Camping

Anna & Cole

Cole LOVED his mini 'beers'

Shawn, Cole & Anna digging for treasures

The Family =)

Cathartic/symbolic/(tearful) burning

Ahhhhhhhh..............!

For the girls BIRTHDAY weekend (Anna's is July 28th and mine is the 29th) we decided to go camping!

Technically, the long weekend started with our annual trip to Wild Waves for some fun in the sunshine! Thankfully for Shawn & Anna, I'm not so awe-struck anymore and don't walk around oooh-ing and awww-ing at the things that changed (or didn't change at all). It still brings back a HUGE memory rush, considering it was almost in my backyard and my girlfriends & I spent 2 or 3 solid summers there. Everyday. (Ok, I exaggerate) What a great way for our parents to get rid of us!

---------->Sorry for the delay on this post. Camping was almost a week ago. I got sick on my Birthday - Tuesday, and haven't felt 100% since. Sore throat, the aches, the kind where you just want to crawl in bed. All. Day. Long. And that's just what I did - had myself a nice little Nyquil martini and called it a (birth)day.

Anyway, camping was great! Great weather, long days filled with adventures on the beach and in the trail. And the CAMPFIRE!!! Did I mention the campfire?!?!? That's my favorite part - warm and toasty by the campfire, roasting marshmallows and then watching the embers glow into the wee hours. Heaven.

Hope you're all well, in every sense of the word. Being sick makes you realize that you can't control everything. Grrrrrrrr.

My brother's 40th BIRTHDAY PARTY is this weekend!!! Stay tuned for photos and stories, stories, stories!

Air Show!

Stealthy

Cole doing (one of the things that he does) best - "ARMY!"

More "Army" - the kid was in Heaven!

(I know it's the Air Force - everything to him is still 'army')

USAF Thunderbirds

Amazing what these guys - AND ONE GIRL (hell yeah!!) do in the air. In a jet. Flying inches from each other. Breathtaking!

Saturday at McChord Air Force Base was awesome. Just that plain and simple.

Okay, other than the sunburns we all got (except Cole).

It was free, it was kid friendly and it was LOUD!!!!! Did I mention how fierce we are - the US Military, that is? You would NOT want to be on the receiving end of any one of these planes.

We toured thru a C-17, which we see fly over the house quite frequently. But in person they are just mammoth! HUGE! "Imagine riding in one of these jump-seats aaaaall the waaaaay to Panama. Or Cuba." Shawn stated to me. Ouch! No thanks!

The most impressive display was one that I was not prepared for. Tora! Tora! Tora! did a reenactment of the Bombing at Pearl Harbor. Complete with Japanese fighter planes, explosions and narrated so eloquently I caught myself trying to catch my breath with tears running down my face. My heart was pounding! It was like you were there. The bombers swooped and looped and chased each other right in front of you! Very sombering to think that this actually happened.

My Grandfather, Bernard J. Vandervest, left Pearl Harbor 3 days before the attack.

He would've been so proud of the performance.

Cole and Shawn came running back to our blanket in the grass - Cole thought for sure one of the planes had exploded or they were doing real bombs! I think he was secretly hoping it was real.

I'm proud of our Military. And days like these make you appreciate them more than ever.

I will stop at that - we all have our own individual opinions. =)

M E M O R I E S

Or "Lynnae's crap" as Shawn lovingly refers to it.

~ My name is Lynnae, and I am a pack-rat ~

Where to begin?? July marks a year ago that Shawn moved in to "The Bungalow"

Seriously - it's about 800 square feet.

We got a storage unit to house the extras until we had time and space to go through it. Or eventually moved into a bigger place. But I *LOVE* this house, this neighborhood, this area! So we decided to get rid of the $130. monthly storage payment and sift thru our stuff. Okay, my stuff. Mainly.

You would not BELIEVE the stuff I kept..... I have memories from Elementary, Jr High, High School and beyond. I found a shoebox stuffed full of notes. You know the ones: "Do you like him/her? Check Yes or No" and the "He said, she said, did you see what she was wearing" crap-ola from our younger years.

I found my colored mascara, circa 1987-88 - in teal AND purple.

The pale-pink shimmery Cover Girl lipstick ALL the girls wore.

All of my movie stubbs from every. single. movie. I ever saw!!!

(special thanks to Julie Lavin :)

And then High School - ALL of my Cheer stuff. Everything. From the hall pass from Giste for the squad announcement to our daily practice schedule & what to wear to each game to my cheer socks, cheer 'undies' (with DHS on the bum!) and even my Cheer shoes........

I'm telling you, it was exhausting. I'm emotionally drained.

This was the start of it - "the sorting"

A huge drawing from Danny. I *knew* he was gonna be famous one day ;)


A small box of the memorabelia I found
(my retainer, tix stub from the Tacoma Rockets, the mascara!)

the box stuffed full of notes......

old calendars ???

(I don't know either)

just ONE of the hundreds of movie ticket stubs

(sorry I couldn't find a cooler one, like Dirty Dancing or Mannequin or Stand By Me)

but I always wrote who I saw it with :)

graduation cards

(again - I don't know.....)

more movie tix, my one-way flight to SLC, Utah to pick up Cami, a card from Archies Diner (that cool 50's diner in Browns Point that I served at) and a punch card from Temple of the Bean on North I street in Tacoma (long since replaced a zillion times)

manilla envelope o' cheer crap

We're going camping this weekend and I'm burning about 90% of the crap I found. Some was just too precious to trash. It's true what they say - all of this stuff becomes "baggage" - emotional & literal. Time to let it GO.

Ode to Candice and Pete

The happy couple

Pete & Candice Williams

Our friends Candice & Pete were married July 5th at the fantasy setting of Tracey Castle in Buckley. It was elegant and fun and all around a

fantastic time!

Candice looked gorgeous in her strapless, beaded, simply elegant gown. Pete's white tie and vest was the perfect compliment. Candice is normally casual & easy-going in jeans, hoodies and flip-flops. But to see her in her dress looking so beautiful was not surprising at all! She fit the part perfectly!

The night progressed with the usuall dinner and dancing. But mixing the two groups of friends from Candice and Pete made it The Party of the Year!! We had such a great time, eventhough it rained, drinking and dancing all night long.

What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July holiday! I haven't had this much fun at a wedding in a long, long time! I only hope ours will be as energetic! (reminder: October 11th)

Cake!


First dance as a couple


Candice rocked with her white, diamond-studded Vans!



Candice & I

Candice & Joyce

Stephanie & Pete

Shawn & I

(yep, it was a GREAT party!)

Steph & Shawn

err... Gandolfini!

Candice & Shawn - he's so sweet!