Scouts at beach house

The boy scouts plan their own outings every year in November. They look at what they have done in the past and decide what they want to do again, or they come up with new ideas for campouts. We had planned to do this at Camp Delezenne but somehow they double booked us. Another troop also booked the camp lodge so we decided to go to Stretch Island instead of sharing with them. It worked out pretty good and the boys had fun planning, working on merit badges and playing a lot of board games. We started back on Sunday right when it started snowing.

Today, Jess got sent home early from school but Joe had to stay until the end because he was a "walker". School is cancelled for tomorrow but somehow I still have to go to work. I have a ton of meetings and my boss won't let me work from home because some people in our group "abused the privelege" a couple of years ago. Meg will probably work from home.

Another busy weekend

Friday night, we wanted to go to Gerrit's Washington State Admissions party but we also had to watch Jess' band play at an open mike at the church where they practice. They played Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. They did great although they need to get a better stage presence. The videos are on Facebook under their band page for their new name "Rush Fury".

Saturday, I finished some wine racks while Meg went to a funeral up near Bellingham. I took the kids to pizza in Seattle and then to El Corazon to see some bands. I felt a little old going to a rock club filled with college age bands and fans and the boys felt a little young to be at a rock club. But we all had fun and Jess got some ideas on how a band should act on stage.

Sunday, we finished pressing the last of our 2010 wine. We have 44 gallons now in carboys. We also have to get to bottling most of our 2009 wine. Meg is still working on a name and labels but we will get it done soon.

We then went to the Lobster Shop to have brunch to celebrate Grandma Gennys and Grandma Lois' birthdays. Great food and it was fun to have a crowd of 13 at a restaurant.

Next weekend, we are going on a boy scout annual planning campout where we plan the outings for all of next year. Jess and I are going but Joe wants to go to a friends birthday party instead. After that is Thanksgiving in Oly and then the rest of the weekend at the beach house.

San Francisco

Joe and I flew down to San Francisco last weekend. We got it in time on Friday night to check into our hotel and make it to Joe's Crab Shack. It was a pretty fun place with the bibs, dancing waiters, and a big seafood pot. The food wasn't perfect but we had a good time.
Saturday morning we got on the first ferry to Alcatraz. We enjoyed the audio tour and got back in time to have clam chowder in bread bowls at Fisherman's Wharf. We then went to the DeYoung museum and saw the Post Impressionist exhibit on loan from the D'Orsay museum in Paris. We saw a lot of famous paintings that you usually have to go to Europe to see. But we got pretty worn out and just went back to the hotel to crash for a bit. After relaxing we took a walk down Union street to go get some Pizza. It was a crazy night because all the bars were full with Giant fans watching the World Series and a lot of people were in costume because it was the night before Halloween.
Sunday morning we went to the Seahawks vs Raiders game. I wore my Seahawks jersey but I couldn't get Joe to wear any seahawks stuff because so many people warned him that he would get beat up. The crazy raider fans teased us a bit but we were never scared. There was only 35,000 people at the game and it was a little dissappointing in how lame the crowd was. The game was awful and the Seahawks got destroyed. After the game we went straight to the airport. Great trip even though the game was tough.

Wine weekend

Grapes were picked Friday morning at both vineyards where we are getting grapes from. The day started for me at 4 am as I drove the truck overand brought back 2500 lbs of grapes from Kestrel vineyards. 250 lbs of the Cab Franc belonged to us. We also got 400 lbs of Cab Sauv. from Destiny Ridge in Horse Heaven Hills. We crushed with the Boeing Wine Club and got our Grapes home by 7pm. We need to get last years wine bottled so we have room for this stuff in our carboys when it is done fermenting.

Saturday, we went to a wedding in Tacoma of one of my second cousins. One of the strangest weddings I have ever been to with the groom and family all preaching during the service. Not my type of wedding or even relationship but everyone seemed really happy so I am trying not to judge.

Sunday was a lazy day watching football and playing with wine. Excited to go to San Francisco next week with Joe....

Zombie Camporee

Last Weekend was the Boy Scout Zombie Camporee. Our troop competed in the events with about 40 other patrols to get the code in order to get the zombie virus antidote. After dinner on Saturday, the zombies(staff) attacked the humans and it was a 2 hour battle to see if the zombies with their fake bloody hands could touch the humans and infect them or if the humans could spray the right color antidote on the zombies. Lots of fun.

We can home in time to go to Henry's 8th birthday. It seems like we haven't seen family much lately so it was good to have some time at Nana's house.

Next Weekend our grapes should be ready for the big crush and the weekend after Joe and I will be going to San Francisco. Jess is talking about hosting a Halloween party.

Weekend

I spent all day Friday at the PTA Legislative Conference. We were debating and defining our priorities for lobbying for education for the next year. The best part was a short speech by Bill Gates Sr. who made a great case for Initiative 1098. I have a hard time believing that this initiative won't pass but there is a lot of mis-information going on out there right now.

Saturday was the Boy Scout Rummage Sale. We needed to get rid of some of the excess stuff from our Boy Scout storage sale so we tried a Rummage Sale. It was a lot of work and we only made about $100 and ended up just taking a truck load of stuff to Goodwill. I was so worn out and also fighting a fever so we just had take out Thai food and watched TV on Saturday night.

Sunday, I really wanted to go on a hike but it wasn't raining pretty steadily. So we decided to go to the Ape Caves by Mt. St. Helens. Well, Meg and I actually decided and the boys were forced to go... By the time we got there it wasn't raining except for in the cave. It was 43 degrees and really wet inside from the continual dripping. We hiked most of the lower cave and all the upper cave. It took us over 3 hours and was pretty strenuous. There is a lot of scrambling in the upper cave. Joe struggled with the big rocks but eventually got his momentum going and impressed us. Had dinner in Puyallup at the Powerhouse and we all were so worn out we went to bed early. I am still fighting a slight headache and fever...But I am not sick. Sorry, no pictures in the cave...

Homecoming

Homecoming Dance was tonight. 14 kids came to our house for a prefunc. Lots of awkward early High School fun. We ended up getting Jess a tux and he looked pretty good with his data Clarissa. More pics on flickr