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.

The New Pickup, Noah's Birthday, & Eagle Crest

Melody told me my blog was stale and I needed to do something about it. Been busy and on vacation so haven't gotten to it for a while. So here goes!

On Saturday March 21st we stopped by the Toyota dealership in Vancouver to look at new pickup trucks. We decided if we could get a good deal we might buy a newer Tacoma pickup truck. Goni did not like the old truck because the seats were not confortable and was a base model without many features.

We looked at Access Cab models which have extra room behind the front seat for small people and gear. Goni picked out a blue Tacoma and we took it for a ride but we couldn't come up with the deal we wanted so we left. Got an e-mail the next morning from the sales manager who sweetened the deal to our liking. So on Sunday afternoon we went down and finalized the deal.

It is not a fancy truck but it does have the things we wanted: comfortable seats, intermittent wipers (a must for Washington rain), cruise control, a CD player and 25 mpg on the highway. There are extra features which are nice (like the backup camera on the rear view mirror) that came as a package on this model.

We celebrated Noah's birthday on March 27th at the Guadlajara Mexican Restaurant here in Woodland. We met Charity & Chris and Vancouver grandparents Roger & Kathy Layton for dinner. Goni made chocolate birthday cupcakes (Noah's favorite flavor). We had a good time and Noah was sung to by the staff from the restaurant. It is hard to believe he is now 8 years old.

Noah with his custom made 8th birthday cupcake.

With a moustach Noah could pass as Pancho Villa.

The next day we headed over to Eagle Crest in Redmond, Oregon for our annual spring break vacation. We have been going there for 10+ years for spring break. This year it was a little windy and cold but no rain. We did have some snow the first night but it was just at skiff and was gone by noon. We did the usual things: shopping in Bend, walks, swimming, sitting in the hot tub and climbing Monkey Face at Smith Rock State Park.

Here we can see one of the many activities at Eagle Crest. Coloring books were popular this year.

Rock climbing is big at Smith Rock. Here is one of the many climbers we saw.

Tim, Shelly & Cole at the top of Monkey Face looking out at the Redmond valley.

We always go with Tim & Shelly James and their kids and stay in one of the Worldmark condos. Everyone had a good time and hated to come home on Saturday just as the weather was just starting to warm. On Sunday at home was a great weather day with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the mid 70s. We hung around the house and did some chores. The lawn got mowed, the cars were washed & washed, shower head repaired and errands run.

Visitors from Maryland

After several years Grover reconnected with one of his cousins, Wendy Jo, sometime back. They hadn't seen each other in 30+ years. This past Sunday she came to Seattle with her husband Matt to visit their son Greg. So Grover and Goni drove up for lunch and a visit. We had a great time visiting and went out to the Azteca Restaurant for Mexican food.

We found out that son Greg has been living in Seattle working for Ninetendo for the last few years. He has the job every young person dreams about testing games to make sure they work. He says it is not as much fun as it sounds because he doesn't get to play the games he wants to play at work. Goni's students at school are envious.

Matt, Greg & Wendy

Wendy and Matt live in Frederick, Maryland. Turns out they were living there when Grover was back at the FEMA Institute in Emmitsburg in 1998. The two towns are very close together but so an opportunity to visit was missed. At any rate we will keep the communications up so we can visit again.

Grover and Wendy

Greg is moving to a condo in Kirkland this week. We hope to have him down for dinner or some family get together in the future. He is also single and his mom is eager for grandchildren so he is an eligible bachelor!

Playing the Bells

Goni is so good at playing the bells that she belongs to both the beginner and advanced group. Last weekend the advanced group played bells in church and Grover, who is still in the beginner group, was able to get some pictures.

The Airplane Doctor

This is the third President's Day that Grover has spend at the airplane doctor (Dash Air in Troutdale, OR). Airplanes must have an annual inspection and ours is due before the end of February of each year. This year Grover had to ferry the plane down to Troutdale from the new hanger in Kelso. Goni picked Grover up on Sunday afternoon and Bridget helped when it was time to go get it on Thursday.

We go to Dash Air because this is where my old mountain climbing buddy, Gary Sparks, works. While they may be a little more expensive than some shops, Daryl and his crew know how to do a really good job. And the good part is they let owners help out to keep the costs down. This year we got the job done in two days.

Goni sent one of her breakfast casseroles the first day and cinnamon rolls the next. The guys wanted to extend the length of the work so they would keep getting good food. One of the guys said she was "da bomb" which I hope is a good thing.

