ScottandBritney.com

Winter Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:07:00 +0000

My blog posts seem to be coming quarterly now which is an indication of how much free time I really have and how much time we have spent in the Hospital. Here is the scorecard for posterity sakes.

ER Visits: 4 (Britney twice with Chrohns, Lucas once for getting caught under the tractor trailer (not kidding), and Scott once for 5 stitches from a picture framing accident)

# of Days Hospitalized: I think about 15 over 3 visits, all thanks to Britney and her Chrohns.

# of Prescriptions Filled: I lost track, I swear the pharmacist thinks we sell the stuff on the side.

$ Spent out of pocket: None, thank you Microsoft!

Here are a few posts to catch us up from the past few months.

We spent Thanksgiving in Georgia with Britney's family and had some good rest and fun. The highlight for the kids was the rope swing at Dave and Andee's cabin. The highlight for me was watching Britney's older sister Linzee try and pull her back and launch her on the rope swing :-).

Most of December Britney was recovering from an intestinal re-section, equivelant of fixing a bad section of sprinkler pipe for all you do-it-yourselfer's, so we did most of the Christmas traditions without her. Here are the boys and I (not sure where Grace was?) waiting for the Santa Train.

The train ended up at an old train station where the kids got to meet Santa. He was the real Santa, not the imposters they have at the mall and other commercial establishments.

I also just realized that we didn't take a single picture of Christmas Day, but we did get one shot a few days after while returning some stuff to the store.
Parents will understand this, but sometimes you just have to pick your battles and on this particular day Charlie was adamant about wearing what you see below, and we gave up the fight. Yes, we shopped the entire day like this and he was the happiest kid in Seattle.

Jack's new bed

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:52:00 +0000

Jack has always been a peculiar sleeper and once again he didn't fail to disapoint. I went in to tuck him in and at first glance thought he was missing......... until I looked up on the bookshelf.

More Lake Pend O'reille

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:42:00 +0000

Click on the picture of us at the top of Schweitzer Mountain to see the rest of the pictures from the trip. The lift ride to the top was the highlight for the kids, but not for our friend Lauren who dropped his camera from the lift on the way down :-(.

Lake Pend O'reille Treehouse

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:11:00 +0000

We did a family vacation to our friend's house on Lake Pend O'Reille (Sanpointe, ID). The weather was perfect and the accomodations were even better. They just bought the property next door to them and 'merged' the two lots. They inherited the most amazing tree house by buying the lot next door. Check this out, Brit and I stayed in it for a night while Becky took the kids :-).

I did a screen grab of an online book that the treehouse was featured in, the pictures don't do it justice but lets just say it was amazing.

Charlie and Chocolates

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Britney got some chocoloates from a friend for her birthday and this is what we found the next day. He didn't care for the ones with nuts, good boy Charlie.

Hike to Twin Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I'm not sure if it is the fact that I have gotten older and have learned to appreciate nature more, or if our kids need to learn that there is more to life than the Disney Channel, but I love family hikes.

We did this hike (Twin Falls) with my Brother about a year ago and went again in August on a warm day. Charlie loved the river and the kids all were champion hikers.

The Yard

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:51:00 +0000

After spending nearly a year working on our back yard we reached a nearly completed status! We put in the beds, planted a garden, built a deck, etc. etc. It was WAAY more work than I had intended but we are really happy with how it turned out.

I used a PVC decking material that should be pretty low maintenance. No slivers for the kiddies!

4th of July

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:45:00 +0000

We stuck with the traditional events this year for the 4th of July. Started with the kids parade in Kirkland. The kids parade is always very cute, but the actual parade was a bit of a dud. Mostly politicians campaigning, but not in any interesting sort of way, it was is they thought they didn't have to put in ANY effort to get my vote? I would have totally voted for whoever had the best float, but instead all they did was march with signs in their hands. It felt more like a protest than a parade?

Despite the politicians, the kids had fun.

Porter Palooza 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Marc and Paige came into town for the week of the 4th of July so there were plenty of activities.

We started with a magic show in the back yard. He was perfect for the little kids and Jack was in AWE the entire show.

Then up to Anacortes to catch the ferry. We got there plenty early so there was adequate time to throw rocks in the Puget Sound.

