Artic Storm Outing......

Monday, December 22, 2008 (still...)

This is the mall parking lot. They had tractors out there digging out the parking lot.

Eric and I took the parents to the mall. No Starbuck's! I guess they had an issue with their delivery.

The family at Red Robin! Yeah..we are out of the house!

Our Artic Storm Outing - NO CHAINS! :0

Monday Dec 22, 2008

We decided to see if we could venture outside and get out of the house. My mom still had a few things to buy for Christmas and I really wanted them to get out a bit...I know both of them had a severe case of Cabin Fever! Eric and I tried to put chains on his SUV but could not figure it out. Jake is going to take a look next time he is over. I want to make sure they fit and do work, otherwise I need to take them back. So anyway, Eric tosses (ok maybe throws them) in the back of the Jeep after multiple tried and says "Let's go...we don't need them...I have 4 wheel drive!" After some convincing I said OK. I was just worried we would get stuck. He did let me put the shovel in the back just in case. :) He did remind me that he and his Jeep have seen many storms far worse than this in his entire 30+ years in Boston. Hmmmm...OK. So off we went. A rough start but wow....Eric was right! ;) We had no problems! He even showed my parents a few spin out moves...LOL...nothing to crazy!

This is HWY 99/Pacific Hwy

The parents house.
Eric's tire marks!

HWY 99 again

Hwy 99 by Jae's school.

Artic Storm Part Hmmm....I lost track!

Monday Dec 22, 2008

I got the call the night before that our office would be closed. I was happy that I finally got a "snow day" out of this whole mess! So I woke up on Monday morning, opened the door and HOLY CRAP! More snow! So we had a ton of more snow now over the ice. It was weird because you would be walking and some spots you would all of a sudden sink even lower when the ice gave way. This is a view from our front door.

We can believe the cars that are snowed in. We have been really thankful for our garage this past week!

Another car.

...and another.

Poor Benny! It is pretty deep for him but he is still loving it. He thinks he is an Alaskan Siberian Husky dog!

The Sound of the Ice Part I & II

I am nowhere even close to Caryn Grunwald on this video stuff. I will not quit my day job people...no worries.

Part I Part II

The ice is here!

Sunday Dec 21, 2008 ~ This was our house this morning. We got about 8-10 inches of snow yesterday and then it turned to ice. We woke up to about a 1/2" of ice over the snow. Bennigan got up this morning to go outside and he wanted to come back in because the noise of the snow/ice crushing under his feet scared him. Eric made him a path...doing all the crunching noise stuff. Bennigan was much happier with that.

Benny's path.

Eric with a big chunk of ice.

WOW!

Our bedroom window this morning - all iced up!

Artic Storm Part III

This is what they are calling it in Portland...."The Artic Storm". I guess they need to start to get creative after awhile. I think last year was the Winter Blast?? Not sure.

So this is today, Dec 20, 2008. It started sometime early this morning. I know I woke up at 7:30 to snow and it has been snowing ever since! It is almost 4pm now. We have around 4-5 inches I would guess. Now that I have all my xmas shopping done I am a much happier person! (Just ask Eric). I was stressed yesterday because this weather really put a cramp in my planning. So we had a window last night of forcasted non-snowing or icy weather so Eric and I went out for a bit then he did the hand off of me to Barb and Jake. Anyone that knows Eric knows that he can not stay in a mall for more than 60 minutes or he starts to feel weak, light headed, etc. ;) So Barb, Jake and myself took it from there and we got home around 10pm I think. I must say, Jake gets the award for best shopping husband of the year. He was in good spirits and was very helpful. Thanks Jake!

Anyway....the snow is supposed to turn into freezing rain and we are hoping by sometime Monday to be done with all this and get back to our traditional NW mild weather.

Artic Storm Part II

So part two of the storm was not as bad but as things melted a little they froze up at night. You can sort of see how icy the roads are from the picture below.

New York New York - Tigard, Oregon

Eric has been taking me and picking me up from the past two days because of the weather. Well, tonight it took us an hour just to drop off my coworker who lived right across from Eric's work (normally 15 minutes). So after dropping her off we made it to hwy 99 and decided to get something to eat and let traffic ease up. Eric has been wanting to try this Italian restaurant New York New York. We were the only car in the parking lot at first and then one other couple showed up after us. When we walked in our first impression was ok. It had potential. I ordered spaghetti marinara with mushrooms and Eric ordered chicken parmesan. The first thing I noticed was the spaghetti sauce was darker then normal. After my first bite I thought okay but very salty. For me to say salty...it is salty! "Chef E" was miffed by the darker sauce than normal. After a few bites he said, "I think this may have been the worst chicken parmesan I have ever had." He said he almost said something. He was concerned the chicken may have been bad. He did not notice it at first so did have a few bites. The most painful part was the $28.00 bill. So now we both wait...praying and hoping we do not get sick tonight.

So we are hoping we can save you some money and please....spend it elsewhere. It is sad because they have potential but with that food they are serving, this critic is predicting they won't make it much longer.

Christmas Tree 2008

We decided to get a Christmas tree. We have changed our minds a few times but once there was discussion of where family holidays would be spent....a tree was a requirement. Barb came over to help me decorate and shared many of her ornaments too. As with every tree, came dilemmas. Eric had got the tree in the stand and all was secured before we started decorating but by the time we were done it seemed liked it had moved. We had to assist while Eric pulled the tree out of the stand and did some maneuvering. We think it is perfect now...well it was when we last looked! After all is said and done, we are really happy we got a tree to celebrate our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs. Poirier and our first Christmas in our new house.

Eric cooked a nice Prime Rib Roast for Barb's Birthday. Jake helped out in the kitchen.

The meal was soooo good! :)

Dad, Hannah and Bennigan all having a good time.

Dog Park

We went to the dog park a few weeks ago. Bennigan had a good time. He tends to get to sniffing right away. He will pay with the dogs for a little bit but then he wants to get back to exploring with this nose! He always comes home a dirty and stinky dog! YUCK! Of course he is a cute dirty and stinky dog! The dog in the last picture looks mean. I don't think he was. Bennigan stands there like...."Yo...what's up....you are invading my personal space..."

Terry's Bday

All the girls took Terry out for her bday to the Cheesecake Factory. It was a nice time. I did not do a very good job at taking photos since I only have these....but I got the b-day girl which was the important part!

Artic Storm 2008

So this is the big news lately here. "Artic Storm 2008" Newsmen and women have been standing out side since yesterday waiting to report on the first snowflake! :) A little later than they thought but it is finally here.

This is part of our back deck.

From the front of our house looking left.

Down the street.