One of the jobs this year was to replace the oil seals in the nose gear cylinder. Grover did most of the work himself under Daryl's watchful eye. We placed several cases of oil on the tail to raise up the nose up so we could work on the cylinder. Looks kind of funny but it worked as all the other airplane jacks in the shop were in use.

Another airplane owner, Portland TV channel 8 weatherman Dave Salesky, was in working on his airplane. I met Dave last year when he was in the shop checking on his airplane. In spite of being a television celebrity he seems like a really nice guy. I took this picture of Dave and Gary working on Dave's plane in the other corner of the shop.

Now all we need is good weather so we can get out and do some flying!

It's February Already?

We knew it had been a while since we last blogged but six weeks doesn't seem right. It has been a busy time here in Woodland. The wintery weather lasted through January 1st and then the heavy rain and flooding. This kept Grover busy at work with emergency responses and work. The flooding has resulted in a presidential declaration for our county and all the coordination with FEMA that goes with that. You can checkout our DEM blog at: http://cowlitzcountydem.blogspot.com/ for all the details.

Goni has been busy with her work at school and with getting her college class done for her pro-cert. For those unfamiliar with this process it is the extra education required for teachers beyond their initial bachelor's degree. Grover spent some time getting her laptop going when it slowed down to a crawl this past weekend.

All the grandchildren are doing well. Within the last week we have visited with Jonah, Rowan and Nellie so all the little guys have had some attention.

More blogging to come hopefully on a little more regular basis.

Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Bah Humbug!

We are now on our seventh day of cold weather and snow on the ground. It started snowing lightly last night but this morning it started getting steady. It hasn't stopped since and it is really coming down now (about 4:30 PM on Saturday). So for your viewing pleasure here are some pictures: For those of you who have not heard Rowan Renee Aston arrived early Wednesday morning. You can see all the details and pictures on Laurel and Patrick's blog. Click on their link in the right column.

Some of our neighbors are getting together for an impromptu holiday party this evening. It gave Goni time to do some cooking instead of being bored sitting around watching TV and reading all day. Prime rib with potatoes and some kind of vegetable. We only have to crawl across the street if the weather gets too bad.

Our Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree Wednesday night. It is not as big as past trees but it is a nice one that Goni picked up in Kalama from the Cub Scouts. The gifts under the tree are for the family that was adopted as a result of Jill's suggest to do so on Thanksgiving. They will be delivered on December 20th in Longview. Picture courtesy of Patrick Aston, official photographer of the family Christmas.

Today we are waiting for the big snow storm and the cold weather. Pictures will follow once things start happening which should be later today. We are also still patiently waiting for Rowan to arrive.

Weather Update:

We had snow flurries all morning but it started snowing and blowing after church. Temperatures at 3:00 PM was 27 degrees Farenheit and the wind is consistently blowing out of the NE at 10 mph. It's cold outside!

Pearl Harbor Day

Today is the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which caused the United States to enter World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt said that it was "a date that will live in infamy". Today is the first time our flag has flown at half mast on our new flag pole. It is the custom for the President to call for all flags to fly at half mast on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Grover had the honor to meet one of the men who helped bring World War II to an end last night. His name is Army Sgt Don Malarkey and he was one of the "Band of Brothers" who served in Easy Company in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. Malarkey jumped into France the day before the D-day invasion and was fortunate to never have been seriously wounded.

Sgt. Malarkey was at a gathering at the Kalama Elementary School where he spoke about his experiences. There are not too many World War II vets left in this world and Sgt Malarkey is about 88 years old. He was born and raised in Astoria, Oregon and currently lives in Salem. If you are interested in more information on Don Malarkey go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Malarkey.

Grover's dad, Marvin Laseke Sr, and Goni's step father Don Payder, both served in the Navy during the war. As we enter the holiday season we should be thankful for many things. One of them is the veterans who have served, and those who continue to serve, our country.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day is the start of the holiday season for us (and this year was Goni's birthday too). Grover always does his traditional hike to the top of Angel's Rest in the Columbia River Gorge on Thanksgiving morning. This year Shayne and Andy (his blog is listed to the right) made the hike with him. Weather was cold but reasonably clear. We got some good views of the river and worked up an appetite for turkey. Goni stayed home and cooked two big turkeys and some rolls for the celebration.

We went to Darren's (Goni's brother) house for dinner and ate to our fill. The only down side was there was no pumpkin pie. They had some kind of pumpkin desert but it was not the same. We will make sure that doesn't happen on Christmas! We sang Happy Birthday to Goni and a good time was had by all.

Later Laurel showed off her enormous belly while playing a game of Sequence. We are waiting patiently for the arrival of Rowan around the middle of December. Charity said that Jonah was pretty sick on Thanksgiving so they didn't get to go down and have dinner with Chris (who was working) at the fire station. Patrick and Kurt both had to work too although Patrick got to come have dinner before his shift.

