Weighing In

I've never used this blog for political activism before, but I feel too strongly about this topic to let it go unspoken. Allow me to vent.

I had a short conversation with a woman yesterday who was reading a magazine (I think it was People). I used the typical conversation starter, 'How are you?', which started her on a monologue about how amazing Barak Obama's acceptance speech the night previous at the Denver convention was, and how he was going to be such an amazing agent of needed change in government and for the common person on the street. By the way her face lit up, I was pretty sure she'd seen angels from heaven descend behind him as he gave the speech, with celestial choirs announcing him as the savior for the world. However, despite her emotional outpouring, she never took her eyes off the magazine. Hoping the change the subject, I asked her what she had found so interesting in her magazine. She started to turn the page to me, and I caught a glimpse of the title - something about how a mom had recently killed her young son - but she quickly jerked the magazine back to herself and closed it, saying something to the affect of 'oh, it's such a sad story, I don't want to put a damper on your day.'

I now wish I would have started a conversation to help her think through what had just come out of her mouth. But I didn't. I sat stunned for a moment at the hypocrisy of being abhorred with a mom killing her own toddler, yet being so in love with a man who's life's work includes trying to make this very thing possible, the only difference being the age of the baby. Younger than 9 months old? Sure, go ahead! Kill 'em! Older than that? Well, that's somehow a different story.

Here's a short video on the stance that Obama's taken in the past. The heartless cruelty is enough to bring tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypDwNpgIUQc&NR=1

Above your paygrade, Mr. Presidential Candidate?! I pray that God shows more mercy on America than he showed to many nations in the Old Testament days when he ordered the nation of Israel to wipe them out completely, in part due to his sheer disdain for their worship of the god Molech, who they sacrificed their infant children to. We think we're pretty advanced in technology, thought, and culture here in the 21st century, but how much has really changed over the last 3,000 years?

Abigail's 1st, & New Deck

We've enjoyed having family out here quite a bit recently. A couple weeks ago, Melis's folks came for a visit, and this past weekend my parents came. However, we made them earn their room & board here. We'd wanted to replace our old deck with a new composite one, so we jumped at the chance to use them as slave labor. The picture below doesn't do justice to the number of slivers, rotten boards, and holes that awaited the brave soul that ventured out on to it.

I obviously didn't quite do all my homework, because when we ripped out the stairs, there wasn't a frame at all. So the job got bigger. Jobs like this always have a way of doing that. But Dad provided the brains for framing the stairs, and now they're so solid you could launch a rocket from there without them budging!
Steve provided the braun of the demolition operation.
Mom provided the nourishment for the baby.
Abee provided. . .well she tried to provide some pictures. . .but had a bit of a hard time figuring out how to make this camera work.
Matty provided comic relief. . .and licks. . .and someone to throw the ball to. Just what a good pup is supposed to do.
On Sunday, Abigail turned one!!! Happy birthday daughter!!!
She actually decided it was time to take her first steps the day before her first b-day, and ventured out far enough once to take 11 steps in a row! But she really hasn't done many since.
We teased her about eating cake like a 'girl' - she was a little hesitant at first, but finally got the idea that the point of eating cake on your first birthday is to get more on your face than in your mouth.
Enjoying a new toy. She loves the sirens! Just like Grandpa's cop car!
The deck project took a solid three days to finish. We were hoping to get it done in two, but the stairs were more than we bargained for. On Sunday, after church & the birthday celebration, it started pouring right as we went outside to start working. But a little rain isn't going to stop this Northwest girl!
Good job team!Nothin' quite like a kiddo sleeping on your shoulder.
We actually don't have any pics of the completed deck. . .and there's actually a few loose ends to tie up before it's 100% done, but it sure will be nice for many years (decades?) to come! Thanks so much for all your back-breaking, knuckle-busting, shin-jacking, finger-smashing help!!! It was great to see you. Abee misses you already.

Summit Lake

When the weather is nice, I look forward all week to the weekend. And often I spend more than a few minutes most weekdays scheming about where to go. This week I thought that the Carbon River trail, leading to the Carbon Glacier on the north slope of Rainier would be the ticket, but I knew the wildflowers should be in bloom now (a couple weeks later than normal, due to the cool weather in early summer). This trail was going to be mostly in old growth forest - cool, but not many flowers. After mulling both Bearhead Mountain and Summit Lake, which are both in the same relative area, I took Eekhoff's advice, and took the fam & the aunties to Summit Lake.

