LONDON

Since arriving in London (safely) Catherine has called home a couple of times. Her voice is very chipper, she giggles a lot, and she says that she's tired! They've been so many places and seen so many things!

Here are a few photos she's been able to send to us already.

Catherine and Lauren at the Tower Bridge.














The girls with their cheerleading smiles and uniforms.

The three girls together: Lauren, Catherine and Dawn.

2008-2009

How are you finishing off 2008? I hope peacefully!!

We had snow for almost two weeks (very unusual for us), and I was hoping that as it fell, it would thaw out quickly. That did not happen and on Christmas Day it was a winter wonderland in our town.

The snow fell Christmas morning and kept us indoors and away from our plans. We had planned to head up to Seattle and spend the night. December 26 is Stephanie's birthday and she loves to shop in Seattle (after-Christmas sales) and visit the Experience Music Project. We hoped to do things for Stephanie's birthday on Friday before dropping Catherine off at SeaTac Airport for a 6 o'clock flight.

The weather cleared up Friday and we drove up to Seattle for Catherine. At the airport we hooked up with her friend, Lauren, and Lauren's mom, Dawn. The three of them were traveling with at least 3o other cheerleaders to London. This past summer, Catherine and Lauren secured spots on the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) All Star team which will be marching in a New Year's Day parade in London. Several family members and friends have helped us out with the expenses for this incredible trip! (Thank you.)

Tower Bridge...the view from the hotel.

Lauren and Catherine ham it up at Catherine's 10th birthday. The theme was "disco party." Catherine and Lauren at Cheer Camp (Summer, 2oo8) with other team members from Three Rivers Christian School.Dawn at summer cheer camp...she's the coach.


Catherine and Lauren have been wonderful friends for years! I am looking forward to seeing pictures and hearing of their London adventures when they return.


So the big girl is gone, the little girl turned 13 and the boy is home for semester break. The snow is gone (yea! yea! yea!) and now I can see green grass in my backyard and the black pavement of the road in front of my house! That whole "White Christmas" thing is so overrated.

I hope y'all have a blessed transition from 2008 to 2009!

MORE SNOW PICTURES

Icicles hanging off the north side of our house.
The longest is about 2.5 ft. (0.76 m)

I've never seen this at my house before!

While Steve and I ran errands around town Saturday, the

kids were smart enough to play in the snow.

Catherine and Steph pose for themselves while someone gets a shot of Mitchell "boarding" down the south side of the house. These kids are in the habit of taking wheels off skateboards and riding the decks on the snow. This time, however, Mitchell had a little run-in with a bush catching a branch in the face. That's going to leave a scar.

By the time Steve and I were done running errands, enough snow and ice had accumulated so that we couldn't quite make it up the hill and home. We tried putting chains on the tires but they didn't quite fit so after abandoning the car on the side of the road, I walked up the hill to home. Through the snow...wind blowing in my face...toes getting cold...(dramatic enough?) Okay, we left the car four houses down the street.

Evolution of a snowy backyard.

Wednesday, December 18

Friday, December 19

Sunday, December 21

ALMOST WINTER

So volleyball season ended and I took a nosedive in regard to the blog. I'm sorry. But I'm back!

Officially winter begins in two days, but our wintery weather arrived two days ago.

We woke Wednesday to an inch or so of snow, and school was cancelled for the day. We had spent Tuesday afternoon and evening at basketball games at school and the girls stayed up late when we got home to finish their homework. (They make me so proud!) They were a little bummed that after all that effort, they were not going to school.
Stephanie was especially bummed as her basketball game (final one of the season) had also been cancelled.
The snow has stuck around and we've even gotten more, so school was cancelled Thursday and again today. Three days off on account of snow is very rare around here! It's a bummer too as I missed sharing Christmas celebrations with my students and colleagues. We don't return to school now until January 5.
In the meantime, Steve goes off to work faithfully, braving the snow and ice. For all who live where it really snows, this is nothing. For those of us who grew up in Southern California and have learned to live with rain in Washington, this is a big deal! Humor us, please.
Finally, Mitchell has come home for Christmas! He drove from Albuquerque, NM, leaving Monday morning and arriving here Tuesday evening. (He met us at the school during the basketball games.) I am very excited to have him home, and I am very grateful that he arrived just before our big storm hit. God takes very good care of us all.

