the mariners and the bite

I didn't realize there were so many things I could learn in just two days. First, when you go to mariner's games, you must wear a crazy hat: Second, I now know why all the Japanese girls go crazy over Ichiro. Third, Leah is fun to hang out with at baseball games, even if we had a guy sitting behind us that kept coughing A LOT.

Fourth, the mariners really can win games. AND even get grand slam home runs (that was fun)!

Fifth, Jesus saves from hell. I guess I kind of already knew that one, but never really thought of it in this way before, especially by advertising it at the Bite.Sixth, they actually do have good entertainment at the Bite. This group was pretty funny, I liked that they referred to the only white guy as their token white guy for the band, he of course was the soprano voice.

Seventh, the best dessert offered at the Bite this year was the peach cobbler at the Southern Kitchen. My friend, Karra and I have been attending the Bite together for I think almost 8 years now (Karra's husband, Brian has been coming with us for probably half that time) and each year we mostly look forward to our desserts. We started out with mud pie and those were so good, but then the restaurant that supplied the mud pies stopped coming to the Bite, so then we really liked the apple dumplings and then that booth stopped coming. Last year, we had the crepe dessert and even though we shared one of those this year, it did not come close to how good the peach cobbler was. I just hope Southern Kitchen is at the Bite next year.

los angeles

It was a slumber party weekend at Christina's! Anneka, Christina and I spent the entire weekend together since Blake is out of town. We had so much fun!

We stayed up way too late each night talking and watching the Starter Wife (it's with Debra Messing). I didn't even really like the show, but it sucked us in and we couldn't stop watching it. We went to the beach and Anneka and I even ventured out on the boogie boards. There weren't really any waves where we were, but we were glad to get into the water (even though there was slimy seaweed on the way in). Next time I'm down, we're going to tackle some real waves, right Anneka?We squeezed in some shopping and ate at a great restaurant, Toast near Christina's. It was so fresh and yummy. And for dessert, we headed over to Westwood (near UCLA) and waited in this line.So we could get into this place:

And eat one of these:

It was worth the wait, especially since they each only cost $1.50! I definitely want to go here again the next time I'm in LA. Thanks Anneka and Christina for hanging out all weekend!

summer time

I went camping with my family over the 4th at Indian Creek on Rimrock Lake (it's off hwy 12 between white pass and Yakima). It was a nice campground, we had 3 sites and the lake was beautiful, although too cold to swim in for me. I didn't end up taking any pictures of it, though. I was in lazy camping mode. My dad brought canoes and we went out to this island in the lake each day to be in the sun. I didn't think of taking any pictures until after Leslie's family had left (sorry Les). We don't look too shabby, considering no one had showered in these pictures for a couple of days. Ah camping.

I'm so glad I've already gotten two camping trips in this summer. I'm hoping to do a couple of more and hike in on some of those. I'm not letting this summer go to waste.

home improvement

I went to a big-chain home improvement store Friday night with my younger sister Leah (she's 20). I needed to pick up some paint supplies and a new retractable screen door for the front door. We found the door section and there was an employee sitting there, so I went up to him to ask him a few questions about retractable doors. He started telling me that there are three different screen doors that they have (didn't bother to ask me what I really needed). Anyway, the first option, "the Cadillac" version included installation and was around $400 and had a 20-year warranty. The next option, I can't remember what car manufacturer he used for this, maybe Ford was around $150 and you had to install it. At this point the guy says, "well maybe this option will work for you if your sweetie can help you install it." To which I replied, I think I can figure it out myself (and thought, you're a male-chauvinistic pig). The third option was a little cheaper, like $120 and he referred to it as like some really crappy car brand, I can't remember the name. It didn't have multiple positions that it could stop at like the middle and top priced options. But, it was all I really needed, since I only want it opened or closed (and it seemed to have the same quality as the one priced right above). He showed us where they were and then when we were looking at the third one and I said, this is all I really need. And then he says, "Maybe you can have your daughter help you install it." Ok, so Leah is 20 and looks pretty close to her age and I said to him, "she's my sister" (in an annoyed voice). So, he says, "well, that's a compliment, isn't it?" So I said, "no, it's actually not." Luckily he walked away after that. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe I still bought the thing from that store. I should have gone to the other one up the street, I still might take it back, just because of that guy.

father's day

My parents live down near Rochester (south of Olympia). A bunch of us gathered together to celebrate my dad. Luckily, it was a nice day and we were able to play some croquet. It wasn't a regular game of croquet, though. We set up the wickets in random places, like under the trampoline and along the driveway, to make it extra hard. The second course was kind of too hard. My dad had no mercy the first game. He couldn't just win, he had to get poison and knock everyone out of the game, so there was no 2nd or 3rd. He's lucky it was father's day.

