Spring Break Starts!

Before we talk about anything else we need to announce the arrival of our newest niece, Daphne Rose McKay, who was born on Thursday March 27th and weighed 7 lbs 8 oz. She and Michelle are doing well and should be home today. She is a cutie!Our annual Spring Break adventure has begun. Our grandson Noah came to spend Friday night with us because his birthday is Monday. He and Goni made cupcakes and we ate pizza. We also had to make the trip over to the park for some swinging during one of the breaks in the rain/snow. We headed out for Eagle Crest in Redmond, Oregon at about 2:30 on Saturday. Shelly & Tim and their children Cole & Ellie went with along with Caroline. Weather was rainy and snowy at home and I was worried about the trip over the pass to eastern Oregon. There was lots of snow up on the mountain but the road was mostly bare and wet and we had no problems. We stopped at the Black Bear Inn at Madras and had dinner.

We arrived at the resort and checked into our 3 bedroom condo and unloaded all our stuff. Everyone enjoys going to Eagle Crest each Spring Break and this is our 11th year. There is always lots to do and see with good weather most of the time.

We woke up on Sunday morning to really cold weather and almost an inch of snow on the ground. Forecast is for sunny weather the rest of the week but still in the 20's at night.

Monday: Weather is clear but a little chilly. Goni and I went to an update for our Worldmark membership and received two $25 American Express gift cards. It only took a little over an hour and we've got some spending money! Grover, Tim & Shelly went over to the ball field to help Cole practice his baseball skills before lunch.

We had a big lunch and then went for a hike along the Deschutes River. We found some interesting views and creatures along the way.

In the evening we went down to the pool and went swimming and hit the hot tub.

Tuesday: We were planning a trip to Smith Rock but decided to go shopping in Bend instead. Our first stop was the Red Carpet Car Wash. Caroline wanted to sit in the car and go through the car wash to see what it was like. We visited the outlet mall, Costco and the Target store. Several purchases were made and Chinese food lunch was consumed. Afterwards we went swimming and sat in the hot tub.

Wednesday: We hung around Eagle Crest all day and our biggest accomplishment of the day was another hike on along the river and swimming. Jill & Shayne & Nellie arrived in the evening to spend time with us for the rest of the vacation.

Thursday: We were going to go tubing on Mt Bachelor but found out their website was wrong and they were not open. We hung around Eagle Crest all day and did the river hike again and then went swimming. Nellie went swimming with Grandma in the little pool in her new swimsuit and Shayne & Tim played with the kids in the pool.

Caroline posed for a picture relaxing on the sidelines and Grover decided to try a self portrait.

Friday: We hiked Smith Rock and saw the "Monkey Face". Weather was really different. The day started out sunny and then got overcast. By the time we got on the trail at Smith Rock it was snowing and windy. We climbed to the top (except Goni who turned back) and the sun came out for the rest of the day. Got some pictures of some of the many rock climbers who use the rocks for climbing practice.

Got pictures of some cave dwellers near the top and a couple of different poses of Shelly & Caroline enjoying the views.

Saturday: We packed up and caravaned towards Lebanon, Oregon. There was a threatening forecast for snow but we made it across both passes without incident. Our goal for the days was to attend the memorial service for Don Tennant (Goni's Uncle) who passed away last week. Saw lots of family and finally arrived home at 7:00 PM and unpacked. What a great week!

Easter Weekend

The weekend went by so fast that I can barely believe it. Our friend Tom came down from Seattle to spend the weekend. Grover took him flying on Saturday. They went down to Medford to pickup a dog for one of Grover's friends. Weather was good and they had a good time.

On Sunday we went to church and Heidi came down with Elise & Kohen and Jill & Shayne came with Nellie and Drew. We then returned to the house to get ready for dinner. By 1:00 the house was full of family eating dinner and having a good time.
All of the kids, except for Sam, showed up at one point or another. Spent some time with Charity who is expecting our 8th grandchild. She wasn't feeling very well but it was good to see her.

Tom and Angela played cribbage. Tom's birthday was on Monday so we sang to him and had cake.

The kids all got to search for plastic Easter eggs with candy & treats inside. Caroline and Nathalie helped some of the little kids decorate some "real" eggs. The older kids played video games and watched movies upstairs. Seems like everyone had a good time or at least got plenty to eat.

The house was empty by 7:00 PM and we cleaned things up and got ready for the new week to start. Wow! What a weekend.