It didn't disappoint.

We hiked up around 1,200 feet in elevation over roughly 3 miles to the lake. Towards the top, there were acres of open meadows with wildflowers - especially bear grass - at full bloom.
No, Abee isn't quite walking. . .yet. Although she is confident enough to stand up and hang out for a while without anyone standing nearby.
She even had the paparazzi chasing her.
This was one of the more relaxing days on the trail we've had in quite some time. We set up 'camp' next to the lake, cooked a nice hot lunch for everyone, and even had blueberry cheesecake for dessert!
It was a toasty day for sure, and as crazy as Matty is, even she needed a break in the shade once in a while.Summit Lake in the foreground, with Bearhead Mtn in the back, which was one of the other options for the day. But on a hot day like this, hiking up to a lake sounded better than to a summit.
Speaking of summits. . .
Melis doing her best Lewis & Clark pose.
The lake must be spring fed, because there were no inlets and no outlets.
There were insects all over the place. This was one that we actually enjoyed having around.
It's a little tough to see here, but Abigail is crashed in her backpack. Surprisingly, she actually sleeps pretty well back there.
Back to the beargrass-filled meadows, with Rainier in the background.

Girl's best friend.
She got a little sleepy again, and slept a good chunk of the way home.
This post wouldn't be complete without mentioning the gnarly road we had to take to get there. It was reminiscent of some of my firefighting days, taking old desert roads that hadn't been traveled on in years (or so it seemed). We pitty the poor hikers who will came back after us to find their car at the trailhead with a flat tire. Bummer for them. The pic below doesn't do it near justice, but the rocks, washouts, ruts & gullies were big, and I'm hoping like crazy the scratches on the side of our rig will buff out, but that's what we have this thing for. No one hurled (although Kristin was looking a little green), and Abee even seemed to enjoy all the bumps! That's my girl!

Tolmie State Park

Last Saturday we decided to have a little picnic on the Puget Sound. We knew there was a chance of showers, and true to the Koning Rule, those showers found us. Abee says calmly, 'Uh, I don't care about my wet hair, and don't even really mind my hot dog bun getting soggy, but this mustard on my lip is really starting to annoy me.'

Michelle, is there some news you'd like to fill us in on?
The rain soon let up, we packed up the soggy Lays, and went down to check out the water.
Abigail says, 'Dad, do you actually know what you're doing here? That fall looks like it could hurt.'
Melis & I keeping up our little tradition on bridges.
'Mom is a lot more fun to ride on - she has plenty of hair to pull.'
Just a few more Abigail pics on the footbridge.

The poor girl has had a rough last few days. She just got two new teeth on the top, and has two more that look like they could come through any day now. It's amazing how much we love that little gal.

Chinese Olympics 08.08.08

Guys - check out the exploits of Charlotte Wang, our good friend here from Olympia (who we also knew from Dordt). She was selected as one of around 30 people out of 10,000 applicants to translate for the USA Olympic Committe. Just in the last few days she met numerous famous olympians, including the Williams tennis sisters, and other famous people like Ralph Lauren, the CEO of Old Navy, and many other notables.

http://charlotte2008olympic.blogspot.com/

Kayaking Sequim Bay & Dungeness Spit

On Sunday we decided to worship with a kayaking trip out of John Wayne Marina (named after the Duke himself) on Sequim Bay.

We rented doubles for a couple hours, and caught the tide at low, which always brings better views of wild sea critters.
We saw a lot of good sized crabs, like this one. I even got one to grab my paddle with it's big pincher (anyone know the real name of those mean-lookin' claws?) and I hauled it out of the water for a few long seconds before it let go and splashed to safety.

I decided this one would be a little tastier after cooking for a while.

Plenty of dive-bombing gulls to watch out for.
I think I had the best view in the Bay.
We also saw quite a few GB herons.
We cruised through some old pilings before heading back to the docks.
That night we took a short walk out on the Dungeness Spit, a pretty neat little area that sticks out a few miles into the Straight of Juan de Fuca.
View of the crew.
Sunset shot of the chicks.
Abigail put up with a lot out here - it was cold and windy, and the spray from the ocean was enough to chill the bones. If she could talk here, she'd have said 'Shiver me timbers! Guys, I'm sure this is fun for you & all, but maybe could we come back and check this place out on a warmer day?'
Yeah for being back at the warm car!
Thanks for being a trooper, Abee Joy!