Carol's 40th Birthday

We spent the day in Seattle for Carol's 40th birthday. Here are the highlights.

Head to Pike Place for obligatory picture in front of fish throwing stand.

Take picture of kids on Pike pig!
Get picture with husband in front of Pike Place Market.
Contemplate midlife crisis tattoo.

Do a little urban caching.
Visit Ivar.
Enjoy a beer at the Mariner's ball game.

It has been a fun ride so far. Hope the next 40 are just as fun.

5th Grade Celebration

We started the month of June with Maggie's 5th grade celebration. She has managed to complete elementary school all at the same school, Columbia Heights Elementary. I can remember when she was a kindergartner on her first day, it seems like not that long ago. And now she is getting ready for middle school (sniff, sniff). We have had a wonderful time watching her grow into a beautiful young lady. Way to go Maggie!

Maggie on her first day of 1st grade.

Maggie at her 5th grade celebration.

Receiving her certificate of completion from her 5th grade teacher, Mr. Clift.

Month of May

May came and went with a blur and a few fun trips to Eugene to celebrate the twins birthday and headed to Ontario for Memorial Weekend. Of course, we did some caching along the way!

We helped Jill do a cache that required us to haul a ladder to the site and climb the tree. Since this was her idea, she was the lucky winner to scale the tree and started the climb with high hopes.

Here she is about 20 feet up the tree, with still another 20 feet to go. She got site of the cache, but was not adventerous enough to release her grip on the tree and venture out onto the branch where it was haning. Logged the cache as found, but did not sign the log book. Not sure we will do one of this difficulty in the near future.

On our way to Ontario, we took our time and cached along the way. We stopped at places and saw things I am sure we would not have seen otherwise, such as this stage coach at a gas station right off the freeway. It was a cool find and the girls had a fun time climbing inside. Not sure what Dan is thinking with that look on his face.

We arrived in Ontario with much anticipation. The cousins quickly reacquainted and had fun at the park.

Maggie could not resist climbing a tree; looking more like a teenager, but still a kid at heart.

While in Ontario, we visited Boise and the girls got to see Boise State University where Dad went to college (#2 on the girl's college choice list behind, of course, Washington State!) Dan wanted a picture with the girls on the Smurf Turf. This isn't actually the Smurf Turf, but close enough.

April Caching

We did yet more caching in April, the girls having a blast finding as many as they can and dragging friends along with them. We went to Astoria on a beautiful day and did about 10 or more caches. We saw sights from the movie Goonies, rode the trolley and logged a cache while on the ride, climbed to the top of the Astoria Column (great view) and visited many sights in Astoria we would never have seen had we not decided to cache. What a great day!

The girls, Auni, Maggie and Lanna, showing their latest find.

Found a travel bug that wanted to visit as many bridges as it can. The Astoria-Megler Bridge in the back ground. We moved it along to another bridge cache.

Jail used in the film Goonies. The girls thought this was cool.

Virtual cache atop the Astoria Column, great view!

March Fun

We spent the month of March finishing up basketball and getting ready for spring break. Our last tournament was in Seaside, Oregon, and the weather that weekend was gorgeous. We had a blast as a team hanging out together.

Panther's team photo on the beach.

Ruiz Family, Seaside, OR 2010

March also had us celebrating Maggie's 11th birthday. Wow, we can't believe she is 11 already. She had a slumber party with a great mix of kids and we played glow in the dark golf, did some geocaching and overloaded on junk food. It was a great time.

Birthday group getting ready for miniature golf.

Slumber party shot.

Happy birthday Maggie.

Lanna has finally found some books on cooking and has been so into reading, she has fallen asleep while reading the books.

Father-Daughter Ball - 2010

Saturday night was the annual Father-Daughter Ball put on by the Longview Parks and Recs, and once again the girls had a blast. The girls started the day by getting their hair and nails done and really enjoyed the pampered treatment. Our friend, Madeline, had her hair done as well, and all were eager to show off their special hair-dos.

Lanna, sporting her special do.

Maggie, sophisticated in all black.

Madeline, elegant in her dress to match her eyes.

The girls all dressed up and ready to go.

We had dinner (I was allowed to dine with them, if only to take pictures) at the Back Stage Cafe and had a nice low key dinner in the company of friends. The dads were dressed in their suits with boutonnieres, the girls with matching corsages, and all ready for the dance floor.

Left to right: Maggie, Dan, Lanna, Madeline and Mike

Everyone came home happy and excited for a fun night, and Maggie was proud to proclaim she was the winner of the chicken dance. It was a memorable night, and the girls are planning next year's event already.

Dan and the girls all ready for the Father-Daughter Ball.

Eugene Visit & Basketball pictures

We headed down I-5 after Lanna’s game on Saturday to Eugene to spend two short days with the Belmont-Smith family and break in their new house. The girls could hardly wait to get there, and we were barely to Vancouver and Lanna was asking “How much longer?” How many times have you taken this drive child? Sheesh! “20 minutes, dear.” BTW, Lanna’s team (Li’l Renegades) kicked booty again and is playing well so far.

We spent Saturday visiting, playing, watching the Winter Olympics, kids playing the Wii, and adults playing Seqence. We also checked out a soul food (southern?) restaurant in Eugene. It has been a while since I had a pulled pork sandwich with slaw; it was messy and delicious and I am proud to say I ate every bite. Lanna had the ribs and managed to eat just 1 ½ out of 4 ribs. We are sure she has had ribs before, so we were a little perplexed when we saw her sucking the end of the rib, and when asked what she was doing she replied “I’m trying to suck the bone out of the end.” Hmmm, we all gave each other quizzical looks and then chuckled.

Hockey at the Ice Arena

The Eugene Parks and Rec held a free hockey day for kids, complete with full hockey gear. The kids were all excited to give it a try and did great. It did not take them long to get the hang of skating on the ice while holding the stick and shooting on goal. Maggie and Cole did not come off the ice once the whole hour and a half, skating around, taking slap shots on goal and passing to each other. Lanna had a quick break to allow her tailbone to recover from two falls in a row, but then headed back out. She was sore, but she didn’t want to come off the ice. Jo did great as well, with lots of smiles, having fun out on the ice with everyone. The kids really enjoyed the experience and would like to try it again.

Everyone is all smiles in their full hockey gear before hitting the ice.

Sisters sharing a nice moment.

Lanna's trader card shot.

Maggie's trader card pose.

Maggie and Lanna face off.


Everyone on the ice: Jo (#33); Cole (behind girl in the middle); Maggie (upper center); Lanna (far right with adult)

Panorama of the rink. Maggie is front center, Lanna is laying down in front of the goal.

We were sure the kids would be tired, but had no idea how exhausted the adults would be. We went back to the BS house for lunch and some rest time, and all the adults took little naps while the kids continued to play. It’s hard work watching your kids skate. Next, it will be Ensure and dentures. Good thing the kids are responsible. However, as a parent you are always on. At various times, one adult or another had one eye open surveying the action, and when we heard the garage door open, Tina jumped right up to check things out.

Post-hockey picture. Everyone is sweaty, but had a great time.

We headed out late Sunday evening to be home Monday in preparation for our floors being refinished. We all wished we could spend one more evening visiting, but all good things must come to and end. It was an enjoyable time and we can’t wait to head down again soon.

Pictures of Maggie

At the Chehalis basketball tournament, professional photographers were on site taking pictures at every game. There were several good ones of all the girls, and we purchased two of Maggie.

Look at the concentration, she even made the shot!

Maggie on the breakaway. Notice how big the girl to her left is. I question if she is really a 5th grader. We referred to her as Shaquila.