This Week was Kinda Slow

Not much to report this week. Just a normal week of work and the usual stuff. We are getting ready for the Spring Break week trip to Eagle Crest starting on March 29th.

We went to a birthday party for Nathalie at the local pizza restaurant here in Woodland. Nathalie is Caroline's exchange student friend from Finland. She turned 18 and had a good time.

Grover took one of Goni's former students, Mitchell, for an airplane ride on Sunday. Mitchell has been interested in getting an airplane ride since last spring. He had a good time and was Grover's first "Young Eagle" flight. Young Eagles is a program through the EAA and gives rides to young people between 8 and 17 years old. You can learn more about it at:
http://www.eaa.org/youngeagles/

Grover is working with a Boy Scout troop in the Longview-Kelso area to provide similar rides to young people this spring.

Goni spent Sunday cooking up food and goodies for the volunteers at her school. The lucky bums are getting some pretty good food for the celebration.

Next Sunday is Easter and we hope to have some great family pictures for next week's blog.

Quality Time with the Spouse on Sunday

So what does a couple in their 50's do on a Sunday when their exchange student is gone for the weekend? Spend quality time together of course!

Our Sunday started by going to the 9:00 church service. Afterwards Goni visited with everyone during the coffee hour while Grover drank coffee and ate oatmeal cookies. We went home and had a nice brunch of sausage, fried potatoes, and toast. Now that our tummies were full we needed a nap while we watched a chick flick movie on the TV.

The sun was shining and the birds chirping so Grover announced "we need to go outside and enjoy the weather". Goni says "I will do anything you want except go flying!". So Grover says "your car is very dirty, lets go to the Kaady Car Wash and get it washed". So off to Vancouver the couple goes to get the Highlander washed. After the excitement of riding through the Kaady Car Wash (the best car wash in the world) passes Grover decides to go to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart was the first cultural experience for the day. Most everyone there was interesting to say the least. We tried to get help at the electronics counter for 10 minutes but the clerks were oblivious to our presence so we left. After overdosing on Wal-Mart (and getting a new shower curtain & Noah birthday presents) the happy couple decides the next stop should be Target. The electronics counter in Target has what we want, and someone to help us, so we make our purchase and leave.

Grover wanted to go to the Harbor Freight tool store down the street but Goni says "we need lunch groceries for the week". As we head to Winco it is obvious that everyone who was not at Wal-Mart or Target was at Winco. Since the fried potatoes and sausage were starting to wear off Goni suggested we use our $5 off coupon at TGI Fridays for dinner. Goni had pasta and Grover got a steak and we even had desert!

With full stomachs the couple heads over to Winco to get groceries. There were still lots of people there grocery shopping and none of them looked happy (must have been the Sunday evening blahs). The second cultural experience of the day was washing over us. After seeing a woman dressed in red to the nines, a college age girl with a Gussie dog peeking out from the chest of her sweatshirt, people from many different socio-economic positions, a woman who kept hollering at her child every time we passed her, non English speaking people, a crusty old man with a motorcycle helmet, and other very interesting people we were done. I'm sure we looked just as interesting to them as we found them. Our fun meter was pegged and we needed to go home.

Blossom met us at the driveway to welcome us home and Goni said "run her over" but Grover took pity on his poor misunderstood cat and she was spared. After lugging the groceries in, putting out the trash for the Monday pickup, putting up the new shower curtain, and washing the kitchen windows, the happy couple sat down to an hour of TV before Grover headed off to bed exhausted at 9:15.

How can two people have so much fun together? I'm not sure but it was definitely quality time together!

It's already March!

Another week has gone by and it is now March. The weather is getting better and the plants are starting their spring budding and growth. We are hoping for a nice spring with good weather.

Sunday, February 24th we drove up to Kohen's birthday party in Olympia. Family helped him celebrate with Kentucky Fried Chicken, cupcakes and cake. He got a pirate ship and neat stuff.

The work week went normally but seemed long since last week we had only four work days. No days off now until Spring Break at the beginning of April. It was Sam's 32nd birthday on Thursday. Doesn't seem like it was that long ago he was born. Goni spent some time on Friday night babysitting Nellie at Jill's house.

On Saturday March 1st Grover did a brake job and tuneup on his pickup truck while Goni got her hair cut. Our German exchange student, Caroline, got the spring cleaning bug and washed windows and did general house cleaning. That evening we had Shelly & Tim and Laurel & Patrick over for a steak dinner. Some played board games afterward but we were all in bed by 9:30.

