US vs. England

June 11th

Friday was a standard day with me coming home a bit late. My parents came up to stay with us. They were going to Chrystal's graduation the next day. Chrystal came over to say hello and finalize plans, and then we all headed to bed. It was after mid-night, and we all had a lot to do the next day.



June 12th

First thing in the morning I woke up, woke my parents up, and the three of us got ready. I needed to run them to campus a couple hours before the graduation actually started. Mum and Dad had come up the previous night to avoid any traffic rush into Corvallis, and now we were attempting to avoid any traffic rush to campus. Additionally, Betsey and I needed to leave town fairly early to get to Portland. I dropped Mum and Dad off in the hall of flags in the MU, and headed back to the house.

While on campus, Betsey and Grace had been getting ready to depart, and I found them ready to go on my return. We packed up the car, and started the long drive north.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Portland, the day of the Rose Parade, and, more importantly, the World Cup game of the US vs. England. We stopped at OMSI to rendezvous with Jay. Jay hadn't met Grace yet. They seemed to get along from the first moment.



After some short oohs and ahhs, Jay and I departed to Ladd's Addition to meet up with his buddies, and Betsey drove Grace over to Grandma and Grandad's. Jay has some really great friends, and it was nice to meet some new quality people. We all had mimosas before walking to Director's Square.

The walk to Director's Square was great. With the Rose Festival going on, there was so much to see. Going over the bridge, we watched a dragon boat race. The carnival was in full swing on the river front, and the streets were full of people preparing to watch the parade.



When we arrived at Director's Square, it was packed, but we managed to squeeze into a pretty decent spot to watch the first half. Shortly before half time, Jay and I ran to Elephant's to grab a quick bite and some beer. We decided to eat and drink in the outdoor seating located directly behind the big screen TV that was displaying the game. As we ate and drank on the street, the first half ended and it was time for the unveiling of the Timbers's MLS logo.



The unveiling of the MLS logo was another draw to this event, and we had been quite excited about it. The night before, however, Jay had been at Joe's looking for some paraphernalia to wear to the game, when he spotted that the employees had already put out the new Timbers Jerseys. He snapped a picture on his cell phone before telling the employees they'd made a mistake. Needless to say, we'd all been pretty well informed about what the new logo was going to look all morning, and weren't to excited or surprised by the time the giant display was unveiled.

As a group, we decided to spend half-time at one of Jay's friend's work. Jive is a pretty sweet software company with offices in downtown Portland. Upon arriving, I could only stare with jealousy at the break room full of all you can eat goodies, free drinks, and free draught beer. My employer is great, but very conservative, and these kind of extravagances would never go over there. Once we'd all filled up on free food and poured ourselves some beer, we headed to the roof top to watch the parade.



As the end of half time approached, we realized that the company break room had a lot going for it:

1) Free Beer
2) Large HD TV
3) Free Snacks
4) Temperature Control
5) No Crowd

We stayed. The US beat England. It was great.

The walk back to Ladd's addition was pretty great. Everyone had enjoyed the free beer to the best of their abilities, and in fact, some had found coffee cups to put more in so that they could keep going on the way back. It seemed, almost everyone in the city was in a good mood, but then, nobody in the group was probably judging that particularly well.



Jay's parents met him in Ladd's to go for a hike, and Jay offered to drop me off at the Mathew's house. I gratefully accepted, and soon found myself lying on the front lawn with my beautiful wife and baby. A fantastic day.

With all my gallivanting complete, it was time for Betsey to have some fun. I drove her down to the Hilton in downtown for a Sushi Birthday party for her friend Jessica. We took Grace for the opportunity to meet more people, but only one additional person decided to show up on time. After waiting around for a little while, Grace and I took off.

Back at the Mathew's, another birthday party was getting started. This one was for our family friend Cathy. Mike, Cathy, David, Marg, Lucy, and Chris welcomed me (and Grace) to the party and we enjoyed good food and fun stories well into the night.



At some point around 11, Betsey called for a pick up. Once we were all home, we settled down for a nice night.