Memorial Day

We decided to stay home for Memorial Day weekend. Too much competition for campsites and other places to stay. The weather turned out nice for the whole weekend which is a big change from the last few years. In spite of that we rented four movies to watch over the weekend (and we watched them all).

The weekend started out with Grover going with a group to climb Mt Defiance in the Gorge. This is the same group that does the Mt Hood climb each year. Grover decided not to go on the Hood climb this year but still likes the training climbs.

After Mt Defiance Grover and Goni went to Papa Pete's Pizza in Ridgefield for an impromtu birthday celebration for Laurel. Everyone came back to the house for dessert. Got a picture of Goni with Heidi, Laurel & Jill in the kitchen (Goni's favorite place).

On Sunday we went to church and then a bell choir pizza get together in Woodland. Of course then it was nap time but we went to Vancouver for shopping afterwards. Along with many other shoppers we hit Costco and Home Depot. Picked up a sliding screen for the back door, some blinds for the bedroom and flowers & lattice panels for the patio. It is nice to sit out there on the hot summer days.

Our flag was at half staff until noon.

There was quite a crowd this year at the Memorial Day ceremony.

Memorial Day started out with putting up the flag at half staff. We then spent some time cleaning up the patio for the summer season. Grover went down to the Woodland Memorial Day remembrance at city hall before Charity & Chris and the kids came over for a BBQ.

We put the lattice panels up on the pergola to create more shade on the patio


Goni and Jonah (napping in his stroller) enjoying the new shady patio.

All in all it was a great weekend!

May Already?

Seems like it was just yesterday that we were enjoying snow and Christmas. May is the beginning of spring here in Washington and the weather has been nice some of the time. Temperature this morning when I got up at 04:30 was 52 degrees. Only problem is there is rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.

We have enjoyed some flowers in our yard over the last few days. The grass has been getting green and growing nicely. Luckily we didn't have to start mowing in February like we did last year.

Goni spent the weekend working in the church kitchen getting ready for the 20 year anniversary of our pastor, Larry Brown, arriving to serve at Woodland Presbyterian. The celebration was on Sunday after church and Grover was the master of ceremonies for the event. Good thing Goni made an excellent dinner for everyone so they didn't notice all my mistakes.

Broccoli salad (one of my favorites) before it was served.

There was quite a crowd for the event held in the fellowship hall at the church.

Caroline will be coming from Germany for a visit this summer. It is hard to believe she has been gone almost a year. She will arrive on July 20th and go home on August 14th. We are planning at least one family event during this time so she can see everyone.

Save the date! June 20th is Planter's Day in Woodland. There will be the usual breakfast, parade in front of the house, and BBQ lunch. And if the whether is good airplane rides from the Woodland airport. So bring your chair and come join the fun.

After the event at church we headed up to Centralia for Jonah's first birthday party. Everyone had a good time.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Jonah some $$ for his college fund. He "taste tested" the bills to make sure they were real. Maybe he will be a banker.

Jonah enjoying his birthday cake. He dug into it and afterwards had to get in the bath to get cleaned up.

After the bath Jonah went for a ride in his new wagon pulled by cousin Mercedes.