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August 27, 2010

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Sorry this journal post is late this week. I was going to post it when we got to Lara's in West Linn, but the internet was down at her place and we couldn't get it posted. It's amazing how much we take this technology for granted and then when it's not there, we're helpless. Dave was about to go find a Starbucks with an internet signal just so we could post it, but the problem was solved at Lara's before he left.

The Blue Heron Cheese factory was hosting the annual Old Iron Show on Saturday, so we ran into Tillamook for that. Dave wanted poke around some of the old tractors and cars and see what was available at the swap meet. While he was doing that, I looked around inside the Blue Heron at all their wine and cheeses that they have. I came out with a Danish cheese that I love and Dave got a couple of brass fittings for the steamboat. I think I spent about $6.50 and Dave about $7.00. We are really such BIG spenders!

After the show, we headed for Rockaway Beach for the annual Fish Fry put on by the North Coast Food Bank. They served quite a meal for $7.00 apiece, which included sea flounder, coleslaw, fruit, corn-on-the-cob and bread. It was a good meal for a good cause and it's always fun to go to those things because we always see someone we know, and this time was no exception. No sooner did we get home than we heard a knock on the downstairs door and an old high school classmate of mine, Steve Griffels and his grandson dropped by for a visit. They were out for a drive along the coast and decided to stop in Wheeler and try to find us. That's never difficult in Wheeler! Not only did I go to high school with Steve, but he also went to college with Dave, so we both know him. I hadn't seen him since our last high school reunion, five years ago, although Dave saw him at a funeral a few months ago. Speaking of that, our 50th class reunion is next month and I am really looking forward to seeing all of those "old folks" again.

Our granddaughter, Paige was in a soccer tournament last weekend. It was the Mt. Hood - Nike sponsored event and there were hundreds of teams from all over the Northwest. Her team played on Friday and Saturday and they won all their games. We found out that her team was playing Sunday for the championship in her age bracket (under-9 year olds) against a team from Washington. So we decided to drive into West Linn where the game was going to be held to watch her play. What an exciting game! It was tied 1-1 after regulation (Paige scored their only goal) and was going to go into two 5-minute overtimes and then would be decided by penalty kicks after that if nobody scored. They played the first 5 minutes of overtime with no goals, but then with one minute left in the second overtime, our Paige scored the winning goal! The game was so intense since both teams were very good. We are really proud of our Paige and glad her team won. They scored 13 goals in the tournament and Paige had 11 of them!

The rest of the week since that time has been fairly routine. The weather has been okay - not great, but not raining either. There have been meetings (so what else is new?) and a couple of trips to Tillamook, but nothing exciting.

We are heading into Portland early this week. We will be staying with our three youngest granddaughters today because of a scheduling conflict for childcare. Lara called Wednesday night to see if we could help out. Today, we both have haircut appointments and then tonight we are scheduled to go to Gresham, as Dave is going to do some electrical work for our friends Rich and Deb Patterson. They bought a new house and want some extra electrical outlets put in for their Christmas lights. Yee gads; do we have to start thinking about Christmas already?

One of the main reasons for going in to Portland this weekend is for Dave's 50th high school class reunion. The guys at Benson are putting it all together, which is quite an accomplishment since we figured out that it's the women who usually coordinate these things. Benson was an all-boy's school when they were in high school, so they've had to do this themselves! They are having the dinner at a hotel near Lloyd Center on Saturday night and a picnic at Oaks Park on Sunday. Dave is going to MC the Saturday night affair.

Another big reason for going into town this weekend is that we also have our oldest granddaughter's eleventh birthday celebration on Sunday afternoon. Gosh, did I say eleventh? It seems like yesterday that she was a baby! She is growing up soooooo fast! Anyway, the family will all get together for a party, which should be fun. We always get our grandchildren Savings Bonds for their birthdays and also a gift certificate from a local store. This works for us, because we never know what their interests are, and this way they can get what they want. Anyway, we're looking forward to seeing everyone and helping Ashtin celebrate the big day!

In about a week, we will be heading for Seattle to catch our ship for our cruise to Alaska. We'll leave here a week from today and the ship leaves Seattle on Saturday the 4th and will be back on Saturday the 11th. I can't wait and I sure hope we have good weather.