Rough night with the Portland Timbers

The Portland Timbers earned an impressive 3-1 road game victory against the Real Salt Lake last night.  Last Sunday night here in Portland, though, was a different story...

Until last Sunday, Kathy and I hadn't brought Lena along with us to a Timbers game since a couple seasons ago.  The last time Lena watched the Portland Timbers play the Vancouver Whitecaps, a few things were different:  Lena was only 11 months old, the now Providence Park had recently made the change from PGE Park to Jeld-Wen Stadium, the refs were vigilant, and the Timbers were victorious.


Before we get to the more recent game from last Sunday, here are a couple throwback photos from our 2013 Warner Pacific alumni night  (link) at PGE Park:

Warner Pacific grads Amy, Garth, and 15-20 others cheered along with baby Lena (on Daddy's lap) for the Timbers

Fast forwarding to this past week, the Portland Timbers were beat 4-3 by the Vancouver Whitecaps in the latest Cascadia Cup rivalry on Sunday.  The www.mlssoccer.com game recap is here.



After I got home from work, we dropped off our 4 1/2 month old Levi at a friends' house and headed for the MAX train with Lena.

"A twain!  Daddy, c'mon!":  Click this Vine video above for audio

The view of the field from our seats was pretty good, near the jubilant Timbers Army section.  I tried throughout the game to explain to Lena what was happening and who was handling the ball.

Thanks to some dirty plays by the Whitecaps and some controversial (read: horrific) missed calls by the refs, the mood of the crowd was a bit more intense than normal. Lena got a little freaked out and spent much of the game hiding been our legs.

It didn't help that we were sitting in the "angry" section.

Sitting in the angry section also meant that the frequent use of obscene hand gestures (and even a fight) around us rendered many of my best pictures inappropriate for this blog. Some things are a little difficult to Photoshop out of a picture.


But hostility didn't rule the entire evening. Here's a Vine video of the crowd exploding after the second Timbers goal of the night:

Timbers GOAL!!

And of course, our mighty Timbers transformed last Sunday's unfair loss into a distant memory last night on the road in Salt Lake City.  In contrast to the travesty that Lena witnessed last weekend vs. the Whitecaps, it was nice to see the refs stay on top of things.

A happy Timbers Army is a happy world.  RCTID!!

Coming in a couple weeks...

The best of all-new 2014 (so far) hiking photos!

...Snow in the yard

The previous Snow on the mountains... post (link) was all about a highly anticipated day of skiing and snowboarding at Mount Hood Meadows in March.


But what happens when the Portland metro area gets hit with a tiny bit of UNPLANNED snow and ice on the valley floor? Well, that depends on whom you ask...

NW Oregonians/ SW Washingtonians:   "Cancel everything. Avoid the roads at all costs. If you must brave the roads, drive as painfully slow or as recklessly fast as possible (whichever is most dangerous and inappropriate for the conditions). And for Pete's sake, don't miss a second of that around-the-clock local TV news coverage of the previous evening's snowflake sightings."

The rest of the country: "Go with it. It's only weather. Have some fun."



Breaking from Pacific Northwest tradition, The Hamilton 4 tend to side with the rest of the country during snow days. We enthusiastically agree that snow is beautiful and fun. And yes, we capitalize the 'T' in our "The."

It wasn't an option to mope around about the unfortunate cancellation of Warner Pacific College's Homecoming weekend events and about the 4 1/2 hour icy commute from PDX airport.  Beaverton rarely gets sticking snow, so we relished those snowflakes like a beach bum soaks up sunshine.

Sledding in the yard

Walking the desolate backroads of Beaverton

Slipping and sliding around with neighborhood friends and family

Walking errands with Todd, Lena, Kathy, Levi, and Shannon

The end is near:  Lena and Grandma Mimi use our last remaining snow to build a snowman.

As Lena and Lora's snowman can attest, the snow and ice quickly melted.  In fact, the local freeze barely lasted through the weekend.  The freeway photo that I live tweeted and later blogged in the "Snow on the mountain..." post of my record long 4 1/2 hour commute home from PDX airport became a melt-y memory.  And now, months later, the Portland metro area is experiencing a record heatwave while I am visiting friends here in Amsterdam!

By the time I returned to work the next week, the ice that had blanketed the streets had mostly turned to slush.  The warm-up was very noticeable on the Delta ramp.

We deiced every one of our Delta airplanes prior to departure, even though the PDX air had warmed up enough that it wasn't really necessary.


Earlier that morning, Kathy had ignored my pleas to stay in bed as I left for the airport...

...selflessly getting up instead at 3:50 a.m. to help me chip off ice off from the Jeep windows.  Do I mention often enough that I have the greatest wife in the world?



By national standards, this year's Portland metro snow event may not have been all that eventful.  But we managed to make an event out of it.

Snow happens.

Coming up on Garth's Blog...

More friend visits in the Netherlands,

Tony drops by from Afghanistan,

Running the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati,

... and more recent overseas adventures with the Hamiltons!

