More Football Fun (and other exciting news)

They've done it again.

The LC varsity football boys took on the significantly larger and storied
Vancouver College (high school) team, and did it again.
They won. Convincingly.

I think we can say that the Week One loss to Sehome
is officially a thing of the past. :)

What a fun, exciting, clean game it was!
Just a lot of good, hard play.
You gotta love that kind of game.
(And, oh did Cami and I ever love it!)

A duo of Cami's good friends,
Daniel (quarterback) and Jacob (receiver)
connected for 3 touchdowns.
THREE!
Daniel had over 200 yards passing and
Jacob had about 140 yards receiving,
plus a bunch of tackles on defense.

I honestly don't know how that kid (Jacob) was still
standing at the end of the game.
Since both teams attempted to convert
several fourth downs,
Jacob didn't come off the field for a LONG TIME.
When you're a receiver, running 15 or 20 yard routes
almost every offensive play (then having to run back),
shuttling play calls in from the sidelines sometimes,
then covering receivers on defense,
THAT'S A LOT OF RUNNING!
And then being able to stay focused enough to catch passes,
pursue ball carriers, and make good tackles...
let's just say I'm very impressed.
To see Jacob enjoy success by
making some huge catches,
racking up TD's,
and basically being a beast on defense...
well, it just couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Obviously "happen" isn't really accurate terminology.
Jacob and Daniel and all of Cami's friends work hard
to MAKE this stuff happen.
And they're GOOD KIDS, too.
Cami, and our family, have been blessed by these good friends of hers.

As if all this scintillating football wasn't enough,
more excitement came our way during the game
(no, not the Vancouver College guy whose dislocated ankle
made his foot stick out at a 3 o'clock angle to his leg).

My nephew Dillon came by with his girlfriend Tiffany,
who was sporting an oh-so-shiny new piece of jewelry
on her left ring finger!!!!!!!!!!

WOOHOO!

Apparently, there's a long and involved story
regarding the engagement proceedings that we have yet to hear.
All we know so far is that it involves some "sad moments",
some "funny moments",
and an injury to Tiff!
This should be good. :)
A wedding next summer sounds like so much fun,
but the best part is that our beloved Dillon has found himself
such a lovely girl.
WELCOME to the fam, TIFF!

All the excitement of the night was capped off
with about 2 dozen high schoolers descending on our house
after the game.
I LOVE these kids. They're fun and "clean",
AND they're nice to me! :)
I couldn't care less if they eat all our Cocoa Puffs and
fill the house with noise far past my bedtime.
It's a delight to play hostess to them.

Needless to say,
a lot of adrenaline had to dissipate
before I was ready to nod off around 2 AM.
Then my infernal body clock (and, yes, I did intend to say "infernal", not "internal")
didn't seem to acknowledge that the calendar says "Saturday",
so I was awake bright and early.

Thankfully, it's a rainy, grey, perfect-for-reading-and-being-lazy day.
The glow from last night, however,
will be keeping me plenty warm
for a good long while. :)

Football is Fun Again

Hooray for football!!!

It's that time of year again...YEAH!

It's a happy night for the LC boys team,
having defeated Lakewood 34-14.

This is happy news because last Saturday
our boys had to endure a 54-0 drubbing
at the hands of a much larger school, and
sans a bunch of injured and suspended players.

According to Cami, the boys weren't
chomping at the bit for tonight's game.

After Lakewood scored on the game's opening drive
in just 51 seconds, I can only imagine what was going on
under those navy and white helmets...
here we go again?

Lakewood proceeded to score again for a 14-0 lead.

But then we started moving the ball.
And scoring.
And playing more aggressive D.

Not only did the Lyncs put points on the board,
they scored 5 touchdowns in various ways
on the ground and through the air.

There were interceptions, circus catches,
LC defenders in the Lakewood backfield,
and a lot of other good stuff.

For MY sake, I never really care what the score is;
I so love watching these boys play, that I always
"get my money's worth" no matter what.
Football never ceases to be fun for me.

But I'm glad, oh so glad,
that football is fun for THEM again.

Way to go, fellas! Enjoy.

Viva la Olympics!

Oh my gracious...
Did you see the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay (swimming) yesterday?
IN-TENSE.

Possibly the BEST sporting event I've ever seen
(and I've seen a lot!).
If you haven't gotten to watch the race yet, check it out on the internet.
Races like this are why I LOVE to watch sports.

I have to admit, I hadn't given much thought to the fact
that the Olympics were upon us.
Kinda thought I wouldn't watch a lot of it.

YEAH, RIGHT!

As usual, I'm addicted.

There's just nothing quite like the Summer Olympics.
All these wonderful sports come out of hiding
and into prime time once every four years.

Beach volleyball.
Gymnastics.
Swimming.
Track and field.
Rowing.
And, yes, badminton, table tennis, and synchronized diving.

I pretty much love it all.
It took me about 3.7 seconds of Olympic-watching
to fall hook, line, and sinker into the joy of this thing.

Who wouldn't love Michael Phelps' exuberance after the relay victory,
Marta Karolyi's confident "We're fine" to her young and off-kilter gymnasts,
Yao Ming's game-opening three-pointer that nearly sent the home crowd into cardiac arrest.
Even the USA Men's basketball "Redeem Team" has won me over.

I don't know how many times I've already said
"HOLY COW!", "NO WAY!", and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!",
all two days into the competition. :)

These next two weeks are going to be a little tricky:
somehow I have to attend the local fair, put in a bunch of hours at work,
and get my children ready to start school.

But that's what commercials are for, right?

