Valleyfair, Minnesota

After the 4th, I went out to see Josh and Justin’s families and of course we went to Valleyfair!

The Wave is my favorite ride and the Steel Venom is one to stay away from for me since it goes backwards. It was in the high 80’s, maybe 90’s so the Wave is a must.

First you go on the ride and get crazy soaked and then you get off ASAP and run to the bridge before the next boat comes down. The wave will know you on your a—if you are not holding the bars up there.

They also had a new wooden roller coaster that is just sick, just wrong, just ….. the turns are radically banked so you can go really fast around them and then as soon as you pull out of it, you get thrown into the next one all the way until the ride ends.

I’m not even going to talk about Steel Venom but it was fun to watch the other people.  :-)

Josh and family took me to see ‘Potholes’ in Taylor Falls. I know really exciting huh? But they are holes in the glacier made from swirling water during formation. OK, maybe that didn’t sound anymore exciting but it was cool and it was a beautiful day. I was fortunate to get there right after the 100+ degree weather and have same or cooler weather than was in Seattle but it was during the heat in Seattle.

Swinging in the 4th of July!

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July!
I finally structurally finish the swinging bridge and we got to use it yesterday. A few more details to finish out the 'Looks' and I'm done. Yippeeeeeee!
Had a slow night last night and was starting to worry about the fireworks show because Nick and his friends were the only ones in the field but then the people started coming in (with wheelbarrows!) and the show was incredible. Not real mishaps - a couple of aerials that didn't go aerial but it turn out we were out of the BLAST range.
I wasn't allowed to have any fireworks this year so there were no Oh Sh-ts.
Plenty of food and a great firepit. Lined the deck with torches again this year so it was a great entertainment center.

Bowling for Breast Cancer

OK, the bowling fundraiser is over and it was a huge success. Raffle baskets were beautiful even though I didn't win any ( they said I actually had to buy a ticket to win a basket! What's up with that?)
:-)
I had a blast bowling with my friends (co-workers). There were 18 lanes filled - that's 72 people that supported this cause!!!! Holy S--t!!!
Look at the picture on the left and tell me how you cannot support these guys!
Joanie still has a little way to go so if you want to help her and make a donation - go to http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2010/SeattleEvent2010?px=4953005&pg=personal&fr_id=1471

Birthday celebration

Happy Birthday to me :-)
I celebrated my 56th birthday on Monday and as usual, Joanie again outdid herself - cooking up a wonderful brunch while I played the best game of golf ever with Danny, Brian and Kevin. I am so lucky to have her.
Then we went to see the Mariners game and they lost but it was still an exciting game. She had my name put on the reader board.
We went with Kevin and Brian family as well as Emily's Mom and Dad and Sister's family so it was quite a crew. $2 hot dog but I was OK once I bought my Tums the next morning.










Just wanted to share - I got a whole s--tload of Facebook Birthday wishes - thank you all. After 56 birthdays, you would think they would get boring. Naaaaaaa!

Joanie and I went to Newport this weekend and took our time getting down there. I got this awesome shot of Haystack Rock and little rocks.




I also got some cool critter shots.









Nice to just relax for a few days but I really need to find someone to drive us down. :-)

Sunset in Newport - I think GOD was visiting us that night.

Happy Anniversary

Joanie and I celebrated our 27th Anniversary last night at our favorite restaurant - Salty's at Alki. Had a great view of Seattle a wonderful meal.

She is truly a special person to have put up with me all these years :-)

Almost done with the kitchen but still no backsplash.

We took Danny and Nick to Vegas for Danny's 21st birthday. Gambled a little but not much - good thing

The boys seemed to enjoy Vegas as well as each other