Here are a few pictures I took around the house this morning. Maybe later I'll venture outside and take more.

My cat, Little Sox, is spending more time indoors than out these days. (He's very cuddly.)

Catherine's dog, Meeko.
He ferociously barks at the snow as it falls. I'm pretty certain that he will drive me crazy.

This is Candy, Stephanie's cat.

She's very independent.

As I was wrapping up this blog entry, I got a visit from some friends. The deer are hanging out in the backyard again! (Did I mention that I grew up in L.A. and this stuff is really cool to me?)

THE DAILY NEWS

http://tdn.com/articles/2008/11/12/sports/preps/doc491a74f623696371687645.txt

Check it out!

Our local paper has done an article on our volleyball team and it came out in today's edition. I'm so excited I can hardly teach!

COLOR

This shot is of my backyard. We are blessed with a greenbelt behind our house that won't be developed and will remain a haven for the deer, raccoons, and other critters who visit us from time to time.
On Saturday, October 25, we took a drive up north to Tacoma where Catherine had her final regular-season volleyball game. On the drive up I was struck by the colors everywhere! Fall had arrived, the leaves where changing color and I almost missed it. I had been spending too much time in my classroom and in the gym, and my short drive to school doesn't show me much. So the next week I determined to change my pace and make sure I noticed the changing colors. Our town is so pretty this time of year!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

I noticed that I had not updated this blog in over a month and didn't really wonder why. As my dad would say, "I'm busier than a one-legged man in a shin-kicking contest." I thought that once school got underway, my schedule would click in and turn into a routine. Nothing routine so far!

Both the girls have played volleyball this Fall and while the junior high season is over (and Stephanie has already begun basketball), the high schoolers play on! On Tuesday, November 4, our girls played their first (ever) district playoff game. We traveled up to Taholah, WA and played a heart-stopping match. To gain the victory, one must win three out of five games...we took the first game, Taholah took the second and third games. Our girls didn't want to go home yet so they won the fourth game. On to the fifth and decisive game. While the first four games go to 25 points, the fifth game goes to 15 (and you always have to win by 2 points). So much excitement as we were winning 12-6 and the Taholah Chitwhins ("bear" in the Quinault language) caught up. We went ahead, they caught up. They went ahead and with the score 14-13 in their favor, they served for match point. It bounced off my Catherine's arms and into the corner of Taholah's court! We got the ball back and the point. So tied 14-14 our captain, Myriah serves a nice one, the girls battle it out and we get the point. Whew. Now we have to win by 2 points so Myriah serves again and...ACE! They couldn't return the serve, we win the game and the match and advance to the next district game!! We went wild. My voice has yet to return to me.

This Saturday we traveled up to Lake Quinault to tackle the next round. First we played the first place Lake Quinault Elks and we lost 3 games to 1. It was sad. We still had one more chance...one more match...win and we go to state, lose and we go home. We played Whishkah Valley and took the match 3 games to none! Whoo Hoo! On to state!

The girls will travel to Yakima, WA, Thursday afternoon to play on Friday. They'll be playing at the Yakima Valley Sundome, the same venue that will host Sesame Street Live, the Harlem Globetrotters and Brad Paisley. This is very cool! They play their first game at 2:00 on Friday and if they win, they don't play again until Saturday morning, but if they lose, they play again Friday evening at 8:00. Lose twice and you go home.

I'm so proud of our girls. This is just our school's third year having an athletic team and the girls are doing so well! They even get complimented on their behavior as they visit different schools. It's always my prayer that win or lose, we will be a good reflection on our Lord Jesus.

75 Years and Aging Like Fine Wine

This weekend I jetted down to LA to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday. It was a blast! While on the plane heading home Sunday night, I reflected on the event.
_________________________
"Dad's 75th birthday is coming up next month. Wouldn't it be great if we all could get together for him?"
That's how it started; Paavo threw out the idea during a phone conversation. Steve sent an email and we all started making plans.
Now when I say, "we" I'm referring to the original six siblings -- Jeane, Annie, John, Patty, Paavo and me. We live in Santa Rosa (CA), Lawndale (CA), Albuquerque (NM), Santa Maria (CA), San Luis Obispo (CA) and Longview (WA). Three states for the six of us and the last time we were all together was when Scott and Heather got married.
Scotty -- since Dad married Linda, Scott makes us seven.













