Separation Anxiety, day 1

Today Charlie and Scarlett got on an airplane headed to Chicago.  I leave tomorrow for Austin, for work.  In another life, I would be super excited to go, and eat cheese plates that someone else paid for.  But this afternoon, I just miss my little girl.  We have been apart for two nights, twice, and that was sad enough (probably only for me, not for her).  But this is five nights, which feels like too much.  I know some moms do this a lot, and probably enjoy it, but not this one.

I asked her to pose for a picture before we went to the airport, and this is what she gave me:

With her silliness and smile, she will take Chicago by storm.

Tea Party

Last week, Scarlett was invited to the world's most adorable tea party at this high-tea house in Oregon City.  It was fancy, but a kid-friendly kind of fancy.  There were hats to try on, and crackers with letters on them, and a little playhouse outside.  Also some of Scar's favorite things- tea, and finger food.  Oh, and chickens.

Scar and Lucy, in one of many iterations of trying on hats.

It was a girl party, except that Arnie was invited (obviously).

Lucy and her cousin Teagan, channeling their inner British royalty.

Outside, in they play house, they had a pretend tea party.

Notice that Scarlett's hands are inked up?  She has a fake tattoo addiction.  She adds three or four new ones every day.  She looks like she has sleeve tats, which I guess is pretty Portland of her.

At home, I asked Scarlett to tell Charlie about the tea party.  She said:

"I have to tell you about the hats.  

I saw some with my eyes. 

I didn't wear the bear one."

She is really into frogs lately

"This cup is red like a frog is green." -Scarlett, in the car

Marathon Day, part 2

Once again, marathon day exceeded expectations because of the lovely weather, my homemade sign, and lots of runners to holler at.  They liked my sign.  Jon accompanied me and, very calmly, handled a lot of my 'We're going to be late!' and 'Shit, carry this!" panics.  He also carried the sign, and corralled Scarlett, and did a lot of cheering.

Mile 6: Scarlett, below, helping.  I can't remember what Jon is doing in this second picture.  It kindof looks like he's going to jump up and scare Scar, but I'm sure it was something else.  It was early, so anything goes.  Anyway, Scarlett didn't catch them in the crowd as they first ran by.  She kept asking, confused, 'where is Aunt Sally?'

We also saw my mom at mile 6, and other walkers, most of whom hassled me that I didn't have a sign for them. 

Mile 11: We didn't get pictures of Sally and Charlie running, let's assume it's because they were unbelievably fast.  Or, that it's hard to manage a toddler, a sign, and a camera at the same time.  They looked happy and calm at mile 6 and then again at 11. They were about a minute behind the 3:40 pacer.  Then we rushed against time and traffic, across the river, to mile 18.

Mile 18: When we arrived, Sally was pulling ahead.  She was fueled by the power of birthday, I think.  The east side is, by far, the best place to watch the race.  Lots of parking, less spectators, lots of room for kids to run up and down the sidewalk. 
  

At the finish, we were joined by a larger cheer squad.   There was a lot of squinting and saying "I think that's her" and staring at everyone in a yellow shirt, wondering if it was Sally. 

Charlie, second from left, in black. 

So the official times were Sally 3:47 and Charlie 3:55.  They accomplished so much before 11am!  And an improvement of over 10 minutes for each of them. 
Then, we had the rest of the day to celebrate Sally's birthday and eat Foster Burger and go to sleep early. 

Marathon Day, part 1

Charlie and Sally run the marathon tomorrow.  Marathon day is one of my most favorite, because when I was first living in Portland, I remember going to see my mom finish the Portland marathon.  She puked in a flower pot. (Mom, should I remove that?  I can, if you want.  I remember it vividly though.  And as you know, the puking-during-marathon genes were passed on to me.)  I love the atmosphere of race day, even for smaller races.  Everyone is so happy, and the spectators bond, and everyone is foaming at the mouth with pride.

So in preparation, Scar and her cousins did a little kid's race this morning at this pre-marathon family wellness expo.  Scarlett called this "my marathon".  She and the other little kids ran a lap around the track, but at the end she had to be carried a little and she was coughing.  I told her it's okay, all runners have bad races and this will help her train better.  In any case, there was all sorts of adorableness.  Hope and the older kids ran two laps.

Everyone went down the bouncy-house-style slide, and through the bouncy obstacle course.  Scarlett got a frog painted on her arm.  Have I mentioned her love of frogs?  She loves frogs like crazy.  Hope did some rock climbing.  Esther did the long jump.  I hope, later in life, Scarlett has race memories from her childhood.  So far, I know she's excited about the sign I made.  What's on the sign, you might ask?  Well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow...

  

Slumber Party

Scarlett had her first slumber party last weekend.  She stayed overnight with her cousins while Charlie and I went to a wedding, dressed up all fancy like adults.  We've done varying degrees of this- someone else putting her to sleep at our house, or the Bend trip where we were running and she stayed overnight at a rental house with Erin & Ramona.  But this was the first official time that she stayed elsewhere, and we were at home.

We've been talking about this slumber party for weeks, about how exciting it will be to sleep in Hope's bed and how big girls get slumber parties, etc etc. 

When I asked her how it was afterwards, she told me the following:

"They have an orange potty". 
"There was stars in her room." 
"I ate dinner." 
"I ate a hog dog and I had my bun toasted."


Fascinating stuff! 

Sweethearts