What a weekend! Stephen and Heather had the weekend free, so the four of us jetted over to Ephrata on Friday night. We were hoping to make it to Ephrata well before dusk ‘cause we wanted to take the Catamaran out, however, that didn’t happen. It was actually pretty late by the time we left, but we salvaged some of the evening by going out to eat at the Palace in Ellensburg. Not as good as the Yellow Church Café from last weekend, but it brought back memories. That’s where Tobin and I went on our first date, and a bunch of dates thereafter – including the celebration of our engagement (Nov 2, 2002 in case you’re wondering).

So anyways we got to Ephrata on Friday night and basically went to sleep. I did work on my laptop a bit (wanted to get some ecommerce stuff set up on Tobin’s new site), but so far that hasn’t happened yet. Of course I’m not home yet, so maybe I’ll have more of his site done by the time this weekend is over. lol Where am I you ask? Well I’m sitting in the back seat of the Bimmer, Tobin’s driving, and Stephen’s playing the part of the copilot. We’re just about to Kittitas, and listening to techno courteous of Stephen’s iPod. I just downloaded all of my pictures, and watched them with Stephen and Heather. Stephen wanted to see how much air he was catching with his board. He didn’t do too bad, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So anyways, Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast and then headed out in the ski boat to Banks Lake. Unfortunately it was a bit windy. Tobin didn’t care, he tubed anyways. We went down the lake and then anchored by the side (the shallow side) and ate lunch. Mommy, Daddy and I walked into the shore and walked around a bit then back to the boat. By this time it was REALLY windy (maybe it was this way all along but we were going with the wind – I’m not sure). There were whitecaps everywhere. Stephen really wanted to try out his new wakeboard, and he did for a bit but man it was choppy. He couldn’t really go outside of the wake as it was so bad. Even in the wake was bad. Trust me I know. I tried to get up on the wakeboard after Tobin tried to (unsuccessfully) get up on the wakeboard. Well I didn’t have any luck either. I have NO IDEA what in the world I was thinking. I mean we shouldn’t even have really been out there in the boat in the first place as it was so windy, and here I am TRYING to get up on a wakeboard that I’ve never successfully been able to get up on. Yeah maybe the sun got to me. lol Tobin and I both then… I did ski a little (just to prove I could get up on something behind the boat). But it was so choppy that was no fun, so after about 2 minutes I was done. We were done. We wanted to go home and get the Cat and take it out…

Well by the time we got home and figured out the Cat, it was dark. Daddy, Stephen and Heather worked on setting up the Cat in the front yard to make sure they had all the pieces. My parents actually have two Cats, so I think that some parts were stolen off one to make the other complete. During this time, my Mom and I ran up to Wal-Mart and down to Safeway. It’s funny, we have Wal-Mart’s over by our house, but we NEVER go to them as they’re so horrible (so many people and so few checkers). But every time we’re home in Ephrata, we make the pilgrimage to the Wal-Mart to stock up on whatever we need that can come from there (which is a lot as it’s a super center).

We ran to Safeway to get Tobn’s birthday cake. My mom had ordered a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Tobin’s upcoming birthday (July 20th he’ll be the ripe old age of 30!). Well apparently something got lost in translation, and Tobin’s cake ended up saying “Happy Tobin”. The Safeway girl felt so bad when she brought it to us that she gave us a discount. I guess it was OK as Tobin is happy (usually). lol Well that kind of brings us to Sunday… After church we ate lunch and then ate Tobin’s b-day cake. But first we sang “Happy Tobin” to Tobin… (Happy Tobin to You, Happy Tobin to You… Happy Tobin dear Tobin, Happy Tobin to you!) I think we just started a new tradition.

