Point White Dock

I occasionally complain about living in the same place I grew up. In fact, if my kids didn't live here, I surely wouldn't either. But, there is one thing that is pretty special about living here, sharing the same experiences I had as a kid with my kids today.

They had never jumped off Point White dock before. The weather was in the 90's and we were sick of the pool. I had to convince them to go, but we all had a great time. Kelsey actually jumped before Jessica, but Jessica jumped more times. I had to help Kelsey get up the ladder.





ahhh refreshingly cold salt water!



A crabber pulled up a starfish, and look carefully, did you lose something a few years ago? The starfish had a set of keys in his grasp!


This has nothing to do with the dock, I took this the night before from my deck. It had to be the most dramatic sunset I have seen since living here.

Seafair '08

Seafair is here, loud boats, loud planes and lots and lots of people.

We headed out for our yearly mecca to Lake Washington to see the most powerful race boats and the most powerful planes in the world. The weather was perfect, a nice mid 70's day.

Once we got in the gates, we raced down the lake front road to find a good place to sit. We walked all the way past the start finish line, past the beer garden when I finally spotted our viewing area. We had to cram in next to some people who graciously made space for us. I asked when they arrived to get such a good spot, they replied that they had been there since 7:30 am.. It was almost noon when we showed up...

We took in the final regular heat, heat 3b and watched the plane shows. Finally, around 5:10 pm, they were ready for the final race. I was sporting my U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing shirt, and rooting for my favorite driver, Jean Theoret, from Montreal, Quebec, to win it all. Side note, this guy is so french canadian its funny. He was asked about his chances to win it all on Sunday, after having the fastest qualifying time on Saturday. He says "You never sell the skin before you shoot the bear". Have you ever heard that quote before? I am guessing no, unless you are from Montreal.

The U-37 was penalized one minute on the final race, so they didn't win. It was Villwock in the U-1 Miss Elam Plus who won it. He has the most wins of any active driver, so it wasn't a shock. I don't root for him, even though he is a local.

One new local this year should get a mention. Jeff Bernard, 23 yo from Gig Harbor Washington. He drives the U-5 Miss Formulaboats.com. He finished third behind Steve David in the Miss Oh OBoy Oberto, also known as the Miss Madison, as in Madison, Indiana. I don't root for him.

Great day at the races, long day at the races. We all had a great time. Can't wait till next year.

We took our positions in the water to watch the Blue Angels

Only one was brave enough to








Looking up at the air show

Kelseys Birthday party at Fay Bainbridge

Her real birthday isn't until next week, but we had a party for her last weekend. The weather was perfect. There were eagles flying overhead and native american canoes paddling by the beach. We had a great time at the beach. My present to her was, a trip to Wild Waves next month. That, and a Wii game I let her pick out the next day.

The Police at the Gorge

What a beautiful weekend to go east of the mountains to the best music venue in the Northwest.

We headed out in Jims air conditioned SUV to go see The Police and Elvis Costello. We stopped in Vantage and went to the Wanapum Dam State Park for a quick dip in the river before setting up our tents at the Gorge. The river was nice and the park had a big outdoor shower right in the middle of a nice grassy hill. That was refreshing!

The show was to start at 7:30. What respectable rocker would start on time? Elvis apparently.. We ended up missing most of his on time, short set.

There was a brief intermission and then The Police took the stage and opened with Message in a Bottle. The sun was just starting to set over the Columbia River. We worked our way down as close as we could get in the General Admission area.

When they played Don't Stand So Close To Me, a woman singer came out onto the stage and shared the mic with Sting. She was fabulous and it was a great version of the hit. It took me three days to find out who this person was. Her name was Jessica Ketola. She was with a charity group that was involved with the sound check before the show. Sting heard her and asked her to sing with him. It was soo cool and what a great thing for this up and coming local singer. I suspect we haven't seen the last of her after her big break!

An amazing drum solo by Copeland awed the crowd. He has a million little percussion instruments to bang on. Bells and wooden reeds and chimes and triangles and stuff. It was captivating.

We couldn't get over how much sound comes out of this three person, middle age band. They filled the amphitheater with their sound. It was great. No need for accompanying performers here, they were in complete control and on top of their sound.

My only wish was that The Police had played longer. They have enough material to play for days, yet played under two hours. I imagine they are tired, this being the last show on the second leg of their tour. They are probably ready to go home.

Also, I must still see Elvis C, only with Elvis as the headliner this time.

Sunday we spent our day lounging in the river at Crescent Bar. Dan and Tony were not at their vacation home, but we enjoyed their beach nonetheless.


our campsite





Elvis finishes up his set

Freindly alcohol enforcement.. they had no idea!



The Police hit the stage







The show starts

Third and Fourth of July

Third of July

Fourth of July on Bainbridge starts on the 3rd with the street dance. I forgot my camera on the 3rd, 4th picts are down the page..

Three of us left my place around 7:45 pm for the street dance. We walked out my trail to Winslow way and saw a sea of bodies. As we got closer, we watched kids climb the rock wall, throw balls at the target on the dunk tank, and play in the inflatable slides.

Food vendors were mixed in with the kid activities. I had my mind set on a gardenburger from the T&C stand. Mark and B agreed on the chicken skewers at T&C. We stopped at the Beer garden on the way. It has moved now to the Winslow mall, former site of the band stage. Now the main stage is across the street next to the bank. There is now a second stage located down toward my apartment which caters to the younger crowd. We had a beer and listened to the Fenderskirts from across the way. We all said hi to friends walking by.

Next stop food. it was now just after 8, 3 more hours of street dance ahead of us, and almost all the food was gone! I was able to get a gardenburger, which was pretty lame, but the chicken skewers were long gone..

Off to Isla Bonita to meet some other friends. By the time we arrived, our friends had already come and gone. It was not very crowded this year. Almost like a typical night at Isla, only at twice the price!

Fourth of July

The next am, B and I started our day off by visiting Glenns Mother, Doris. She lives one block away, and I haven't visited her yet. We had a nice chat and then left for food.

We grabbed some quick food and made our way up to San Carlos to watch the parade.

Soon we ran into Noble and Jolie with hubby Marvin. We watched most of the parade with them and then went home to rest for the night. Noble stopped by on his way out of town.

That night we went to Kyles in Kingston and watched the big show, as well as light off our own.


Larry M throwing candy to the crowd


Noble, Jolie and Marvin

Felix N




B and C

Joe A





Jim and Kyle grilling and chillin in the Green and Gold