Halloween

It's Halloween time again. 

This is Steve and Jason's favorite time of year.  The haunted house is in full swing.

This years theme is the Zombie Hunter.  And once again they did a great job putting it together.  Last night they where short handed so Steve and I helped out.  But Jason as always has a major role in the haunt.  He lives for this time of year.  

This Halloween is very different for us.  Well......mostly for Steve.  It started last year.  Our baby doesn't trick-or-treat anymore.  Steve and Jason have had a tradition of starting down town and hitting all the shops.  Then up to the college dorms and finish up with as many houses as they can hit.  Jason usually returns with pounds of candy. 

Now, Jason and his band of buddies, dressed in their Zombie attire will go down town, without poor Steve.  Then they head to the haunted house to get to work.

My babies are growing up.

Megan Turns 17

I can't believe this kid is 17.  She is growing up to be an amazing woman.  I am always in awe of her giving and caring spirit.  Yes, she is also moody and cranky but she is 17.

We asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said Florence.  It's one of our favorite camping spots.  However, our trailer has some issues and is in the shop getting them fixed.  We were hoping to get it back in time but no luck.  I said...How about Seattle?

I was greeting with YESSSSSSS!!!!!!

Sadly though, Anthony couldn't make it.  He was still fighting fires.

We decided to hit all the touristy stuff we could.  I think we walked over 7 miles in one day.  Of course, we spent hours at Pikes Market.

The gum wall is both cool and gross at the same time.  I couldn't convince anyone to stick gum on it.

Megan used her birthday money to buy a cool new smart phone and some shopping at the market.

While she and Steve ran back to the car to dump her purchases, Jason got a tattoo. 

A henna tattoo.

It lasts about a week or so.

Then off to the eagerly awaited restaurant The Crab Pot.  I had been here a couple of years ago with a bunch of MOMS Club people and was excited for the kids to check it out.

We showed up a little before noon and thank goodness we did.  It was packed within the hour.

This is our before picture.  The waitress suggested adding more crab to the meal and I am glad we did.  I was afraid to get my hands in the way of the kids mouths.

 
A quick picture before the feeding frenzy began.

At one point Jason says "this is so good and I am so hungry I am shaking."

Needless to say, they loved it.

Our after picture

This picture is a little misleading, because it looks like there is food leftover.  That was completely gone after I shot this.  There was nothing edible left.

Will we go again.......YES!!!!!

Megan and her birthday cake.

After lunch we walked over to the ferry and went to visit Bainbridge Island.  It was about a 35minute ferry ride to the island.  The weather was wonderfully.

Off in the distance we could see our cruise ships.  Jason said "Oh wow.....that thing is huge.".

Why would we pay to get on a ferry then walk another couple of miles?  Ice Cream of course.

It was very good, but I really wasn't that hungry after the Crab Pot.  However, I was team player and ate it anyway.  Megan and I got the Watermelon sherbert.  It was very good, but Megan says it's not as good as mine.  I love that kid.

Took this shot from the ferry going back to Seattle.  We went to the Space Needle the next day.  I didn't go to the top.  I have been there before and I seriously don't like the heights.   The kids really enjoyed it.

We had such a great time.  Looking forward to going back soon.

ALS - Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , "Lou Gehrig's Disease.

I saw the challenges going on and I will admit had to google ALS to see what it is.  The ice bucket challenge was aimed at raising awareness and raising money.  Since the "ice bucket challenge is all over social media and the TV, I believe their plan worked.

The last report I read, they have raised 41 million dollars.  Taking the challenge is only part of it. The second part is to donate to the ALS foundation.

One of the things I know about myself was, I didn't know anything about ALS and didn't know anyone with the disease. So I learned.  I also found out that a friend of mine lost her mother to the disease.  I also heard first hand, just how horrible this disease is.

I watched the video's of my friends doing the challenge and thinking and hoping that I would not end up having to do it.  Thanks to my good friend Jessie, I was called out.  Here is my video, and I challenged my kids: Jason, Megan, Anthony, Kagan (Anthony's girl friend) and my brother Rick.  You have 24 hours to complete the challenge.  When my family is done, I will make my donation.

Here is my video:

Thanks to my wonderful daughter who edited the video.  What you don't see is, my dog decided to pee right in front of me.

Jason, decided to complete his challenge right after me.  Here is his video.  At least one of the people he challenged has already finished it and posted a video.

Here is Jason's video:

I will post the rest of the families as soon as they are done.

If you haven't already been challenged, take the time to research ALS.

AugustFest

AugustFest is over and unfortunately I don't have many pictures to share.  We were just to busy.

Here is one taken by Nancy..

We are sneaking a quick beer and some food.

Update

We are busy, I am just not posting.

This family is getting ready for our church's AugustFest.  Steve, myself and a couple of other families organize this great event.  This year it is being combined with the Church's 100th year celebration.  So so exciting.

We have redesigned some of our old carnival games and added some new ones.  Since the event is 2 weeks away we are hopefully going to be finished with the games today.  I said TODAY!!!!!

You see these games online and think, "how hard can the be?"  We started designing back in Feburary and are just now getting them done.  Being in a small rural town, we don't have Home Depot or Lowes.  We have to travel 2+ hours to get to them.  So while we need a small little part or just one more piece of lumber, its a road trip for us.  It was nice having soccer in Washington because we hit those stores at least two times a week.

