Et Cetera

I'm back! I didn't really go anywhere...but life did get REALLY busy around May. Since then, I was hired by the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Eric graduated from high school, we went back to the Oregon coast, more time was spent on the boat, I took the GRE, and Terry and I moved to Bellingham - and those are just some of the major things! Another reason why I ventured back to the blogging world: internet in the condo is a major upgrade from the wireless internet at my mom's house (envision a house near the airport where a cell phone will lose service every time a plane flies overhead, a shoddy wireless box, and very questionable "high speed" service - I think it was less than 1Mbps). I swear that each post would take 20 minutes to load.

I didn't even know where to start for an update, so I decided that an "et cetera" post was appropriate. That way, I could cram some of the miscellaneous photos from the last few months into a somewhat scattered layout.

First, right before I was hired by Padilla Bay, I ran in a 10K race in Mt. Vernon. Those of you who know me well could tell anyone about my serious running habits - I go every morning, no exceptions. However, I suffered a mystery ankle injury in 2010 that sidelined me for 12 months. I may have ground my teeth down to nubs in frustration, but I did eventually find the root of the problem. I went through several doctors who had ideas ranging from a stress fracture to tendonitis. Nothing worked. After a recommendation from my grandma, I saw a podiatrist who took two minutes to look at the calluses on my feet and gave me the easiest solution I could have hoped for. I now have a rather expensive pair of shoes and inserts to align my ankles when I run. In March of 2011, after a year of irritation and break downs, I trained last minute for a 10K race to try to get myself back into shape. It just felt SO GOOD to be able to run again. In the beginning of May, I snagged third place in the Have a Heart run and I haven't stopped running since. My shoes don't even have a year of use and I already need another pair.

This is a hug at the start line with my mom. She ran the 2 mile race and I continued.

In June, Eric graduated from high school.

Summer fire pit s'mores. They made me take a break from studying for the GRE. Someone should have told me what a bad idea it was to take the GRE at the end of August. I spent so many summer weekends trying to learn vocabulary - do this in the winter!

Wet & Wild

We brought the skim board because Eric finally has functional knees and can teach the rest of us how to do it. As you can see, he was ready to go:

And I'm awful at skimboarding. No amount of practice will make me good at this. I'm pretty sure my mom is in the same boat. This is me FAILING:

We are all good at bodyboarding though. Our long wetsuits were a lifesaver and we could stay in the water for about an hour until our lips turned blue. We went in the water every day and without fail the coast guard would fly over us no matter what time it was. At least they were checking...

I'm about to get killed by a wave here:

And right before we got out, there was a traditional session of "brisking":

Beach Finds

I know that a beach beaver is an epic find, but it's also unusual and unnatural. So I'm dedicating this post to things you would expect to find at the ocean...but JUMBO sized.

Our first morning at the beach, my mom and I went for a run to the jetty. We met my dad and my brother there and one very very large washed up tree. This is probably the biggest one I've ever seen in my life. And it was oddly balanced on the jetty. That didn't stop us from climbing on it though.

Can you find us?

The next day we went to what we call "agate beach". It's about a 45 minute drive away from Rockaway and fairly unknown. Which is good for us because our family hunts for agates like they're diamonds. We have been visiting agate beach since as long as I can remember. Even before there were stairs built down to the beach from the cliffside we were sliding down there. I believe that qualifies us as hardcore agate hunters.

There are a lot of different types of agates, but they are generally varieties of compressed silica developed from volcanic rocks. We recently found out after a visit to Waldport that blue agates exist. They are the hardest to spot and some of the prettiest. My favorites are the orange ones. You might think that finding them is easy, but it's really not. By the end of a day at agate beach, all of our eyes, necks, and backs hurt from searching. We have also developed agate eyes. In a beach primarily composed of rocks, over 10 years of agate hunting gives you a really good search image for your brain to find a needle in a haystack.

Our haul this year was exceptionally good:

And Eric found the largest agate to date (JUMBO!):

Oregon Coast

We had to skip our annual Oregon coast trip last year because I was in Florida when we normally go. Now that we're all together again, everyone decided to take a few days of spring break and spend our time at Rockaway Beach.

There are several things that you need to know about our family before you fully understand this post and those to come. We have been going to the Oregon coast on vacation since I was around 7 years old (my parents even honeymooned there) so it's like our second home. On long road trips, my mom has recently adopted an "animal sightings for money" game. It starts with a list of random animals and their monetary values based on how likely you are to see them. They have to be living when you spot them and you also have to have a witness so that you can claim your money fair and square. The list for the trip went something like this:

Bear: $20

Donkey: $1

Baby goat (my mom calls them goatlettes): $1

Beaver: $10

Elk: $1

Fox: $10

This game is actually kind of fun because we usually see something on the list. It's also an upgrade from previous road trip games where my mom would just make the matching animal noise as we passed things. Does anyone know what an alpaca sounds like? Me neither, but she made up a "pak, pak, pak" whisper and now that's all I associate with alpacas. Very weird. You'll be glad to know that I made a whopping $12 this vacation because I saw a baby goat, a donkey, and one morning as I was running along the beach, I found a beaver. First of all, I never expected to encounter a live beaver in my life, and second, what is a beaver doing in the ocean? To be able to claim my ten dollars, I had to sprint back to the house and grab the camera to get photo evidence. Lucky for me, beavers are not fast.

We stopped by a surf shop in Seaside on the way down and everyone was gifted with wet suit upgrades. It turns out that a full wetsuit makes a world of difference when body boarding in the Pacific Ocean. In 55 degree water temperatures, we could stay for at least an hour. The only bad part is the first ten minutes when your feet feel like they've been put in an ice bucket.

Slam Dunk Contest

He won!

Snow In February

We got about a foot of snow last week (the end of February) which is super fun for the first and second days and then a drag after that. After you get all of your snowmen and sledding out of the way the snow just gets annoying. Maybe I'm bitter because we live on a giant hill OR maybe it's because spring is supposed to be around the corner. Either way, snow is a temporary best friend.

The first day of real snow we went sledding. As soon as we got to the hill it started snowing heavily. In the 45 minutes we were there, Mt. Vernon got another foot of snow on top of what was left over from the morning. It made me wish that I had brought my snowboarding goggles with me. Eric and I built a jump for everyone to use because what good is sledding unless you have to perform the tuck and roll?

Jump: Not very large but with the speed we were getting, everyone went about a foot in the air (Eric more for some reason - face first?)

"Sled-boarding": My mom thought that standing on the sled and going down the hill was a fantastic idea. That went well. Behold: the tuck and roll.

Finally, a post-sledding picture:

They Won!

Last Friday the boy's basketball team FINALLY won the district championship vs. Squalicum. This Friday, they have to play a regional game to get their seed for the state tournament.