West Seattle Summer Fest

We missed it last year, but could hear the music from the top of the Hill

This year, we decided to go up Friday afternoon and get some food.  We found a place to park very close. I thought that there must be no one here.  Then we reached California Ave. WOW

This is one big festival! It stretches a mile with booth after booth of crafts and merchandise. A beer garden and big stage on the South end and am told Saturday they put a state on the North end too.

There was a ton of food, I ended up with a burrito. We ate, had a few beers, listened to music, looked at a million booths and went home. Next year we will have to come up Saturday night for the street dance.

Seafair Pirates land on Alki 2013

Kelsey came over to see the Pirates land on Alki. I took her home in early afternoon, came home and went out to find the Pirates in the bars!

I was so tired after all this. Lake Chelan, 4th of July and Pirates all in a week! ugh....

4th of July 2013

This year I skipped the 3rd of July street dance, due to just getting home from Chelan

Pat Hobbs joined me in the am and we took the water taxi over to Seattle, then boarded the ferry for Bainbridge.

We went straight for the food area. I met up with Kelsey and we all went and had some food. As usual I had the Falafel from the local synagogue.  It is decent, cheap, and no lines! 

After the food Kelsey and I went to check out the Water Polo booth. Kelseys mom showed up and she left but I dropped $10 on some balls at the dunk tank. I hit the target with my second ball!  Good enough, I left for the beer garden to catch up with Pat!

I didn't see Pat yet, but there was the Minster Clan!  Blake, Suzie, Heather and Hank and Larry. Larry had been having fun all day it appeared!  We stayed with them for an hour or so, drinking some beer and listening to the band. Jim, Mark and Mike showed up

Pat, Jim, Mark, Mike and I went to Mikes house on Winslow way. We had a few beers, lit off some fireworks then went to see the rest of the parade.

After the parade we went back to the beer garden. We were supposed to catch up with the Minsters at some point, but decided that by now, they were most likely headed to Poulsbo. We went to Isla Bonita for a beer.

We ran into Marissa Acuna there. Had a nice converstation with her. Saw a few others, said hi, had beers.

Time to go back to city. We took a pit stop down at waterfront park on the way to the boat. Then Pat and I headed back to Seattle.

Kevin and Shana came out to watch fireworks with us on the beach. We could see Bainbridge and Lake union from very far away.

At 11, the cops came through and told us all to go home.  Then the cruiser rolled down the boardwalk, all the windows down, blasting "Closing Time"  everyone laughed, and peacefully left the beach.

Lake Chelan via North Cascades Highway June 30 - July 2 2013

I have never been to Lake Chelan.   Bronwen ended up with a rare three day weekend, so we found a last minute condo deal and headed to the Lake.  We decided to take the North Cascades highway since I had never seen that either.

We could have cut over in Arlington I think, but decided to take I-5 all the way up to Burlington, so we could drive over the Bailey bridge that is temporarily in place over the Skagit River.

There isn't much to see until you actually get into the National Forest. Then it becomes amazing!

We stopped at a few places to take pictures and then stopped for lunch in Winthrop. It was probably 95 degrees there!  Thankfully because of the heat, we rushed to the first place that looked decent. It was more than decent. It was really really good!  I was shocked. I am not used to finding good food outside of the city.

On to Lake Chelan, we arived at the lake around 3. There was a car in our space! I tracked down the cleaning ladies and sure enough, it was one of their cars. Our room was nice and clean.

We rushed to pump up the floating recliners and headed out on the lake.  Ok, everyone was right, the water is COLD! but not too bad when its over 90!

That night we had dinner at a Thai restaurant, and, as I indicated a few paragraphs up, I got what I expected!

The next day we drove up to the end of the road, checked out the campgrounds along the way.  When we were ready to go swimming, it started to rain!  weird. We decided to go shopping! Found lunch on the way, again horrible! 

Finally the sun broke out and it was hot and sunny again. We headed for the lake.

Later that night, we watched the sun go down from the park.

Good trip, I really enjoyed Lake Chelan and hope to go again soon!

Lake Diablo

Downtown Chelan

View from room

B in the park

Sunset

Jessica Peterson - Bainbridge High School class of 2013!

Jessica graduated BHS on a beautiful sunny day.

Crista, my mother and I were in attendance. Kelsey came to say hi and ended up sitting with us.

