Shady Bottom

Emily and Dre'

Ward and Gordon prepare to drop the tree

...and the tree is down

We spent the long weekend working on the camping property with our friends. We cleaned, cleared, restocked, dropped trees, played with a tractor, cooked meal after meal for the kids, and more. For those of you who may not know, we went in with a group of our friends last autumn and purchased 5 acres of camping property on the Cowlitz river located between Randle & Packwood. It's geographically between Mt. Rainier & Mt. St. Helens. Beautiful property! And, it's adjacent to our other friends' 5 acres, which is adjacent to yet another friends' 5 acres. So, all together, we can roam around on 15 acres of beautiful forested, secluded mountainous riverfront property. Ward went down early Thursday afternoon. Nick and I came down later Thursday evening. Nick and I came home Sunday evening, and Ward is still down there. Wondering if Ward is ever coming home.... Anyway, I posted a few pictures of Gordon and Ward dropping a dying tree that was located between the two properties. Then they got the tractor out and cleared all the bramble, so there is a wide open grassy field common area between the properties.

Here is something exciting - While I was clearing bramble, I felt a bite on my bicep. I took off my sweatshirt and lifted up my long sleeved T-Shirt to discover a TICK biting me! OMG! it was disgusting. I screamed like a girl and Ward came over to check it out. Thank God Ward knew what to do.  He heated up a nail and touched the tick with it and it killed it. Then it was fairly easy to remove with a tweezer. And yes, we got the head. Ughghgh. creepy l'il thang!  

....but not as creepy as the HUGE WOLF SPIDER that was in my blanket that night!!!!! No kidding. Nick and I went to bed in our precious little cabin and I was straightening out the blankets and this monstrous sized spider scampers off the blanket and up the wall. Again, I screamed like a girl and Ward had to kill it. Then we had to proceed with the "cleansing of the cabin" to ensure that it's creepy little friends were not lurking around. Yes, I am talking about the spider. Thank God Nick didn't seem to care.  I hate to pass on my irrational fears to him.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.  Needless to say, I did not sleep very well that night, and am about to ask for my portion of the funds back. No one told me about TICKS and SPIDERS!!!! Just kidding. It's paradise down there...

OK - so now we are back home and today is all about Concession prep and prep for relatives. The next two weeks are filled with concessions duty to support Auburn Little League's baseball tournaments. And, on June 4th we have the Kansas Bummers visiting, so that means prep and planning. They are all taking an Alaskan cruise and visiting us a few days before they depart. Looking forward to seeing them all!!

And, I watched the movie JUNO last night.   AWESOME movie.  I think that the same crowd that loved Napolean Dynamite would also enjoy this movie.  Sadly, I admit that I am in the group that totally got and enjoyed ND.... 

Happy Mother's Day!!

Today is Mother's day... The day where I am supposed to be loved and adored, given my way, pampered, etc. I've only had to do three loads of laundry, find the scotch tape so I could help wrap my own present, clean up after breakfast, remind both boys that showering and/or shaving is a requirement today, and more...

However, it is all worthwhile, because I got a fabulous Mother's Day gift: A 160gb Lacie "Little Disk" so I can schedule automatic backups of my MacBook. Cool, eh?! geek gift...

Palm Beach, Florida

The Breakers Resort

Shopping on Worth street

The conference evening shindig

Chris and Mom enjoy the balmy Florida evening

Mom enjoying herself at the soiree

Evening at the Breakers

Mom enjoying a "Bahama Mama" by the poolside


I got to go to a user conference which was held at the Five-Star Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida. It exceeded all my expectations. I have never stayed at a five-star resort before, and this was absolutely amazing. Rich with history and beauty. Google it when you have some time. Anyway, I took my mom and we had so much fun together. It was her first time East of the Mississippi, and of course her first time playing in the Atlantic ocean. Everything about the resort and the town (on the island) was jaw-dropping amazing. I don't even know where to begin to describe the opulence and wealth that was evident, but the car of choice amongst the retirees was the Bentley.

I am sharing the pictures that turned out semi-decently, that I took from my iPhone. The two from the evening are grainy. My charger died half way through the trip, so I didn't get as many as I wanted to.

Oh yeah, and the vendor conference was great too. I learned a ton of new information about this financial software package that Russell owns.

Enjoy the pics!
Chris

Game Cancelled

I finally am updating my blog....

