It’s Been A Busy Week

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

Normally when I’m struggling to post on my blog it’s because we have been doing more sitting than going.  Well, that certainly hasn’t been the case recently.  I’ve been struggling to find the time to look at the pictures, sort them and then post a blog.  It’s hard to keep up!!  Well, I’m also struggling to find the time to read the ones I follow.  Where is all this time going anyway?

As an example, six days ago Sandi and I went to a concert with my brother Marv.  It was the Midsummer Concert they hold at his church in Portland during July.  It opens every year with America the Beautiful performed by the full symphony orchestra and choir.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Lee and Sabrina gave Jordie a new laptop computer for graduation.    She was thrilled with it but needed the Microsoft Office Suite with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.  After all, she’s in college and she needs those programs.  It’s not that she could wait until September either since she’s taking two classes during the summer too.  So, we decided to give her a birthday present a couple weeks early …. guess what it was?  You’re right … the Microsoft programs.

The Fourth of July was a fun day for us.  It was so fun last year that we decided to go back to the same place we had spent it then.  

We have been to huge firework displays but the one in Kalama is the absolute best.  It’s not organized and people bring their own fireworks.  You would think it might not be much.  Let me tell you.  That isn’t the case.  Your neck gets so tired turning and looking at all of them and it goes on forever.  People don’t just spend hundreds of dollars to watch the flashes in the sky.  They spend thousands and thousands of dollars for this event.  What did we spend?  Well, we’re not the big spenders.  We spent $40.  We have no desire to keep up with the big guys. 

It was a great day.  We spent it with family eating, kayaking and watching the skies explode with other people’s money.

Putting the kayaks in the Columbia River is quite different than putting them in some of the other rivers around here.  It’s a mighty big river with mighty big ships.  It can also get pretty dang rough.  Of course, some of those waves are fun to ride but the paddling can also mean quite a workout. 

You can see a little of the chop on the water by the picture but the real reason I even took it was to show the red, white and blue bow that Tammi decorated the kayaks with.

In the distance you can see Tammi and Robert paddling and the ship heading our way.

Neither Jordie nor Brendan were dressed for kayaking.  Here you see Brendan begging Jordie to let him go kayaking even though she wasn’t going to go.  I think she’s on the right track in training him!

We lost a hook off of our kayaks the other day.  Instead of replacing the hook, we decided to replace the whole strap …. plus what the kayaks sit on.  Thule has special kayak racks so we had their "J" hooks added to the top rack we had built.  Don't dare ask what all this rack work cost.  I'd never admit it.

I think the kayaks are really secure now.  There are good things and bad things going to a place like Alder Creek Kayak in Portland.  The good thing is in addition to selling us the hooks, they also installed them and made sure the hooks and kayaks were secured.  If we had bought them anyplace else, we would have just walked out the door with a couple of boxes.

The not so good thing is that we usually find other things we want.  I found a paddle I'd sure like to have.  I've tried to justify it since it has a small shaft and I have small hands.   Why didn’t I get it?  I didn’t get it because it was $400!!!  Besides …. I think I wanted this rack more.

Our plans continue to be that we’re going to take a vacation soon.  We just don’t know how soon or where.  Summer isn’t over yet.  However, it will be just as busy over the next few weeks as it has been or maybe even busier.   We still have seven birthdays, one wedding in Virginia, one reunion in Port Angeles, one reunion in Texas and one anniversary in the next couple of months. Those are just the things I can think of right now.

One of those reunions I'm in charge of and that's a whole lot more work than just going to it.  I've been sending little reminders out every couple of months and just finished the final one with all the details.  It's a Texas style reunion so decorations have been ordered and received.  Ribs have been bought and stuck in Bri's freezer.  The planning for the games, prizes and food sure has made the brain work.  The reunion will be a lot of fun but it's certainly been more work getting ready for it than I figured it would be.  

Summer is a very busy time for sure.  Terry keeps saying that one of these days we’ll retire.  Well, maybe we will.

‘Tis life on the road.