Memorial Day Camping Trip

We spent Memorial Day weekend camping near Ocean Shores with Bob and Michelle and Grace, Mary - Michelle's Mom, Katie and Alie - Bob's nieces and Emily and Rebeca - Mark's nieces.

We had great weather considering it was the coast! No rain, and sunny afternoons.

We found Grace hiding in the storage above our bed!

Michelle and Grace before bed time.

Grace hitting the ball "by self".

We had a harder time beating the kids than we thought we would. It took several games but Bob, Mark and I finally won one!

Me, Mark with Grace, Katie, and Emily.

This was after what started as a very scary monster hunt. The girls caught one monster named Mark and Bob jumped out at us on the way back to camp.

Katie, Emily, Alie, Rebeca.

Mark was trying to nap, but the girls would not have it.

Bishop enjoying the beach.

Emily helping to launch the kite.

Mark and I think Rebeca flying the kite.

This is what extreme cold and wind on the beach at 11pm looks like!

Spaghetti anyone?

All the girls on scooter and bikes.

Fire Ride Along

Mark was kind enough to bid on, and win, a Ride Along and dinner with the Lakewood Fire Department at a Relay Fundraiser. Even though he did not really want to go he knew I would love it and thought I could find a friend to go with me. So Gina and I set off on our adventure with the Fire Department.

Gina and Kari...on our way to help with a broken wheelchair.

Gina and I breaking windows at the training facility. This was really cool!

Part of the window I broke.

Kari was kind enough to give us a tour of the building they do their training in. (I drive by this place several times a week and have always wondered what it was like on the inside and now I know.)

While we were touring fire com and seeing how fire calls are handled there was a call that came in for our engine! So thinking this may be the only action we see all day Captain decided we had better go priority (lights and sirens) to check out a guy the police had arrested. He has a bit of a scrape on his head, but that is what happens when you try and punch an officer!

Giving the fire hose a try back at the station…Wow are they powerful!

Gina in the Captains spot!

Our second call of the day was the car fire that wasn’t. But we got to go lights and sirens again so that was fun.

On our way to a call.

Ron was putting the finishing touches on our meal when the second call came in. Interestingly enough when a call comes into the station the power to the stove top turns off, so nothing burns while out on a call, but the oven continues to cook. So we came back to burnt scones that were going to be strawberry shortcake.

Gina and I were hungry enough that we were wiling to give the burnt scones a try. Thankfully one of the guys ran to the store and got more scone mix so that we were able to enjoy perfect Strawberry Shortcake after dinner!

Ron had a pork roast cooking all day and it was absolutely the best I have ever had. I had been hearing for weeks that Ron was the best cook and we were going to have an amazing dinner and it really was a great dinner! Plus he shared his Raspberry Vinaigrette salad dressing recipe with us, and sent us home with some as well. I ate salad every day until I had used all the dressing it was that good!

Enjoying Strawberry Shortcake in the TV room. Those chairs were really comfortable!

We had so much fun touring the station, seeing the training facility and hanging out with everyone. Due to the “riders curse” we did not see a big fire, but everyone put effort into making sure we had a good time anyway.

Thank you to everyone at the station and from Engine 20!

A Big Thank You to Kari for showing us around and answering our questions all day. Kari had two shadows with her all day and was willing to show us anything we wanted to see and answered question after question for us.

An extra special Thank You to Ron (Captain) for the first priority call of the day, and for the amazing food! You are a great cook!

I hope that we win the auction again next year!