Another Regatta

This one was a lot more intense and required more than a little hot air, although good lung capacity is important!  Kylie raced in the Head of the Lake regatta at the University of Washington.  She was in the JV 8+ boat, 7 seat.  It was their only regatta of the season since the one at American Lake was cancelled due to high wind and rain.

Brad and I found a spot sitting on the wall of the Montlake Cut and waited for Kylie's boat to go out for their warm up. I think rowing a single, like the one in this picture, looks like so much fun!

Here they are, heading out.  Unfortunately, my camera is broken and I had to use Ben's, which doesn't have a very good zoom, so you can't really see Kylie, but she's 7th seat.  You count from the back to the front.

After they went past, we walked up to the Montlake Bridge.  Here's a view looking back towards Lake Washington.

Then we walked over the bridge and down to the other side. The boat on the left is going out to warm up and the one on the right is actually racing.

While we waited for Kylie's race, the bridge went up to let this sail boat through.  I wonder if they knew they were in the middle of a regatta? 

 

Looking out towards Portage Bay, where the race was in progress.  Those are three Men's 8s racing, Bainbridge's boat is the one right next to the buoy.  It's a 5K race, and starts out in Lake Union, which is past the 1-5 bridge that you can see in the distance.

Kylie's boat during her race.

It's a staggered-start race; the boats start 15 seconds apart, so it's hard to tell who is winning.  

Here are several of the boats in Kylie's race, but you can't see Kylie's boat. They go out to the last orange buoy, then turn back in to cross the finish line.  It would have been fun to be in that big, white yacht out there, watching the race.

Here they are after they've crossed the finish line,

getting out of the boat

and carrying it back to the tent area.

Post-race meeting with their coach. They still don't know their status yet. They have to wait until all the boats have finished and the results are posted, which can take up to 1/2 an hour, so it's not really an exciting spectator sport unless you know someone racing.  They ended up placing 5th out of 19 boats, so they were pretty happy! 

Rain Gutter Regatta

Our Cub Scout Pack had their first Rain Gutter Regatta this month.  Ben was able to construct his boat almost entirely by himself, which is a big difference from the Pinewood Derby, where it takes a lot of adult help.  He decided on a Captain America theme, which was great since we had the paint from Jillian's Halloween costume. 

Ben and his boat

 The Rain Gutter Regatta is all about who has the most hot air!  It was double elimination, with separate brackets for the Wolves, Bears, and Webelos.  Then the winners from each den competed for Ultimate Champion.

Here's one of Ben's first races...he's apparently got a lot of hot air, because he won 1st place for the Webelos.

Waiting to race.

Here he's competing for 2nd place over-all with the winner of the Wolves.

Getting his medal for 2nd place!

Apple Picking & Pressing

Our Ward had an apple pressing party a few weeks ago.  We wanted to be able to contribute to the apple supply, so we asked around about trees that we could harvest from.  A friend told us about a King apple tree near them that we could pick from, so Brad, Ben and I went to check it out.  It was amazing!

The branches were so thick and well groomed.  All the apples grew on the outside of the tree. Ben asked, "Can we get a tree like this?"  I wish, Ben!  It was probably at least 50 years old.

Check out them apples!

The tree was covered, and so was the ground.  When we first drove up, there were three deer grazing on the fallen apples.

In about 20 minutes, we picked these three big boxes full!

The next day, we went over to the Bountiful Farm to make cider.  

Washing the apples.

We added ours to this huge wagon load! The Hooyers went over to Quincy, WA to an apple orchard and brought back almost a full load of Honeycrisps.  Other people brought different varieties to add to the mix.  

Kylie, Jillian and Russ chopping the apples and cutting out any bruises.

Proof that Nate was there, too! 

Carlyn had the job of pouring the cider into the containers people brought.

A closer look at the press, with the delicious cider pouring out!

Brad and Bruce preparing apples for the press.

This was maybe half of what we ended up with, before people started taking their containers home.  I wanted to get a picture of at least some of it! We ended up taking home five gallons, and it is delicious!  We put four gallons in the freezer since you have to drink it, freeze it, or can it within a few days or it will ferment.

The mashed up apples...or at least some of them!  This was only one wheelbarrow load of many that went to the sheep, cows and chickens.  I hope they didn't get sick from it!

