Vancouver, BC

Last Thursday Forrest decided that we needed to get out of town for a quick overnight trip to Vancouver, BC to see the sights before we lose all of our spare time to sports and driver's ed. On Saturday morning we made a pitstop in Arlington to pick up Noah's football gear. It was strange to see my boy get fitted with gear that makes him look like a giant. Then we were off for the border. Traffic in and out of Vancouver is a mess, there's construction everywhere prepping for the 2010 Olympic Games. There's a clock in downtown Vancouver that is counting down the minutes, hours, and days till the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. We spent most of the day at Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium. Alyssa took some beautiful photos of jellyfish. Forrest and the kids posed in front of the Lion's Gate Bridge and Forrest and I were caught under the giant mosquito in the tropical exhibit. On our way out of the park we stopped at Prospect Point to snap this gorgeous view. We thought we'd find a fun restaurant for dinner in Gas Town. This part of Vancouver is near the water and houses some beautiful old buildings. The only problem is it's surrounded by Skid Row. The kids were treated to the sight of some very unfortunate people obviously under the influence of drink and drugs. The problem with trying to eat dinner in Gas Town is that most of the parking available is on the unsavory streets surrounding the area. So we abandoned this plan and decided to try to find some place to eat downtown near Pacific Place. We were surprised to find that almost all of the stores were closed by 7:00 PM. There were tourists everywhere on the street, but no place for them to shop. Finding a restaurant that wasn't a hole in the wall, take-out place proved to be more difficult than expected. We finally settled on the Bellagio and sat outside across from the Vancouver Art Gallery. It was a pleasant spot to dine. Since we didn't eat dinner till after 8:00 PM Noah was near meltdown state. It had been about 7 hours since he'd last eaten, and when his blood sugar gets low Noah doesn't handle it well. He gets emotional and very cranky. Noah perked right up after dinner. We spent the night in nearby Burnaby and headed home Sunday morning. The wait at the border was surprisingly long for early Sunday morning. This week Noah starts football practice every day and Alyssa has driver's ed 3 days a week. I'll be spending a lot of time in the car transporting children. Lucky me!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I picked up my copy of the book at noon yesterday and finished it by 10:30 this morning. It provided a very satisfying ending. I can't see how they'll make a movie out of parts of this book, especially the finale. This has been a great series to follow. We started the first book when Alyssa was in second grade. I read it to her. Now she's in high school and reading the final book on her own. I don't think Noah has finished any of them, so far he has preferred the movies. However, I did persuade him to read book 6, The Half Blood Prince, so that he'll be ready for #7 when Alyssa is finished with it. He's working on it. When we went to see the movie, The Order of the Phoenix, we saw a preview for the movie of another favorite fantasy book, The Golden Compass. I can't wait to see that one.

Back from Camp (early)

I shouldn't be here. I'm not supposed to be sitting at my dining room table updating my blog on Saturday night. I'm supposed to be at my campsite on the Washington coast. Alas, we were rained out. We've never come home from our yearly campout with my sister's family early because of rain. But there are only so many games of UNO and Cranium Family Fun a grownup can be expected to endure while trapped in a yurt with 5 children aged 4-15. As you can see by the first few photos Thursday evening was beautiful. Very little wind, comfortable temperatures, and even a bit of sun. But everything changed overnight. Friday morning brought a steady, persistent drizzle interspersed with short heavy showers. The kids played outside for awhile in the morning, and then we took off for town to see the lighthouse, maritime museum, the docks, and to have a hot lunch of fish and chips. The maritime museum was interesting, the kids loved the whale bones, but the most amazing thing for me was the Fresnel lens from the Grays Harbor Lighthouse. It broadcast rainbows all over the walls as the light revolved inside the lens. Then we went back to camp for the rest of the afternoon full of the aforementioned games and a few of us even got in a nap. We even gave in and let the kids watch "Night at the Museum" on the laptop in the yurt. After a yummy Dutch Oven dinner which included sausage pasta bake and berry cobbler we discussed the possibility of going home Saturday instead of Sunday for the weather forecast was for the rain to get worse rather than better as the weekend progressed. By Saturday morning there was a short break in the weather. We decided to try to get in some beach time before we packed up to go home because we were out of dry clothes and towels, and more importantly the grownups couldn't handle more time in close quarters with the kids. While we were at the beach the drizzle returned and by the time we got back to camp we were all drenched. We didn't even feel like having lunch together at camp so we packed up everything wet with the knowledge that we'd have to set out everything to dry in our garages once we got home. It was very depressing. So now we're home. The trailer is opened up in the driveway to dry and air out before we put it away, and the garage is full of our other camping equipment spread out to dry. The kids are sleeping in the trailer with the neighbor kids so they're getting their 3 nights in the trailer. The photo of the banana slug is for my aunt from Texas. She'd never seen one until her last trip to Washington. Enjoy!

