Celebrate Hillsboro

Every summer our "little" (about 100k but very small town feel) town does a celebration in the center of town. This year's Celebrate Hillsboro was so fun! We got to see the amazing March Fourth. This was my second time, I saw them last year at the Green Sprouts festival. {another GREAT event if you are in the area and have time, I will be at the gdiapers booth from 930-130}
They are amazing! You are hear them here and see them here and here.

Zack and G playing with clay.

And painting a square on the banner for the town, I wish I had taken a pic of the finished product. :(

March Fourth in action, these are the "marionettes"

So fun!

Until they figured out they could untie themselves and tied up their puppeteers!

I love this group!

Cute pic alert!

Could that be any stinkin' cuter?! I think not. :)

Grayson and Ryker, Tuesday market, June 29th.

Hillsboro Blizzard 2008

So as I have been posting for the last year- oh I mean 2 weeks- we are in a blizzard. That is what they are calling it at this point. I have always wanted to live where it snows and I think I would still. That being said I am TOTALLY over the snow! And as Grayson would say "All Duh! All Done!" (Waves hands wildly to sign as punctuation)

I went out today because we got chains for my van and I still had some shopping to do and it had to get done. All was well when I left. It was about 32* and some of the snow was melting. I picked up my friend Di and off we went to Costco and Joann's and such. We were gone a few hours. I dropped her back off and turned off of her side street onto a larger more traveled street (from Cedar to Brookwood for those in the know- headed toward TV hwy) and no sooner had I gotten back on Brookwood and I was sliding sideways! I was doing less than 10 mph and going completely straight! The groves in the road

like these

were completely frozen again and slick! It had dropped to 28* by this point. I just kept saying "please don't hit me! Please don't hit me!" As there was a truck headed right for my tail end. They managed to avoid me and I was able to steer into it so I only ended up sideways instead of backwards in the snow drift. Then I got turned back around, VERY slowly!

I decided Brookwood was WAY too slick to do the turns coming up not far from where I was and I didn't want to end up head first in the flood plain underneath the curves so I turned off onto a side road to connect with a less curvey road ( Bently to 32nd) and finally- white knucking it all the way- made it home. Phew! I was the slow guy everyone was glaring at but I was so scared I would fly off the road.

In the back of my mind I had my friend Tricia's accident
and even though G was safe and sound at home with Zack, it worried me to be out alone and potentally unsafe. Anyway, All is well. I won't be driving again any time soon. I will leave that to Zack who has more experience in the snow and I will stay cozy at home or in my toasty heated passengar seat.

Here are some fun pictures around my house and area.

Icecicles hanging from our roof, taken out our bedroom window.

A kid shaking the branches on a tree by Di's house.

I love this little bush, only about knee high, covered in ice and snow.

Like I was saying before, I wouldn't mind living where it snows, as long as they own as many plows as it takes to keep the streets clean and safer. Hillsboro owns a few plow attachments for trucks that is it. I have personally seem 2 but those were on days that it was relatively friendly on the streets. Now we have 12-20 inches and 2-3 foot drifts and they are nowhere to be seen. Maybe they gave up cause this is the most snow they have seen in 20 or so years!

Hillsboro, Or- Home sweet Home!

It's funny how many times I have felt like tour guide in the last year. We have had a lot of out of town visitors that have never been here before. So today I set out again to show Belle our lovely little town- sadly in the rain. I drove all around Hillsboro, showing her our old house and neighborhood and telling her stories about the people who live behind the windows there. I love driving down our old street and waving to old friends. Then we went to The Venetian for lunch. I had the best Chicken Salad Sandwich and Belle had a lovely Greek Pizza. They were both delicious!

When Belle planned her visit last week she asked if there was any fall color on the trees, and while there is I was not sure it would last long. Luckily for us, Mother Nature was kind and held some of the leaves on the trees for us so Belle could see some fall color. I love this house right down the street from us. I have been meaning to take a pic of it so today I did just that. :)



Then we went home for Grayson's nap and we took the rest of the afternoon to relax and gather snacks and dinner parts at the grocery store. I made a yummy Italian chicken dinner with smashed potatoes and roasted vegis.

It is really fun to see G take to Belle so quickly. He just adores her! That makes two of us!

Starskey and Hutch to the rescue!