Here's my dad with Beren and Asher. He loves being with the grandkids (and me, of course). My dad's a cowboy at heart. They have a little property at their new house and he has a bunch of horses and a donkey. It was always his dream to live on a big ranch, but I don't think my mom shared that dream. And this father's day did not make that dream come true. At least he gets to play with the horses. We didn't really have any while I was growing up at home, so I haven't ridden too much, but I'm thinking I need to get down some more and go riding with my dad. He would love it.

They recently got chickens (I think my dad said he did it so it would teach my younger siblings some responsibility). Beren and Asher were so excited to feed the chickens with my mom and they even found 2 eggs. I doubt Colin, Julie or Emily get excited about feeding any of the animals. Kylee really wanted to pet the chickens (since we got to pet a horse and the dog). They wouldn't stand still for her, though. You might think she looks pretty dissappointed, but she often has this look on her face.

We found some flowers to pick and that made Kylee's day.

moses lake

Leah and I drove over to Moses Lake to camp and watch Leslie and Jane compete in a sprint triathlon. It was nice to get away from the pouring rain in Seattle. After we drove through Snoqualmie Pass, it stopped raining and we saw this pretty rainbow. It was a sign that we were in for a fun, sunny weekend.Leslie and Jane did great in the triathlon. The weather was perfect for them, except maybe a little windy on the bike ride.

Their bike ride was 13 miles and a couple of us decided we would try to catch up to them in the car, to cheer for them along the way. The road they were riding on was still open to traffic and the first mustached sheriff let us drive through, but then we got to these not so nice sheriffs and we couldn't drive any further. So, we ended up watching their race from the transition area. Indiana thought she would help out with the directions for the bike riders.It was at a nice park and Leslie's kids enjoyed themselves while we were waiting for them. They were somehow able to pull themselves away from the park toys to cheer mom and Aunt Jane the last stretch of their run. Yay for Leslie and Jane!We camped at Cascade Campgrounds on the lake with Jared and Jane and some of Jane's family. It was a nice campsite, especially the ones we had, since they were tucked back at the end. The only two drawbacks were that it was windy in the evenings and there was a boat launch near the campground that the boaters left from at 5am both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Saturday was worse than Sunday morning. There was some fishing competition going on, but please, do they have to leave that early in the morning? I guess that's why I've never been fishing before. The sunsets were very nice and even though the moon was small, it was so pretty each night.It was good to get out on my first camping trip of the year, not that we were roughing it too much. And we were lucky to have Jane's brothers to make really good, warm fires on the windy evenings so we could sit and stare at the flames for hours. We kept asking ourselves, why is fire watching so addictive? We couldn't stop and that is about all we did once it got dark out.

Me and Jane trying not to freeze in the wind.

We also got to play at the water park they have in Moses Lake. It was pretty cheap to get in, probably because there weren't a ton of water activities, but the lazy river and slides were fun. I didn't make it onto the wave machine thing, but it looked like the boys enjoyed it.

We mostly ate food at our camp-site, but we kept driving by this little burger joint called Woody's and the mural drew me in to try it out. I love this guy. He kind of reminds me of a badly drawn South Park character. The burgers were so-so, probably the thinnest burger meat I've had, but it was worth looking at the fat Woody's man while we ate.

We were so glad we made it over for the weekend, we had such warm weather, it was kind of like having summer. And now we can't wait for our next camping adventure.

birthdays

There have been a few family birthdays in the past week or so. Corinne and Lance's on the 26th and Asher's on the 2nd. For Corinne's b-day a few of us got together in Vancouver to celebrate. Sorry to Lance, but Cheney is too far away. Corinne's bbq was fun. We even had a great game of wiffleball, well, until dad pulled his hamstring. I hope you have a great year, Corinne!

And thanks Corinne (and Nathan) for letting us have Kylee to enjoy. She is a sweet little niece. She was willing to strike a pose even though she missed her nap. She's like, "oh, please, this party is so boring."

Asher is a lucky 4-year old. Check out the awesome robot cake Leslie threw together for him. I think the coolest cake I ever had was when I turned 13. My friend's mom made me one that had a bear sitting in a wheel-barrel full of jelly beans. I couldn't believe she could make a bear out of a cake. The fanciest cakes that we had from my mom were made from this cake pan that could make different letters. I know I had an "A" at least once for a birthday, maybe even a full "ANN", if I had been nice that year.

I'm pretty sure Asher enjoyed his TMNT (that's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) that I found for him at Ross. Beren was more than willing to "help" him play with it.