So, as you know it is Baseball season. That means each and every day is filled with either a game, practice, a board meeting, or if we do have a free evening, we head to the batting cages. Ward's Dodgers are having a bit of a rough start this season so far. They have won only two games, but those wins were quite impressive. In both cases, they came back from behind to win in "extra innings". I finally learned that it's not called "overtime". Nick has had some fun successes, hitting a few doubles and triples so far. His private batting lessons are paying off (yike$$!!). So tonight, they were supposed to play a team that they were really wanting to beat. I show up at the park right after work and it is pouring down rain. The infield is a muddy, soupy mess, and the game is cancelled. Ward and Nick were so bummed out. I am thinking woohoo - an extra two hours! Sometimes I feel like a third wheel... "That's Baseball"!!

Tomorrow, Nick and his class are venturing to Warm Beach camp for 3 days. They are going to be learning about outdoor science, playing games, riding horses, swimming, and lots of other fun activities. I am so excited for him. This is his second camping trip that his class has gone on. Very cool!

And the latest....Last Saturday night, well technically Sunday morning, the phone rings. Expecting it to be Boeing, Ward answers the phone only to hear, "Is Nick there?" from a couple of girl classmates. Ward explains that he is sleeping. They say OK and hang up. Then they CALL BACK!!!! Ward explains what time it is (12:45 am) and the girls start in on "so and so told me to call...." giggle giggle. OMG.

Great Wolf FUN!!!!

Chris and Laurece riding the 'double tube'

Chris and Laurece coming out of the chute

Nick and Megan decide what to do next

Derek, Nick and Megs coming out of the chute

Megan's excitement from the Tornado - Woohoo!

Jill and Miranda - cute!

We just got back from 2 days at the new Great Wolf Lodge (GWL) in "Grand Mound" Washington (where??). My mom took Jill, Miranda, Megan, Nick and I. Derek came down for the day. Ward, sadly, could not arrange vacation. He would have loved it. And, we met the Rust family down there too. So fun! I have lived in Washington all my life and have never heard of "Grand Mound". I think they created the town when they put in GWL. Meaning, it is truly in the middle of nowhere. But, GWL is a GREAT thing. Apparently there are eleven in the USA. My mom and dad first saw it in Kansas City and have always wanted to take the grandkids. So, this trip fulfilled that wish. We came during the "Soft Opening", which means there was still a fair amount of construction going on, and processes were not fully in place. Can you imagine the sheer enjoyment Jill and I had postulating how we could improve the place if only we were given the task??

Nick loved it. He could go to the arcade, water park, teen center (video games) as he wished. Nick competed in a "Guitar Hero" contest, and made it to the top ten. He did really well and was proud of himself. He definitely didn't want mom hanging around though. Totally un-cool! So, I hung around from time to time just outside the door, peeking in to make sure he is OK. There was a small crowd of moms and dads doing the same thing. One mom got booted out by her teen age son when she STARTED DANCING to the guitar hero song, "Schools Out For The Summer". HAHAHA! Not even I would do that to my kid. We all got plastic bracelets with computer chips in them, which had a pre-programmed spending limit on them. These bracelets also opened the door to your room. I think Nick enjoyed it because he got a real taste of freedom. I also got my first taste of "kid being out late". I told him he had to be back at the room by 10:30, and he actually came in at 10:25! What a good boy!

The water park was truly amazing, but really packed. My guestimate is that there was approx. 1,000 people in water park part at any given time. It was kindof like skiing with the wait part and the volume of people. The wait for the big ride (Tornado) was long, but not awful. But boy, was it fun!! I was able to get about 5 trips down that thing in per day.

I think this is funny - Here I am with all these 'body image' issues: cellulite stricken rear end, pasty white skin, varicose veins, to name a few, (there are more!!). And appearing in a swimming suit in April nonetheless... Yeah, I've been working out all winter - NOT! OK, no problem. Mental talk to self: "There are 1,000 people here, many of them worse off than me. The point is to have fun with the kids. No one is looking at YOU.... blah, blah, blah." OK, I am ready to do this thing..... I take off my clothes to reveal my utilitarian and efficient lap-swimming suit. I get in line for the big ride, and what do I hear?? "Christine, Christine!! HI!!!" Great, a colleague from work is now seeing me in my swim suit. OMG. Next, I saw an ex-coworker from T-Mobile. Greeeeaaat. Then, it was someone from Little League. Excellent. VERY humiliating. Definitely something I had to just 'get over' and move on.

There are tons of pictures to post. Hard to choose the best ones!