Cousins

We all converged at the cabin on Whidbey Island yesterday.


Jill and Corey and the kids headed out first in the van, with plans to stay overnight.  We followed a bit later, with plans to tour some gardens and then meet up for some shared afternoon, evening time.  


Sister-in-law Jan came from Gig Harbor, bringing her and Tom's niece Julie, and Julie's two kids, Brian and Sarah, who are visiting from San Jose, CA.


Jake headed up in the afternoon after coaching a soccer clinic.

We all came on the ferry.  It was a beautiful day and the wait in the ferry line was long, so no one arrived before noon.

Adults converged on the beach to catch up.

When we arrived we found Irene and Sarah fully bonded in their girly-girl mode.  They are second cousins, but if they've ever met, it was as infants.

And Isaac and Brian were also thoroughly enjoying each others company, being boyish boys.  They marked out a soccer pitch in the sand and were playing soccer when we arrived.

 Of course this kids are moving targets, so they're a bit hard to capture in photos, although the girls are willing to 'pose'.  I'm sure they'll have Jake rebuilding the fort by this morning.

Jill and Julie's second cousin Mike, who was already at the beach, offered boat rides.

Julie grew up in Los Altos and Jill is a Seattle girl who now lives in Colorado, so they have never had much time together, but they have a strong bond nonetheless.

And now the kids are getting the opportunity to bond as well, at the place that is at the heart of the Reeder clan, Whidbey Island.

Update:  Corey just sent me this photo via email and his smart phone.  I love technology!

First Day Back in Seattle

We all took it easy the first day that Jill and family were back in Seattle.


For Corey it has been much longer since his last visit, one he looks forward to in order to escape the Colorado summer heat.  The 60 degree temp this morning was just a pleasant respite for him.


Corey did some work on my computer, switching my browser to Google Chrome, which seems to have solved some of the problems we were having.  All of my Blogger tools are back!   Jill did a little shopping and a lot of sitting and reading.  I played with the kids, of course, and when they took a nap this afternoon, I sat on the patio and read.

Irene "cooked" in the playhouse, making strawberry short cake again.  But she spent as much time as she could under the rainbow.

 Isaac helped Grandpa pick the raspberries, but he ate most of what he picked.  We all enjoyed raspberries and ice cream for dessert.

While I had my camera at the ready, I didn't take that many photos today.   We were busy playing.  But I did have it handy to capture this visitor to the garden.

We all enjoyed the sunshine and mild temps.  It was a great day.

Another Soccer Match

Last night we joined the throngs of fans attending the "friendly" match between the Seattle Sounders and visiting Manchester United.  The Sounders have a lot of fans here, but Man U has millions of fans all over the world. 

We met up with Jake at Occidental Park, ready for the march to the match.

At the stadium we listened to the band play as ticket holders jammed the gates.

The sky was almost blue and it was about 70, perfect for a soccer match.

 The Emerald city supporters, of which Jake is a member, were ready to go.  See that big, striped flag?  I spent Tuesday afternoon putting a new pole sleeve on it.  I now claim some ownership.

 Jake is waving the other big flag.

 Opening ceremonies.

The official attendance was 67,052.  that's a lot of soccer fans.

 I had my small binoculars and found Jake in the middle of the ECS section.  We sit on the other end of the stadium.  Jake in the guy with sunglasses in the middle of the photo.

 The first half of the match was great, and our starters held Man U to one goal and a half time score of 0-1.  But in the second half, our coach put in all of the bench players, wanting to give everyone a chance to play against one of the best teams in the world.  Meanwhile Man U put in their best, most famous scorer.  It was a miserable mistake, and the final score was an embarrassing 0-7.  The red clad Man U fans loved it.

We took our time leaving because the streets and sidewalks and trains were packed.  We listened to the band and people watched.

Finally we headed off into the city to catch the light rail a bit further up the line so we could get a seat.

We'll have to wait now for another home match.  the next one isn't until August 13th. 

But it's just as well.  Jill and Corey and the kids arrive tonight for a two and a half week stay.  We'll be busy with other things.

The Willamette Valley

Last Thursday and Friday we returned to my homeland to visit my mother and appreciate the beauty of my valley.


On the way to Mom's, we stopped for a picnic lunch at Champoeg State Park on the banks of the Willamette river.

 Trees grow lush on the river banks.

This tree has been designated the Pioneer Tree, because it was prominent when the the first provisional government in Oregon Territory was formed here in 1843.

I'm one of those people who like to try to identify the crops growing in the fields as we drive buy.  It's my up bringing, my heritage.  We passed huge fields of beans, corn, squash, berries, vineyards, grass seed and grains.  But we also found some special treats.

These fields of poppies were on either side of the road.  They are being grown for the seed.  When you buy seeds off the seed racks, chances are they came from Oregon.



 Another big crop in Oregon is Christmas trees.  We found these planting in the hills on the way to Silver Creek falls.

And more flower fields!

One mission I had on this trip was to come home with some right out of the field Willamette Valley berries.

 Whatever is grown here, you can count on there being lots of it!

 The berries were delicious!