Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tidbits and thoughts on our vacation (day 6 - Thurs)

We slept in today, the twins were well on their way out the door before we drug our sorry butts out of bed. Felt good!!!!

Today, we were going to try and accomplish what we didn't get done the day before. Hit a few places we'd not made it to, but also get out from under the feet of his brother and wife for the day. I was sure they wouldn't mind having the house to themselves for a while.

We were wrong, Sharon asked if they could go along. Again, we were out there to see them, so I didn't mind. I was just worried that they felt they were obligated to come along.

First stop, Benchmade knives. Mot loves his, but used it to cut plaster walls and such when we were working on our house. So it's duller than dull. He knew he could mail it to them and have them sharpen it, but since we were in town, we thought we'd stop by ourselves (and he wanted to take a look at product in the company store). As Mot would say "you can never have too many pocket knives"....men!!!

The knife sharpening was going to take a couple of days, but they told him they'd ship it to him for free when it was done. I thought that was nice!!!

We did find some knives we liked, but believe it or not, left without spending a dime!!! We were about to get something, but I had a change of heart. You see, the gentlemen helping us knew that Mot is a fireman, it came up in conversation. And Benchmade offers a discount of 30% to firemen. The problem was that the salesman failed to mention the discount, until we were leaving with nothing in our hands. Had we bought something, we wouldn't have told us about it. Not cool. :-(

From Benchmade we drove to one of the many Columbia outlet stores in the Portland area. I love Columbia gear!!!!! I've been looking for a new winter coat for a while, and thought maybe we'd check out the outlet stores while we were here. (the no sales tax thing was an incentive as well!!)

I found a coat I liked. Mot found some base layer clothing, a vest and a pair of jeans. (and he says I'm the shopper) :-)

One of the things we wanted to get done that day, well....I could just tell it wasn't going to happen. Mot's brother's heart just wasn't into it. (heck, it wasn't into it when we left the house, so I had a bad feeling we wouldn't make it)

We ate lunch at the Shanghai Noble House (Chinese food). It was OK...but our waiter was cracking me up!!! He asked us how many, we told him 4...and he was off like a shot. By the time we'd gotten to the table he'd basically ran to, he was throwing the menus on the table...without stopping. He pointed at the table, and kept walking. :-)

After lunch, we'd decided that our main destination for the day wasn't going to happen. It was raining, and it was an outdoor place. Heck, the rain has never bothered us...and they live there. But it was obvious brother wasn't game. By then, we had about 2 hours before the twins needed picked up from daycare, so we decided to head home.

On the way, we passed their favorite surf shop (Gorge Surf)...so we stopped to check it out. While they were looking at new and used surf boards, Mot and I were checking out snowboarding gear. The idea of skiing scares the crap out of me. Something about two separate boards being strapped to my feet...plummeting down a hill and break neck speeds......ugh!!!

If you crash, one ski goes one direction and the other goes off on it's own merry way. I see broken, twisted and destroyed knees....and broken bones in general.

Snowboarding, on the other hand, seems allot more controlled. Both feet firmly below you....when you crash, you go one direction...all of you! I'm not saying it's any safer or easier....I'm just saying it doesn't give me the willies. And since Mot is bound and determined to get me on the slopes, snowboarding it is!!! :-)

After spending roughly $3000 (in our minds), we decided we'd better get out of there!!! As we were walking by the front check out counter, Mot noticed some watches. As I said, I've been looking for a sport watch. Something I can wear in the water, in the snow, in the cold, in the heat...but still looks nice enough to wear to work (which means no plastic bands, or flashbacks from the 80's). He pointed one out, and I fell in love. I'll have to post a picture sometime, as I'm not wearing it today, and can't find it online. But trust me, it's cool...and it's me. :-)

Found it online (mine is greenjust like this one, but the band is black, with a tiny bit of the green).

On the way home, Sharon decided she needed to get her acrylic nails filled, and asked me if I wanted to come along. The thought of getting a pedicure sounded heavenly...so I said yes!

We dropped the boys off, and headed back out to the nail place. I picked this iridescent blue/purple/green color (if you can't have fun with your toe nail color - when CAN you have fun?).

After the pedicure, we stopped next door at the Wine and Chocolate bar for a glass of wine. Nice place, wonderful atmosphere....wine was a bit pricey, but it's the experience you're paying for I believe.

One glass of wine later, we left to pick up the girls from day care. There are two steps on the front walk to the day care provider's house. I missed the second one. I missed it big time. :-(

Sharon heard the ends of my toes hit the concrete step....and I wiped out. See, I was wearing borrowed flip flops as to not ruin my newly polished toes. I misjudged the step, the shoes.....and went down! I wouldn't have been nearly as bad as it was, had it not been raining. :-) I went to catch myself, and that foot slipped on the wet concrete. Ugh!!! Scraped up the palm of my hand, and the one leg of my jeans were soaked. After Sharon and I stopped laughing, we picked up the kids and headed to the grocery store for dinner supplies...then headed home.

We had decided tacos sounded like an easy, light, fast meal...so that's what we ate. It was nice.

Just before dinner, I went upstairs to check out the damage to my leg, if there was any. Yeah - there way.....a big old scrape, ugh!! I'm such a klutz!! :-)

And, to make matters worse, I totally destroyed the new pedicure on two of my toe nails. Ugh. :-)

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