Rainbow Trout Farm

On Saturday morning, the family packed up the car and made our way to Sandy, OR to the Rainbow Trout Farm. We had never been there before, so didn't know what to expect.

The day started out cold and pretty much stayed that way except when the sun would peek out for a second or two and I was a bad mother and dressed my kids (and myself) for 80+ degree weather. I saw that the weather was going to be 68 and sunny, but I seemed to focus on the sunny and didn't realize that this place would be surrounded by trees, which did not allow the sun to shine on us. The whole time I had Hannah bundled in a blanket and Jae was just freezing. His nose was red and his hands cold as ice. But that didn't seem to stop him from wanting to fish.

So we get there and the lady gives us a brief intro on the ins and outs to the place. We get our poles, bait, and bucket and go on our way. We ended up running into my friends Lynn and Janet and their families, so that was a fun surprise. So we wanted to catch the big fish and head right to a pond that has some larger fish. We didn't realize how easy and quick it would be to catch a fish. Within a minute of casting our pole, we had caught a fish. This happened for Stacey, Bill's dad, and Barb. It was hilarious watching them reel the fish in. It's been so long since I had been with my dad. It brought back a lot of good memories for me.

We decide to move to a smaller pond so Jae could catch some fish and I have to say that I actually put a worm on the hook. I was very proud of myself! Bill helped Jae cast a line and he caught one very quickly. Jae was very proud of his catch and went to catch two total.

We had caught six fish by then and decided that was enough for the group. So we found our picnic spot and set up for a nice meal and family fun. We had the farm clean our fish for us and Eric was kind enough to season them (which meant he got his hands all fishy). We forgot to bring foil and oil, so we went to the Farm's office and bought the foil for $2 dollars and also paid $2 dollars for the USE of their oil. The running joke was that everything in the store was $2 dollars!

The boys put the fish on the grill and then we sat and hung around and chatted with my friends Lynn and Janet and watched all the kids playing together. The fish was done and we got our grub on. There were some yummy sides and we ate till our tummies were full. The brownies were the highlight..unfortunately. =)













It was a great experience, I may do it again, but not for a while. I will remember to pack extra clothes and I would still go in the off season. It wasn't that busy, which I liked. Oh and one more thing...I've decided that I'm not a big fan of trout!

Vote 2008

I don't usually discuss politics, but use your voice and vote!

Jude..and I'm not talking about Law..

So I was listening to my ipod and the song "I do" from Jude comes on. It just got me thinking, "what has Jude been up to all these years"?

For those of you who do not know what I'm talking about, Jude is a singer/songwriter who I first discovered back in 1998 (my college days). The first cd that I bought of his was "No One is Really Beautiful". It was great. I was really into finding different music back then (and still am), but with so many new artists (for lack of a better word), sometimes it's hard to keep track of them all. Anyway, I believe the song that was popular back then was "I'm Sorry Now" and to me, it was new and different from what was on the radio and Jude had a way with his lyrics that were witty/honest, but still had you interested.

I remember going to see him at the Aladin with Stephanie (years ago) and it was a good show and we got him to sign our cd.

But I just had to post about it. If you're interested in learning more about Jude, go to http://www.judemusic.com/.

Enjoy.

The Last Hurrah before Summer is OVER...

I feel as though I've been neglecting the blog. It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I had a couple of proposals due and an interview to prepare for. Thursday is here and now I'm back to my regularly scheduled workweek..my kind of show!

The end of August is here and that means BACK TO SCHOOL! Granted my kids aren't part of the public school system quite yet, but it still makes me think that we should at least have one last hurrah before September is here and it's something else that consumes our lives.

So, because I want to make the most of the three day weekend and tire myself and the family out, we've got several things planned.

Weekend Warriors...(including a little of Friday)
Friday - Bill and I are going to my co-workers wedding at the Chinese Gardens. I'm super excited about it. The kids will be hanging out with the Aunties for the evening.