First the background:

Update: Hillsboro police find man they say drove at officers

Posted by Holly Danks, The Oregonian July 25, 2008 17:45PM

Categories: Breaking News, Washington County

Shawn Hankins

HILLSBORO -- A 32-year-old Hillsboro man with a history of driving and theft-related crimes was caught Friday evening, more than 15 hours after police shot at him when he allegedly tried to run over several officers responding to a domestic violence call.

Hillsboro Police Chief Lila Ashenbrenner said a resident reported seeing a bloody man walking down Southeast River Road near Thrush Avenue shortly after 5 p.m. Police responded and took Shawn Michael Hankins into custody without incident.

Ashenbrenner said it wasn't immediately clear if Hankins was suffering from a gunshot wound or if he had been cut by flying glass or some other means.

Lt. Michael Rouches, Hillsboro police spokesman, said one officer fired at least one shot as Hankins drove toward him at about 30 mph in the 800 block of Northeast Kathryn Street shortly after 3 a.m. Friday.

Rouches said the fugitive called his aunt later Friday and said police shot him in the head.

Police found droplets of blood leading away from Hankins' truck toward his house at _____. However, he wasn't there when the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team fired tear gas inside and gained access after surrounding the residence for nearly three hours, Rouches said.

Later, as many as 25 police officers with 10 dogs and a helicopter searched an area about four miles away near Hillsboro High School after a resident reported that a man with blood on his neck ran through her back yard. No sign of Hankins was found at that time and residents were alerted to call 9-1-1 immediately if they saw him.

"We aren't messing around, he tried to run over a cop," Rouches said earlier in the day. "We take that seriously."

None of the officers was hurt.

While Hillsboro police called off the main search after more than seven hours, they responded to reports of suspicious activity throughout the day.

Hankins turned his truck away from police after the officer's bullet hit the windshield near the driver's side post, Rouches said. Hankins got out of the vehicle and ran away, prompting the search, he said.

The incident started about 3 a.m. Friday with a call that Hankins assaulted his live-in girlfriend. His girlfriend told police he didn't have any guns in the house.

In 1999, Hankins pleaded guilty to first-degree theft, possession of a forged instrument and tampering with public records, among other charges, for setting up an emissions certificate scam while he was working at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's vehicle testing station in Hillsboro.

He was sentenced to 13 months in prison and one-year of post-prison supervision.

"He doesn't want to go back to prison," Rouches said.

Shortly before 6 a.m. Friday, a woman reported she saw a bloody man run through her backyard on Southeast Tanager Circle. Police cordoned off Rood Bridge and River roads.

Rouches said Hankins was calling friends and relatives as he ran, and police were able to trace his cell phone to towers in the area.

So Zack and I are the "residents" that called the police about the guy walking down the street all bloody. Zack saw him first and I made him turn around so I could see him and make sure it was the same guy we had seen on the news this morning. (He looks like Shane- my ex- and I had noticed on the tv pic) So I called 911 while we followed him until he caught onto us and got out of sight. The police officer had caught up with us and pulled us over to get the scoop and then told us to meet him in the Lowe's parking lot across from us. As we started to drive across the street I saw him behind the building and started yelling and pointing. So out of the wood work comes out 3-4 other police cars who race into the parking lot to chase him. He of coarse gave them another run for their money, running back across the street, where the Officer we had talked to pulled his gun on him and then the Sargent tackled him. The Officer later said that he went down pretty hard when I asked why there was an ambulance there. :) Good. Idiot. So yeah! No more bad guy loose in my neighborhood. We have been watching the helicopters all day fly over head looking for him. Guess he was just a really good hider, too bad he was too dumb to wash his face. We never would have even noticed him if he had, but I am really glad he didn't.

On another note, we were the ONLY ones who called. From the first time we saw him to the end some 100+ cars drove past him and not one other person called in anything. That is just sad. Get involved people, this is your home too.

That was our excitement for the night, and to think it never would have happened if I hadn't dwaddled and watched most of Oprah instead of leaving and hour earlier when Zack wanted too. Thanks Oprah! :)


UPDATE: WE RECEIVED A THANK YOU NOTE FROM THE POLICE CHIEF FOR HELPING IN THE CAPTURE OF THIS GUY. HOW COOL IS THAT?! :)