Snow on the mountain...

Coming soon: After I return from Italy this weekend after visiting friends for a couple days, I'll upload a follow-up post filled with more snowy neighborhood photos like this of Lena, Levi, and Kathy!

Chairlift photo from Summer's Facebook page

Photo by snowboarder @JonNW, snapped at the highest point of Mount Hood Meadows as we were all about to drop into Heather's Canyon

Snow is a big deal for us in the Portland area. We spend most of the winter hoping for (or dreading) our annual snow event, and then when it finally happens the city essentially shuts down. Meanwhile, the rest of the country laughs at our unpreparedness to handle such minuscule snow accumulation. It's an annual tradition!

A live tweeted photo from my record-long 4+ hour commute home from PDX airport and Warner Pacific College on the first day of the freeze. I-5 south traffic was stopped for so long that I turned off my Jeep Wrangler, safely shot a picture, and tweeted it.

More on that local snow event in my next post...



Another annual tradition (at least we Hamilton kids HOPE it is!) is one of my dad's Christmas presents to Kathy, Mike, Summer, and me: a ski day at Mount Hood Meadows with Bo himself.

Kathy swapped out Bo's ski offer for a shopping day. And it took a tremendous amount of schedule coordination, but last month we found a day where the remaining three of us could snow ride together with Bo.

The Drive

Stopping in Sandy on our way up to Mount Hood, we fed our maple bar addiction at Joe's Donuts.

A painting from local favorite artist Michael Sorensen is on display at Joe's. Come for the donuts, stay for the artwork.

Busy Saturday:  We were herded onto the shuttle bus from Mount Hood Meadows' overflow lot

The Slopes

The sun was shining, the snow was soft, and the clear skies provided limitless visibility to enjoy God's creation.

Our 71 year old dad skied his heart out until lunch time and then set up shop for the afternoon in the lodge. Mike finished up his final snowboard run later, looking to get a head start on our post-slope festivities outside the lodge.


With a little persuasion, I talked Summer into joining me for some backcountry action on Meadows' sole double-black diamond run.  Meadows' regulars know that weather conditions often cause Heather's Canyon to unexpectedly close at a moment's notice.  We didn't want to miss our window.

The melting snow on the more aggressive stretches of Heather's Canyon was soft enough that even the most spectacular wipeouts didn't really hurt.  My little sister overcame her fears and managed the back country terrain like a pro.

And a good Samaritan was kind enough to toss my equipment downhill to me after one spill, saving me a steep climb back uphill to collect my post-wreck ski that was littering the slope above me.

The after party

Live music, variations of pulled pork and rib sandwiches, and a host of other refreshments were served outside the lodge.  It was a call, to entice snow riders as they geared down to exit the mountain.

We answered the call.

Coming next week on Garth's Blog

(or possibly the week after, depending on my overseas in-flight productivity and our WiFi signal in Bobbio Pellice and Torino, Italy)...

Lena and Levi share the spotlight for some never before seen photos in:

...Snow in the yard!

Unproductive: Reflections on paternity leave

Mommy naps at home earlier today, holding our 11 day old Levi.

This is another share from my other blog, originally posted on Thursday.  I'll try not to make a habit of this, but I just haven't found the time to complete any new updates to the "Garth's Blog" site recently.

My belated family Christmas post is almost ready.  And pictures from baby Levi's birth last week are coming soon!

Our newborn baby Levi turned one week old yesterday [Read: Wednesday]! Yet the week zipped by so quickly that it seems like Levi was born only a few hours ago.

After confirming that my mom was available to care for Kathy at the house today, I felt confident enough to return to work this morning. Let's hope I made the right choice.

Think returning to work after vacation is tough? Try returning after paternity leave.

Kissing Lena and Levi goodbye several hours ago, I tore myself away from domestic bliss in the middle of the night. So many memories from this past week brought an irresistible smile to my face. But I also chuckled while suddenly remembering the list of things I expected to accomplish during my paternity leave. As if.

Now, I don't typically aspire to be Mr. Super Productive. That title belongs to my amazing dad, Doug Hamilton. But I DID have over a week off from work, right? And even the most travel-starved husband/ father would never dream of dragging his wife, daughter, and newborn son onboard a series of international flights during this time.


So just for kicks, here is a to-do list of tasks and fun stuff that I earnestly thought I would get started on (yet never touched) during my paternity leave's "free time":

• Get some friends together to log a massive amount of climbing, hiking, and trail running miles
• Carry Lena and newborn Levi on a flat, easy hiking trail that a recovering Mommy can join us on (rescheduled for this weekend!)
• Design and begin my latest weight training program
• Reevaluate my entire 2014 student ministry goals and vision
• Submit another of the nine book reports due for my credentialing process
• Study for my upcoming sermon on 1 John
• Draft an agenda for our upcoming Alumni Council meeting at Warner Pacific College's Homecoming
• Play some Uncharted 3 on the PS3, as 2 year old Lena always pleads for me to do
• Delete dozens of rarely used apps on my phone, tablet, and laptop... But not before I:
• Brush up on speaking the ol' español for our upcoming travels (Duolingo app)
• Learn to play guitar (Gibson's Learn and Master Guitar app)

Laugh if you will, but I was dead serious about tackling every single one of these. At least I thought I was. In practice, I didn't even do the stuff I'd NORMALLY do in my free moments, i.e., drafting mobile updates (okay, I posted a few here) to this blog and it's mainstream counterpart, "Garth's Blog."