Saturday - The Grunwalds, Poirier's, and Pollingers are going to the Rainbow Trout Farm (www.rainbowtroutfarm.com) out in Sandy to spend the day catching some fish and having a picnic. I'm excited to see Jae's reaction to actually fishing, instead of the playing with plastic fish.

Sunday - The Grunwald's are heading to the coast for a day of family bonding. This will be Hannah's first trip to the coast and Jae will have ventured out there for the first time this summer! I'm excited to take pictures. I know the weather will be just OK, but at least we'll be together.

Monday - This is the day of dread. Why you ask? Because this just means that Tuesday is a work day and summer is over and back to reality. This is the day that tells me that there is only ONE MORE WEEK until Bowling starts..good lord! This is the day that tells me I'm about to turn one year older...BUT on the Flipside of things, this is the month that Stephanie will be visiting! Knowing that Kelcy will be getting married in less than two months and Bill and I will be heading to Maui! And that my favorite season..Fall, will be here soon.

Here's to September..

Cheers!

PS, don't forget..NO WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY!!! who made up this silly rule?

A Visitor...

I just got word today that Stephanie will be in town in September, well, more like Seattle, but she's going to come and stay with us for a couple of days! I'm/we are so excited! It's been almost a year since I've seen her.

Stephanie..all I can say is 'hot wings'

Cloverfield - Movie Review

Bill and I finally watched Cloverfield. A movie by J.J. Abrams (Alias, LOST, What about Brian, and the new show, FRINGE). For those of you who aren't familiar with this movie, it's about a monster that invades Manhattan and wreaks havoc to the City (gee, sound familiar). This movie was filmed in the 'cinema verite' style - to make it look like it was filmed with one hand-held camera (think Blair Witch, but not as extreme).

The movie started slow, the plot, not that great. *SPOILER ALERT* Rob is trying to find the girl (Beth) that he likes and he goes from one part of the City to another. Throughout this attempt, he's got his friends in tow (one that is holding the camera THE ENTIRE TIME) and they encounter the monster and his little 'hatchlings'. He finally reaches the girl whose building is leaning against another building. So they climb 50+ flights of the building that is still erect and cross over to the building where Beth lives. When they find her, she's on her back impaled by a piece of rebar and STILL ALIVE!!! so Rob and his friends miraculously PULL HER OFF the rebar and make their way back to the other building and down 50+ flights and RUN towards the helicopters b/c the government was going to blow up the City in order to kill the monster. I know it's a movie, but WHATEVER!

Anyway, the monster is crazy looking and it made me jump once. The ending was typical in that they left it open for Cloverfield 2. That's a shame.

Here's what I learned from this movie:
a) Not impressed and wouldn't watch it again. Don't think I will watch #2.
b) Odette Yustman - I am SOOOO sad that October Road is canceled! I want to know how the show ends! Who is Sam's dad?
c) This is why rentals are the bomb! I saved myself and arm and a leg by watching it at home.

Saturday

Today was a pretty busy day for the Grunwald Clan.

Jae had swimming lessons this morning. This time he was accompanied by Daddy and Uncle Jake (but not two daddy's). Bill said that he actually did BIG kicks today and put his face in the water (for like 1 second). This is quite the accomplishment for our Jae-man.

The three guys then drove to the Columbia Edgewater Country Club to watch the LPGA Safeway Classic Tournament. Jake (through his sister Anna) acquired some VIP passes to the tournament and was nice enough to extend the invite to Bill and Jae. They had a great time and enjoyed all the complimentary food and beer, seeing all the golfers, and the VIP parking (if you talk to Jake, I think this was the highlight of the day for him)! Jae was tuckered out from all the festivities and slept the whole way home.

While the boys were out and about, Hannah and I had some girl bonding and went shopping! She was such a trooper and was passing out smiles everywhere we went! We met Aunty Barb for lunch and then she got a little fussy b/c she wanted to eat too.