After lunch (I’m onto Sunday now, are you still with me), we drove BOTH boats to Moses Lake. It took us about an hour to set up the Cat… Wow! We’d never sailed the Cat before, so this was the maiden voyage (for us), and the first real set-up. So we finally got the Cat done and then launched both boats. The Cat took off to the left coming out of the marina at Coulon park (that would be heading east). Stephen and Daddy were in the Cat, the rest of us were in the ski boat. I guess I could call that the Marlin. Hmm… I guess the jury’s still out on what we should call that boat (I just asked Stephen and Tobin).

So we in the Boat drove down to the Ephrata-end of Moses. Heather tubed first, then Tobin and I tubed together. That was a feat in itself… Tobin’s so big, there really isn’t any room for anyone else on the tube! Well I made room by sitting on top of Tobin. I wasn’t sure that the tube was going to hold both of us, but it did (and we even planed). lol We actually tubed for quite awhile. After I got off the tube (not overly gracefully as we wiped out on another boat’s wake), Tobin tubed down to the Cat. We’d lost sight of it, so we decided to go check on it.

Stephen and Daddy were kicking it out on the Cat. I think Daddy was REALLY enjoying it. He’s wanted to have that Cat out for awhile, but as we learned better today, it would be pretty difficult for two people to get it all rigged up and launched by themselves. Anyways, Stephen traded his spot on the Cat with Tobin, ‘cause he really wanted to try out his new wakeboard. Dang, I didn’t mean to give you a play-by-play rundown on today, sorry for all the detail!! Well too bad for you, I’ve already written it and I don’t feel like going back and cutting down my detail. Ha.

So Stephen got right up on his new Wakeboard and was doing jumps over the wake in no time. No flips today (still trying to get the hang for the board), but it was fun watching the jumps. Of course, I was watching through my lens the whole time. (Filled up my 2 gig card again – maybe I should go by another.) After Stephen had had enough (for a time), he twisted my arm into trying to wakeboard. I should put in as a side note that Moses Lake was GREAT for skiing/wakeboarding. At the end of the lake that we were on, there weren’t too many boats, and it was relatively calm. Oh and the water was pretty warm, though not brown, just green. So I tried to get up on the wakeboard and GUESS WHAT? I got right up the first time. I think I’m a bit balance-challenged though, ‘cause once I got up I had a pretty hard time staying up for any length of time (ok, I biffed it a bunch). I got up maybe 5-6 times. I think there was only one time that I didn’t actually make it up. Ok, so the last time I biffed it I really BIFFED it!!! All the other times when I felt the board wiggling out from underneath me, I’d throw the rope and land pretty much ok. But this time I just face planted. In fact I hit so hard that my feet came right out of Stephen’s custom bindings (they even have laces on them). I hit so hard, I felt like I got whiplash. I was a bit dizzy and my head hurt, so I got out of the water. After that, Heather wakeboarded for a bit, then Stephen wakeboarded again. When Stephen got tired of wakeboarding, I skied. It was nice. The water had just a few ripples, so it wasn’t too slick – just right for wakeboarding (though I have to say I do like skiing in dead calm water). I skied all the way to the Cat where we swapped Stephen and Heather for Tobin. Tobin tried again to get up on the wakeboard, but I’m afraid that the boat just isn’t powerful enough (or the board big enough) for Tobin to wakeboard. He did ski though. Man my neck still hurts from that wipeout on the wakeboard. I’m going to be super sore tomorrow!

So we were out on the water ‘till 8 or so when we figured we better pull the boats out as they close the gates of the park at 9. There was NO wind, so we ended up throwing the ski rope to Stephen who braced himself on the cat, and we pulled them in. It was so funny, Daddy was tacking with the Cat behind the ski boat. We were laughing so hard. :-)  We made it out of the park at 8:55 p.m. It took us considerably less time to tear that Cat down than put it up (and we waxed the ski boat in that time too). We’re good.

