Agape Ropes Course

The Central Bible youth staff retreat was last weekend. We went to the Agape Ropes Course on Saturday and had fun playing around on the high and low ropes. Our favorite activity was the Catwalk where we tried to cross a wet, slippery, narrow log 20 feet up in the air. I was surprised at how freaked out I was once I actually got up there. If the log had been on the ground, my legs wouldn't have been shaking like that. I got to belay Davin who did great and even walked backwards with his eyes closed! Another fun activity was the flying carpet. It was a very wobbly platform where three teams pulled ropes to get you really high up in the air... I'd say maybe 50 feet up. I assumed what people were calling a Ninja stance to keep my balance, and the teams did awesome lifting me up and back down again without dumping me off. We didn't do as well keeping Davin on the platform, but I like this shot of him high up in the trees. I enjoyed getting to know the staff a bit better. I'm not around for every youth activity but they welcome me in when I can come. Davin's got a great team to work with.

A Princess Castle and a Nintendo Wii

Sounds like a great party! Yesterday, we celebrated Mom's 54th birthday. I had a lot of fun making her princess castle cake. It took me about 3 hours to build and decorate. Mom said she never had such a fancy cake before, but you're never too old for a princess cake. We're going to Disneyland in just over 2 weeks with my family and it will be Mom's first time! Needless to say, she is very excited... especially about seeing Cinderella. We also introduced my family to the Nintendo Wii. It was a big hit and even Grandpa got in on the action. He bowled 133 which beat Davin's best score so far. Then Dad got up to bowl. The Wii is so completely foreign to him, but he sure caught on fast and bowled an amazing 188, lefting us all in the dust. Watch him and Aunt Marcia in action below. (At one point you can briefly see Mom in the background. She just finished putting up her princesses for display above the door.) It was such a fun afternoon. I think I know what we'll be doing at the next family gathering.

Blue to Brown Belts

Davin and I tested for our brown belts on September 12. We have now left the intermediate and entered advanced ranks. Melissa going through her 6 forms - white through blue. We got to swing our staffs around for our weapons form. Stand back! Can I just say, Davin is amazing at his jump reverse chop kicks! He loves the jumping kicks, which will be helpful in the advanced ranks. We had 100% on our board breaks - front kick, side kick, ax kick, and spinning heel.

Being a Good Student Wife

One of my married tenants asked me if I was ready to not see Davin for awhile once school started. At the time I was thinking I may see him more since he's not an 8-5 person anymore and will be home at various times during the day. Well... I know what he meant now. Poor Davin's been busier than ever! He's in class 15 hours a week, working 10 hours in IT, doing Jr. High ministry at CB, and the homework is so insane that every spare minute is spent in the library until it's time to come home and go to bed. At least the library's in our backyard so he's not far away, but it's weird having him gone so much. We're going camping with the youth group this weekend so Davin's freaking out a bit about how he's going to get his paper and 80 pages of reading done for the first of next week. I wish I could do some of it for him. This is taking a bit of adjustment, but it's only for a season, and now is definitely the best time to do this. I'm trying to learn how to best support him. I think I'll try following "The Good Wife's Guide." That should do it! (I tried this one day, put on a dress and my apron, had dinner waiting and the table set, talked in calm, soothing tones when he arrived, and asked him about his day since it was more important than mine. We enjoyed a good laugh, but I think he liked it!)

Starting Cemetery ... I mean Seminary

I started Seminary this week. After one week I'm in syllabus shock. I'm enrolled in the MDiv in Theological Studies program at Multnomah. It's been interesting to be back in school. I think I'm going to enjoy my ethics and history class. The teacher seems to be well educated in the areas and seems like a fun person to learn from. I hope that seminary doesn't actually send me to the cemetery.

Wii had fun.

Melissa and I got a Nintendo Wii last Sunday. It's pretty cool. Melissa even likes it. Unfortunately, since I have started school I haven't had much time to play it, but what I have played has been pretty fun. Melissa has played it more than I have. Each person that plays the Wii can create their own character called a Mii. Melissa has been testing the fitness of her Mii the last few days. It has you play a few games and based on how well you play the games your Mii is given and age. Her Mii is 30 right now ... mine is like 45. I'll have to work on that. :) Anyway, it's lots of fun, and the great thing is that a lot of the games are family oriented and more than just sit on your duff games.

Street of Dreams 2007

Davin and I went to the Portland Street of Dreams to check out this year's mutli-million dollar home show. It's always such a treat to see these vast, beautiful houses. Our favorite was the Pinnacle, which you can see in these photos. It had a fairytale quality to it with it's stone turret and a moat-like lilly pond out front. Of course it was immaculately decorated and outfitted with all the latest technology. We loved the stunning dining/kitchen area as well as the downstairs theater room with the "wet bar" that's bigger than our condo kitchen. It's still for sale at $2,700,000, but we think we'll save our millions for something else. Still, you could have one amazing party here!

Carcassonne Master Game

We finally got all eight expansions for Carcassonne! The last expansion we needed (the Count) was ordered on Monday from Funagain and arrived a few days later in time for our weekend game. We met up with the Lees, who introduced us to this game, and played the ultimate round of Carcassonne. It took three hours (partly because we were playing with the little known baby expansion, which adds unexpected interuptions to feed, change, and entertain the little Lee). The Dragon didn't see much action, cut-throat Towers was toned down with all the other expansions, and the King made a huge difference when the points were added up. We thought the massive 50 point city decided the game early, but not so. An affordable alternative to Catan, you should add this one to your games! The Final Scores: 240 Melissa 222 LeRoy 144 Davin 135 Gina

Mom's Winning Shot

Family came over for Davin's second birthday party at our place. We brought out the lawn games again and introduced everyone to bocce ball. Mom was on my team and this is a picture of her amazing winning shot. The guys couldn't beat that. Way to go, Mom!

White Hall Demolished!

This was quite something to watch over the last 3 days. Every errand I had to run included stopping by to see the progress of the White Hall demolition. Let's just say, students will be surprised when they return in a few weeks since this was a very quick progression of events. Many students have called White Hall home during their years at Multnomah. Davin lived here Freshman year (his old room on the bottom left by the stairs was one of the last to go) and Melissa lived here Senior year as an RA. In Davin's opinion, this was the best dorm by far - with the tall, skinny rooms before the remodel. He bets the burrito was still stapled in the upstairs closet. Many fond memories... and there's the massive beast that tore it down this week like it was nothing. Before and after shots. Originally a blind school, I heard that White Hall was built in the 1930s, and this week it is no more. It does not pass earthquake safety standards and it costs way to much to retrofit it, so today all the memories are nothing more than a pile of rubble. A sad day.