Back in the Game!!

During our vacation I had part of my computer crash (internet, e-mail, and presentation program). After a week of trying to fix it myself, I ended up taking it in to the shop. They had it for over a week and now I thought I was back in the game. I'm typing this with a bum left hand. Last night our Bible Study group played basketball. I blocked a pass and ended up with a sprained, swollen, and hurting thumb. Thankfully the x-rays didn't show any breaks.

Now, my reason for posting. On March 31st I heard two of my favorite words again, “Play Ball.” Just in case you don’t know, I was up at beautiful Safeco Field for the start of another Mariner Season. This season we have some new seats just inside 1st base (we were behind homeplate last season), but we are about 6 rows closer to the field. This is a shot without telephoto:



Now for its closeup:



If you’ve never gone to Opening Day, I highly recommend it. It is so much fun and everyone has great expectations for the season. One of the traditions is announcing all the players as they run in from the outfield. This picture was taken just as they started:



Here’s the lineup just before the National Anthem:



After that, they give out some awards, but don’t worry I won’t bore you with the pictures or names.......Next came the Ceremonial 1st pitch. They honored one of the greatest guys, Dave Niehaus, who’s been the Mariners announcer since they started. He is being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this summer by being the 2008 Ford C Frick Award Winner given to a broadcaster. My understanding is that this is the only way a broadcaster can be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here’s a photo of him getting ready to throw the pitch:



Now, here’s the awesome car that he road in on (I couldn’t get a great picture of the car when he was in front of our section, because there were too many people):



Now for some action shots. Can’t remember what he did during this at bat, but here’s Adrian Beltre swinging for the fences:



Coming in to close the game is J.J. Putz:



Here’s my final picture:



Final Score: Mariners 5 Texas 2!!!!

First Time for everything!

Two weeks ago at our Tuesday Night Bible Study, Brian invited us to join him and Melissa at Paradise at Mt. Rainier. Several of us said that we’d go, so on Saturday morning (March 1) we loaded up my car and Brian’s and headed to the Mountain. For more pictures, you can check out my link (on the right) to Brian and Melissa’s website.

Don’t Brian and Eric looked relaxed and ready to build an igloo?



They opened the gate at Longmire about 5 minutes after we got to it, so we were some of the first vehicles up the road to Paradise. We had lunch at the visitor center and then started getting things ready to hike out to find our perfect spot. Eric decided that he needed to supervise things from above:



After snowshoeing for a little bit, we came to the perfect spot for our igloo. Kristin, Brian, and Eric start to clear the area.



Eric and Brian work on getting the ice blocks cut out of our quarry, which later became the center area of our igloo:



Here’s the trail that we blazed to our spot. The trail goes off to the left through the tree clearing.



At one point during the afternoon, Melissa headed back to the visitor center to warm up and cheer up little Abee. They came out awhile later to spend a few minutes with us, but then went back again.

There were some cool shadows from the trees, so I tried to capture the beauty of it:



After getting several levels up on the igloo. Eric had an idea to build an arch over the doorway. It stayed up for a few seconds after Kristin and Michelle moved, but then someone touched it and it fell down. Because of the short lifespan of the arch, I got the only picture of it:



After the arch collapsed, we used our poles to support the entryway. Michelle, me, and Kristin take a break from shoring up the walls:



We ended up having to move our quarry, so here’s Eric taking a break at the new one to pose for a picture:



By this time, we realized that the bigger ice blocks work the best, so Eric and Brian were trying to cut the biggest ones they could, while still being able to carry them:



Since I had some time, I was playing around with one of my favorite pictures from that day. This is the original picture:



This is the same picture in Black and White:



This is that same picture in Sepia:



Since we knew we didn’t have enough time to finish the roof before darkness set in, we decided to hike up the hill next to us to see if we could get a glimpse of the Mountain. Checking out the view are Michelle, Kristin, Eric, and Brian:



Here’s the view that we had:



On the ride up to Paradise, Eric told Michelle and I that he wanted to do some tree jumping and here he took the opportunity to try it:



This wasn’t his best landing, but he still sunk in the snow a little:



After hiking or sliding back down the hill, we took a few pictures of the igloo, before we had to destory it. Brian and Eric are admiring their handiwork and contemplating their next moves:



Action shot of Eric throwing an ice block to destroy the igloo:



I took still photos and Michelle took video as Kristin, Brian, and Eric destroyed our igloo:



After all their hard work destroying it, they needed a quick break before heading back to the cars:



Once we got back to the vehicles, we hightailed it out of there, since they closed the gate at Longmire at 7 pm. We wanted to have dinner, so we stopped at a great little place not too far out of the Park, called the Copper Creek Inn. We had a great time and can’t wait to go again and to finish our next one.