So was this a week of wasted opportunities? It certainly could have been, had I prioritized anything on that list over family time at home instead. Playing, praying, reading together, taking care of Mommy and the munchkins, getting to know my baby boy Levi, enjoying visits from family and friends, and helping Lena understand and deepen her relationship with our newly expanded family have all been more important than any part of that list.

It felt like the best week ever, spent with what now feels like the perfect family. And it was gloriously unproductive.

Warner Pacific alumni fall picnic

Above photo courtesy of Warner Pacific College's Facebook page

Garth, Lena, and Cha-Cha the Clown

Warner Pacific College people:  It was great to see so many of you at our WP alumni fall picnic last month!

As president of the WP Alumni Association, it warmed my heart to see how many of you alumni showed up for a good time.  Even though Portland’s rainy climate persuaded us to move our fall picnic into CC Perry Gym this time, the picnic proved once again to be an event that keeps growing in popularity each year!  And it’s easy to see why.

Reconnecting with former classmates and making new friends is the main reason why many of us get together for WP alumni activities.  But it didn’t hurt that our WP Alumni Council also threw quite a party for us to enjoy together!  Here are some of the festivities from that evening, from an admittedly Hamilton family-centric perspective:

Bouncy houses

Balloon twisting by Cha-Cha the Clown

Beanbag throw and other games

Door prizes

Lively music

Delicious sides and food from the grill…

Our newest Alumni Council member Cal Fowler, my terrific dad Doug Hamilton, and LaMont Shaindlin grill the hot dogs and burgers.

…And chowing down on all that delicious food together!

From my Twitter feed: Alumni begin to show up at the beginning of the picnic.

Later that evening, the Portland fire department parked a fire truck in the lower WP campus parking lot.  The little ones got to try their hands at spraying the fire hose!

Even with our record setting picnic numbers this year, we hope to bring in even more of you WP alumni and family to our fall picnic next year.  And don't forget, Homecoming 2014 is only four months away!

Sincerely,

Garth Hamilton

WP Alumni Council President

Coming Sunday night on Garth’s Blog…

My brief, mini-visiting spree in Europe is coming to a close.  I’ll be posting Part 1 of the 3 (so far) blog posts that I wrote here in northern Italy!

Mother's Day Tribute to Kathy

Before we get started with this Mother's Day blog tribute... Thank you so much, Kathy, for leaving Lena at home with me this weekend.  It sounds like you girls had a great time at the beach.  Lena and I had non-stop fun during our Daddy-Daughter time here at home!

Getting a little crazy at home while Mommy plays at the beach

With a Mommy like Kathy, our baby Lena is the luckiest 20 month old in the world!

Lena and I spent last weekend honoring Kathy with the expected 18-stem rose bouquet, dinner, gifts and Mother’s Day card (from Lena, of course).  One thing I’m just now getting around to, however, is publicly celebrating the qualities that make Kathy such a knock-out Mommy!

Judging by these (mostly) previously unreleased Mommy-baby photos, it’s obvious that Kathy is…

A Mommy who relaxes at home with Lena

A Mommy who also takes Lena outside to splash around in the pool

A Mommy who is always working hard

A Mommy who shows off Lena at every restaurant

A Mommy who plays with Lena on the beach while Daddy surfs

A Mommy who occasionally dons Daddy’s baby backpack to join Lena and Daddy for their hikes

A Mommy who swings with Lena at the park

A Mommy who steers Lena through the maze of big kids after church (This pic could have been included in last week's "Lena Gets Moving" blog post!)

A Mommy who fosters Lena’s love of flowers and plant life…

…and also her love of animals!

A Mommy who helps Lena make new friends… like Reagan!

A Mommy who brings Lena to PDX Airport to visit Daddy at work

A Mommy who makes Lena aware of human need and global missions (pictured above at the WPC Homecoming missions benefit dinner)

And a Mommy who rocks Lena to sleep when she needs rest.

Of course, things aren’t fun and rosy 100% of the time...

I just couldn’t resist including this hilarious pic of Lena scowling at Mommy during Daddy’s birthday weekend hike!

….But no matter what, Kathy is a Mommy who shows her love to Lena with every moment that they spend together!

We may have officially celebrated last weekend, but it’s never too late to keep wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day, Kathy!!  You’re the best!

Coming Friday night on Garth's Blog...

An E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Update

Followed by...

Lena's first ever trip to the zoo!

And then...

My crazy adventures in Asia this month!!