Random Thoughts Thursday (the un-random Halloween edition)

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Random Thoughts Thursday to bring you a Halloween-themed post.  This post is brought to you by the knowledge that there are far-away grandparents and an uncle in Australia who really want to see the girls Halloween costumes, and by the fact that I actually have time to blog today.

Random Thoughts Thursday will return at its regularly scheduled time next week.

About two months ago, Ellie told me she'd decided once and for all what she wanted to be for Halloween.  This is the girl who has fairly readily molded her costume ideas to my will for the past six years.  I should have enjoyed that more while it lasted, because this year she decided to be...a volcano.  I usually make the girls costumes, but even if I'd wanted to buy them this year, I have no idea where one would go to find a volcano costume.  So we got creative with the several yards of black felt that Chris has had stored in our cedar chest for the past 10 years, and here's what we came up with:

Pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself.  Here's another angle:

And one more, because I was feeling artsy:

Her original plan was to have her hair all ratted up and sprayed red, but we tried that for the church Halloween party, with traumatic results when it came time to clean it up, so we came up with the headband instead.  She got pretty good at explaining to people what she was supposed to be, and was over the moon when someone actually guessed right.

Lexi usually goes for simplicity when it comes to costumes.  Her main goal is to just have fun and get candy.  I completely understand that, and appreciate how easy it is to create her costumes.  This year we just had to hunt down a Viking helmet, and the rest I threw together in a few hours using a couple of t-shirts and some fake fur.

And the "okay, stop taking pictures now" picture:

Vicki originally wanted to create an elaborate steampunk costume, but as much as I would have loved to do that (and make something for myself, too, I just didn't have the time.  So she decided to be "Alberta" Einstein instead.

We had fun fluffing up her hair (you can't really tell, but we sprayed it white), and those eyebrows and mustache were a fantastic find.  This is one of my favorite pictures of her, ever:

Here are all three together:

And it wouldn't be Halloween without Chris and I in our goth costumes:

Scary, no?  We also had tattoos:

(That picture is from a party we went to a few days before Halloween.)

So, there you have it.  Hopefully this satisfies those of you dying to see what the girls came up with this year. The only things that scares me now is wondering what, exactly, Ellie is going to decide to be next year.  What could possibly top a volcano?

One last shot of all three girls:

And thus concludes the Ebert family costume roundup of 2012.  Join us again next year when we discover just how much weirder it can get.

Junior Mythbusters

We're big fans of Mythbusters around here.  In fact, over the past several months, Friday night has become our traditional Mythbusters & panini night (thank you, Amazon instant video, for feeding our habit.)  Heaven forbid we plan anything else on a Friday.

One of the Mythbusters' taglines is "don't try this at home".  However, there's one myth we've always wanted to test: Diet Coke and Mentos.  Around Christmastime, I discovered a kit that contained a roll of Mentos and a plastic tube designed to let you drop several mints into a bottle of Coke at one time.

The setup

A plastic pin holds the mints in place until you're ready to pull the cord and release them all at once, and there's a hole in the top for the resulting geyser of Coke.  Of course I had to buy it.  We've had the kit since then, but haven't gotten around to using it.

Until this weekend.

Uncle Blaine and Aunt Mel came to visit us from Seattle.  Blaine is a big Mythbusters fan, too, and it was finally not raining, so Saturday seemed like the perfect day to try out this experiment for ourselves.

We headed over to the park and set up in the grass.  The girls took turns dropping the mints into the tube, and then we all stood back.

Vicki somehow managed to score the role of
cord-puller without a fight

I think it's safe to say we had a blast.

10 Items to Cross Off My Bucket List

The following items may or may not have actually been on any bucket list I may or may not have actually made.  But even if they weren't, they should have been.

1. Ring in the New Year in an airport.

Thankfully, no one got a butt shot of me

For Christmas this year, Chris's parents gave their children a Caribbean cruise.  We celebrated New Year's Day by watching Miami slowly disappear into the sunset.

