Another Kayaking Day

Really, I don't kayak everyday.  For one, the weather hasn't been cooperating enough.  And I've been way too busy doing other not fun things, like helping my mother-in-law clean out her ginormous barn and cleaning other people's homes.  But pictures of those things aren't  very exciting, so I'm going to post more kayaking pictures.  Then when I look back on this summer, I can pretend that I got to spend time with my girls on the water everyday!

This time we headed out to Eagle Harbor. The sun finally stayed with us for more than a few hours and we were able to soak it up.   On days like this, you couldn't pay me enough to live anywhere else!

We passed some pretty cool boats in the marina.  My brother Tyler used to work on these tug boats.

Jillian got a little tired, so Kylie towed her, as long as she kept paddling! 

We played around near the ferry maintenance yard for a while...

What an amazing view!

Heading back we crossed paths with the sailing class.  I love the little sail boats!

Kayaking with my Girls

Kylie and Jillian asked me to take them kayaking, so we borrowed Brooke's kayaks (thanks, Brooke!) and waited for a day with some sun.  It seemed like the sun was never going to show itself...we had two days of clouds and rain, and then finally on Friday afternoon some blue sky appeared!  After strapping all three kayaks into the back of Brad's truck, we headed out to Hidden Cove.  We launched from the public dock at Hidden Cove Park. 

My idea of kayaking is a little different than my girls'.  I like to explore and enjoy the peace and quiet of the water.  We did that for about 15 minutes, then they turned it into a big water fight!  I stayed far enough away that I didn't get wet and took pictures of them.  If it would have been 80 degrees instead of 60, I wouldn't have minded getting wet! 

Jillian really wanted to jump out of the boat into the water, but I was afraid it would be too hard for her to get back in, so I made her wait until we got back to the dock. 

They're crazy!!!  We made it back just in time.  Big black clouds blew in and it started raining as we loaded the kayaks back onto the truck.  I'm glad we were able to take advantage of the hour of sun!

Green Mountain Hike

Our Young Women went a pre-camp five mile hike the day after school got out, and since I'm going to Girls' Camp this year (as a cabin mom) I decided to join them.  I'd never heard of Green Mountain before this;  I'm so glad I know about it now!  It's a great hike, not too hard (well, not too hard for me...there was quite a bit of complaining from the younger girls, but they all survived), and supposedly there is a great view of Seattle, the Olympics, and Mt. Rainier at the top.  I say supposedly because when we go to the top, we couldn't see much.  It was like being up in a cloud, very misty and damp.  That just means that we'll have to do it again so we can see the view for ourselves! 

Farewell

Brad's dad passed away last week, May 31st.  He had been in the hospital for 4 1/2 months receiving treatment for lymphoma.  After each chemo treatment, we expected him to get better and come home.  He never did.  It was so hard to see him get weaker, then bounce back a little, then succumb again, regain some strength, then retreat. One step forward, three steps back, it seemed.  But we always had hope.  "After this next treatment," we'd say, "then Mary Lou will be here and she can nurse him at home."  His sister, Mary Lou, is a retired nurse.  She and her husband, Bob, drove their RV from Colorado to Seattle about two weeks ago, intending to stay and help take care of Morgan until he recovered.  The day before they arrived, Morgan came down with pneumonia and was transferred from the Community Living Center at the VA Hospital (nursing home section) to the ICU.  After a few days in the ICU, it became evident Morgan was not going to bounce back this time.  He'd gotten pneumonia a few months ago and been able to fight it.  This time he was too weak.  We were able to bring the kids to see him a few days before he passed to say their good-byes.  It was heart-wrenching. 

The funeral was Wednesday.  What a beautiful service.  Through the tears and sadness for our loss of such a great man, it was wonderful to hear the stories people had to tell about Morgan.  His smile, his welcoming personality, his love for his family, love for the gospel, desire to serve others, missionary spirit, optimistic attitude, entrepreneurial drive, were all highly praised.  A sister in the ward sang my favorite hymn, "Be Still My Soul."  I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.

1. Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I am so thankful I have a testimony of the eternal nature of our lives.  What a blessing to know that earth life isn't the end, to know that the relationships we enjoy here will continue, and that I will be able to see my dear father-in-law again, hear him say, "That's great!" and see his radiant smile.

This picture is from Morgan's 68th birthday last year.  Brad made the cake out of Morgan's favorite food, Little Debbie Swiss Rolls.  I love the look of pure delight on his face!

Fort Ward Beach Trip

Every year, all the second grade classes at Wilkes get to go on a beach field trip to Fort Ward.  The school hires divers from Exotic Aquatics who talk to the kids about diving, then go into the Puget Sound and collect marine life and put them in small touch tanks, a.k.a. wading pools, for the kids to experience.  I've been lucky enough to go on this field trip four times over the years, and this is the first time I've gone without a younger sibling in tow! 

I "chaperoned" a group of four kids.  I use the term chaperone loosely!  We got to explore the beach while the divers collected sea creatures, and the kids didn't really need much guidance.  The two girls took off looking for sea stars, and the boys were fixated on finding crabs under the rocks.

If you look closely, you can see two crabs in this shell.

Ben and his good friend, Henry

The creatures the divers found were amazing!  Much better than the touch tanks at the Seattle Aquarium, even!

That's a red baby octopus!  The water must be really clear down there, I don't know how you could see so many of these creatures otherwise!

Ben enjoyed the touch tanks for about five minutes, then was back to searching for creatures of his own. 

I've enjoyed this field trip each time I've gone. (Although the weather could have been warmer this year...stocking caps in June, seriously?!) I may have to "adopt" a second grader in a few years so I can go again! 