Jack got to steer the ferry boat on the way to San Juan Island (ok not really but he thought he was).

The whole family stayed at a few homes on Garrison Bay where we pretty much relaxed, did some clamming, played a family Olympics and ate good food.

Snoqualmie falls with Grandma Thorpe

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:50:00 +0000

We had a visit from Grandma Thorpe and managed to make it to Snoqualmie Falls, it was a perfect day. I have to say I am pretty proud of the second photo, it is from a cheap 'point and shoot' camera, not too bad.

Trip to Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:44:00 +0000

I have no good excuses for not posting in ages except for a backyard remodel, vacations, a 4 day hospital stay, work stress, and it is summer.

Now an attempt to catch up.....

I spent a week in Asia (again) for work but got a day to check out one of the palaces of some king (I made no attempt to really digest the historical significance).

The trip was brutal as far as travel goes but at least this time I saw more than the inside of conference rooms and hotel rooms. Some highlights.

I think the palace could use a new costume designer. I am sure this looked like what they wore back in the day, but his mustache looked real fake and I think he had "shoe sleeves" that are supposed to look like boots (you know like the lame Santa's wear?).

Finally, one of the most entertaining parts of the trip was reading the Engrish. Read the second menu item after clicking on the pic.

Surprise trip to Disney World

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0000

What do the Porter's do when the world is melting down with fear over our deteriorating economy...go to Disney World!

We surprised the kids and told them as we pulled up to the airport that we were going to Disney World. Our cover was they thought we were just going to find 'something fun' to do before church. Once they noticed we were getting quite close to the airport we had to say we were going to watch the planes take off and land. This only lasted a few minutes before we spilled the beans, they were ecstatic and couldn't believe it.

We ended up doing 3.5 days of parks and wore the kids out. In fact on the last day at Animal Kingdom they were begging to just go home and swim, gladly. Britney's parents and her sister Linzee joined as and all had a blast. Click the picture for the full gallery.

Houston, we have a problem

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:24:00 +0000

(confidential post, not to be discussed with Lucas....play dumb)

I know that at some point boys and girls start to explore the world of "Boyfriend/Girldfriend", but at age 6? Here is what I found in Lucas's back pack after catching some hints from Gracie that there was a little love in the air. I will translate for those of you who don't understand first grader penmanship and spelling.

"Dear Courtney- Right when saw you at the meet and greet I just loved you and I don't know how to tell you this But I'm your boyfriend. I've loved you from the start you really opened up a new world to me. Love Luke you boyfriend."

What would you do? Rip it up? Let him take it to school and enter the world of love? I decided to let him play his game and learn for himself. I did alert the teacher there was an incoming letter that could create some drama. I have to say that my gut was to tell him he was too young and freak out....breathe in....

The outcome....Lucas reported today that Courtney declined his boyfriend demand and said she is not old enough. (I like her already) He seems ok with it and I'm sure will get his game back soon and try again. As for me we will be invoking a blackout on all 'tweener' shows in hopes to curb his desire to find a mate.

White Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:49:00 +0000

We had a very white Christmas....we have had about 12-18" of snow and still have 6" on the ground. The kids have had a blast and have sledded outside nearly everyday. Here are a few highlights from the season.

This is Jack getting ready to decorate the tree. He was very into the ornaments and was very good at clustering his all together.

Grace and Lucas making cookies, well more making a mess and hoping to get some cookies out of it.

Charlito in the snow. We ended up having so much snow we couldn't use the stroller as a babysitter while the other kids sledded.

These shots are from a 2 horse open sleigh. We were invited by some friends to go on a sleigh ride which led to a great sledding hill. Perfect winter activity for the fam.

Early Celebrating

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:53:00 +0000

We are working through our family traditions pretty early this year which is nice. Normally it feels like the week before Christmas we are cramming to get suff done. On Saturday we headed downtown to enjoy the lights, a monorail ride, and the Christmas Carousel. It was actually sort of warm and non-crowded....especially helpful when you take on downtown with 4 kids.

