Vacation Update #3

Still more trip highlights:

• SATURDAY - Mom wasn't feeling 100%, so instead of going to Mount St. Helens, we went to St. Helens, OR, which is a little town not too far from Mom & Dad. They were having an "Arts & Eats" festival downtown... Braeden got to make recycled art & have his face painted... and Dad & his partners won 1st place in their division of the car show.
• SUNDAY - Shari & I left the boys with Mom, Dad & Liz and drove to Ocean Shores, WA, for a night away. We ate some very good seafood. The weather wasn't very nice (it's was cold & foggy most of the time we were there) but we still got to walk on the beach & even found some sand dollars on Monday morning.
• MONDAY - As we were coming home, we stopped at the Christian Outlet store in Centralia, WA, and found some great stuff cheap. In a bit of publishing weirdness, I managed to buy a copy of a as-yet-unreleased book by a major author - it was a proof copy. (I hate to be so cryptic, but I've inquired w/the publisher about how to proceed - I'd like to review the book but I don't want to screw up their release schedule.)
• TUESDAY - We visited with Shari's cousin, Rachel, & her daughter, Josie. (Well, Shari & Braeden visited - Collin & I went shopping for Grandpa's birthday.
• WEDNESDAY - We went to visit my best friend from high school (hi, Keith!) and the guy who answered the door looked strangely familiar... which is as it should be, because he was another very close friend from high school (and elementary school), Jim Trerise! A wonderful surprise... I'll post more about it later.

Liz flew back to Denver today, but not before we got to celebrate Dad's 69th birthday together. Very cool. The plans for tomorrow are to go to Mount St. Helens if the weather is good. Then we'll leave for California on Friday morning, trying to reach Yreka by nightfall. Saturday will be driving the rest of the way in! And, yes, I have to preach on Sunday.

Games played in the last two days: Insel der Schmuggler (now with the correct dice pips, thanks to Alfred - the game works even better this way!), Secrets of the Deep (x2), Snap!, Ice Cream (x2), Dish It Up, Ark, Schnecken Rennen, Daddy Cool, Zwergen Ziehen, Animal Olympics, and Pokemon Sorry (x3).