Summer Dance Lab

Gabby auditioned for & was accepted into the Summer Dance Lab program in Walla Walla.  We drove over this weekend & dropped her off.  She will be staying at Anderson Hall on the Whitman College campus for the next 5 weeks.  She found out today that she was placed in the top level group for the duration of the program, which means she will get some experience with partnering.  This is one thing she doesn't get to do at her own dance studio because of the lack of older boys.  She is pretty excited & said that the first partnering class went well...but was a bit scary.   We will be missing her madly, but I know she will learn a ton, make a bunch of new friends, and have a great time!

My car was packed!!  We brought over a refrigerator for her to use.  Luckily her roommate has a portable air conditioner.  It's going to be really, really hot there!

We stopped for lunch at Burgerville.

Pretty Eastern Oregon.  It was sunny & warm once we left Portland behind.

Our hotel in Pendleton.  We stayed there because the hotel in Walla Walla had no vacancy.

We were in room 315.

 

We went to Roosters for dinner that night.

 

  

We found these cattle & cowboys right off the freeway in Pendleton.  I asked Scott to stop so we could check them out!

Hard to get a great picture when the sun is shining into my camera!

 

In the hotel room.

Heading to Anderson Hall.

Waiting in line to get checked in.

Getting her ID number and photo.

 

Her room for the next 5 weeks.



With her friend, Izzy, who is there for the two week program.

Not a great photo, but the only one I got of the three of us.

Relay for Life

On Friday night Scott & I joined several co-workers at the Thurston County Relay for Life event at Timberline High School in Lacey.  This annual event is a huge fundraiser in the fight against cancer.  Our group raised a whopping $1536!!  The event ran from 6pm Friday to 6pm Saturday.  Scott & I were there from 6pm to almost 11pm on Friday.  Everyone braved the cold & rainy weather to walk lap after lap around the track.  Scott walked 6.5 miles and I walked 4.5.  We had a few people on our team who did 15 or more miles.  It was a great event, and we hope to do it again next year.

The event kicked off with the Survivor Lap.

Front row: our Captain, Susie, Uyen, Dr. Lewis, Susan  Back row: Charles, Pam, Shana, Scott & Michelle

 

 

Left to right: Ces, Sarah, Stacey and Susie.  This was taken on Saturday..luckily the sun made an appearance.  

 

Dr Lewis who works in our office & was just recently diagnosed.

Selfie on the track.

Pam & Charles

Some members of the Seahawks Blue Thunder band made an appearance.

The luminaria event was very moving.  Names of those taken by cancer and survivors were written on the bags & lit.  As we marched quietly by, Scott & I reflected on how blessed we are that we have had very few people in our lives touched by this horrible disease.

James & Michele

Albeni Falls Dam, Sandpoint & My Birthday

Friday was a busy day.  I wanted to go somewhere new for my birthday, so we drove up to Sandpoint, Idaho.  On the way we stopped at Albeni Falls Dam for a ranger tour, which was advertised on their website.  We are not sure what happened, but the visitor center was empty when we got there, and the ranger was nowhere to be found.  We were really sad that we didn't get a tour, but we did walk down to the water to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  A funny side note is that we ran into someone we knew there...the parents of the co-owner of Gabby's dance studio.  What a small world!  They just happened to be staying in Spokane and on their way, also, to Sandpoint. 

After taking lots of pictures and trying out the panorama feature on my new camera, we continued on to Sandpoint, which was a really quaint little town.  We parked and walked out to the beach only to find out that dogs were not allowed.  We couldn't believe it!  I had looked up Sandpoint on the Internet, and no where did it say that dogs were not allowed on the beach.  Unfortunately, we had Winston with us, so we had to skip the beach and  head back downtown.  We found a dog-friendly restaurant, Bricks & Barley, where we could eat outside on the deck with Winston in tow.  The service was a bit slow, but the food was delicious.  Afterwards we did a little bit of shopping before heading home.

 

That night we had my celebratory birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's in downtown Spokane.  I love that restaurant!  Even with a few minor setbacks, I still had a great birthday just hanging out with the family. 

With 5 in the car, poor Winston had to sit in the way back, which made him extremely unhappy.

Bridge to the left, dam to the right. 

Jazz hands are appropriate for any occasion.

Winston sat under the table hoping someone would drop some food.

Little boardwalk...the beach is on the other side.

The girls and I got a couple of pictures, but did not linger.

Poor Winston!  He loves to dig and that sand looks very good for digging!

 

In front of P.F. Chang's.

We found this giant Red Stiletto in the lobby of the mall across from P.F. Chang's.  It is 9 feet tall and weighs 520 pounds!  And, it is a size 8..just perfect for Corey.

On the trip home we didn't have a bowl for Winston, so he had to make do with this make-shift one.

Happy to be heading home!



I found these lovelies blooming when we got home.  A good welcome!