Celebrating Grandma Hart!

For my mom's 80th birthday, we wanted to do something

extra special. Dinner at Anthony's Homeport Restaurant

was just the ticket. This is the cake I made and brought to

the restaurant. They kept it in the fridge and our waiter

brought it out at just the right moment. He even sang

Happy Birthday with us, even though I was assured on

the phone while making reservations that they don't

"do" birthdays. But this was fun. The little swirly

candles on top were so cute, mom didn't want to

blow them out!

KK and Ryan joined Paul, Wes, Eric, Keith and me. Sadly

we were missing Larry. It was a beautiful evening and

we were seated at this great corner view table. The marina

is just below.

Getting excited for dinner to arrive.

We sure had a nice time, and the food was great.

My mom said this was her most memorable

birthday. Well, it should be. It's pretty neat

to be able to celebrate 80 years and going strong!

Maiden Voyage!

I am the maiden, and this was my first kayaking voyage.
Keith is just leaving the Snee-oosh beach, where our
trip began. It's just west of La Conner.
The island in the picture below is our destination.

Here I am paddling away! Even though you feel like

you're working hard and should be speeding along,

something about being in a large body of water like

this makes it seem like you are traveling SO slow.

Beautiful, but definitely a change of pace! This is the south

side of Hope Island. We kayaked all the way around it.

The entire island is a state park. This is where Keith was

planning to take the scouts camping, so we wanted to get

a look at it beforehand.
When we got to the eastern side of the island there was a strong

current and the tide was coming in fast. There was quite a riptide.

Keith kept telling me to stay close to shore so I wouldn't get

caught in it. There were lots of rocks sticking out near the shore,

so I couldn't get TOO close. Then the tip of my kayak started

getting pulled out, into the riptide. He was shouting at me,

PADDLE HARD! GO RIGHT!

Believe me, I did! Mostly because he was scaring me!

It wasn't too bad, just a little exciting for a few minutes!

Here we are, safely on shore! Whew, that was fun!

The beaches on the north side of the island had better access

to trails and places to camp. This is where we stopped for lunch.

Aww, doesn't that look sweet? Two little kayaks all snuggled

up to the beach! Funny thing is, just as we were deboarding,

a few different jets from the navy base on Oak Harbor

thundered right over us, and some coyotes on this island

really got to howling. A little eerie feeling, but we took a path

going the other direction. Keith said when he camped here

with the boys, they didn't hear the coyotes, so no worries.

Then it was back to Snee-oosh beach to load up, go home

and rest our weary arms!

Timberrrrrrrr!

These trees are about 35 or more years old. We've lived

here for 20 years, so they've more than doubled in size.

The shade has kept the

house cool in the summer, but lets face it,

summer just doesn't get that hot any more!

The roots have taken over the back yard and the

branches have spread so wide there's not enough

sun to grow a decent garden, so I finally agreed to

TAKE 'EM DOWN!

Eager Beaver is the local outfit to do this sort of thing, so

we gave them a call. It took a crew of 4 men around 5 hours

to get the job done. First, off come all the branches.

Now you're left with the treetop. The video below shows the top
coming off. Then they took about 5-6 feet of the trunk down
at a time. The pieces came down with a hard THUNK which
shook the house and made some real big dents in the lawn!
Now we're left with lots of firewood. We're trying to sell it, but
I think our timing is off. This week has been a heatwave, so
people are thinking more about fans than fires!

We "Struck" it rich at this Restaurant!

Last weekend Diane and Dennis made a super quick trip

home. Dennis needed a follow up dental appointment. So they left

Provo early on Saturday morning and we met them in Bellevue

to have dinner that evening.

Grandma Schenk came along since she was out of the country

when Diane and Dennis were married. She brought this

lovely dishtowel embroidered by Great Grandma Shirley

for Diane.

Here we are enjoying a feast of crab and corn and taters.
MESSY! By the way, the bibs are ultra important. Maybe
even better would be some sort of wrap around full body
protection, then you're safe from flying crabmeat, right Dennis?


After dinner they headed down to Eatonville, and Monday morning
Dennis had his dental appointment, then they made a beeline back
to Provo in order to get there by Monday night.
Thanks for visiting with us Diane and Dennis.
It was great to see you two!

Devin and Roommates

This is what we drove an hour and 20 minutes over

bumpy, rutted, dusty roads to find. Crystals!
Crystals formed in this very hill.

Another cool find, a cow carcass. Well, it was pretty

hot and dry.

Devin's roommates and friend.

Eric, Jared, Robert, his fiancee Susan and Devin.

Robert tie-dyed the wall hanging.

Devin's truck and home sweet home, the Viking Apartments.

Thanks for a great spaghetti dinner, guys!

The way you are SUPPOSED to see Mesa Falls

This is the upper falls, and the little group of people in right

corner of the lookout is our group. Notice Eric's red hair.
Ah, there's the redhead and his Dad now.

What a perfect day to be seeing nature's beauty.

Quite a spectacular sight.

You can see a little bit of the rainbow at the bottom of

the falls. It was definitely worth the 45 minute or so drive

to this place.

Down by the water's Edge

Eric's first time bouldering. He was surprised at how

much effort it took. Going back up you have to take

lots of breaks just to catch your breath, especially

in this high altitude.

Eric & Eric

This is Robert up close and personal with
nature's fury! Yikes!

Hey, it's Devin gettin the good shots for me, since

I didn't get all the way down to the water.

Yep, it's true, you've got to be tough to handle this kind of

hiking! It's alot of fun though!

Yes, it really is as steep as it looks!

And a long way down, too.
This is what we call 'bouldering'. And it's the only way
to get down to Henry's Fork River for a better look
at Mesa Falls. We did the look-out thing, but this
is way more exciting, and a lot more work.


I was able to go 3/4 of the way down, then I was
concerned about getting back up again, so I stopped
there.


It turns out that going up really was easier, so I most
likely could have handled the whole way down and
up, but, I didn't want to push my luck! I was just
happy to have made it so far. It was actually fun,
and I'd do it again!


This is the lookout and that white stuff just to the right
of Eric is Mesa Falls. It was the most perfect weather, warm
with a light breeze, and quite a fun adventure!