Time Flies

This week Alyssa starts her sophomore hear of college and Noah started his sophomore year of high school two weeks ago. Just a short five years ago as evidenced by this picture Alyssa was the big sister in every way, age and height. She's still 5'7" but he has grown to a man sized 15 year old standing nearly 6'4" and weighing 210 pounds. She is still my girlie girl fussing with her hair, make-up, and clothing. He shaves almost daily and wears cologne. They are great friends and have a wonderful relationship. I am truly blessed to have such great kids.

Peace and Quiet

I have had no one to answer to all day today. Noah has been with friends all weekend, Forrest is visiting his mom, and Alyssa went to Wild Waves today. I have had a blissful day to only do what I want to do. I did some shopping. I bought new towels for the guest/kids bath. Usually the kids' bathroom gets the hand me downs from the master bathroom when Forrest and I get new towels. I spent some time puttering in my classroom. I have enough planned for the first three days of school so I am not going in tomorrow. I will not be working on Labor Day. A nap on the deck, washing the cars, and taking photos of an amazing sunset rounded out the day. Alyssa and I plan to get pedicures tomorrow. And the kids will be doing some housework so I can start the school year with a clean house. They've been free from chores all weekend. It's time for them to step in and clean bathrooms and scoop the dog poop from the backyard.

On Tuesday I will get a massage to loosen up my neck and shoulders before reporting to school for some meetings and final prep for Back to School Night. Our wonderful PTA will feed us and the families dinner. The kids will come to my room where they will drop off their supplies, choose a cubby, and a seat, and introduce themselves to me. I am looking forward to a great year. I have several kids who are the younger siblings of students I have had in the past. It's always nice to see familiar faces and catch up with the families.

End of Summer Weekend

After a great Jamaican/Mexican feast at the home of the Adam's family Saturday night we expected to spend a quiet Sunday puttering around the house waiting for Alyssa to get home from her camping trip with her friends in Winthrop. But that's not what happened. Forrest and I picked up some delicious looking Sockeye Salmon from Costco. It was way too much for us to eat so we invited our friends, the Brysons. A few extra kids joined us for the feast. Forrest makes amazing barbecued salmon on a cedar plank. A green salad and red potatoes with dill and butter rounded out the meal. Tracy Bryson brought her famous fruit pizza and the kids also made s'mores and pie iron pies. It was a lovely evening with a gorgeous sunset. Since Forrest is going to visit his mom over Labor Day weekend this is the last big gathering of the summer of 2011 at our house. It's been a busy summer of basketball and driver's ed for Noah and work for Alyssa and Forrest. My main jobs were to run errands, drive Noah around until he got his permit (now he drives me), keep up with the laundry, and cook. I walked lots of miles during Noah's driver's ed classes, and once the weather cooperated I did get in some relaxing time on the deck with some good books. I realized that I haven't taken many photos this summer so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots last night.

Update

My dad told me that people are noticing that I haven't been keeping up with my blog this summer. Well that's because we haven't done much lately. Alyssa is working four days a week at the daycare, Forrest is also working, and Noah has driver's education classes three days a week plus drives. Noah is taking his class with his friend, Kaleb, so I usually walk with Kaleb's mom during their classes. We have walked the full Arlington Airport Trail which is 7.3 miles and parts of the Centennial Trail where it cuts through Snohomish County. After classes Noah and Kaleb usually go to the gym and lift weights or I drop them off at Lake Goodwin so they can meet up with their friends (mainly cute girls in bikinis) and work on their tans.

I have spent two days in my classroom getting it ready. I am having trouble getting motivated to spend more time there right now. All of the teachers in our district are waiting for news of negotiations. The state has given us a 3% pay cut, but we don't know how that is going to be worked into our current 3 year contract. Some districts are having furlough days. Our union president is not doing a very good job keeping us all informed so there is lots of discord and rumor mongering. Hopefully we'll know something soon.

As you can see by the photos Mom and Dad are here for a couple of days. They took us out for dinner last night to our favorite Stanwood, Jimmy's Pizza and Pasta. We are looking forward to our friend's party this weekend. It will be a Jamaican feast prepared by our favorite Jamaican transplant, Cordel Adams.

That's all the news for now. I promise to do a better job of keeping this blog up to date.

Summer Weekend

I made a solo trip to Portland to see my family including my cousin, Suzanne, who was in town for a work conference. As usual Mom and Dad treated us to great food. We also took a drive through the northern end of the Willamette Valley to check out a new resort in the Oregon wine country, The Allison Spa and Resort. It is a beautiful place, but definitely out of my price range.

We also made a stop at the Sokol Blosser Winery to admire the view and taste some amazing wine.

While I was out of town Noah played in and won the Aquafest 3 on 3 tournament, and Forrest and Alyssa took in a sunny Mariner game. Amazingly they got to see the hometown team win a game for a change.

After Jim and Michelle and her family left Mom and Dad's house Saturday night we realized that we didn't take any photos of them. Sorry guys.

Central Washington University Team Camp

Noah's junior varsity basketball coach has 16 boys interested in playing ball in the fall. This allowed him to make two teams of 8 boys each for team camp at CWU. Noah's team (the top 8 boys) played in the small school varsity division rather than the junior varsity division. The other 8 boys played JV. All of the Arlington teams competed well during camp, but Noah's team was the only group to win their division. Great work boys!

Hoopfest Weekend 2011

On last Friday we headed over the mountains to Spokane for Noah's 6th time participating in Hoopfest, the world's largest 3 on 3 street basketball tournament. On the way to Spokane we stopped in Wilbur for lunch at the Billy Burger and a visit with my Grandma Beulah. She greeted Noah's friend, Kaleb, just like another grandson. She met him last summer when we stopped in during a camping trip. Grandma showed us her pictures from the parade she was in last month as the Grand Marshal. After visiting with Grandma we continued on to Spokane to check in at the hotel and to pick up the team's registration packet.
Hoopfest is a tiring weekend and Noah takes every opportunity to rest between games. The boys had a very successful weekend. The rules of Hoopfest are that the winner of a game is the team which is ahead after 25 minutes or the first team to score 20 points.
Noah's team won all four of their games by being the first team to 20 and were crowned Hoopfest Champions for their bracket. It was a very successful weekend for Arlington teams. I know of three other teams who also finished first and another team that finished second.

Noah and his friends like to play skins, but they decided to add sleeves this year, and Noah added the additional accessory of a retro headband. Alyssa is one of the boys' biggest supporters so she of course had to pose with them in front of their court.
Noah is joined by teammates Kaleb Bryson, Bradey Brummel, and Nate Lewis. In six years Noah and his friends have won their bracket twice now. Good job boys! We're proud of you.

After this exciting weekend I made a more sobering trip to Portland for a funeral. The father of my best friend from high school passed away last week. Although it was a sad occasion, it was a great celebration of life for a man who know how to live life well and thoroughly.