We spent a great day with our friends Sara and Jeff at Lake Cushman. The weather was perfect, the scenery sublime, and the cabin charming. They bid on the cabin at our church's Youth Auction. Forrest, Robby and Taylor had a great time playing with the Super Soakers, reading Calvin & Hobbes, kayaking, sailing and lots of swimming. We ended the day with Lit and Buckley joining us after work for a quick swim, a yummy dinner and then a scary ascent up the steep driveway. When Lit put the Trailblazer in low 4 to get up, he said he knew I was going to have trouble in my little Mazda 5. Overall not a big deal, but the driveway was really narrow with a death drop off to one side. After 2 attempts I took life saving measures and had Forrest get out of the car, then backed up to gain momentum and gunned it up fish-tailing all the way up on the gravel. I made it, but my nerves sure were shot. Our usually calm Forrest was scared and he told me later when he got of the car, he grabbed the most valuable thing in it .... his DS. Hey, what about me!

Relaxing in the sky chair
Robby and Forrest, waaay out on the dingy

Robby and Forrest

Playing Stragego on the deck

View from the deck of Lake Cushman and the Olympics

Marriage...making or breaking?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQJvSzkVfRg Sesame Street conversation with Grover about marriage

I've been thinking about marriage a lot lately and what it means in the short and long term. Why? We just had some really good friends get divorced seemingly out of the blue. It really affected Lit and I deeply because not only are we sad for them and their daughter, we have lost a couple friend. We miss our dinners together, our outings and couple friendship.

Are you happily married? Do you not only love but like and respect your spouse? Once the adrenaline wears off, is the relationship downhill from there? What makes a successful marriage? Is it luck, chemistry, commitment, or faith? Tell me your thoughts at the bottom of this post. Click on "comment."

Tennis Camp in 104 degrees!

with their coach - serious players no?

water balloon fight, notice Forrest's Super Soaker

palying doubles

Deaven's "tennis" pose

action pose

first day of tennis, I asked them to do something "tennis-sie"

Tennis camp was this past week. Forrest and his buddy Deaven endured 4 days of brutal heat. Temperatures topped out on Wednesday with a 31 year record high of 104 degrees, with high humidity. We were lucky camp was only in the morning. To us Northwestern-weather-wimps, this was truly cruel and unusual punishment. The boys handled it really well and never complained. The counselors were awesome and allowed the kids lots of water time, including running through park sprinklers and water balloon fights. On the last day I brought popsicles for all and they enjoyed a fierce water fight.

Faith Lutheran's Science Fair

Forrest's first science fair. His questions was: Does the length of pendulum affect how long it swings? He created a hypothesis and proved himself wrong.

Feedback from other students on his comment sheet included things like: "Cool", "Very cool", "I really like this." Very descriptive, no?

Camp Invention 2009

Another successfull year at Camp Invention. This hat was designed for wacky hat day. Notice the Corp of Engineers emblem with "Dudley" underneath. This was Lit's army construction hat.

With his wonder counselor.

An invention...

Outdoor Adventures

Tulip Festival, Mount Vernon

Dungenous Spit, Washington

Mt. Rainier or bust!

On a warm sunny day, we set out one morning to hike Rainier. It turned out to be a gorgeous with clear skies and warm temps. We hiked a 5.5 mile trail to Fremont Fire Lookout, elevation 7100 ft. It was a arduous hike and the boys really persavered. Notice the drop on the one picture where the trail was a mere 2 feet wide with a rocky drop to the right. The momma was nervous!

Egg Drop challange - design and build an egg catcher

that will catch an egg dropped from 30 ft or higher.

Forrest used grass clippings and was successful along

with his buddies Korban and Deaven. Winners received

a golden egg. Way to go guys!

Masterwork's Upcoming 29th Year!

We had a fantastic 28th season! We managed to survive a challenging fiscal year that took down a lot of non-profit art organizations. That is really attribute to our fantastic and talented Director and committed Board members (of which I am one!). We have a exciting upcoming season with, as always, a variety of music to share. Check out our newly designed website: http://www.mce.org/

Oh Happy Day! Lucas Graduates from High School

Lucas graduated from Roosevelt High School in June. We are all very proud, he worked hard, got his credits, and persevered. He is headed for a Gap Year where he will spend 8 weeks in India doing some volunteer work, return home and work, then who knows where to next? Lucas, go find your life's passion, and if you can't find that...go get a job that makes lots of money!