So we had a great weekend. Today was especially fun as I tubed, wakeboarded, AND skied. It was nice having two boats on the water. It was perfect weather for two boats (until the end when the wind totally died down. Margie Lou missed out. If you didn’t know, ML is on a 2-week vacation er mission trip to Canada. No she really does work, it’s her fourth year that she’s done this now – where she’ll go with Singing Waters ministry to lead Vacation Bible School on a reservation deep within British Columbia. It’s been a great experience every year so far, I hope that this year is no exception to that and she can really see the Lord work in the lives of the children that she’s working with.

In case you’re interested, I’m still in the Bimmer… We’re to Issaquah now. Tobin and Stephen are having some discussion about drug lords and guns or something. Neither one of them are showing any signs of slowing down – though it’s 12:20 am (July 17). That could have something to do with the Starbucks energy drinks they’ve been chugging. lol

Well I’m going to wrap this up now… Hope you had a great weekend. We sure did. We played HARD this weekend, now it’s back to work for us. Oh and speaking of work, if you know anyone who’s recently graduated with a Computer Science degree and has some graphic skills, please have them contact me. We’re looking for a Web Specialist at Biblesoft. This person would work with me, so if that’s not too intimidating (I’m not), apply! Head on over to Biblesoft.com and find the job posting.

Ok, now I’m done. Have a great week. Check out the new pics from this weekend! ~Tammie

Why do I only blog about my weekends? Hmm… Perhaps because the other 5 days of my week are filled with work, work, work, and I’d rather focus on the fun things in my life. lol

This weekend was certainly fun! I really had a good time. Tobin had been telling me throughout the week that his weekend was going to be full of summer school prep work, so he told me to go to Ephrata. I’d been kicking around the idea, but didn’t really want to make such a long drive all by my lonesome, so I called ML and asked her if she’d be up to picking me up in Cle Elum. She said YES! (This is all going down on my way home from work, thanks to the wonders of cell phones.) So I got home, packed, called my mom and Tobin and I left for Eastern WA. Heather heard that my mom and sis would be going through Ellensburg, so she suggested that we stop for dinner at the Yellow Church Cafe. We really love the food there, so we agreed to meet in Ellensburg instead of Cle Elum – and it ended up being everybody – Daddy & Mommy, Stephen & Heather, and Margie Lou (in addition to Tobin and I). The food was great! We had a good time. Then Tobin headed home, and we headed back to Ephrata.

Saturday was a day full of boating. Once again the water was GLASSY! Love it when it’s like that. We were on the water for a long time, it was so relaxing. All of us rode the tube. I rode it with Mommy that was pretty funny. What was even more fun was watching my parents on the tube together. HAHA! You look at the pics and decide if they were having fun! (I have my doubts.)

So we tubed a lot, explored over by the road, drove over to the cliffs and swam into shore… What else did we do? Hmm… I was going to ski but the binding was broke, and I didn’t feel like learning to slalom. Mommy slalomed. She did a great job, and I got the pictures to prove it.

Sunday morning, Stephen, Heather and I headed back for the other side of the mountains. *sniff* I could’ve stayed in Ephrata a whole lot longer, but that’s ok. We got to Stephen and Heather’s around 10:30 am, and Tobin picked me up and we went to church.

After church I really felt like going for a hike, so we went! :-) We drove up to Snoqualmie (exit 47), and hiked to Franklin Falls* and to the Slippery Slabs**. That was pretty cool. We were right below westbound I-90. I’ve driven that road tons of times, and never had a clue about what was below! The hikes were definitely kid-friendly (we saw a lot of families). So if you want an outing for anyone, go check out these fun hikes!

Well that about wraps up my weekend. Hope yours was as fun. Be sure to check the pictures I posted from this weekend (both of skiing and the hikes).

* I found out about these hikes from the Seattle PI which profiles weekend getaways in the Seattle area. You can find directions and additional info on the Franklin Falls hike here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/79834_hike25.shtml.
** You can find out about Slippery Slabs here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/272085_hike01.html.