My ladyz got skillz

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:12:00 +0000

Most people that know Britney know she is pretty amazing around the kitchen. She can make your standard meals better than the average chef, she can cook for hundreds and not have it taste like a cafeteria, and one of her most impressive yet lesser known skills is making chocolates at Christmas time. She started with my Mom and has take it to a whole new level. Chocoloate pepperming truffles, key lime something or others, the classic peanut butter, etc. she does them all. The only down side is our house gets taken over by her and her friends for a good 3-4 days, but it is worth it, check out the fruits of her labor.

Annual ride in Tahoe

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:12:00 +0000

I go on an annual ride to Tahoe with some college friends and their friends and their friends-friends. You get the idea, it's a group that has evolved over the years and is one of the best trips of the year. Here are some shots:

The group up in the hills. I'm #4, Brad Edgren is on the orange KTM, John Blatter in the back, Dixon Taylor in red.

John found some extra furniture near where the RV was parked, dragged it over with the bike. Turned out to be pretty cozy place to rest after a 3 hour ride.

Vista shot where you could see for miles. This is day #2 after we had to replace half of Brad's clutch hydraulics at a local shop.

Half way around the world in 4 days

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:20:00 +0000

I took a business trip to Korea this past week for some meetings and was glad to see a country that wasn't so 'Americanized'. It was very modern and advanced in many ways, but they still had a very strong sense of Korean culture vs. places like Germany which felt like the US but with an obsession for beer (oh wait, the US is obsessed with beer...).

Here are some shots:

This was the wall of my hotel lobby. I loved it. It was made up entirely of......

.......these little people. It may be hard to tell, but there are actually several different kinds of people (male, female, old, young, etc.) Pretty cool.

This woman was selling Silk Worm Larvae on the street. That is the hand of my co-worker who bought some (he grew up in Korea) and persisted to try and get us to eat them for the next 4 hours. No takers in the group.This is at 3:00 am at a market the size of most small cities. I tried a new technique for switching back to Pacific time called "stay up all night before your flight home", it worked.

And finally, this is what I love about other countries. There seem to be few rules (as in we have WAAAY too many), that restrict people from being creative and taking the path of least resistance. Yes, that is probably 300lbs of goods stacked on a $500 motorcycle, now ready for delivery.

Charlie does big boy stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:50:00 +0000

I am a sucker for this kid. He is getting so big so fast and Brit and I always talk about how we are going to miss out on his baby days. He is officially eating big boy food, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, etc. and is officially making real poo. He is now in his crib and almost makes it through the night and can almost sit up without his bumbo.

Back to School 08

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:40:00 +0000

Stats:

Grace - 3rd Grade

Lucas - 1st Grade

Jack - Pre-school

So far the best (and worst) part about starting school seems to be riding the bus. The kids were soooo excited to get to ride the bus. I remember why, it was somewhat of a demilitirized zone where there were very few rules. You aren't at home and you aren't at school so it is unclear what jurisdiction you are under and kids seem to live by the motto "what happens on the bus, stays on the bus."

Gracie came home the other day and said "I rode the whole way home with my head out the window!", Lucas was explaining that one boy was telling non-stop penis jokes, and there was already reports that a mother had to come on the bus after her son got off and chew out some boys for bullying .....I rest my case.

Update on my pursuit of 'The holy grail"

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:27:00 +0000

I need to put the vampire book saga to rest. Here is what I've determined.

Girls are in love with the idea of being in love.
If I could bottle the mysterious feelings associated with 'falling in love' I would be a gazillionaire.
It really isn't what the Vampire or the Wolf are doing so to speak, but rather the situation that is what makes the ladies so giddy. I'm not saying that if they replaced the Wolf with Richard Simmons it would have the same effect (the characters definetly do matter), but the attraction is definetly to the situation.
The challenge to all us married folk is to somehow, someway, bring back the days of being in Jr. High and having a serious crush that actually goes somewhere (vs. mine which never went anywhere :-(

I have to say I really felt like Stephanie Meyer may have subtley exposed some law of nature that had yet to be revealed, but in reality she just tapped into being 15 all over again.

An open letter to Twilight fans.

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:10:00 +0000

I have been meaning to hit publish on this post for awhile.....