Linda & Me

September 26, on a Friday night, Scott, Heather and the boys flew in from Colorado. I followed around 11 pm and Linda snuck out of the house to pick up me from the airport. Dad didn't discover I was there until Saturday morning when he returned from the grocery store with milk, Cheetos and ice cream for the grandsons. I cherish the memory of his face as he saw me and uttered, "What?" I gave him a kiss, told him that I had a Portland-LAX ticket and decided to use it this weekend.
"You've got a birthday coming and I thought this would be a good weekend to use it."
Annie came over and we made pasties.
Who came next? Maybe John and Sam; Scott picked up them from the airport. Leilani and Kakoa...Jeane, Rachel and Jasper...Patty, Emma and Patrick...Paavo, Courtney and Kirk.
Alan and Mickey showed up. Dad took a shower and put on a shirt and tie.
Around 6 o'clock more came -- from Advanced Recovery, LMU, ASM and Finlandia Foundation.
A neighbor came. A long-time friend of Linda's came. The "greats" were there.
It was a house full of laughter, stories, pictures and LOVE.
When it was time to blow out the candles and cut the cake, grandchildren gathered around Dad, and Linda stood by his side. He recited a poem that ended, "...will you still love me when I am old?"
Linda smiled in response and they kissed.

VISITOR FROM NZL

Anne, my dear friend from New Zealand, came for a visit and I skipped school for a few days to show her around my neck of the woods. We started by visiting the beach on my side of the Pacific Ocean.
God blessed us with a totally beautiful day in September. We drove out to Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River and visited the Astoria Column. Painted on the Column is a mural spiraling from the bottom to an observation deck, depicting the early history of Oregon.

One of my favorite things to do at the beach is fly kites. Each year Long Beach (WA) holds an international kite festival, and I figured I would have my own with Anne. She confessed that she hadn't flown kites since her children (now grown) were kids.

While at the beach, I couldn't resist the opportunity to have Anne drive on the "wrong" side of the road. The story I read says that originally folks drove on the left side of the road as a carry-over from the days when right-handed knights wore their swords on their left. They rode on the left and pulled their swords out with their right hands to defend themselves when approached by a foe. Apparently the drivers in the USA took the right side of the road in rebellion!

I had to ask Anne if she felt rebellious driving on the right and she said, "No. Mostly scared."

Whenever driving from Astoria to Long Beach, I take a look over my shoulder to see who's docked at the port. This day Atlantis was there and after a little smooth talking and lots of groveling, I managed to get the captain's permission to board with Anne.

Last time I was on board was in 2004 when I participated in the SEAS program and dove on the East Pacific Rise. I was so excited to have a friend on board to see the ship and the submersible, Alvin. Anton, one of the Alvin pilot-in-training, was kind enough to give a wonderful tour!

On Tuesday, Anne and I headed up to Seattle. We shared Starbucks coffee at the top of the Space Needle and took in a great view of the city.

We also took in a baseball game Tuesday night at Safeco Field. The last-place Mariners were hosting the Texas Rangers in a short two-night stand. On Wednesday, there was a terrific afternoon game that the Mariners won by one run, but when we attended on Tuesday, the Mariners stunk. Not only did they lose, they lost miserably...a terrible example of baseball for a Kiwi who had never been to a game before. :(

We arrived at the ballpark before the game to watch batting practice and to tour the park. As empty as the stands are here before the game, they were that empty during the ninth inning. The big difference is that it was dark during the ninth.

I'm not sure that Anne will start watching baseball when she returns to New Zealand, but she got a free Ichiro t-shirt out of this event.

On Wednesday, we drove up to the Canadian border and I delivered Anne to her friends just south of the border. Thus endeth our visit. Perhaps I should go to New Zealand next and see her side of the Pacific.