Of course, before that, we had to celebrate New Year's Eve in the Salt Lake airport, waiting for our 1am flight to Atlanta.  By the time we arrived in Atlanta for our 4-hour layover, and despite (or, quite possibly, because of) the sleeping meds we took to help us on the red-eye, we were exhausted.  After a surprising breakfast at Chili's (I know, right?), we staked out our spots and crashed for an hour or two before it was on to Miami, where we boarded the majestic, if badly decorated, Norwegian Pearl and set off on a beautiful adventure on the Caribbean Sea.

2. Visit the Bahamas

Paradise, anyone?

Our first stop was Great Stirrup Cay, a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines.  They schedule the island so that only one ship is there at a time, so we only had to share this little piece of paradise with the 2000+ other passengers on the ship.  We snorkeled a bit, but mostly just enjoyed the temperature difference between Utah and the Bahamas.

3. Bowl at sea

Yes, it is possible to bowl on a cruise ship.  It is not necessarily possible to bowl well, but at least on a cruise ship when you bowl badly you can blame it on the sea.

4. Zip line through the jungle

Those things are FAST!

When we went to Alaska, one of the excursions offered was a zip line adventure.  I really wanted to do it, but I was outvoted and we went on a float plane ride instead.  I've never regretted that, because it was pretty amazing, but I've still always wanted to experience the zip lines.  They did not disappoint.  And I think flying through the Jamaican jungle canopy was probably cooler than flying through Alaskan treetops, anyway.

5. Eat authentic Jamaica jerk chicken

It was really hard to get a clear picture, due to all the smoke, but those
are chickens splayed out on tree branches above a giant smoke pit
and covered by corrugated tin.

Oh. My. Word.  Our driver in Jamaica took us to this little place called Scotchies, where I ate the BEST chicken I have ever had.  I highly recommend it if you ever visit Ocho Rios.

And, as a side note, everyone in Jamaica really does say, "Mon."

6. Find out of Grand Cayman really lives up to all those John Grisham books

Cemetery Beach.  Gorgeous.  Peaceful.  Happiness.

Okay, I couldn't honestly tell if it does, since I wasn't there to embezzle company funds.  But it's beautiful and the snorkeling is awesome.

7. Get a fingerprint sunburn

Oops.

8. See a spotted eel off the coast of Cozumel

Me, Mel, & Erica rockin' the snorkel gear

Snorkeling in the Caribbean is like swimming in an aquarium.  The water is amazingly clear and the fish are pretty friendly.  The spotted eels, not so much.

9. Do pretty much nothing but eat, sleep, and read for an entire week

Oh, yeah.

10. Spend an amazing week with some of my favorite people

Thank you, Ron and Perri, for a fun, relaxing, rejuvenating, much-needed and thoroughly enjoyed vacation!

Today

Today I woke up at 5:00am.

Today I drove to my friend's house early in the morning to drop off my van so it could be loaded up. I drove home in another friend's car.

Today I got three children ready for church.

Today I stopped at the store on the way to church because a certain child didn't tell us until last night that she's out of a particular bedtime necessity.

Today I was still early for church.

Today I drove for two hours with a car full of gear and Girl Scouts.

Today I sang camp songs, ate pizza by the pool, and helped pack tomorrow's lunches.

Today I began a week-long adventure with the ten most awesome almost-6th graders I know.

We're gonna have a blast.

Family Try-athlon

My wonderful father-in-law turned 60 at the beginning of this month, and all he wanted for his birthday was for the entire family to join him in a triathlon Sprint (that's half-Olympic distances).

The man on the big day.
(I stole this picture from my sister-in-law's blog.  Sorry, Em!)

I love my father-in-law to death, but any request involving running is not one that I'm terribly excited to meet.

The good news was that the expectations were low.  His plans originally included naps in between each leg.  That's my kind of athletic event.

The event was in the works for several months (Eberts are big on planning.  And pre-planning.)  T-shirts were designed and the date was set for May 7.  The rest of the family is in Utah, so they reserved a swimming pool and plotted out a course for the bike and run/walk.  They kept us Oregonians abreast of the plans and as the big day approached we worked really hard to get in shape and get ready talked a lot about our own participation.

The Sprint distances are 750m swim (1/2 mi), 20k bike ride (12.4 mi), and 5k run (3.1 mi).  We were given the completely guilt-free option of adapting each leg in whatever way suited our abilities.  My abilities are thus: I haven't swam a lap since about 1994, I own a bike and sometimes I ride it, and I loathe running but frequently walk our children to school.