Camping Prep

My family loves our annual camping trip with the Worman cousins. But what they don't realize is the amount of time it takes to get everything ready. So far my Costco list has 35 items on it. Most of those will be going to the beach with us on Thursday. Then there's all of the other gear: beach toys, sleeping bags, pillows, beach towels, firewood, bicycles, sweatshirts, clothes, etc. I'll also need to pack raingear. The forecast doesn't look promising: clouds, drizzle, and cool temps. Usually the third week of July is a pretty safe time to plan a camping trip weatherwise. Oh well-we'll have fun anyway. If the weather gets too bad we can hang out in the yurt my sister and her family will be staying in next to our trailer site. I guess I should stop writing and start piling gear by the door to pack.

Quick Trip to Oregon

Lots of photos this time, but I won't be writing much. We journeyed to my sister's place in St. Helen's on Friday and had an enjoyable evening. The kids swam and we had a great barbecue dinner. On Saturday morning the plan was to go to my folk's place in Portland to visit with my aunt and uncle from Texas and my brother and his wife. The glitch was that my sister woke up with a bad stomach bug so she stayed behind and the rest of us drove to Portland. The kids had a great time posing in my uncle's Porsche. After an enjoyable visit with the relatives my brother-in-law plus his 3 boys and my family went to Ape Caves to explore. The kids had a great time! Since my sis was sick we decided to go home rather than return to St. Helens as originally planned. This morning Noah and I woke up with the stomach bug. I won't go into details, but we both felt awful most of the day. I'm starting to feel a bit better. I'm going to sleep in Noah's room tonight and hopefully Forrest won't get sick too. Alyssa has been a germophobe all day. She sprayed the whole house with Lysol and covered her face every time I was in the same room as her. Here's looking toward a better tomorrow.

Beach Day

Today we spent the day at the beach to escape the 90 degree heat. It was beautiful! There was a nice breeze, cool water, wide open beaches and a great playground. We went with a friend, her children plus a nephew and a friend. I took my kids and 3 neighbor kids. My friend and I were out-numbered, 2 adults to 11 kids. They all got along well and played hard all afternoon. They should all sleep well tonight. I ran into three people I know from work. They were all enjoying the weather with their kids too. We truly live in one of the most beautiful places in the country. Too bad the husbands had to work today. As you can see by the photos the kayaks were a hit. I'm so glad we bought them last year. Although the kids liked the logs too. And the driftwood logs are free. This county park has a parking fee of $5.00 per day or for $50 you can buy a yearly pass. This year I broke down and bought the pass. If we use it 10 times it will have paid for itself. So far we've used it 4 times and it's only the second week of July. Definitely a good purchase. Alyssa and I like to walk the trails and the beach for exercise, and Forrest likes to come down to the beach and fish in the evenings. It was money well spent.

Weather

We're in the middle of a strange dry spell. It's been at least 10 days since we last had rain, and there's no rain forecast for at least two weeks. Our temperatures are supposed to be in the 90s by the middle of the week. I hate to complain, but I'm already tired of watering the pots on my deck on a daily basis, some need twice a day on really hot days. The lawn looks like it's August already. We water the recommended 1" per week, but that doesn't seem to do the trick. It probably doesn't help that our front lawn gets full western sun almost all day and that the dogs tear up the backyard. But I am enjoying sitting on the deck and reading in the sun. However, 90 will be too hot for me. I'll have to take my deck time in the morning this week.