It was hot, in the direct sun and it was long, but it was a well done ceremony. The night before we were at James graduation, and the audio system was hard to hear.  We could hear it all today, the speeches were good.

Jessica is now off to Central Washington University to continue the tradition her great grandmother set many years ago. She plans on getting a teaching degree, just like Holly.

Its a shock that her high school career is over already.

After the ceremony, we found Jess out in the field and we took some pictures.    Then, after the family time is over, the kids get in buses and head off on their senior night.   They have no idea where they are going.

We had a similar thing in 1985, but we knew more or less what we were doing. We boarded the classic steamer Virginia V.

Jess and her class were shuttled off to the ferry, where they walked on! taht must have been a sight. Then they went to a downtown club for food and dancing, games. After that they went to Family game center in Tukwilla, where they played games all night and into the am.  Sounds like lots of fun!

June 1, 2013 - Jessica and James graduation party!

I carefully picked a day that would work well with Jessicas busy schedule.  June 1 was the day I picked. A nice Saturday, one week before graduation.  Jess leaves for camp very soon after graduation, so it was now or never.... And then I realized the Prom was Friday night!

Jess was a trooper though. She showed up on time even! I told her she could be late if she wanted.

Bronwen and I made chicken skewers and chilled prawns for the party.    Kelsey was a great helper,  keeping food rotated, checking temperatures of food that is out cooking off more skewers and refreshing the prawns as needed. It was very good.

Cousin Cap came up from California.  He was hoping to bring Joyce, but she was under the weather, so he came by himself and stayed at my house.

Uncle Ed and Blanche came. They gave us the news that there will be no Swalling picnic this year. This has to be the first time in 50 years or so... wow. I wonder if it will happen next year?  Ed is aging...  

A surprise guest, Cousin Craig came from Olympia! He made it just in time to see Ed and Blanche off.  I was happy to see him, in my recollection, this is the first time the three Cousin Craigs have been in the same place before!  It was the only picture I took!

The Three Craigs!

We decorated the place up with Bainbridge and North Mason colors and I created some posters of Jess and James over the years

Jessica's High School Water Polo Career comes to an end

It was an exciting week. The girls had to play in the Wildcat Tourney just to get to State. They won the Wild Card and ended up finishing #6 in the State Tourney!!!!

I remember when it all started. I was driving the girls over to have lunch with their Grandma. Jessica says "Dad, I joined Water Polo".. Water Polo? say what?  Jessica is a gifted swimmer, they have tried to get her to join the swim team many times. Jess tried it, but was just not that interested in swimming laps over and over again. Water polo? I know nothing about Water Polo. Never seen it, don't know anyone who has played it. My reaction was mixed, but happy for Jessica to get involved with something. 

Jessica joined the team in 2012, weeks before the regular season started. She was very inexperienced, but she made up for it with effort. It was a long first season, they lost every game.  They played an exhibition game after the regular season,  and they girls finally won a game!  It was a great way to end the first season and get some momentum for next season.

Jessica went to Hawaii to compete over the Summer. I don't know how they did, but they were in Hawaii, so I don't think winning or losing was that big a deal..

Senior year, Jessica worked out in the Winter program, while working an after school job and several babysitting jobs.   I dreaded the decision Jessica needed to make.  I encouraged her to stick with Water Polo. Don't make the same mistake as me when I dropped out of Wrestling my senior year.  I told her she has her whole life to work.  I don't give myself any credit for her decision, I just told her what I believe, but she is 18, and can make her own decision.  She chose to play Water Polo!!!!!!!!!

The season started with an away game at Mercer Island. I was there of course, and the girls did show some signs of improvement, but they lost.  Here we go again?    The girls then had 6 games at home. They won most of these!  The girls were getting better each and every week!  Jessica scored some goals!!!!!  Due to injury and a new JV squad this year, they had no bench to speak of. Jessica played most of the entire games. She was getting a lot of playing time and it was paying off.

The final regular season game was in Newport. Newport is the best high school in the State and their water polo team is very good. Anchored by all Seniors,  all going to play collegiate polo. Needless to say, they beat us. In the 4th period, with Newport up by at least 10, they ran a trick play to get a cheap score for  one of the girls who had yet to score.  The girls were demoralized.  It was a low class move by the coach of Newport.  I remember one game with Bainbridge, when everyone on the team had scored except Jessica. Coach Drew ran legitimate plays for Jess to get her open and she did get a score.  After Jess had scored, Coach Drew had the team stop scoring.  They passed the ball around and before the shot clock would run out, they would lob it in the corner.  A practice known as "Dumping' the ball.   These girls and their coach displayed true sportsmanship. It was an impressive feat and even the Bainbridge fans showed support for the other team by cheering their late goals.