Check out the photos section… I just uploaded 174 new pictures from this weekend! The photos are from Saturday when we went boating all day, and from Sunday when Tobin and I went for a hike. I’ll write more about my weekend later, but for now look at the pics.

Also, while I have your attention, I wanted to mention that the photo section of this website has changed slightly (for the better I hope!). I now feature a lot more albums on the start page (you can still tab throug album pages by clicking on the next link at the bottom of the screen). These albums also let you know how many pictures are in each album, and how many comments there have been in each album. Additionally, I’ve added a column to the right that displays the most recent comments for the photos section. Cool? Leave me a message and let me know what you think. One more thing – in the actual album, under the thumbnails for the pictures that have comments, I have added a note as to how many comments there are on the image. Some of the photos have quite a dialog going!

I’ll close out this mini-post, and leave you with a picture from this weekend…

Oh and that’s Franklin Falls, in case you’re wondering.

Did you have a great 4th? Hope so! Did you take off Monday to make it a 4-day weekend? I did!!! :-)

Well if you’re reading this I suppose you’re somewhat curious as to what my life has been like for the last week, so I’ll fill you in (if you’re not interested in what I have to say and would rather look at pictures of us cliff jumping, hop on over to the photo gallery).

Saturday, my brother (Stephen), FINALLY got back from his trip (adventure?) to Disney World. That’s a story in itself… Well to make a very long story short, never, never fly with American Airlines! Stephen, Heather and her family ended up getting stuck in Orlando and Dallas for a total of 3 days! They were supposed to fly back Wednesday night, and ended up finally getting home on Saturday afternoon. Oh, and during the layover, they didn’t have any luggage since AA sent it all straight to Seattle… Ok I’ll stop, but suffice it to say that we can now add American Airlines to that list of names-we-do-not-mention, right up there with the likes of Sch***s (if you’re a Correll, you know what I’m talking about).

So we picked Stephen, Heather and the fam up at around 3 from SeaTac, then ran down to Old Navy (they were having a summer sale I wanted to check out), where I got a call from a friend, Steve (he came over a few weeks ago), who wanted our help moving. So we jetted up to Redmond and helped unload a U-Haul. Got to meet Steve’s wife, Erin, and then went out to dinner with the two to Red Robin. From there we drove to down town Seattle and watched Superman at the IMAX theatre. That was cool – portions of it were in 3-D!

Sunday we went to church, then drove to Stephen and Heather’s for lunch. Stephen made stir-fry, rice and coconut shrimp. I think that he got some of the cooking genes that should have gone to me!!! Dinner was good. From there we headed down to the Supermall where we did some more shopping (but didn’t really buy anything ‘cept for coffee and pretzles). From there we drove to Ephrata. :-)

Remember that photo contest that I entered in Soap Lake? Daddy won 2nd place, and I got an Honorable Mention with a photo of Steamboat Rock (see above, left).

Margie Lou took Monday off, so we hung out with her. Noonish we headed up to Sun Lakes where we met Rhys and went cliff jumping. It was a blast. I am a fraidy-cat (which I partially blame on a REALLY BAD experience off the high dive when I was a lifeguard) and so I only went off the low cliff once, but I had a great time watching everyone else jump. I did swim a lot – that was great!!! There were two cliffs – a 20 foot (or so) and a 50-60 foot. Rhys did flips off the low cliff, and even dove once. Impressive! If you want, you can check out photos from this weekend to see what it was like.

Tuesday we unexpectedly had to head home early (Tobin’s teaching summer school, and had some work he needed to do), so we didn’t get any skiing in on Tuesday – though maybe that was for the best as Mommy, Daddy and Margie Lou all got super burned. We did watch the fireworks from the park by our house – from which we could see the Lake Union, Bellevue and Burien (maybe Whitecenter?) firework displays. That was pretty cool. Unfortunately we were far enough away to not make for any good pictures, but it was cool nonetheless.

So that was my weekend. It was nice and long (wish every weekend could be like that!). Be sure to check out those photos!!!