Viking Fest Fun Run

Jillian has been trying out running this Spring with the Go Run Girls team at Sakai.  She's not quite sure she really likes it, but I'm very proud of her for giving it a try.  Part of the commitment was to run the one mile fun run at Viking Fest this past weekend.  I was very disappointed to miss it, but Jill went with her team and had a great time.

The Go Run Girls team.  Jillian is the middle on the first row (not the girl by herself in the front).

I am very thankful for parents who take pictures of other kids besides their own at events like this.  I was able to see Jillian running even though I couldn't be there in person.  

Here she comes around the corner, number 1198.

A nice shot of the runners along Viking Way.

Go Jillian!

I don't know that this has made a runner of her, but she was very happy with her accomplishment.  Her time for the mile was 9:50, about what I run!  Hopefully she'll want to run with me over the summer!

Regionals

Kylie rowed in Northwest Junior Championship Regatta in Vancouver, WA this weekend.  I was able to join her as a chaperone, my first time going to one of her regattas.  Can I brag a little?  She is amazing!  She raced in two events, a 4+ boat and an 8+ boat. 

(As a side note, I finally figured out what 4+ and 8+, as well as 4x, 4x+, 2x, 2-, etc. mean...The + means they have a coxswain, or cox.  The x means each rower has 2 oars, which is called sculling.  When each rower has one oar it's called sweeping.  The - means they don't have a cox.   So the 4+ means there are four sweep rowers plus a cox, 8+ means 8 sweep rowers plus cox.  2x means two scullers and no cox.  It took me a long time to learn this lingo!)


Her preliminary heat for the 4+ boat was on Friday.  They placed first in their heat, and their time was the fastest out of 19 boats!  The girls were so excited.  I was so excited!  It was so much fun to watch them race.  They have worked very hard this season and really grown together as a team. 

The Girls 4+ A Boat:  Hannah, Kylie, Kate, Katie and Madeline (cox)

Carrying their boat out of the yard.

I love this shot!  Wish I looked this good from behind...

Isn't she beautiful?  Can you tell she's nervous?

Getting the boat into the water.

Off to warm up.  They put the boat in the water an hour before their race so they have time to warm up and get mentally preparred.

Their first race!  They were in first place the whole time!  Their time was 8:15:60, the fastest out of all 19 boats.

After their heat race on Friday, we were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful, warm day.  It was a huge treat to sit in the sun all day without any responsibilities other than keeping track of the girls and cheering them on.  I had signed up to help at the start line, but then realized if I did that I wouldn't be able to see Kylie's race, so they found someone else to fill in. 

Saturday morning was their 4+ final.  The top two boats from the three heats Friday raced.  The girls were so nervous, but excited because they knew they had a good chance of winning.  They knew, though, that during the prelims sometimes the rowers don't push as hard as they can because they don't have to win the race to make it to finals.  My race pictures are a little blurry because I was so excited I couldn't get the camera to focus. I guess when you're jumping up and down the camera has a hard time figuring out what you want to focus on!  If you click on the pictures you might be able to see a little better.

They started out in 2nd...

and then started their sprint and slowly crept up...

and over-took the lead for FIRST! 

This graph shows just how close the race for first was!  They won by .15 second! 

Champs!  I am so proud of them!  Saturday was my birthday, and Kylie said, "Winning the race was my birthday present to you." 

Best present ever!

They weren't able to rest and relax Saturday afternoon because they had their 8+ boat prelims. Their 2nd 4+ boat had also won their finals on Friday, so they were really excited to row all together and see what they could do.

Waiting for their turn to launch.  It gets pretty crowded at the launch site with all the big boats!

I love the name of their boat...they were definitely dreaming big!

And they're off again!

They were in 2nd again and started their amazing sprint...

and won 1st by 2.5 seconds!  The parents were cheering and screaming so loudly, and the girls were overwhelmed with excitement!

Here's a shot of the finish line.  We're the boat in 1st, with the yellow suits.

Saturday night they had cause for celebration.  They ran around the courtyard at the hotel and played in the pool and hot tub, but came in early enough that they could get a good night's sleep and be rested for the finals Sunday morning. 

They thought their race was at 10:30 Sunday morning, but when we got to the Lake at 6:45, they found out it was at 8:30.  They have a pre-race routine that includes not eating two hours before the race, visualizing the race with their coach, and putting the boat in an hour before the race to warm up, but everything got crunched because of the time shortage.  They put in about 1/2 an hour before their start time and seemed very jittery!

The race!  They were in second for a stretch, then were overtaken by Sammamish.

They maintained third, and right at the end two boats crept up on them, challenging them for third.  But they kept their lead and ended up placing third over all!  It was an intense race!  Third, fourth and fifth places all finished within three seconds of each other. 

At that point, my camera battery died!  I didn't get pictures of their whole team together celebrating their 3rd place finish.  Somehow the awards tent ran out of third place medals, so they didn't get their medal Sunday, but were told it would be mailed to them.  Someone screwed up!  How can you not have enough medals?  Anyway, when I get pictures from the other parents of their team all together, I'll add them. 

It was an amazing weekend, so inspiring to see the girls working together and really trusting and relying on each other.  I've been very impressed with their team as a whole.  They don't all hang out together outside of crew, but they are very devoted to each other.  Kylie will miss the team over the summer, and next fall she'll be on the varsity team, so it won't be such a tight-knit group.  She has improved so much over the season.  They had their final practice yesterday where they rowed 2K on the ergs and she knocked 10 seconds off her overall time, which is a big accomplishment!