Forrest cleaned up the area around our shed today, and Noah moved part of our firewood stack so I can bring in a load of river rock tomorrow to spruce up the space. Hopefully this will discourage the dogs from digging under the shed.

On Friday we'll be headed to Saint Helens to visit my sister and her family. Then on Saturday we'll have brunch with my folks, my aunt and uncle from Texas, and my brother and his wife. I haven't spent much time in Oregon this year because of school and sports commitments. I'm really looking forward to it. This will be the start of 3 weekends in a row when we'll be on the road. The following weekend will find us camping on the coast. The final weekend of the month will be spent with the in-laws. Hopefully my sister-in-law from New Mexico will be able to make the trip to eastern Washington.

This weekend has been great! The only commitment we have is a birthday party tonight for a friend of Noah's. It's in Everett so I'm going to sneak in a trip to Trader Joes while he's at the party. Our cereal collection is nearly empty and uninspired. Must get some vanilla granola for the girl and something healthy, but sweet for the boy. Then I'll browse the aisles for delicacies that I didn't even know I needed. Must leave for the party soon.

Fourth of July, Part 2

Here are the photos as promised of Noah in his All-Stars uniform. I had to pose him with Alyssa because it seems like most of my photos have revolved around Noah and his sports lately. I thought you might want to see the group shot of the whole team too. They're are great bunch of kids. Unfortunately they lost yesterday and were eliminated from the tournament. Forrest and I weren't too sad. We've been doing baseball since the first of March. The season is way too long. Noah didn't even seem too upset. He has his sports physical for football today, and he can't wait to start football practice in August. I can wait.

A "Quiet" Fourth of July

I'm sitting on my deck enjoying a third cup of coffee and my rose garden. I was reading but couldn't concentrate with the neighbors setting off M-80s and other assorted noisemakers so I decided to write instead. It would be an idyllic morning if not for the fireworks. Brightly colored fireworks set off at night are beautiful, I just don't understand the need to set things off that just make noise. Forrest had to work traffic control at a fireworks show last night and didn't get in till after two this morning. Since he was gone I had to do the comforting of our muts since many of our neighbors felt the need to celebrate early. There were lots of loud bangs and booms all night. I woke up about midnight when 75 pounds of black lab landed on me. Not a happy occasion at all. I banished poor Boo to the floor, but she and Sitka whimpered all night. Here are some photos of our muts. Sitka is the Husky/Shepherd mix and Boo is the lab. I'm not expecting to get more sleep tonight either. Maybe Thusday will be better. Our All-American Fourth of July will include a baseball game for Noah. Usually our baseball season is over by now, but Noah made the All-Star team so he's in the middle of a tournament. I'll post a photo of him in his fancy uniform later. Happy Fourth of July!

HOOPFEST

As promised here's the news from Hoopfest 2007. This shot shows just a hundred or so of the thousands of participants and fans. There were 6000 teams of 4 players for a total of 24,000 players plus roughly 100,000 fans cheering on the teams. Noah's team, Sudden Trouble, played well despite injuries. Noah and Kaleb both had banged up knees. Kaleb's was horribly bruised. Ty's elbow was bloodied when he dove for a ball on the street. The worst injury was an abrasion to Bradey's eye which required a trip to the emergency room for antibiotic eye drops and pain meds. Bradey sat out most of Saturday, but played in Sunday's games with goggles. The boys finished 3-2. We did take time for some tourist activities like this gondola ride over the falls at Riverfront Park. People comment on Noah's size all the time (he's 5'4" and 120 pounds at 11 yrs. old), but as you can see, there's always someone bigger out there. Forrest coached the boys this weekend, and he was so proud of how hard they played despite adversity. They're a great bunch of boys. I'm so glad Noah has made such great friends. Their teamwork and tenacity was awesome as you can see by this short video clip.