Where were you?

I know I'm a day late with this question, but with the anniversary of 9/11 I've been thinking back to that day. I remember that day vividly. It was when we were a DINK household (double income no kids). Hubby was already at work and I was doing my normal morning routine....get up groggy (I was not a morning person then and I still am not now), head to the kitchen for breakfast and watch the Today show while I ate my daily bowl of cereal. So I turn on the Today show and get my breakfast going and that's when I realized something BIG was happening. I shook off my morning grogginess immediately when I saw the TV. Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw and Matt Lauer were live in the studio, not replaying the original east coast morning show. I walked over to the couch and was glued to the tv. I couldn't stop watching. I knew I should be getting ready for work, but I couldn't tear myself away from it all. I called my sister to see if she was watching. I watched the towers fall, I watched the news anchors try to stay composed.

I was late to work and didn't care (I really do a have a good work ethic, I promise). I worked for Vancouver School district at the time and there were meetings to discuss what should be discussed in class for each particular age group, etc. I remember feeling relieved that I did not have kids at the time because I can't imagine how hard it would have been to know what to say or how much to expose kids to what happened.

Needless to say, not much work got done and we were all very sensitive to the fact that our boss previously worked at the Pentagon and was waiting for word regarding former colleagues. He lost two friends that day.

I'm a news junkie and for days and days I remember watching and reading story after story. I was touched by them all. I remember by that evening there were already taped interviews of survivors that were still dusty from escaping the collapse. I also remember thinking that the journalists must realize this was the story of their lifetime and they were under pressure to document it thoroughly. But I also remember feeling so far away from all that was going on, even though it was in my own country. I felt sadness, but I knew it couldn't compare with what so many people on (mainly) the east coast were feeling.

So....that leads me to my original question.....where were you that day? How did it impact you? It's one of those days that I'll never forget.

It's Tradition!

The whole Corrigan clan!

No, I'm not talking about the Sausage fest, I'm talking about the annual Labor Day weekend trip to Sunriver! For the last 13+ years, my family has traveled to central Oregon to just "be together" for the weekend. I don't think I've missed one year! Even when Megan was just 6 weeks old! We have one family from Seattle, one from Hillsboro, three from Vancouver and one from Dallas Texas!

family pose

My dear parents (esp. my mom) spends hours and hours preparing for this weekend with games, food, planning activities! You have to have quite a plan when 20 people are involved (we've expanded to two houses). This year my mom even wrote out a schedule (kind of like supernanny does after the big talk with the parents)on a big poster board-I meant to take a picture of it, but forgot! She even posted it on the wall in the house we stayed at. We had a ping pong tourny, foosball tourny, texas hold em, phase ten (I know there's more, I just can't think of the rest). We all bring a gift card and put it in a basket and when you "win" something, you get to go choose a prize!


The little kids don't miss out on the fun either....my dad started a tradition of "pirate island" years and years ago (way before the pirate craze of late). A few years ago, he even drew up a map. (Each year it gets a little more elaborate with costumes, etc. ) The kids go on a scavenger hunt and find "buried" treasure. They love doing it and even the big cousins who have outgrown the hunt, get to help Poppy plan it.

The kids are getting ready for their scavenger hunt to pirate island!

Megan just learned to ride her bike without training wheels a couple weeks before our trip

Kate has "mastered" the trike!

There's a story behind these cookies......so it's late and it's our last night in Sunriver and we've tried to eat leftovers so there isn't much food to munch on and my sis in law and I decide cookies sound really good, but the stores are closed and Bend is too far away....so let's make some! Easier said than done since we are in a rental house and who knows what baking supplies we could...we soon found ourselves on our own scavenger hunt! We found sugar, flour, butter baking soda or powder, I can't remember....we found a half a dark chocolate bar (it was mine) that we promptly started crushing....hmm not enough for a whole batch....then we spotted a Costco size trail mix bag....sweet, m&ms.....so I started sifting through the bag to get to all the m&ms....we're in business.....until we discover we have no eggs...deal breaker, but alas other sis in law pulls out a secret tupperware container in the fridge (anyone from a large family knows you have to hide stuff to save it), anyway, she had brought the eggs for her one year old's meals....back in business. So we started throwing in ingredients and low and behold, they turn out....sort of....come to find out, baking soda and baking powder are not interchangeable, but that's ok, it did the trick and we had a yummy treat (they were pretty hard by morning!!!!) So anyway, that's the story behind the cookies!