Staycation - Last, But Not Least

LOTR Marathon

So, here it is, finally, the third, and last, installment of Staycation.

Did any of you figure out the meaning of LOTR?
Consider the suspense ended...
it means "Lord of the Rings".
As in the movies.
All three of them.
Extended versions.
Yup, all 11+ hours.

The seed idea of an LOTR Marathon was planted through a conversation with our nephew, Jess, during Christmas break, and finally came to fruition during the summer staycation.
(Wouldn't want to rush anything, you know.)
We're not crazy enough to do this marathon all in one day/night, however.
I do think I would've lost my sanity,
not to mention that I probably would've slept through
nine of the eleven hours.

My techie husband took charge of the techie details:
procuring a projector, purchasing a $6 white sheet from Wal-Mart
and installing it as a big screen on the wall of our family room,
rearranging the surround sound,
albeit originally mistaking the right and left speakers
(which we discovered when one character galloped off the right-hand side of the screen while his voice traveled left),
adjusting the furniture and making a pretty darn good home theater (or theatre for our northward-leaning relatives).

I took charge of the domestic preparations:
food...yeah, that was pretty much it...that, and making sure the bathroom was clean.

We invited Jess and our other nieces and nephews, as well as Cami's BF, Jacob.

Night One:
Discs One and Two of "The Fellowship of the Ring",
plus Disc One of "The Two Towers".
Menu: Sloppy Joes, chips, pop, and 4 kinds of candy.
Attendance:10.
Wakefulness: I made it through all 5 hours, only dozing ever so slightly during the final 2 minutes.

Night Two:
Disc Two of "The Two Towers"
plus Disc One of "The Return of the King".
Menu: Leftover Sloppy Joes, leftover chips, pop, 2 kinds of candy.
Attendance: 6 and 2 halves. (Cami and Jacob only came for the last half).
Wakefulness: 20 minutes sleep, 4 hours awake.

Night Three:
Disc Two of "The Return of the King".
Menu: Water bottles, chip dust, Otter Pops.
Attendance: 8.
Wakefulness: 100% - barely - even though it was only 2 hours and 20 minutes of viewing.

Jim, Sean, Nate, nephews Jess and Derek, and I watched
the WHOLE THING.
We were joined at various times by Caitlin, Alicia, Cami and Jacob.
I thought the whole experience was great fun.
I LOVED spending time with my nieces and nephews, not to mention my immediate fam,
and I LOVED finally understanding this movie series that my boys enjoy so much.
I can only hope that the next time I take them on in our LOTR Trivial Pursuit DVD game, I'll achieve more than my usual one "pie piece" (to their 6). I must admit that, to this end, I attempted to sponge every bit of info I could as I watched...Theoden, Mines of Moria, Ents, Grima Wormtongue, et al. I'll let you know how this works out for me. :)

Our summer has been sprinkled with visits from faraway friends,
afternoons at my parents' pool (although with the casino newly opened down the road, the privacy level is SURE NOT the same as it used to be),
lots of reading,
some special birthday parties (a first and a fortieth),
and a fun and beautiful weekend camping with friends.

A few more adventures still await!
Hope your summer has been as enjoyable as ours.

Meg

Staycation - Part Two

The day after returning from Harrison Hot Springs, we headed out bright and early to hit the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and then the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. So if you want to put that in terms of acronyms, we had a WPZ/EMP/SFM day.

On our way, we picked up JK (Jacob Knibbe), Cami's cool BF (boyfriend).

We made our way down I-5 toward the WPZ.
Of course, along the way, we HAD to do a couple of crossword puzzles.
In Seattle, we inadvertently turned into Woodland PARK, instead of into the ZOO, but Jacob spotted a bird there, so we didn't miss out on the animals altogether.

Once situated at the WPZ, we traipsed all over, taking turns navigating
from the zoo's map (FYI - the map doesn't show ALL the paths, needless
to say, we got confused. Sometimes. Mostly when I was navigating.
The boys were better at it, and everything turned out OK).

We saw:
Gorillas,
Giraffes,
Hippos,
Monkeys (the screaming variety, oh joy),
A mountain goat,
Gigantic brown bears,
Flamingoes,
A Komodo dragon,
Brazilian cockroaches,
and much, much more.

The weather was pleasant and the kids were a hoot;
they made us LOL (laugh out loud) all day.

On to the EMP/SFM.
You just can't go wrong in a place with a 35 foot tall tower covered
with guitars of every shape, size, age, color, and manufacturer.
This piece of art is very cool.

We all jammed and learned on various drums, guitars and basses
and in sound-proof (thank goodness) rooms,
learned about Jimi Hendrix,
and checked out lots of memorablilia from movies and shows like
Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc.
Why Jim and I and the boys enjoy these slightly nerdy space shows, IDK (I don't know), but we do, and it was fun to see actual props and costumes. My favorite, without doubt, was the "tricorder" from the old Star Trek. Too cool!

The boys were dying to stop at Alderwood Mall to visit a Games Workshop store and check out Warhammer merchandise.
For the uninitiated, Warhammer is a miniatures game that's also a hobby.
Figures come in pieces, and it's up to the purchaser to cut, assemble and paint them. The figures are then used to play a battle/strategy game.
The boys love it!
Both found and purchased some desired items at the store
and were sincerely saying TYVM (thank you very much) for stopping there.

No trip south is complete without a stop in Burlington at KK.
You guessed it, Krispy Kreme.
We made it JUST before closing time. Whew - close one!

What a good day this was!
It was long and tiring, but lots of fun.
Those kids, I tell you, they keep it entertaining! :)

PLZ stay tuned for "Staycation - Part Three: LOTR Marathon".