TNBS

Our Tuesday Night Bible Study (TNBS) loves to get together, whether it is Tuesday night or during the weekend. We wanted to do some fun things during the Christmas Season, while also helping those in our community. Our first activity was to put some gift bags together for the Boys & Girls Club. To put a fun twist on it, we decided to go as a group to the Dollar Store to buy all the gifts. Before we left, I had to take this really cute picture of Abee (Brian and Melissa’s sleeping baby):



Once we came back, we got to work getting the bags together. Left to right are Brian, Michelle, Nate, Eric, Melissa, Kristin, and Danae:



We were able to make 28 gift bags and it turned out to be evenly split with 14 boys and 14 girls bags. Here are the ones for the boys:



Here’s Michelle and Danae with the girls bags:



Our next get together was a White Elephant Gift Exchange on Wednesday, December 19. I was out sick from work that day (at the start of my now 4 weeks of being sick), so I may be a little fuzzy on some of the details. We did play a game of “Name that Tune,” but I can’t remember if the guys or the girls won. I’m sure someone will remind me though.

Have to say that I was curious about the definition of a White Elephant (besides it being an animal), so I decided to look it up.

From Webster’s Dictionary: n 1) A rare whitish or light-gray form of the Asian elephant, often regarded with special veneration in areas of SE Asia. 2) a. A rare and expensive possession that is financially a burden to maintain. b. Something of dubious or limited value. 3) An article, ornament, or household utensil no longer wanted by its owner. 4) A conspicous failure.

I was laughing when I saw the different definitions and I’ll let you decide which fits with what gift. This picture is of Nate trying on his funky new glasses that were a part of the gift that he selected. I don’t think he ended up with them though. Peering over his shoulders are Kristin and Adam:



Eric was happy to get some gift certificates to Baskin Robbins, but I don’t think he ended up with them at the end:



Mike was back home for Christmas, so he joined us for our party. He chose the gift that I brought, which was a hollow cone shaped thing stuffed with lots of candy. He was able to keep it, but it had less candy when he left:



Brian selected a gift that turned out to be little wooden puzzles that are very complicated to put together, let alone explain what they are. He did end the night with them and I know that he was still trying to figure the puzzles out when we got together on Saturday.



Charlotte opens her gift with Eric looking on. It was an airplane with a santa that came off to reveal some goodies inside:



It took a long time, but Kristin finally unwrapped her gift to reveal two books on CDs. I know she didn’t end up with them, because her roommate, Michelle, took them away. Here’s proof that she had them for a few minutes:



Now the party could begin with the party favors that Danae opened up:



Adam ended up getting a football, thankfully the guys didn’t start playing in the living room, since there wasn’t enough room:



Lastly is Tom and the teddy bear that he got. I don’t think he left the house with it though:



Somewhere in there I was able to select a gift. Since I was taking the pictures, I don’t have one of me. I got some sparkling blueberry cider and two glasses. After opening all the gifts, we all just sat around, talked, played ping pong, ate, and talked even more.

Our next get together was that Saturday night (December 22). We were going caroling at a retirement community in town and then going back to Brian and Melissa’s for our First Annual Soup-er Fest (not sure if we officially named it or not). Anyone in the group could bring soups/chili/stew and we’d vote on who had the best. We were joined by Melissa and Michelle’s parents, Hildred and Clair, who were here for Christmas from Utah. Brian and Kristin’s brother Steven also joined us before he headed to their parents place in Idaho. As we started to gather at the retirement community, I took this really cute picture of Abee in her little Santa outfit, which her Great-Grandma knitted:



Last year, Brian, Melissa, and I, along with our old Bible Study group came to this same place for caroling, but we walked up and down the hallways singing. I actually liked this time better, because we stayed in the dining room, sang, and then got to spend quality time with all those who had joined us. Left to right are: Brian (with Abee), Michelle, Kristin, Melissa (Hildred hiding behind her), Steven, Lucas (in front), Tom, Eric, and Clair.



A close up one from left to right are: Brian (with Abee), Michelle, Kristin, Melissa, Steven (back), and Lucas (front).



The rest of them are left to right: Hildred (back), Melissa (front), Steven, Lucas, Tom, Eric, and Clair.



While hanging out with the residents, Abee was with either her parents or her grandparents. She was enjoying the attention, but she eventually got really tired and hungry. A great picture of her after a long night:



After caroling and visiting, we went back to Brian and Melissa’s place to get ready for our Soup-er Fest. To pass the time, Eric (front) joined Tom (back) on the piano for a great performance:



We then dug into the soups. Getting ready to chow down are left to right: Tom, Melissa, Michelle, Clair, Hildred, and Eric.



Kristin’s trying to decide what to have, Steven’s getting ready to pick something out, and Clair knows what he wants:



For some reason, everyone decided that there was something more interesting in the living room than the food. Here’s the backs (and some profiles) of: Steven, Melissa, Hildred, Michelle, Clair, and Kristin.



There were lots of different soups and I better not try to name them all, since I know I won’t be able to:



After trying them all, we scored each one and then they announced the winner. Eric was the winner and I’m not even going to try writing what his was.