On Sunday March 2nd Grover took Deana MacPherson (a school teacher friend from our church) to Prineville, OR in the airplane so she could watch her granddaughter play in a volleyball tournament. The flight was good and the moutains were all out. Here is a nice picture of Mt. Hood taken on the trip.

Caroline's friend Nathalie (she is a Rotary exchange student from Finland) came over for the day. The two of them made cookies and watched movies all day. Nathalie has invited Caroline to go to Sunriver for a few days of skiing at the end of the month.

Noah, Charity & Chris stopped by for a visit on Sunday evening. Noah did some art work with colored pens. Goni cooked up some Pierogi's that we got from Agnieszka when we were in Chicago in November. We sat around and ate and visited and then ate some more!

The week in review

Family has been after me to update the blog so here it is.

The week started out with church Sunday and then I went flying. It was a really nice day and hardly any clouds in the sky. It was a little windy at Troutdale but once you got away from the Gorge it was just fine.

I took Cole & Ellie for a flight up by Mt. St Helens and then over to Shelton to meet Tim & Shelly. Ellie sat up front and had a good time but I think Cole got a little bored sitting in the back.

After dropping them off I was dispatched to Kelso so that I could take Clark and Courtney for a flight up by Mt. St Helens. We flew around the mountain at 8,000 feet and got a really nice view. The air was smooth and there is a lot of snow up there. Courtney said it was one of the best things she has ever done. I got her back to the airport in Kelso in time so she could head down to PDX to catch her flight back home to California. Courtney seems like a really nice girl and Clark would be lucky to snag her. The only problem with the trip was the airplane intercom didn't work very well.

Monday was the Presidents Day holiday and I had made arrangements to have the airplane annual inspection started. Daryl Dasher, the owner of Dash Air at the Troutdale airport, lets me help out to save some money. I took Tuesday and part of Wednesday off to work on this project.

I took all the inspection covers off so that the mechanic, Gary Sparks, can look inside and see if everything is OK. This is a required inspection and so if something is wrong it gets fixed right before it breaks down up in the air. The plane came through OK with only some minor repairs required. We put brake pads on and replaced the control yoke bushings. We then weighed the airplane so I could get a current weight and balance since the last one was 20 years old. On Wednesday the job was done and the plane is now back in the hanger waiting for the next trip.

On Monday night Goni came out to Troutdale and went shopping at the outlet mall. After I finished up with the airplane we went out to dinner at Red Robin with Caroline and her friend Natale.

We kept pretty busy at the office on Wednesday and Thursday while the county law enforcement folks did a roundup of criminals. They used the EOC for a command post and I had to setup the radios, telephones and computer network so they could work. It is a good to do this every once in a while so we can make sure everything works. In the end they arrested 55+ people and checked on the addresses of most of the sex offenders living in the county.

On Friday I received my upgraded FCC Ham radio license in the mail. For those who do not know it I took my the Technician test last September and got my Ham radio license. This helped out our communications in the EOC during the floods in December when the phone lines and electricity went out down at the coast. We delivered many messages to folks down there until their phones and power came back almost a week later. I decided to take some classes to upgrade my license so that I could use radio equipment to talk to people around the world. I passed the General license test on February 9th. I also have new Ham radio license plates on my pickup truck. Maybe next winter I'll find some used Ham radio equipment and start using it to talk to Europe or Africa.

On Saturday Goni stayed home with Caroline and I went up to the Puyallup Fairgrounds for the NW Aviation Conference. I saw all the latest and greatest gadgets for airplanes and visited with a few friends I saw up there. Bought some cleaning and polishing chemicals for the airplane and picked up some catalogs. Before leaving I found a new intercom for the airplane for $121 so I bought it. Should make life better for my passengers.

Next stop was the new Cabelas store in Lacey. Sam had bought me a gift card for Christmas and I hadn't been able to use it. This store is amazing and there were lots of people there. It is a cross between a museum, aquarium, outdoor store and restaurant all wrapped up in one. You could spend a whole day in there looking at stuff. The prices were not too bad and I bought a few things with the gift card. Had a bison meat sandwich in the restuarant that was pretty good.

While I was gone to Puyallup Goni and Caroline went shopping at Costco and Winco to get stuff for a church brunch we are having on Sunday.

While that is all for this week. I will try to make more regular posts to keep complaints to a minimum.

Leavenworth

We just spent the weekend in Leavenworth with Caroline and her friend Natale. We stayed in a condo for a couple of nights. The weather was good the first two days but it rained on Monday as we were coming home. We had a great time in this Bavarian village!