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!

Dude (Looks Like a Baby): We're having a boy!!

Dude (Looks like a baby)!  Aerosmith references aside... Lovin' an Elevator, anyone?... Kathy and I are thrilled to discover the chromosomal make up of our baby!!

The suspense is over.  Lena is gonna have a little baby brother!!  Kathy and I had our gender reveal appointment this afternoon, and we couldn’t be happier.

No matter what the gender, our uncontrollable love for the tiniest Hamilton has been consuming us from day one.  But we are soooo excited to find out that he is a boy!

The soon-to-be proud mama of a boy!  Actually, We're ALREADY proud of him!

My days of being outnumbered by girls in our house are over.  And our treasured little 23 month old Lena is going to find out the exciting news tomorrow, when we're all home together!

In the meantime, both Lena and her soon-to-be baby brother are available for drafting into the fantasy co-ed soccer team of your choice.  Starting in January, we’re gonna having another winning season on our hands!

Coming after Labor Day weekend on

Garth’s Blog… 

Never before seen action pics and stories from last year's birthday skydiving!!

Thankful for Lena

DSC_0272, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

Above:  Baby Lena’s television debut! Following in Daddy’s footsteps, Lena kickstarts her modest acting and modeling career by gracing the small screen. This is an actual screen shot from FOX12's Good Day Oregon show, the day after I sent it in for Lena's 1st birthday.

Note: This is the “edited for television” version of this photo, cropping out Kathy and me as we hiked the Paradise Hills trail with Lena in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Stay tuned for the full, uncensored picture in an upcoming hiking blog post.

Thanksgiving Day was last week, but why stop giving thanks? We have a long list of blessings to be thankful for this year. Yet it’s all too easy to pick a #1: Lena!


Lena may be a TV star now, but her fame hasn’t been limited to TV appearances. We’ve been showing off our 14 ½ month old daughter everywhere:


Sitting on the beach with Mommy while watching Daddy goof off while surfing at Short Sands last month



And then seeing Haystack Rock for her first time





Discovering her love of soccer at the Portland Timbers game; We hosted Warner Pacific Alumni Night at the Portland Timbers game in Jen-Weld Stadium. The Timbers ended an 8 game losing streak to beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1!


Paying a visit to Daddy’s Delta Airlines workplace at PDX airport




Her first visit to the Washington County Fair... What a Daddy’s girl!





Heading out regularly with both sets of loving grandparents


And the list goes on and on.  I have many more pictures and memories to share.  We are truly blessed!

Coming in two weeks on BlogSpot…

Last month, I flew to L.A. to film and dance in a Christmas-themed video for Delta Airlines. As soon as it gets released to the public, I’ll post the music video here!