My break is over and I am going to get this boat race game done if it kills me.

Alaska Trip - Part 3

This is the last Alaska post.

When we got to Juneau, we woke up to airplanes.  Right outside our deck was the water landing strip.
Steve took the following pictures.

That cruise ship in the background will be the ship a MOMS Club buddy will be on in a few weeks from when we saw it.

Our lunch at the Red Dog Saloon.  Our only regret in Juneau was that we didn't plan out our day better.  Steve's back and knee injury caught up to him here.  We ended up back on the ship so he could take it easy.

When we go back, we will make better use of our time here.  But we still had a blast.  My favorite Alaskan beer turned out to be Alaskan White.  Yummmm

Our evening buddy.  A frog.  His eyes are made of the chocolate they leave on our pillows.

After a good night sleep, we where ready for Skagway.  We opted not to take the train.  Steve is less then thrilled to take train rides while on vacation.  We took the smaller van tour.  He stopped and let us out to check out the sights.  This guy really knew what he was talking about.  I love when you leave a tour, you really feel like you know the area.

We all stopped at the Welcome to Alaska sign.  Yes, Doreen and I have matching jackets.  We got a great deal on them.  Kelli has one to but she didn't wear hers.  Actually, most of the ladies on the ship at them.

I am actually standing on the edge of a cliff.  Something I wouldn't normally do.

Our last formal night, we took advantage of the fact that we were all together and sang happy birthday to Doreen.  We were two weeks early but oh well.

Steve's favorite thing about this ship.  This tree.  He commented on it every time we got in the elevator.  You can't really appreciate just how big this thing is.  It is several stories tall and it is suspended in the air.  It is very cool.

Just a picture of the grand stairway.  At night there is a band and dancing.   Over looking is Steve's coffee shop.  Yes he had his coffee.

Standing at the back of the ship, watching the sun set.

Our last nights little buddy. In my cousins room the monkey was hanging over his bed.  Craig crawled into bed and fell asleep.  The next morning he woke up with brown sticky gooo in his hair.  Craig thought the monkey left him a treat on his pillow, but as he woke up realized he had fallen asleep on his pillow chocolate. 

It was my turn to be tired when we got to Victoria.  Steve and I had both been there so I wasn't that excited.  This picture is more of an inside joke between Steve and I.

Since we had already seen much of these sights, we spent a lot of time just being silly and having fun.  We did take a tour on a double decker bus.

I just liked this store.

Liked this Dollar Tree sign because of the Canadian leaf.  It doesn't take much to amuse me.

 

We  would do this trip again in a heart beat.  We wouldn't trade anything on the ship, it was truly amazing.  We would do some of the excursions a little bit different.  We laughed a lot and enjoyed the family.  We are already planning the next one.

This picture is completely unedited.  This is exactly what the sunset looked like.  Simply Amazing.

Fire Season

Fire season is in full swing here in Oregon and in the rest of the country.  Anthony is off to southern Oregon but will probably end up somewhere in WA.  There is a big fire near us, but I don't think he will be lucky enough to get that one. 

He was a little bummed.  It will be the first year that his good friend won't be with him this year. 

Good Luck Anthony and Jordan.  Be Safe.

Zombies

Here is my little zombie.

He is the one on the rope. 

Alaska Trip - Part 2

Are you ready for part 2 of my Alaska trip.

I promised I would explain why Happy Bear is called Happy Bear.  This shirt might give you an idea. 

We discovered the "Mystery Drink".  Notice the duck whistle around Craig's neck.  He bought that on the tour we had taken.  He saved it for the Martini Bar back at the ship.

Each one of us had to try the Mystery Drink.

Even Steve's Mom.  I love this picture because it looks like she has enjoyed several "Mystery Drinks", but she didn't.  This was her only one.  You didn't see this picture.

I too had a couple of drinks.  Needless to say, none of us was feeling any pain when we got back on the ship.

The Asylum and the Burger Queen is where we started our day.

The amazing view from our deck.

Craig, showing of his new duck whistle.

We hit a great little shop where we picked up gifts for everyone and ourselves.  Steve bought me a cute jacket.

As we where leaving, Steve and I decided we would live on this island. 

We started seeing whales again.

One of the great things about our ship was the talks.  I wish I could remember his name but he was so informative.  He was in the bridge pointing out the whales and talking about their behavior.  Between the scenery and the whales it was amazing.  As I stood there and took pictures I happened to look up.

The whales where great, but this guy was amazing.  I just can't get enough of them.

Back in our room.

Some of the pictures I got while whale watching.  People around me where taking pictures of the whales while I was taking pictures of the landscape and the sunsets. 

Of course there are sea lions.

The sunsets always amazed me.  But what was more spectacular was the night sky.  This is after 10pm.  Steve and I would step out on the deck and the view would take our breath away.

Pictures as we make our way to the Sawyer Glacier.

We sat on our deck and ate breakfast to this view.

We unfortunately couldn't get to close to the glacier.  To much ice.  So I guess we will just have to go back to see it.  Steve agrees. 

This is also the area where we saw the mama bald eagle in her nest with her babies.  I needed a stronger zoom lens to get the shot clearly.  But it was an amazing sight.

More to come.