HOT, HOT, HOT!

The Viva retreat at Belfair State Park was a huge success! Although the campsite was crowded with lots of little kiddies, we were able to block out all that and focus on US! Some highlights included intense scrimmages on both days, Shorty's mad skilz at creating FIRE, sweet smore makin', fun game playin', swimmin' in the hood canal, and the garter snake! Hopefully playing in the hotness will help us at Colorado Cup in two weekends!

Lounging around between practices...

Singing the Little Mermaid...

Just being goofy!

SNAKES!

Alex's Visit

Well, now that Dave has moved to Seattle, Alex has two good reasons to visit! Not to mention, his wife Margaret had a wedding to go to on Lopez Island. Alex finally learned from his previous visits that when you come to Seattle, you go hiking and was happy to have his hiking shoes this time! Now he just needs to remember a pair of flip flops for the post-hike drive home!

We made our way to Mount Rainier National Park and hiked Tolmie Peak (about 6 miles round trip and 1500 feet elevation gain... perhaps equivalent to a 20 mile urban hike that Alex will tackle in about a month when he does the 3-day... perhaps not!).

There were crystal blue lakes, wildflowers and pretty views almost the whole way making it one of the better hikes I've been on. Too bad dogs aren't allowed in NP. Stupid rules! Dave also cooked us an amazing meal of homemade crab ravioli and blueberry pie. I brought the chocolate cake.

More on Ella

I thought I'd put up a few more pictures of my baby. She's growing so fast and yet still only weighs 30 pounds. We are feeding her, I swear! We took her canoeing for the first time a few days ago. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me to capture her first swim. She jumped in after a duck and started doggie paddling like a champ! She seemed a little peeved when she got out to be wet from head to toe, but after about half a dozen shake downs, she seemed unphased and ready to do it again! Next time I will surely bring my camera.

Ella's First Hike

We took Ella to Denny Creek for her first real hike on the 4th of July. She seemed to have a really good time frolicking in the water and exploring. We did end up carrying her part of the way over some of the really rocky stuff because we were worried about her paws... we didn't want her to over do it. Anyways, she tolerated our overprotective parenting like a champ!

After the hike she got to experience fireworks for the first time... she seemed unphased by all the noise. We certainly have a laid back pup!

Potlatch 2006

Ah Potlatch... one of the most fun, biggest coed tournaments in the world! The unique aspects of this tourney are gift giving between teams, music all day and into the night, and a salmon bbq. We had a blast this year playing with a Seattle area team called Tastybites. Besides for the little ones on the sideline, Mike and I were two of the youngest people on the team, which we rather enjoyed.

We made a strong showing, but didn't have the numbers to make it through Sunday I'm afraid. We ended up winning our first two games on Sunday and then let the team we just beat from Austin move on to the next game (we were down to savage women and 9 people total!). They ultimately won the B pool!