Guemes

Last Weekend, Meg, Jess and I, went with all the Wallaces (10 of them) to their beach house on Guemes Island. It is kind of in the San Juans but really just a 5 min ferry from Anacortes. We had a great time, crabbing, boating, kayaking, eating, drinking and having a great camp fire with 1/2 of the Stoutpounders on Sat. night. I got some good pics- it is nice to have some new subjects for my camera, my family doesn't want me around with the cam anymore. We all had a lot of fun and we need to hang out with these guys more.

Joe went with the boy scouts to a model rocketfest near Port Townsend. He said it was awesome and Jess totally missed out.

I took last Friday off and got up early for a solo river kayak ride on the Green River. It was a little complicated. I drove up river south of Auburn and ditched my kayak in the woods. I then drove down river and parked my van north of Kent. Then I rode my bike back to the kayak up river. I locked my bike to a tree and then kayaked 13 miles downstream. It was fairly flat water but I had a few minor rapids. I can't handle too much because it is really a flatwater kayak. After 3 hours of kayaking I ended up at my van by the Riverbend golf course. I then drove to pick up my bike and went home. It was about noon and I talked Joe to going to Riverbend for a quick round at the pitch and putt. We were parched afterwards so we had some drinks and an appetizer lunch at the golf course. We were still hot so we went back to the green river and swam in the best swimming hole that I found when I was kayaking in the morning. Finally we came home and finished packing for our weekend. I am going to try to do a lot more river kayaking...

Next weekend is Labor day at the beach! All the Nylands will be there and we are hoping for good weather. The boys are ready for school which starts on Thursday. Jess is a mentor for the freshman so he has been spending a lot of time at the school helping the school get ready for the first day.

Our September weekends are all filled up already but the only thing we have scheduled for October is our trip to New Orleans. We have to keep weekends open for the grape crush.

No pics

I have not done well in August with the pictures. I keep forgetting the camera. Last weekend we went out to the beach, and the week before we went camping to the Sun Lakes in Eastern Washington. I would have got some good pictures both weekends.

Next weekend, the boys will go camping at a rocketfest with the scouts. The are going to make some model rockets and shoot them off with all of the rocket enthusiasts. Meg and I are going to the Wallaces cabin on Guemes. The Scout thing ends on Saturday evening so we still have to figure out how the whole weekend is going to work. It will sure be nice when Jess can drive...

more summer

At least I blog more than my brother....
OK, updates....
Boy Scout summer camp was really fun. The camp wasn't the fanciest camp we went to but the kids had a great time. I went for most of the week and wish I had enough vacation for the whole week. Next year, Meg and I are still planning 2 weeks in Italy for our 20th wedding anniversary so I need to save as much vacation as I can.

After summer camp, Joe took off to Grammy Ann's and Jess went to a friends cabin in Winthrop. I did a lot of bike riding and meeting Meg in Seattle for dinner after work. Last weekend, we went to Michelle's birthday in Bothell which was really fun. We had a seafood pot boil that we are going to have to try at our house. Maybe for Joe's birthday in September.

This weekend we are going camping to Sun Lakes in Eastern Washington with Michelle and Scot. Looking forward to driving fast in Scot's speed boat. Next weekend we will probably be at the beach house. Weekends for August are all taken up and it will be mid- sept before we spend another weekend in Auburn.

Joe has decided to learn to play the saxophone. We rented one a couple of weeks ago so he can have a head start before middle school starts. Jess is still playing trumpet and bass guitar. Hard to get him to practice trumpet but he is constantly playing the bass and getting really good.
This week he is at Ignite camp at school teaching him how to be a mentor to incoming High School Freshman.

It is fruit season now which means I am busy making fruit wine. I bought some apricots, nectarines, and plums. I made the apricot wine last night and the other fruit is ripening up in the back room. Just ordered a groupon for a box of peaches so I will have at least 5 gallons of 4 different fruits and that translates to about 100 bottles of wine. I just bottled some apple wine and strawberry wine that I made last spring. The grapes are ripening slow but we hope to be crushing in late September and we are crossing our fingers it doesn't interfere with our trip to New Orleans in Mid-October.