2022 – November part 1

Hey!

November is the month that we have been anticipating coming for a few months now. We have this whole thing planned for my mother-in-law to fly out and visit with the family. It would be the first time in five years that we have seen her. Last time Elijah was only but a few months old. I expect this month to fly by quicker than ever. It always seems to happen that way.

Started the month quietly. Not many plans were made. We have just been in this process of cleaning the house – moving from room to room to room until it is all completed. Not just cleaning, reorganizing, and paring down the items we have – it’s a whole process.

On the first weekend of the month, we took a trip to the Portland Japanese Garden. This is one of my bucket list places of things I wanted to do while in Portland. I’ve never done it before because it can get costly – however, our Library allows us to go at no cost. We planned to see when would be the best time of year to go (there is one tree that is a landmark because of its beautiful colors in the fall). From everything we saw, this was the time to go.

If you look at the photos of the Japanese Maple – that is the tree I was talking about. The whole experience was great, it was a great visit and the kids enjoyed going as well. I would safely say that if you are in the Portland area this is a must-see. I’d prefer to visit in Spring or Fall, but every season will have its charm. I think we may try to visit again in the spring if time allows it.

After going to the garden, we took a trip to St. Johns and visited Wonderwood land. It is a coffee shop that was opened by local artist Mike Bennett. The kids enjoy his stuff. I remember when he was super small and would create signs for people to see in his front yard. At the same time, he would have free stickers or things that kids could get their hands on. It is a lot less of that now – much more corporate. Next, after we grabbed a cup of coffee we walked next door as there was a walk-through event that we took advantage of while in the area.

Below you will see another thing we finally completed in the house! Every window now has blinds, and matching blinds at that. Woohoo!

I had to sneak a photo of Luca one morning as he lay next to me. He woke up and kept doing the “peek-a-boo” thing. He can be so silly.

STORYTIME!

So,

On Sunday before church, we were running a little behind schedule. We all were rushing out the door to the church and I buckled Luca up and set my phone on the roof. I got him set up and saw some trash that fell out near his seat so I picked it up and put it in the recycling bin. I got in the car and started down the road to the church. We got to the main road (speeds around 45MPH) and heard this *thunk* against the vehicle. Arabella exclaimed, “Daddy that’s your phone!!” Oops. So my barely a month-old new iPhone 14 Pro Max later went flying off the roof of my car at about 45mph landing on a busy road.

Yeah, it’s an expensive phone. For a while now we have been buying expensive cases to protect the device in case we drop it on a hike or the kids get a hold of it. For the last couple of years, we have had a Mous Case for protection. Same this year. They say that you can drop it from extreme heights and it will survive. Yeah? Well, how about falling off of a fast-moving car onto a hard surface? I credit the case with how my phone not only survived the fall but did so and only had a minor scratch on it.

We got out and looked around, we saw that the pop-wallet I used got lodged in the spoiler of the car… so after initially freaking out a bit and not being able to find my ID – all was secure. If you look at the photos below you will see where we found it, as well as the scratch on the camera lens, followed by the road where it dropped off.

I went on Amazon to see if I could find any scratch remover. I ended up finding this. The stuff works like a miracle. If you look at the second photo of the phone without the case, you can see that the scratch came out completely. For the win!

I’ve noticed that the dog seems to have foggy eyes. I took a photo to see if I could capture what I had been seeing. Sure enough – it came up and it looked like he was an old dog, yet he was only a few months old. Apparently, with this breed of dog, they can have eye problems starting within the first few months of their life (it is rare, but something that he indeed has). After looking it up we found that in the future he may need expensive surgery, or carry a risk of going blind. Neither of these seems like a good outcome. He has been getting better with his behavior but is still a barker. A loud one at that, it can be a bit much at times. If I’m outside I can hear him bark and if anyone comes to the door he goes berserk.

Before I knew it, I was off of work – the house was clean and I was on my way (with Arabella in the car) to pick up Grams (my mother-in-law).

She landed on Thursday. I took Friday and the rest of the month off to spend with her (and the family) while she is in town.

Now the adventure begins!

just Pray