Sunday

Sundays are usually relaxing. Yesterday was far from relaxing, but I somehow came out of it feeling happy and fully of energy...

Between waking up and Church, I went and had a business meeting for Civil Air Patrol and toured the "kitchen" I will be spending the weekend in once a month. It was a sad excuse for a kitchen, I'm not sure I've seen a kitchen in worse condition and that's saying a lot. I barely had enough time to do the entire tour and get to Church on time - okay, I was a couple minutes late and ended up changing my shirt and shoes and fixing my hair at stoplights on my way.

I hung out at my friend's house for the next few hours before Joyful Dancing started. I took about three minutes to learn the very, very basic step of what was being taught before two of my closest friends and I ditched to walk around the woods nearby.

Volleyball was already in full swing by the time we got there after the dance. I caught one game before it was too dark to play. I really just wanted to say goodbye to people since I won't see them again for at least another two months...

My friends and I weren't ready to call it a day quite yet, so (after many brainless moments of trying to find a place to go) we went to Target, bought drinks and candy and talked in the parking lot. We stacked corn candy up to look like corn, at Espresso M&Ms (which are amazing!) and talked pretty late. It was fun. I'm lucky to have such cool people in my life!

Weekend Work And Weekend Play

My weekend had 14+ hours of Civil Air Patrol classes in two days, which I was stressed out about, so I am relieved that it is over. It was another goal for this year that I got done! Squadron Leadership School was a good learning experience and really threw me out of my comfort zone.

My Squadron Leadership School class. 

After the class was done, I felt immediate relief. What made my day was that a couple of my friends came over that night for Fish Tacos, Italian sodas and brownies while watching The Kid. We ended up visiting long after the movie was done. I am so blessed to have friends who come over spontaneously and hang out until the wee, early morning hours.

Days Like This

I'm sitting in my bedroom with my watercolor, cup of tea and journal. Rain is splashing away on the trailer roof and outside is gloomy with thunder and lightening. It makes me happy. I love thunderstorms. Contrary to the grey outside, I have a bright sunflowers as a result of a spontaneous Farmer's Market visit yesterday.  I'm at peace - content with life. 

Return to Fort Worden

For two months, we had a date set aside in September to spend together at Fort Worden. We made improvements from the last time by making ferry reservations and packed enough food for everyone.

So this past Saturday at 7:50am, three Fuji's, three Grays, three Jamiesons, one Hacking, four Miles and one Caitlin-- fifteen people total-- loaded into the our "rad" semi-white van and headed for Fort Worden. I forgot how chaotic and loud a full van can be, but it was fun to listen and participate in the different conversations. We arrived in Coupeville at the ferry terminal in great time. Forty minutes before the ferry was to leave. It left us the perfect amount of time to play Duck, Duck, Bang and Ninja in the parking lot. 

Fierce game of Ninja at the ferry terminal

Once on the ferry, the looks we got while fifteen adult/teens got out of the van was priceless! It looked like a ridiculous amount of people in one vehicle. 

All those people fit in one van! 

We admired the view and eventually met up on the Mezzanine deck of the ferry where it was relatively quiet and clear. We had to take what is now a traditional ferry picture for us. 

We arrived at Fort Worden hungry and ready to explore. We grabbed lunch things and headed for the beach. 

Some things you should know:

Gracie+Beach= Friends

Gracie+Beach= Frolicking 

Gracie+Beach= Happiness 

Gracie+Friends+Beach= Bliss + <3

So we ate our Robin Hood lunch of French bread, meat, cheese and sand. Washed it down with Mucho Mango tea and water and hand pies. 

The beach explorers took off, running and laughing down the beach, we were happy. There was real sand between our toes and sun in our eyes. The majority of them ran around the bend in the beach and way out from eyesight. Since shoes, socks, bags, wallets and food were still at our original lunch area, I stayed relatively close looking for cool rocks and shells and talking with Lindsay. 

After a good hour or so, the beach wanderers were called back (I'm mean, what can I say), so we could go explore the fort. They came back with smiles, covered in sand and some wet. 

The beached boat was our next destination. We had to get a group picture there and recreate the recreated Washington Crossing picture from last time... 

We went next to explore the upper bunkers. They were pretty much all the same, but still pretty sweet and not as busy as the lower bunkers. We always search for the best singing bunker. Part way through the exploring, Nick, John and I ditched in hopes of finding a different room to sing in, or just get away from the rest of the group. I think a good scare would have been planned as well. It was fun. I took a bunch of picture as we continued to explore, we ran around, sang and looked around more. 

Near the end, some of us got "separated" from the rest of the group (we thought they would find us, but instead, they went all the way back to the van). It gave us a chance to sing a little as a smaller group. The funnest part was when this dad and his three girls walked past and we screamed really loudly and Ian banged on his Cajon, then silence. When we stepped out into the hall, no one was there. It was awesome! 

Overall the time at Fort Worden was a blast, although it could have been longer.... 

