Andrea and Tiffany's Adventure

According to Nate, once we were married the blog became a shared blog. Hence the (s).... so here goes. Nate works Saturdays, while I work a compressed work week at my "real" job and typically quilt customer quilts on Saturdays. Today I took a break and went kayaking for the first time. I went with my friend Tiffany from work and her parents to Lake River. We put in at Ridgefield and went down to where it meets the Columbia River. Time flew by very quickly while we were on the river and I had a tremendously fun time, despite the rain. I never realized that rain bounces when it hits the water. It's really cool looking, if it hadn't been raining nice fat juicy drops I would have taken my camera out to take a picture... Tiffany kept saying things like we never really get rained on and rarely use the rain skirts. We used the rain skirts the entire day... So, the boats going by put out waves that rock the kayaks. When we got near the Columbia she said that they almost never see the barges go by but that they put out a huge wake. Yes, they do - we saw a huge barge going by. Next there was a sign talking about the Blue Herons but she said that she hadn't seen them there before.















We either saw 5 or we chased the same Heron all the way up the river back to Ridgefield...

Roses are...Red?

We stopped at Portland Nursery the other day for an impulse buy. Well, not really. We'd both been wanting more plants for our deck, and now we have our first rose bush. It's called French Perfume. It smells really good. We'd like to have three different kinds (well, it was two until we found this one ;). Our favorite is called Double Delight. Andrea likes the way it looks, and I like the way it smells. Then I'd like to have a simple red variety.
It's funny, the more I work on roses and take care of them, the more I like them. They're relatively easy to care for, and the results are fantastic! I was excited to get this plant. It was kind of a milestone. The apartment is really coming together and starting to feel like home. It's a great feeling.


Here's the crown jewel of the deck thus far.




















The pansies are loving the weather.



















This is part of the view from our deck. It's not vast, but it is most certainly pleasant. We live in a surprisingly quiet complex with million dollar homes behind us. It's a great place to take Kirby for a walk.


































More to come! We're going to Drake's this week to find more roses!

Fort Fun

Last weekend we went up to Tacoma for Special Olympics. Everything went off so well. Thank you all who have prayed so faithfully every year for this event. It always seems like there are so many stresses leading up to it, and then everything works out in the end. I praise God for His faithfulness and his mercy and grace.

I was so blessed to have Andrea with me this year. It was so nice to have company on the drive. It was fun to have Kirby too. He was funny because whenever he saw me on the field, he started whining to go out there with me.





A competition note: Vancouver School for the Deaf won their first gold medal this year! I've been officiating that team for many years, and they always seemed to come up short. This year was different. Way to go guys!! They are the team in green in this picture. That was the first game I did on Saturday morning. I just randomly chose a field to ref a game at, and it turned out to be their game! It was good to talk to them on Sunday after they got their medals. A good friend of mine has a nephew who plays for the team, so I got to talk to her (see last year's post from May 1st for more on that).
































Have I ever mentioned the view?






Of course, this weekend would not have been possible without hundreds of volunteers. The referees are the group that I'm rather partial to. They did a great job as usual! This is such a fun group of people to work with. I look forward to seeing them every year. It's a blessing to have a crew like this who has a passion for the game, and for Special Olympics.


Here you see us talking intently about some rule or something (actually, it's probably about our best BBQ recipe or something ;). From the left: Jon, Bruce, Pam, Paul, me, and Kevin. I love these guys' committment!















Here's me sitting with Cal (front) and John.
















Paul has a passion for Poms!




















Here I am talking to a couple of old friends. The gentleman on the left has an unusual condition: his legs seem to be fused, so his knees don't bend. I'm always afraid his legs are going to snap in half if he gets tackled hard or something. Here's the amazing part: he plays at the top level of Special Olympics soccer!














Thank you to all who have helped so much over the years!!