****Edit****

I knew my understanding of the book was bad, but apparently way off. I guess the vampire is the one that has captured the hearts of the ladies. Question is now edited.

Preamble: I've never read the books but I have lost my wife to them for weeks at a time. I have had a few discussions with my wife about the general plot and what has made her somewhat fanatical in her reading and evangelism, but I have a feeling those were only 'surface scratching' discussions. I would like to think I generally understand the female species, but I definitely don't consider myself an expert. Since I am literally one of the only males that I know of that Blogs (99% of the time to keep a record for my family) I figured I had to turn to the female masses for answers.

I'd like to think of myself as a pretty dedicated, serving partner in marriage. I do dishes, fold laundry, take care of the yard, earn a decent wage, change diapers, etc.

I take my wife on a date a few times a month, tell her she looks hot (well, she is), shop for her clothes and give her constructive feedback, no lazy "uh,yeah, looks good hun", comments, but real "those pockets sit too low on your butt and doesn't give it the justice it deserves" type comments.

With that in mind here is the question that I believe can improve marriages and relationships forever:

What is IT that the vampire does that makes you so enthralled? That damn vampire is doing something that EVERY SINGLE woman wishes WE didn't do, did more of, differently, better. Single handily the vampire/book has seems to be speaking directly to women in a way maybe only Oprah can. (Your answers must be specific, as you can see I listed specific contributions I feel I make to my household, the bat has to be doing something specific that you have smiled about.)

All answers are valid as the female species is diverse and complex so different answers will apply to different marriages/relationships. Please forward my plea to friends, family, any reader of 'the books' and ask them to shed some light for me. In return, I promise to mail the findings to the 99% of males that I know that will never read this blog so they can somehow be more 'vampire' like for you to.

Thanks,

A vampire in training

No-Cal

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:17:00 +0000

After our trip to Blackrock Ranch we spent a few whirlwind days in Northern California. We hit Six Flags Marine World and checked out a bunch of rides and the marine shows. The killer whale was impressive, but the dolphins were our favorite. Gracie and Lucas decided they wanted to get wet so they moved down to the front, we stayed high and dry. Here's the ladies waiting for the show to start. Brad and Rachel's brother in-law Scott is a fireman in Sacramento so we stopped by his station for a tour. The kids were in heaven, especially since 2 calls came in while we were there and the firemen had to run around and jump in the ambulance and everything. Here they are in the back getting a tour of the ambulance.We went to Santa Cruz where we used to go while living in San Ramon. It was a perfect beach day and the kids had a blast.

Blackrock Ranch

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:46:00 +0000

We loaded up the family for an old school road trip and headed south. Once we hit the Oregon California border we headed to the coast and went through the Redwood Forest. Britney remembered doing it as a kid so we 'took our time' and went the coastal route. Yes, that is my small family at the base of Paul Bunyan's Ax. Britney remembers going here as a kid and wondering what the big round things were hanging from under Babe the Big Blue Ox :-).

We stayed in a little coastal town called Crescent City and checked out some marine life and local food. Here we the kids are outside the restaraunt.

The first night we 're-arranged' the hotel room and pushed the beds together so we could all watch SYTYCD together (if you don't know the acronym don't worry).

We pushed on through to the Sacramento California area where our friends have access to a 1,300 acre 'ranch' that has a private lake and endless trails. The kids had a blast with the 11 other kids in the group. Here they are loading up in the mule to head down to the lake.

The kids had a blast riding on the jet ski and getting pulled in the tube.

It was a blast to see our good friends, hang out and catch up. Our group is getting big with all the kids, but it is still a blast and a trip we hope to make often.

Family Portrait Time

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Porter) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:09:00 +0000

We just experienced what I call "one of the top ten most stressful events in life". Death in the family, nope. Job loss, nope. Birth of a child, did that. .......The dreaded family portrait.

We went downtown near the Sculpture Park with a photographer (Jessica Kettle) and right as we get out of the car Jack has a compelte meltdown. After about 20 mins of trying to settle him down and telling him he can pick out ANYTHING from Target as long as he cooperated the shooting began.

We love the photos of the kids (check out the gallery here), but can't decide which family portrait we like best. So, it's up for a vote. Please leave your vote in the comments.