Basically, I figured I'd be fine with walking the 5k, except for the fact that I didn't think I'd live through the swim, let alone the bike ride.

The morning of the 7th, though, I discovered the Ironkids triathlon distances (the Intermediate, for ages 9-11, is a 150 yard swim, 4 mile bike ride, and 1 mile run) and, knowing that Vicki really wanted to participate, decided that of course she needed someone to do it with her.  Problem solved, death averted.
I didn't pull the camera out at the pool, but Vicki and I swam our laps first while Chris played with Lexi and Ellie.  150 yards is 3 laps, which is much more doable than the 18 laps required by the Sprint distance.  Even so, I found the backstroke to be my friend.  The crawl stroke, not so much.  Vicki beat me by a long shot.  Once I could breathe again, Chris and I switched places, and we girls played while he swam.

We decided to do our run/walk before the bike ride, since we were already at the high school.  Lexi took off running, did one lap, and decided she was done.

Go, Lexi, go!

She and Ellie spent the rest of the time crawling under the fence, collecting rocks, and playing on the bleachers.

Prison break?  Nope, just two cute kiddos!

Chris, Vicki, and I walked a mile together before Vicki declared herself done and ran off to join her sisters.  At that point, I was "officially" done, too, since I was doing the same distances as Vicki, but I decided to keep Chris company for the remaining two miles.  Because I'm nice like that, but also because I figured that was the one leg of the Sprint I could actually do without dying.

Here's a view of the lovely weather we enjoyed.

It sprinkled on us a little bit, but the heavens didn't actually open until we were completely finished. Small blessings are sometimes the sweetest.

After we finished at the track, Chris took off on his 12-mile bike ride while the girls and I hung out at home.  It took him about an hour, and then Vicki and I took off.

We rode from our house to the Columbia River and back, which worked out to be 5 miles round-trip instead of 4, but we made it.  Vicki had never ridden that far before, and she did a great job!

Halfway point.  I love where we live!

I'm amazed at how much I actually enjoyed this event.  It would have been more fun to do it with the whole family, but we had a blast on our own.  Ron, if you want to do this every year, we're in (as long as we can still walk instead of run)!

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!!  We love you!

You Should Move to Portland

The main reason we chose Portland when Chris was looking for jobs is its close proximity to EVERYTHING.

Not only is it a big city, but it's just two hours from both the ocean and the mountains.  Today I want to sell you on the mountains.

Some of our best family friends invited us to join them in a President's Day snow hike around Trillium Lake.  Given the choice between spending a day on Mt. Hood and spending a day folding laundry, I had no problem choosing Mt. Hood.

If you move to Portland, neither will you.

You could go on a snow hike around Trillium Lake, and enjoy scenery that is breathtaking in all seasons.

Mt. Hood is back there, but it's too cloudy to see.



You'd probably have to stop a few times for snacks. (Girl Scout cookies are excellent incentives when it comes to hiking up a steep, snow-covered hill.  Just FYI.)  Maybe you'd even find an igloo to eat them in.

You could have a snowball fight.

I think I have at least one snowball fight picture of these two from just
about every year that they've known each other - it's what they do.



Watch out, he's going to throw a 'nowball at you!

Or make snow angels.

If you move to Portland, and go on a snow hike, you'll discover lots of fun places to explore.

Look how deep the snow is!
Also, Ellie thinks she can fly.

Or to just roll around.

If you're under six, you'll probably get to ride some of the way.

This is the life.

And this is a good thing, because there's an awful lot of walking involved.  4.5 miles' worth, in fact.  Although if you're like us you may not discover this until the end of your hike.

The stick seemed to help when she was forced out of the sled.

You should definitely move to Portland, because if you did, you'd probably make wonderful friends, like these:

Johnny, Ellie, Anna, Lexi, Vicki, Daniel, and Noah (in the sled)

And if you moved to Portland, not only would you get to see a beautiful place like this in the winter:

But you'd be here to see that in the summer, it looks like this:

Yes, you should move to Portland.