The War of the Roses

I discovered aphids crawling on the roses the other day! This upset me. Aphids are bad. I don't know how they ended up on a second story deck far from any flowers. I think they came in with some other flowers we were given. I discovered them on the double delight, and soon they were found on the other two bushes as well.

In the words of the great philosopher, Bugs Bunny, "This, means war."

More Walupt

Time for the annual Walupt Lake camping trip. This year, like the last, was not without adventure. We had two additions to our traveling party this year. Andrea's cousins, Kate and Michaela (8 and 12 respectively) were in town from Upper Michigan, and we invited them to come along. It was cool to show them the mountains of the Northwest. There was only one disappointment that later turned into a blessing.

Andrea and I love going through Trout Lake on our way to the lake. It's a great place to stop and eat and pick up anything to do with huckleberries! Last winter though, was devastating to the roads in the mountains. In particular, it was devastating to the road that we use to get from Trout Lake to Walupt Lake. This was a big bummer. It meant that we would be driving the boring way up I-5 to US 12. With two young girls in the car from out of town, that was not a pleasant option.

So, off we went at 5:30 on Saturday evening on a drive that was supposed to take close to 4 hours (I had to work that day, so we couldn't leave till then)! Let's just say I managed to get there in a lot less time and set up camp quickly. It was good to see Mom and Dad and Curt and Marie and their friends there. We all have a great time together!

We took the girls for a hike on Sunday and then hung around camp and the lake. It was fun, if uneventful. We hiked to the creek and back, stopping on the other side of the lake. Picture time!

Michaela:













Kate















Kate and Michaela


















Then it was our turn.





















The next day, we headed home a different way. I just have to say that it was a glorious drive! The sun was shining, the temperature was mild, the road was winding. A man cannot ask for anything more!

Too bad the kids weren't more excited. ;)






Kirby actually enjoyed being between the girls, who lavished attention upon him!









We went up to Windy Ridge to see Mt. St. Helens. Along the way, we got a great view of Mt. Rainier.

















Here we are, less than six miles from the crater.














Here's an interesting stump that Andrea got a picture of.



















One more stop in Cougar, and the obligatory shot with the statue of the town's namesake.



















Andrea and I had a great time showing the girls around the mountains. They are really fun to hang out with. I Hope we can do it again! Next time, girls, we won't do so much driving. I promise!

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!!

Another Memorial Day Hike

We decided to try and start a tradition of going for an early morning hike on Memorial Day so that we'll beat the crowds. Well, we got the hike part down this year, but we didn't get out of the house until 7:30 (the same time we arrived at the trail head last year). It wasn't bad though. We were headed to a little more remote location this time around. It took a couple of hours to get up there, but it was well worth the extra effort. Lewis River Falls is a series of three waterfalls up-stream from where it flows into the first of three reservoirs. They're almost equidistant from each other, and each offers a unique experience. We'd never been here before. I've driven up and down the Lewis River since I was little, and never known that these falls were there! I was always headed to Mt. St. Helens or something. So here's what we saw:







First stop was only a hundred feet from the trail head. Lower Falls, made for an exciting start to what was to come. If you want some perspective as to how big these falls really are, look in the right hand part of the picture and you'll see an entire tree resting up against the falls themselves.










In between Lower and Middle Falls, we came across some smaller falls. They're easy to spot, the trail goes right over them!































Middle Falls is fast moving and shoots across the face of a large sheet of stone. I like these kind of water slide falls. Just the way the water scoots along the surface as though friction doesn't apply here.







The last of Lewis River Falls is, of course, Upper Falls. These are the highest of them all. You get the most angles and clearest view of these falls. We stopped for a bite to eat here.






Kirby wants some too!!





































The trail even takes you right up to the lip of the falls. The noise was as spectacular as the view!


























Well, as you can see, we're back online! I'm blogging for two people now (I'm sure some of you are asking, "He wasn't blogging for two before?"), so this is going to take some getting used to. Come join the Wallaces for more all new adventures!

A new beginning

Our wedding went off as perfectly as one could expect (Except that Justin had to run into town to get coffee for Andrea, and we forgot that we were supposed to use the candles, not the candle lighters to light the unity candle. But everything else went just fine ;). Everyone involved did a fabulous job. First thank you's go to Gene Takalo, because he took the pictures you see here. Please don't go copying them. I don't mind advertising for him here cause he did a great job! The pictures are fantastic, and we never even noticed him during the ceremony, even though he got some great shots of it. I highly recommend him.



Thank you to Terry for coordinating the whole thing to perfection. Thank you to Pat for marrying us and doing such an eloquent job. Thanks to Bruce, Susanna, Mary, and Gail, for doing a great job with the music. Jim Chase did a great job with the sound. We got lots of compliments about you all. We also got lots of compliments on the food. Always Perfect Catering did the food, and it was goooood. :P
Thank you Grace, Barbara, Susanna, Laura, Murray, Karen, Dawn, Jimmie and Jamie, and everyone who worked so hard to help set everything up and take everything down.











Thank you to our party of six who have been there for us down the line. Thanks Rob, Kim, Sean, Carol, Murray, and Sarah. You guys have been great friends and brothers and sisters!






Thank you to our parents for being so supportive through the whole thing. We can't even begin to start thanking you for making everything happen the way it did.































A special thanks to our friend Inger, without whom we never would have met, and all this never would have happened. Thanks Inger for not giving up no matter how much we protested!!