The second ferry ride was us hanging on that same Mezzanine deck the entire time. Gracie gave me a killer neck massage. I was so out that walking back to the car was really really weird feeling. 

Since spending ten hours together wasn't enough to satisfy anyone, we went to Fort Ebey to watch the sunset and sing some more. It was the perfect way to spend the evening. The acoustics in the large room at Fort Ebey were way better than any of the others at Fort Worden. 

It was a sweet time and once again, I am left thinking that I know a great group of people and am thankful for my friends. Until next adventure... 

Post of Pasts

So I went through old pictures today. So, for your enjoyment, I share 2000-2009, best Fuji Pictures.

2000- Visit to California 

Anna, Grandma and me

2001-Ev's always had great fashion sense

2001-Aw, partial family picture

2001- I've always loved kids

2002- Me and Ian at the zoo

2002- Siblings

2002- Ev "cooking"

2002- Sporting Hawaiian dresses

2003- Ian and Ev

2003-cooking

2004- Ian and Allen

2004- first time at Fort Casey 

2004- my baby brother

2005- Ev and Jane

2007- visit to Hawaii

2007-First ghillie suit

2008- oldest girls

2008- me and Jane

2009- Corn maze 

August

I've neglected this blog horribly in the last few months. Mostly because I was busy, partially because I have very little internet as far as evenings and being in my room (the trailer) where I like to work and partially because I keep getting self-conscious about my writing. Starting now, I'm hoping to post a little more frequently. I won't always share to social media, so check out other posts as well...


To catch you up on August:

August was, without a doubt, the best month of my entire life. I never thought I'd say that about what is usually a crazy and exhausting month. I think the two back to back summer camps of previous years wore me out. This August only had one summer camp. My favorite summer camp. The one where the days were long, nights were short, filled with happy memories, good people, new friends, old friends, hard work, sickness, stargazing, traditions, talks with God, laughter, stare-downs, letter writing and pranks.

Amazing stargazing with friends.

Pranks and initiation rites.

Ian's first year! It was awesome!

I came away with such a happy heart, carefree, stress free and incredibly thankful for the people and opportunities God has put in my path. I could have been more content.

But then the post activity sadness set in. Everyone either lives far away or has a busy life. Then, at 2am after a movie, we threw around the idea of a road trip. At first, it was one of those eventually/I wish trip ideas, but then schedules and calendars were pulled out. A little under two weeks later, three friends, my brother and I headed out on a fantastic road trip down to Crater Lake.

Never before have I felt so comfortable with a group of people. It was natural, peaceful and fun. We got to explore Cannon Beach/surroundings and Crater Lake. We saw the most amazing display of stars we have ever seen, sang songs, played Jeep Beep and sat through traffic, ate veggie chips and gummy peach rings. We told stories, laughed and took in God's amazing creations (seriously, Crater Lake, Diamond Lake, Cannon Beach and stargazing had breath-taking views). Saying goodbye was hard to do, but plans for future adventures were talked about and friendships grew stronger.

Between those main adventures, mini things happened all over. The volleyball nights (I'm in love with playing volleyball), afternoon at Kayak Point, surprising my twin at her work, cleaning my bedroom and making it my home, cooking and going to the fair are among many happy moments from this month.

Kayak Point with friends

Surprising Gracie at work

Fair day with Jane

Memory book with Gracie

But it wasn't all happy. I had a couple super challenging days. I had things that were hard, decisions that felt impossible and where adulting became harder. It was all good, I learned some valuable lessons and felt like it drew me closer to God.

And that, folks, sums up the craziest, most peaceful, fun month of my life! I'm excited to see what all September holds!

Zucchini

Today was a great day. I went to the J. family's house at noon to hang out with the younger kids cause Mrs. J. had something else going on. It was fun, we talked, they showed me their shell and rock collections, their trophies and ribbons and other things they thought I'd be interested in. They're sweeties. We went on a walk in their neighborhood, the boys picked me gigantic handfuls of dandelions and clovers. On the way back, this sweet couple offered us some produce from their gorgeous garden. They gave us mass amounts of ripe pears, plums, tomatoes in different varieties and zucchini. It was quite the 1/4 mile walk back with four kids and bags full of produce. An adventure!

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating lunch, doing dishes and chatting about random stuff before I left. I seriously <3 those kids.

Got home and almost immediately started making zucchini bread with Jane. The kids had been dying for more since they ate the last of the previous 12-16 loaves we made (okay, we gave away quite a few)... Jane and I settled on making x6 our recipe, a total of 12 loaves. Everything was going great until I counted out the last of the eggs. The recipe called for 18 total. I had 17.

1 egg short.

I could have made it work. I don't think it would have ruined the batch of bread, but I wasn't willing to risk wasting 6 cups of oil, 6 cups of chocolate chips and a multitude of other ingredients. So not worth it.

I grabbed my wallet. I would just head out to Walmart, just a five minute drive away. I stood stupidly in the driveway, the only car there was Dad's car. Jane wandered over to Craig and Janay's house and borrowed an egg with the promise of a loaf of zucchini bread tomorrow.