Later that evening Jill came by the house and got some turkey for sandwiches. Notice the beautiful flowers on the counter that Grover got Goni for her birthday. Nellie made some noise with one of Grandma's pans and a wooden spoon.

G&G spent most of the remainder of the weekend at home suffering from colds. We did sneak out Friday night to see the movie Australia and a quick shopping trip to Target & Fred Meyer on Saturday afternoon. Other than that we stayed home. We are hoping for a trip north on Sunday to visit grandkids. Seems like everyone we know has been sick with this cold.

Posting with no pictures

We thought we would see if anybody read what we had to say without any pictures. Are you visually stimulated people bored already? There will be a test!

Since we got back from San Diego we have been busy with life and getting back to the grind. Grover caught a cold on the trip home and is now back to normal (well as normal as he gets). Goni got back to school and is now fully registered to take her required teacher certification college classes through Seattle Pacific University. I'll bet there will be some winter weekends spent inside working at the computer.

On October 26th we went on a train ride out of Yacolt that had a Halloween theme. The Headless Horseman Train Ride was a lot of fun. We rode the train for about six miles and sure enough the Headless Horseman rode by. We stopped and got a chance to see him up close and get some refreshments. Weather was good and we saw lots of trees with leaves changing.

Grover went to the memorial service at our church for a neighbor, Leota Balch, who passed away from cancer. Grover taught a Community Emergency Response Team (aka CERT) class and attended a Presbytery Meeting in Lacey with Steve Klump. He helped wrangle together a 2009 budget for the Presbytery in his role as the chairperson of the Presbytery Finance Committee.

For the weekend G&G went up to Seattle to visit Tom and help him with some projects around his house. We left on Halloween night and stopped to see Jonah and Noah in their costumes when they trick or treated at Kirsten and Gary's house. Noah was dressed up as a chef and Jonah was a rat (from Ratatouille). Jonah is such a happy baby and loves to smile and talk. We helped Tom paint his bedroom and run electrical wiring out to his new shed. Then he took us out to Red Robin for dinner.

On Sunday, November 2nd, we came back from Seattle early so we could see the Mwamba Uganda Children's Choir during the worship service. They were great! Nellie came up with Jill and seemed to enjoy the program. She has quite the mouthful of teeth coming in.

Sunday afternoon was spent with taking naps, working around the house, and Goni met with Melody to discuss the food for Clark & Courtney's wedding reception next weekend. The reception will be on Saturday at the Calvary Community Church in Longview starting at 7:00 PM. Later in the afternoon Grover went flying and got in 12 takeoff and landings with six of them after dark making him current to carry passengers for the next 90 days. Anybody want to go flying?

Tonight it will be time for the G&G team to fill out our ballots. We still haven't figured out who to vote for but decision time is here. Our new president and other elected officials will need our prayers as we enter the new year and an economy in recession.

So how was a Blog without pictures? Couldn't take it? Here is an old picture of the airplane for those who must have something to look at. Look for pics from the wedding reception next week.

San Diego

Goni & Grover and lots of family headed south to San Diego for Clark & Courtney's wedding this past week. Flight left on Saturday morning and we arrived at our condo at Oceanside in the late afternoon. The condo is near the ocean and this is the view from our balcony.

We went for a walk down to the ocean and when we passed the marina Grover saw several boxes on posts. From what we can tell people in California must think that their cigarette butts are valuable because they put big padlocks on them!

The wedding was held on Sunday afternoon at a winery near Escondido. It was a nice ceremony and the food and visiting was great. Had a good time visiting with the new relatives and some other family members.

On Monday 28 family members headed north to Disneyland. We had a great day and saw the big parade in the evening. Rode the easy rides at Disneyland and Goni got her face painted and a new sweatshirt. Later Grover went over to California Adventure with Tim and Shayne and rode the Bee and a roller coaster. Goni and Shelly saved some bench seats along the parade route where we saw all the usual Disney characters.

Goni's face painting.

A Mickie Mouse pretzel.

Goni's new sweatshirt (and modeling Cole's new hat).

The big parade.

Tuesday Grover went down to the San Diego Air & Space Museum and the Automotive Museum. There were lots of airplanes on display including a replica of the Spirit of St Louis which Charles Lindbergh flew to France in 1927.

Wednesday the group hit Sea World for a visit. We saw amazing shows including Shamu and the other big whales.

Weather was good all week with lots of sun and warm temperatures during the day. It was a great mini vacation and we are sad that it came to an end.