H- A- Double L- O- Double U- Double E- N Spells HALLOWEEN!

Halloween isn't quite the same now that my kids are getting older.  Only two were interested in trick-or-treating, and one wanted me to drop her off with her friends.  That left me and Ben, quite different from what I've been used to! 

In the afternoon, I went to the Halloween parade at Wilkes, which was different this year because they're in the new school.  No one was quite sure how it would work and the hallways got pretty crowded.  

Waldo and Paint Splatter Guy

Soccer Star, Creeper from Minecraft and Paint Splatter Guy

Halloween parade at Wilkes

We got one trick-or-treater this year!  Timmy came by and we had to get a shot of the Captains America!  

Jillian brought her friends home from school with her, so we had six giggly thirteen year-olds at our house getting ready.  I'm glad she wanted to bring them here.  I enjoyed seeing them together and for the most part was happy with their costume choices.

Holly Golightly, Stick Man, Joker's Wife, Kitty Cat, Mackenzie from Toddlers in Tiaras, and Captain America

Paint Splatter guy getting ready to go trick-or-treating

After dropping the girls off, Ben and I met up with a few of his friends to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.  Earlier in the day, it had been pouring rain, so we decided not to go into Winslow.  I was disappointed to miss it this year.  I love seeing all the people and the clever, creative costumes.  After the fact, I heard the rain wasn't that bad.  It sure was at our house, though.  By the time we met up with Ben's friends, it had stopped and we could actually see the stars.  The clear weather lasted for about an hour and a half, and then the rain started again, but by that time we had finished the neighborhood, gone to pick up Jillian and her friends, and taken them to another friend's neighborhood. They lasted about 1/2 an hour in the rain, and we were home by 8:30.

Counting up the loot!

Mariann's Visit

Mariann made good on her promise to visit soon.  She had to come back for work and was able to stretch her stay out for almost a week. Kylie graciously gave up her room for Mariann (it helped that Nathan was house sitting for the whole time, so we were able to move Kylie into his room).  It was so much fun having her with us!  We laughed a lot, stayed up late talking, finished her kayaking tour of the Island, and had a fun "Girls' Night" party with some of her closest friends. 

,

Mariann & Jane

Outi, Mariann & Kristi

Mariann & Sheri

Rene, Mariann, Laurene, Annette & Whitley

Whitley & Tiffny

Anna & Leslie

Gretchen & Rene

Mariann & Me

She Finally Did It!

We always knew she was a little slow, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it took her two and a half years longer than the rest of us!  When Mariann came to visit, one of her goals was to finish her around the Island kayaking tour.  She only had one segment left, Blakely Harbor to Eagle Harbor.  We were both a little skeptical about the weather forecast.  Only one day, Thursday, showed any promise.  Thursday morning we debated for quite a while whether it was warm enough, but finally decided we could bundle up and power through it if we had to.

We picked up Brooke's kayak (sadly, both she and Gretchen weren't able to come with us) and headed to Blakely Harbor.

We looked a little like the "Stay-Puff" man in all our layers!  Fortunately, the layers were soon stripped off.  The day was beautiful!

Look at that calm water!  When the sun broke through, it was perfect.  Warm, peaceful, beautiful!

We thought it might get a little more windy or choppy once we rounded this corner out of Blakey Harbor, but it didn't.

The ferry crossed our path on the way to Eagle Harbor.

Heading into Eagle Harbor, this wall separates us from Creosote Point, also known as Wycoff Superfund Site...delightful!  

Apparently, a few creative teens think toxic waste is romantic!  

We paddled around in Eagle Harbor for a while, under the docks...

and by the ferries in the maintenance yard.  There were people working in this ferry, and when Mariann got right up next to it, someone blew the horn...LOUD!  It knocked our socks off and we were laughing so hard!  It kind of looks like the ferry is laughing at Mariann, doesn't it?

We stayed out in the harbor, reliving our last visit, until it got a little windy and we started to get cold.  Brad picked us up in the truck to drive us back to our starting point.  He even had hot cocoa for us!  

Mariann was so happy to have finished her around the Island tour, and I'm glad I got to do it with her. Next time she comes, we're paddling over to Bella Luna for lunch.