Yes, that is my little girl climbing that wall with NO fear whatsoever (I think the wall was about 20ft high)!!!! I couldn't believe it....she did it three times and rang the bell each time....she's a monkey!

There's a really fun indoor pool that the girls had a blast playing in!

Since Labor Day weekend also coincides with the kick off to college football season, we always get to watch the Huskies (my three brothers and two sis in laws are alums). You may not be a Husky fan, but how cute is she???? She even made up a cute cheer (too bad the Huskies got spanked!!!!)


Anyway, we had a great time and especially loved the family prayer time when we share what's going on in our families and share praise and prayer requests. Thanks Mom and dad for all the efforts to make it a fun weekend year after year!

Poppy and Nana with all the grandchildren (and Lisa)

Me and my siblings (from left Me, Kyle, John, Paulette and Brian)

One Brave Lady!

Damon's Aunt Pat lost her husband to cancer not quite two years ago. She and her husband lived in Peoria, IL (Pat still does) and in the winters, they'd take off in their truck pulling a large trailer and would be gone most of the winter heading south and avoiding the cold midwest winters. They have done this for years and years. When Al passed away, Pat wasn't sure what she was going to do in the winters. Well, this brave lady sold the big truck and big trailer and bought a smaller RV and a little Chevy cobalt and decided she'd keep on going.

So, Aunt Pat came for a visit a few weeks ago. We had such a wonderful visit. She drove her RV and pulled her little car all the way from Illinois to Washington. She did this alone (except for Hugamee, the cutest, most babied little dog you'll ever meet).

Did I mention she'll be 73 in October?

This trip out west was not without some bumps and bruises (a major car repair that her car dealer better reimburse her for!!!) but the important thing is that she is continuing to live. Yes, she still misses her husband of 52+ years every day and wishes with all her heart he was still with her, but she isn't sitting home wallowing in her sorrow, she's living her life.

Here's to you Aunt Pat. I admire you and I can only hope I'm as brave as you one day! We love you!

The Big Day!

Today was the first day of kindergarten for Megan and what a day it was! I'm telling you, PM kindergarten is the best! We can still be in denial that summer is basically over! We took our time getting ready this morning, played, picked out what to wear (not an easy task!), had lunch and off to the bus stop we went! Before we left, we did the annual picture pose in front of the door. My little girl is growing up!




Next, we killed time waiting for the bus by taking pictures of each other. My girls are actually pretty good picture takers!


What a super dad! He drove all the way from downtown Portland to see his baby girl on her first day of school! (yes, he went back to work!)


The bus is here!!!!!!!



This is when we were politely shooed out of the room, so school could REALLY start! Megan said she had fun, but apparently a couple boys were teasing her and she did not like that....I told her the boys always tease the cute girls....she responded that she did not want to be cute then. We'll see how day #2 goes! She REALLY REALLY REALLY wants to ride the bus home tomorrow (I wanted to pick her up from school for a while)...guess I better let my little girl fly out of the nest!

Trying Something New

The dinner table is a sacred place full of family time and shared information and meaningful conversation. Well, most evenings, it goes something like this:
Katelyn: I don't like this (said in a whiny voice with a scowl on her face)
Dad: If you fuss you go sit on the step
Megan: I'm not hungry
Mom: I'm not saying anything, I'm just trying to eat dinner while it's still warm!

Tonight I tried something new and it wasn't well received by the little ones. Oh well, my hubby and I liked it! It was a Mexican lasagna and contained foreign objects like green chilies. What was I thinking puting green chilies in their dinner! But, it did make for a funny exchange from Megan. This is how it went down:
Megan: What are these?
Mom: Green chilies
Megan: Why do they call them chilies when they are hot?
Mom: hmmm, I'm not sure....it's just what they are called
Megan: Well, I think they should be called hotties because they are hot, not chilies
Well said, Megan....well said!

Close Call

I'm sure you've all experienced it before.....you're driving down the freeway and some crazy driver zips by you going way too fast and it sort of startles you and rattles your nerves a little. Well, it sort of happened like that, only it wasn't a freeway.....

