Foul Play

Okay, fine, Mr. H1N1. You got us. Happy now? But it's hardly fair to go after the three year old. Pick on someone your own size, will ya?

Marathon Monday

Today was Amy's Dublin marathon with Team in Training, and she should be nicknamed SpeedyFastSuperQuickAmy after her performance today! She finished in 3:57, which is quite the accomplishment. We are so proud!!

Congrats to Amy on a course well run, and here's to hoping for a course straight to remission for Tom!

To Whom it May Concern

Dear Mr. H1N1,

Yes, we see you stalking us. We know you've trapped the neighbors, settled into the schools, and have even tiptoed into our church. But we are swift and determined. You will not catch us (meaning: we will not catch you!). So please stop trying. Go away. Far, far away.

Sincerely and armed with gobs of hand sanitizer,
The Loebs

Hunting season

Hunting season must be approaching. Lucy is one of two little girls named Lucy in her preschool, so she is known to everyone there as Lucy L and the other little girl goes by Lucy M.

So today someone at the airport asked what her name was. She said, "I'm Lucy Elk."

"Elk?" he asked.

"Yes, Lucy Elk! Just like when my dad goes hunting," she replied.

(Lucy Elk, Lucy L, get it? Yeah, I'm certain Curtis is busting with pride.)

A wedding, and a tale of two cities

This weekend, while Curtis attended a work conference in San Diego and the girls hightailed it to the grandparents house, I escaped for two nights to attend the marriage celebration of my friend Kris and her new husband, Helmut in Los Gatos, California. It was a wonderful, fitting party for these two special people, and somehow, I was so busy having fun that I forgot to take a photo of (or with!) the happy couple.

In a small window of free time on Saturday, I was able to see our sweet cousins, Brandon and Bailey, on the soccer fields. They are both exceptional players, and I enjoyed every minute of being a stand-in soccer mom on the field watching Bailey's game. And secretly, I hoped to blend in so nobody cried, "Imposter!" as I cheered for Bailey's team and politely clapped for the opposition. Must've pulled off the soccer mom look with some success, because no one called me out on it.

In addition to Bailey's amazing goalie skills, I was in awe of the diversity on his team. To illustrate, here were the names on the back of some jerseys: Madhav, SiMan, Zion, and Parth. (And yes, with much respect to avoiding racial stereotypes, it is safe for you to guess that Madhav is not a little blond, blue-eyed boy.) Now, for contrast, here are the names of a few of Mary's new friends: Maggie, Emma, and Josie. And of course, you can see our dilemma. We love Portland. LOVE LOVE Portland. But I miss the diversity of our former home, and the opportunity for the children to learn about different cultures, languages, and traditions from real-life pals instead of books.

Don't get me wrong. Our quality of life is significantly improved here in Portland. We don't sit in traffic for hours each day. Instead, we ride our bikes or walk as our primary mode of transportation. Portland doesn't have that awful, murky smog layer that was visible as my plane was descending into San Jose (cough, cough). But, one of the biggest trade-offs is that we miss the immense diversity of the Bay Area.

A recent Newsweek article pointed out the fact that we shouldn't encourage our children to be colorblind. Instead, we should explore and celebrate our varying heritages and cultures. Which is mighty easy to do with our pals here in Portland. And I can't help but wish it were a little bit bigger task of exploration. Sigh.

Renegade Lunch Packing

Okay, back to regular programming again.

The other night, I was packing Mary's lunch for school the next day as Curtis looked on. I offered that perhaps he would like to include a note for Mary in her lunchbox. He jumped at the chance and spent a full 10 minutes drawing an adorable, elaborate picture of Mary and Dad biking to school. But when he went to place it in the lunchbox, he looked at me with alarm and said, "Where are the treats for Mary?" I pointed to the cookie and said, "Right here." He shrugged and said, "That wouldn't qualify back in my day."

The following day, on the way home from school, Mary announces that candy is not allowed at school. "That's right, those are the rules," I say to her, and then I inquire, "did somebody bring candy to school today?" "Yes," Mary answers, "ME!" Turns out Curtis didn't feel that her little organic cookie was sufficient, so he included a small package of M&Ms in the lunchbox while he was placing his picture inside. And Mary got caught.

Yep, that's us. The family that packs illegal candy bars and the sort in with the school lunch and gets called out for it. In the first month of school. Gulp.

The Rules of Kindergarten

Mary announced this morning over pancakes: "The teacher told us the weirdest thing yesterday!" We waited for this weird piece of news. "She told us that there is no kissing allowed in school. Isn't that strange?"

A flurry of questions followed, as we tried to determine what caused the teacher to establish this rule. The bottom line: "A boy from another class was kissing a girl in our class at recess."

Oh, my. Somebody just shoot me now.