Brutal Hike

Had fun last weekend with Murray, Sean, and Jamie. They arrived early at my place and we headed off to hike Hamilton Mountain. The climb is pretty brutal, but the payoff is worth the effort. We were treated to some great views of the Gorge.


I just asked Murray if he would carry Kirby's messes for me. ;)















We were moving a little too slow for Kirby.



















One of the first good views on the hike. Beacon Rock is in the foreground.














Here's the gang on top of a false summit. If I were to turn around, you'll see just how false it is!

AH! There you go.

What'd I tell you? It's a brutal hike.

Getting pictures of Bonneville Dam

Hey guys! You're in my shot!

Perhaps you're wondering why all the pictures of Murray. Well, hopefully his fiance will have a chance to view this blog soon (If Andrea gets around to emailing her ;). Here he is at the true summit.

Here's Kirby at the summit. Isn't he the cutest dog in the world!

Here we are at the summit eating lunch.















Here's another view from the summit.















The hike back down.

Going for the Gold

More Special Olympics! Can you ever get enough? It was a great weekend. Plenty of volunteers. In fact, I only reffed two games the entire weekend! It was great!

Paul and His dogs are always a hit.

Of course, no Special Olympics weekend ever goes off without some kind of adventure. On Saturday night, Andrea and I were walking into dinner with my parents, when she tripped over a curb and fell down hard. She was quite shaken, and we ended up spending four hours in the delivery room at Tacoma General on a fetal monitor (on a side note, T.G. is where I was born ). Baby was fine (though Mom was pretty bruised up), but it was clear from the way he was moving around, that he was not happy about the treatment he had just received. We were there until about 2:30 in the morning, and were back at the field around 7:30! I guess that was practice for when the baby finally comes.

Memorial Day Morning

Another early morning Memorial Day hike saw us on Hamilton Mountain. We wouldn't go to the top today, but we did get to some cool waterfalls. Andrea and I were a little damp at the end, but nowhere near as much as Kirby. He was one dirty dog when we got down! I washed him twice before he came clean. It was a great day!



We were fogged in much of the morning. It made for some surreal pictures.






























Me and Kirby. I'm wearing a rain suit that I thought would be a good idea. Unfortunately, due to a concept called "condensation," I ended up wetter inside the suit than outside!




















This is a neat geological formation called "Pool of Winds". The waterfall pours into this large crack in the rock wall, and forces air through the narrow opening. It's an experience to poke your head around the corner!



















Rodney Falls. Pool of winds is at the very top.

It's On

As I posted previously, I said, "...if all goes as planned..." Everything is going as planned so far! In my hot little hand is the copy of "Herman Who" that just arrived today! I knew it was going to get here in time. Really!

















Whew.

Tiptoe (Well...Slog Really) Through the Tulips

We went to Woodland (NOT WoodBURN) on a cold, wet Monday to go to the Woodland Tulip Festival. It's held at a place called Holland America Bulb Farm. Cool place!








I'm discovering something of a penchant for tulips that is similar to the one I have for roses. They have all kinds of different hybrids with different shapes and colors. The tulip I was after was the one patented just a few years ago by this very farm. It's called the "Woodland" tulip (go figure). We also found another one that Andrea especially appreciated called "Lip Gloss". We bought a couple of pots of the Woodlands and then ordered some bulbs of the the Lip Gloss (They're the bright pink ones in the forground). Tulips are not very expensive so it's hard not to go to town buying them.


















After the farm we spent some time visiting with my Grandma Knight who works for the Chamber of Commerce there in town. Then we wound our way through Vancouver looking for barber shops and book stores before finally heading home.

This weekend, we'll be hosting the gang from Mosaic. If all goes as planned, we'll all get a condensed, 16 week masters class on hermeneutics. All in 75 minutes! So if you like drinking from a fire hydrant, please join us this Saturday evening.

And the Count Begins

1 year and counting! Marriage is an interesting life change. It seems like so much longer, but in a good way. Really. I mean that. Stop laughing. It's a good thing! Really!

Never mind. We went to Lincoln City for our anniversary. Our friend Inger - who happens to be the person who set us up - let us stay at their beach house there. We had a great time. We woke up to snow on the ground on Sunday morning! Didn't get too many pictures though. I did take a few of the sunset that evening.






We bought some more roses last weekend, so the count is now up to six plants! The deck is going to smell great this summer! (I know it will because I only bought fragrant varieties. Oh, yea, I'll have a very happy wife too ;).

Andrea had another ultrasound on Monday, and the baby is still a boy and still healthy. Other than that, there's not much to report.

And baby Wallace is...

I had an ultrasound yesterday and baby Wallace is a boy! Strangely, our ultrasound pictures look like all the other ultrasound pictures I've seen. However, I would still scan and post them if I could only figure out how to scan! I do think it's the cutest baby I've ever seen:)