The girls finished the regular season in third place, behind Newport and Mercer Island.   They earned a spot at the wild card tourney to compete for a chance to play in the State Championship!

The Wild Card Tournament opened on on May 10 at Lakes high school. The pool is a deep pool, no shallow end.   They played their first game against Emerald Ridge. Bainbridge beat ER earlier this year convincingly.  I was still a bit concerned by the last game at Newport, and how that would affect them. It was 4 days later, so hopefully they are ready to put it behind them.

The game started slowly. Tied 1-1 at the end of 1. Then the girls started to get their groove back. They won 10-5!

The next day Bainbridge played Auburn. If BI wins, then they won't play again today. They go on to State.  They WON!  15-2!!!!  Jessica had  3 goals!     Here comes State!

The State Tourney kicked off on Wednesday at Lakes vs Gig Harbor.  Gig Harbor has won the State Championship 4 times in a row, and is enjoying an undefeated season.  Needless to say, it was too much for our girls. They lost 24-4.  Jess was disappointed.

The second game of the day was vs Enumclaw.   The girls jumped to an early lead and never let go. Jess got a late goal.   This game was memorable because of the ending. Bainbridge was up 10-2 in the 4th period. It looked over..  Madeline was putting on a defensive clinic, pushing the ball handler, back, back back... time was running out, the Enumclaw girl was nearly in back court, she somehow gets off a shot, a high arching lob.. it goes in!  The entire crowd gasped! Everyone, including Bainbridge, cheered this goal. It was an amazing shot.  Enumclaw was fired up, they scored 3 more quick goals before time ran out.  WOW!

Since they beat Enumclaw and Gig Harbor beat Enuclaw, that puts them in Fridays games.  Friday started off with a game against Auburn Mountain Ridge at Curtis. Jess and I broke down the competition and bracket on Thursday and she felt this was their best shot to beat a #1 place team. 

They played Auburn Mountainview tough the whole game, but AMV was too much for them.   It was a good game to watch but the outcome was not what we wanted, but it was expected.  The Curtis pool seemed huge. It is a beautiful aquatic center with high tech score boards. Even the goals looked bigger.  The fan seating in upper deck, in the end zone. They seemed so far away!

Since they lost, they had to stick around to play the last game of the night, at 8:50 but it didn't start till 9.  This was a match up I was very interested in. It was vs Puyallup. Puyallup was the wild card winner of their pool. They never played Bainbridge, they both advanced to the Tourney in 2 games. The remaining two wild card teams had to play a third game to get in.

The Puyallup game was great! The girls dominated and won 9-3. They proved they are the best team to come out of the wild card!  This put them in a final game on Saturday to play for 5th or 6th place!

The final game on Saturday was a tough one, against Mercer Island again. MI beat Bainbridge twice in the regular season.   It ended 15-6. Bainbridge went on a run in the 4th period, but couldn't close the gap. Jess had one shot on goal, but missed. Her defense was stellar though, as it was in every game.

All the Bainbridge fans stood up and gave the girls a standing ovation at the end.  We all crowded the rail as they made their way to the locker room for the last time.   Jessica had a big smile on her face. I was glad to see it. 

We all waited outside the locker room for them to come out.  Jessica came out first and the whole crowd erupted in cheers for her!  It was a moving experience.  I hugged her and told her how very proud of her I was. I asked her if this was better than working at the Dry cleaners.   She smiled and gave me an emphatic YES! 

I met a Curtis fan at the game, she was the former Secretary at Bainbridge High when I was there. We vaguely remembered each other. She retired and moved to Tacoma and her granddaughter was playing on Curtis team.   I wished her good luck against Newport.  They beat Newport.   HURRAH!!!!   Curtis went on to beat Gig Harbor 4-3 to win the State Championship.

Jessica is going to Central Washington State University next year. I hope she will continue with water polo at college. I really want to see her compete again!  In two short seasons I went from not knowing water polo to having it be a part of my life, a huge part the last few weeks. I miss it already.

Picts to follow.