Coug Day

Yesterday we ventured into Seattle to see the annual Grid-Iron Classic. The Washington State Univ. Cougars from Pullman start the season playing a non-conference game at Qwest Field, home of the Seahawks. This year they played the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

To avoid the hassle and cost of parking we rode the Sounder train from Everett to the King St. Station just blocks from the field. Our friends and neighbors, the Collins family, joined us on this adventure. The scenery from the train was beautiful, herons, crab fishing boats, long stretches of beaches, and beautiful beachfront homes.

Qwest Field is a wonderful facility. There are truly no bad seats in the place. We sat about 20 rows up from the field in the northeast corner just to the right of the Hawk's Nest. If you look just above my head and to the right you can see our section. While the outcome was disappointing, the Cougs lost 13-39, we had a great day any way. The weather was much nicer than the weatherman had led us to believe. We over dressed and were hot by the end of the game. Noah's friend, Michael, left his family's seats and sat with us for part of the game. Since Forrest was taking the photos with his phone he didn't end up in any photos.

It was a long day. We boarded the train at 10:00 AM, the game started at 12:30, the return train trip started at 4:00 PM, and we arrived in Everett about 5 PM. By the time we stopped for dinner it was nearly 7 by the time we got home. I found myself dozing off in front of the Husky/Duck game by about 8:30.

Weekend of Contrasts

Saturday was beautiful! Light breeze, sunshine, 80 degrees, Noah's team won their first game of the season, I got in some quality deck time. After football I dozed, read, enjoyed the spicy scent of my lilies, and gazed out at the water. The start of the school year next week means my daily allotment of quality deck time is dwindling fast. Today hasn't been very warm, but I sat out there and read for an hour anyway.

Sunday was very wet! It rained all day, at least until sunset when I took a picture of my lavender all bent over from being rained on all day. The end of the Olympics was strange. I've come to be a devoted watcher on 3 networks, USA and Oxygen in the morning and early afternoon, NBC at night. Now I have to wait 4 years to see badminton on TV.

Fun but Steamy Weekend

Two of our favorite people came to visit Friday, my cousin Margaret and her husband Mel. They had just come off their Alaskan cruise ship at 7 AM Friday morning in Seattle. The Preshos spent the whole day with us at our house, spent the night, and headed home Saturday morning. Most of our day was spent sitting on our deck chatting. Mel and Margaret enjoyed the warmth as the temperatures they experienced on their cruise were in the 50s. Forrest went to high school with Mel and Margaret, and I meet Forrest at their wedding. Our kids, especially Alyssa and their daughter Nicole are friends. Alyssa is 10 months older than Nicole and 10 months younger than Margaret's son Ryan. Noah is a year younger than the Presho's youngest, Mikala. Before our children got so busy and commandeered most of our weekends we used to see them more regularly. Mel and Margaret live near Forrest's mom in eastern Washington. For several years we'd meet at campgrounds in the center of the state and camp with them. But school sports and other activities have put a stop to those trips. Mel and Forrest both work 4 tens now so they have Fridays off. They're hoping to plan some fishing trips together this year. I love listening to Forrest and our friends rehash some of their youthful exploits. Thankfully Noah and Alyssa were off with friends most of Friday. I often marvel that our husbands survived their teen years to grow up and marry us.

After the Preshos left we had to get on the road to Noah's football jamboree. Noah is number 88. His team played 3 different teams. They played on half of a field. Each team got 10 minutes of offense and 10 minutes of defense. They played 20 minute games at 10, 11, and noon. By noon the temperature was 90 degrees. Way too steamy for football. Thankfully we were finishing up as the temperatures climbed into the nineties. The afternoon games continued with the younger players. Some families had boys playing at both levels so they were stuck there all day. The crowds were amazing. Noah's team played very well despite missing two key starting players. Noah got a sack, caught a pass, contributed to several tackles, and laid on some big blocks. Noah's team outscored every team they played. Next Saturday is the first regular season game, but the schedules aren't out yet so we don't know who were playing.

