Monday, September 10, 2007

Visiting Brandon, Carole and Smokey

During Carole's break between quarters, I traveled to Bellingham to visit. We met in Portland where we stayed one night with Connor. (Carole had ridden the train down a few days before to visit her friend Briana.) Connor took us to a Cuban restaurant for dinner that night. We all tried something different and shared. While the food was excellent, I was introduced to a white wine sangria that was absolutely wonderful.


Once we got to Bellingham, we had a lot of fun shopping, touring parts of the campus Carole is attending, and exploring Clayton Beach. Brandon had to work during the days since camp was still in full swing; the week I was there they had a total of 65 kids in the 3rd through 8th grades.
It made for some lively mornings since Carole & Brandon's
apartment is over the kitchen and dining hall!

On Saturday we decided to play tourist in Friday
Harbor on San Juan Island, so the 3 of us piled in the CR-V and headed out to Anacortes to catch the ferry. There was a bit of excitement enroute: a huge road department dump truck kicked up a rock that was aimed just right and demolished the moon roof! We all thought we had been shot, but Brandon (who was driving) kept his cool and didn't drive off the road. Fortunately the Honda dealership in Bellingham was able to get the glass in on Monday afternoon, repair it on Tuesday, and I was able to get on the road Wednesday ~ just one day later than planned.

Whoops!
Friday Harbor

The last night was sleep-out night for the campers, so instead of eating in the dining hall, we grilled shrimp kabobs on the deck, then a couple of staff members came by for a game of Yahtzee.

I was up early and on the road heading home. It was a long, but easy trip. I arrived back in Plains about 9:00 pm.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A wedding and time with old friends . . .

Back home from NC. The weather Down South was a great improvement over recent Montana weather: Unbelievable though it may be, the temps were in the mid-high 80s with (comparatively) low humidity. It was lovely to hear some of my favorite birds from the old days ~ cardinals, blue jays, Carolina wrens, Carolina chickadees; and of course, the song of the June bugs, tree frogs, cicadas.

And lightning bugs! I sat out on Mom & Dad's deck and watched them several nights.

The wedding of my sister Alison and her fiancé Ron was beautiful. The weekend was hectic, but a lot of fun.

The bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner.





Mom made a Groom's Cake for Ron as a surprise dessert at the rehearsal dinner.







The Big Day boasted beautiful weather for the couple and the wedding party. The ceremony was lovely and neither Ali nor Ron seemed nervous. The ceremony went off without any problems, and the guests enjoyed the reception.


First Dance


It was also a chance to visit with family and friends. Spunky, 90-year-old Aunt Laurine Snouse, cousin Laura Lou Byers, Aunt Jo Rives, cousin Shirley Reed, and Aunt Shirley Henkel joined Mom, Dad, and me for a seafood dinner one evening. Afterwards we all returned to Mom and Dad's house to watch a video of Aunt Shirley modeling in a benefit fashion show; then we watched the slide show of Kendall's commissioning and graduation weekend that I created.




Thursday, July 5, 2007

Daughter's Birthday

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Another one (back) in college

Yeah, I know: I said my baby had graduated from college. But just in time to save me from some serious "empty nest" blues, Daughter decided to go back for a teaching certificate.
Actually, the nest is still "empty" since she doesn't live here any more. But Carole is pretty excited about being accepted to and beginning an intensive 5-quarter program at Western Washington University in Bellingham to add a teaching certificate to her BS in psychology from Carrol College in Helena, Montana (class of 2001). She says that so far the classes are great ~ except for a technology course that "is pretty boring
so far but hopefully will move fast."
Other back-to-school accomplishments: She got up at 6:00 am three days ~ learned there is a "new" math ~ and so far, she says, she's read every word of the assigned readings for every class. (She also said she expects that to last about 2 more days).

Rob has been gone most of the past week for work ~ Boulder, Ft. Collins, Denver; he is on a wildfire behavior research team at the Fire Lab of the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Montana. The job requires a lot of travel during "fire season." Following the "First Law of the Forest Service Wives' Handbook," just about anything that could go wrong when he left, did ~ but after (too many?) years' experience, I handled it all with great aplomb ;-) Found someone to help with some emergency fence repair after the horses got out Wednesday morning (Thanks a BUNCH, Ron), retrieved said horses from their wandering adventures, and got them back into the corral.
AND
, while heading down to feed those horses that evening, avoided being trampled by a very aggressive doe who was hiding her fawn somewhere between the house and the barn: she charged me and our two Labs ~ never did figure out exactly where the fawn was hiding. . . even the dogs ran from her!

I'll be leaving in a couple weeks for a trip to see my family in NC to celebrate and attend my sisters' wedding in NC. It will be good to be back in the South again for some seriously warm weather. It's been pretty nice here off and on in Plains, but they just don't do summer here like they do "back home"! (Yeah, some of you are groaning about how I must be nuts. What can I say ~ I love the summers I grew up in!). Hurray: two weeks of lovely NC summer! Too bad I can't make it out to the coast . . .

The boys seem to be doing fine. Just talked to Connor, and we're probably going to see him later this week. As Rob says, he has to be in Portland a couple of days to continue his "world tour" for work. ConMan said he'd be around and we could catch up one night fo dinner with him. Kendall is enjoying his BOLC at Ft. Sill, OK. They got pulled in from field training a couple days early because of the flooding there, but will head out again to complete the exercise next week, with a break for July 4th.

Anyone who hasn't yet discovered Google Earth ~ OMG, it is one of the neatest things I've ever seen and played with!

Friday, June 15, 2007

Kendall's Graduation and Commissioning - May 11-13, 2007

The most recent excitement here was during a busy Mother's Day weekend. Kendall, who was a cadet in the ROTC program at Gonzaga University, received his commission in the US Army on May 11. He is currently at Ft. Sill, OK, where he is taking his BOLC (Basic Officers' Leaders Course); after completing that, he will take the BOLC in Field Artillery, also at Ft. Sill.
Then on Mother's Day he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Gonzaga.

We were fortunate to have a host of family from around the country join us for the events: Carole, Brandon, and Connor (Washington state and Oregon), both sets of grandparents (Pennsylvania and NC), and Kendall's godparents (Arizona); and of course a contingent of friends from Montana.

Mom and Dad pin on Kendall's insignia of rank.



Kendall chose Sgt. Hudson to give him his first salute.
He said Hudson, one of those who assisted in
teaching the cadets during the
past school year, had taught him a lot.




Brand new 2 LT

The cadets, now all second lieutenants, decided to
wear ACUs under their graduation gowns.






Saturday, January 13, 2007

Thanksgiving in Bellingham



Carole and Brandon now live in Bellingham, Washington, where Brandon is program director for Lutherwood, a Lutheran-supported camp and retreat center. Carole, who has been employed for three years as administrative assistant at Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, is going back to school the end of June, 2007, to get a teaching degree at Western Washington University. They have two "kids": a black lab, Smokey, and a fish, Bandit.

For the past two years, they have invited both sets of parents and all three siblings to share Thanksgiving at Lutherwood. Both years, it has been a great time to catch up with Brandon's family, who live in St. Louis, to play games, visit the San Juan Islands ~ and eat too much.