Megan and I were leaving her dr appt and were driving north on 87th ave. We were on a two lane road (one lane going north, one south) and a white car races by us on the left, basically entering oncoming traffic. I shake my head thinking, wow they are going way too fast and aren't even in a lane. In a split second we came upon a median with landscaping in it leaving no room now for the car to continue to pass drivers. I thought for sure now they were going to have to slam on the brakes and hopefully get in the lane......this did not happen. Without even braking, the car hit the median jumped up and slammed into a minivan two cars ahead of us. The minivan flipped around and the white car slammed into a brick retaining wall and wedged itself between a light post and the brick retaining wall. My immediate thought was that the white car driver must be having a medical emergency and passed out or something.

The rest of us that witnessed the accident pulled over and good samaritans ran over to the cars and checked to see who might need help. What I saw next broke my heart. One child was pulled out from the back seat....another child was pulled out from the back seat. Some smoke was coming out of the engine and they were trying to get the passengers out. Here comes the ambulance now. Then I noticed the "helpers" were starting to leave and I jumped out to make sure someone could stay to wait for the police. I told them I could stay....I then asked if something was wrong with the driver and one of the guys that was helping the passengers said he was pretty sure the driver was intoxicated......then it all made sense....the crazy driving, not even braking before he hit the median and slammed into the other car, and then my observation of his somewhat oblivious attitude to his injured child passengers, but it was 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon, it was the furthest thought from my mind that it could be a drunk driver. Yes, I know I'm jumping to conclusions and I have no actual proof that he was drunk but the whole thing just gave me the chills watching it all play out in front of me. By this time the police were there and I gave my statement and watched two firetrucks pull in.

Now keep in mind my daughter is in the back seat and has also witnessed everything I have seen. As we were waiting for police to arrive and she saw me call 911, I was able to talk to her about what happened and we were able pray together for the kids. Here I was with my daughter driving home like any other day and we were spared a serious accident by a couple car lengths. That's why we pray for safety.

I must say that I also have a newfound respect for first responders. They show up to scenes like that and do their job day in and day out.

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.......

GO USA!

I'm tired, but it's a good thing! I'm staying up way too late to watch the Olympics. Record them you say?? Yes, I'm definitely recording, but you can't watch each day and record from the previous day....you'll get too far behind and miss something exciting....like what I just watched with the men's 4x100 freestyle relay! Wow, what a finish! Way to Get er done! So exciting! I love the commercials and the songs recorded specifially for the games. I love Bob Costas commentating, no one could do it better than he does!

I LOVE the olympics and can't get enough of all of it. I'm a sucker for a story and get wrapped up with the emotion of all of it! Just imagining all the hours of training, the commitment of the athletes and their families, it's overwhelming to even consider the road that got them to the Olympics. My favorite is the women's soccer. They lost their first game and won their second, so they're still in it!

So back to the topic of recording.....my husband and I have been talking about getting DVR for months and months and when we finally decided to do it, it was summer and everything was in reruns, so we decided to wait until the fall. But wait, the Olympics....we have to have it for the Olympics. So a quick call to comcast and they were here the day before opening ceremonies and after a quick tutorial on how to use it, we are in business! Can I just say I LOVE DVR!!! How have I gotten by this far without it? The best part was we took advantage of the Comcast bundle program and we are now saving almost $50 a month (that's with adding DVR!) Gotta love that!

OK, totally change of subject, but my daughter Megan had a rough, I mean ruff day today.....poor little thing. She loves loves loves dogs. She always asks to pet dogs everywhere we go. She's really good about asking the owner before she pets them. So today we participated in service Sunday and went to a family's home and did some yard work. The family owned a little Shi Itsu (spelling???) and was cute as can be. Megan spent most of the day with the leash in hand walking around the yard and loving on this little dog. The dog was really great with the kids and all was good......until the kids were invited to give the dog some puppy treats. Apparently Megan dropped her treat and thought the dog couldnt find it, so she went to pick it up and try again and the dog got very aggressive and acutally bit her a couple times. Five bandaids later, she decided she did not like THAT dog, but still liked dogs....whew....thank the Lord she does not appear to be traumatized by this isolated incident. Way to hang in there Megan!

ok, gotta go....there's a medal ceremony I'm missing! Go USA!!!