just before we left one of mom's good friends and her mom showed up for a visit. We knew she was excited to see them when her heart rate went up!

After the hospital visit we were off to lunch with the favorite uncle, not mine but Miss M's! Headed downtown Portland for lunch at Henry's. (Here is a picture of M & Miss M in the lobby of Uncle Pete's building...M loves the big beaver!)

Miss M was feeling under the weather but was a trooper and after lunch we went to OMSI. We didn't see very much of the first exhibit before M, W & Miss M headed to their submarine tour. I had been on it before and opted to sit out...hot day+ close quarters does not = fun for me. The Aunt, Uncle and adorable cousin (Miss S) arrived just as the three finished their tour and we headed to the kid's zone. We closed it down. It was so great to see Miss M and Miss S running around together, someone has some great pictures of them holding hands...I must get a copy.

Dinner at mom's then off to another hotel for the night.