Back to Work

Well I've put it off long enough. I ventured into school this week. Although I couldn't really work in my room since the custodians haven't finished it yet. Every 3 years my pod is the last one to be cleaned and this is my pod's turn to be last. I was able to make copies for the writing class I'm teaching next week and update my class webpage. Alyssa came in with me to work on her volunteer hours for honor society. She needs 15 hours for the summer and then 30 hours each semester. I don't remember ever having to do that when I was in high school. Honor society membership just meant that you got a certificate and a gold cord to wear at graduation. I have several classes and meetings the next 2 weeks so I don't know when I'll get to set up my room. On the bright side the custodians had started cleaning my carpet today when I was in the building. It's way too hot to think about being back in school. I'm going to miss my daily deck time where I sit on the deck enjoying the fragrance of roses and lavender, looking out at the water, and reading for about an hour.

Tulalip 3 on 3

This was a very up and down weekend. The weather was horrible for an outside tournament, rainy and windy. Saturday morning the organizers of the tournament found the parking lot to be all under water. All of the start times were pushed out at least 3 hours. Our original game time was moved from 1:30 to 5:30. And since Noah's team lost their first game they also played at 6:30 and won that game. That forced us to start our barbecue later than originally planned. By the time we got home and Forrest started up the grill we realized that we need to definitely put in more lights in the back yard.

But boy did we have a yummy feast, oysters, Korean barbecue beef, Thai noodle salad, chicken fettuccine, burgers and hotdogs, fruit, and s'mores. It was a chilly evening so we definitely appreciated our fire pit. Everyone wandered in and out catching Michael Phelps win his first gold medal on the TV. We ended up with 5 extra boys spending the night after the barbecue. They all slept well, but I didn't. The neighbor's dogs were yapping well past 1:00 AM, and then my internal body clock woke me up by 6:30.

On Sunday morning Noah's team won their 11:30 game but lost the next one and were eliminated. It was a disappointing loss. Noah's team was playing a team made up of other players from their AAU team. Noah's teammates goofed off and made horrible shot decisions. Noah started off that way but he got serious sooner than the other two. By the time they made up their mind to play the way they're capable of playing it was too late and they lost. The boys also didn't have a sub as the 4th member of their team injured his knee on Saturday. If they'd had their sub Forrest could have pulled the goofballs to read them the riot act. The dad of one of the players got fed up and left to watch his other son play rather than sit through that game.

I didn't notice how amazing the the threatening storm clouds looked till I uploaded them to this post. Wow! It sure didn't feel like August.

Update

It's been awhile since I posted anything so I thought I'd get you all caught up with us. Forrest is now working 4 tens and has Fridays off. He's loving it. Every week he has a 3 day weekend. He laughed at me last night when he saw me taking pictures of football practice, but I told him that I needed to update my blog and since football has taken over our lives I should shoot that. Practice is usually 2 1/2 -3 hours a night 5 nights a week. Tonight the coaches gave the boys the night off since they performed so well during their first scrimmage last night. I don't know how well you can see Noah in this photo, but he's the one blocking the defensive end so number 26 can get through. Noah is wearing the crimson and gray WSU jersey and gold pants. He's currently playing right end on defense and slotback on offense. He caught a beautiful pass during the scrimmage but I didn't have the camera on to get that. The coaches are hoping he can continue at slotback, but the line coach wants him to play left tackle. If one of the other big boys doesn't step up and block better he'll probably be moved to tackle. Noah is also one of the captains for his team. He's taking this job quite seriously.

The other photo is of our family room. Alyssa chose the color which continues into the hallway and kitchen too. She also changed our furniture arrangement and did half of the painting. I love this bright sunny color. We got the job done just in time for a party we're throwing tomorrow night for the players and families who are participating in a local 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the casino parking lot. I just noticed that I failed to remove the blue tape from around the windows before I took the photo, oops. I guess the next post will be basketball tournament photos.