We left Friday morning around 9 a.m. with our first stop resulting in a much-needed, tall cup of coffee. . .
. . . which resulted in our next (emergency) stop in Baker to use the facilities. . .
Gil and Louise were kind enough to let us use their mini van for the weekend so we were all nice and comfortable. Gary and Kristin drove their car with Megan and Gloria and I was lucky enough to have Zach. . .
. . . Steph. . .
. . . and Andrew!!!
. . . Steph. . .
. . . and Andrew!!!
Steph rode shotgun and was great company. . . 
. . . Except that she kept making me laugh and we were still many, many miles away from Baker . . . and the facilities. . .
Zach wasn't helping much, either. . .
We made it safe and sound to Pendleton for lunch and made a quick stop at Wendy's:
The girls had a great time. . .
Gary cracked the whip and kept us all moving:
Things got pretty quiet after lunch. . .
The girls had a great time. . .
Gary cracked the whip and kept us all moving:
Things got pretty quiet after lunch. . .
. . . Just me and the road. . . It was kind of nice. . .
Our next stop, of course, was Multnomah Falls. I probably have over 30 pictures of this exact shot from different visits through the years but I'm impressed enough by this view that I'm always compelled to take another one:
Here we are!! Gloria, Megan, Steph, Andrew, Zach, Gary, Me, and Kristin!!!
This background looks like something straight out of Olan Mills Photography:
Good to know who Andrew gets his sense of humor from. . .
Much better. . . :
I guess it's possible that Andrew gets some of it from Kristin. . .
On the road again. . .
This background looks like something straight out of Olan Mills Photography:
Good to know who Andrew gets his sense of humor from. . .
Much better. . . :
I guess it's possible that Andrew gets some of it from Kristin. . .
On the road again. . .
Gary grew up in this area, so we had the good fortune to stay at his mom's house!
The home was absolutely gorgeous and sat on the top of a hill surrounded by a forest. We quickly felt right at home and were very comfortable!!
The home was absolutely gorgeous and sat on the top of a hill surrounded by a forest. We quickly felt right at home and were very comfortable!!
Gary was nice enough to drive the 10 minutes to the church to get us registered for the quiz meet and when he came back, he had this lovely birthday cake for me!! It was a nice way to celebrate the day!!
After cake and ice cream, we settled into "my room" to practice our quizzing. . .
We did eventually get around to practicing our quizzing. . .
Several of Gary's sisters came by with their kids for a visit. Gloria was thrilled to have a bunch of new cousins to play with. . .
It was nice of Megan to share her family. . .
After a very good night's sleep, we were up and ready and out the door by 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Steph brought along a mascot for luck. Do you need luck in Bible Quizzing? Hmmmm. . .
Gloria and Megan quickly found Hailey and had fun re-connecting.
. . . I quickly found Jered!!!!!!!
The church in Kelso was beautiful. It just happens to be where Gil and Louise pastored before they came to Boise!
The quizzing rounds started right on time and we managed to win the first 7. Barely. It was very stressful. . .
Winning and losing doesn't seem to matter as much anyway. It's more about reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. . .
Gary hung out in Quiz Central, as usual. . .
Megan and Gloria entertained themselves for most of the day. . .
After a quick lunch, we all headed into the sanctuary for the Verse-Off. Zach was feeling pretty confident since he had learned all 27 of the verses but it's still a little nerve-racking. . .
There were 13 other high schoolers who seemed just as confident. . .
After cake and ice cream, we settled into "my room" to practice our quizzing. . .
We did eventually get around to practicing our quizzing. . .
Several of Gary's sisters came by with their kids for a visit. Gloria was thrilled to have a bunch of new cousins to play with. . .
It was nice of Megan to share her family. . .
After a very good night's sleep, we were up and ready and out the door by 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Steph brought along a mascot for luck. Do you need luck in Bible Quizzing? Hmmmm. . .
Gloria and Megan quickly found Hailey and had fun re-connecting.
. . . I quickly found Jered!!!!!!!
The church in Kelso was beautiful. It just happens to be where Gil and Louise pastored before they came to Boise!
The quizzing rounds started right on time and we managed to win the first 7. Barely. It was very stressful. . .
If only Andrew could share some of his morning energy with Zach, we'd be fine!!
I'm not sure if Steph could handle having both Zach and Andrew hyped up. . .
In spite of the stress, we were having fun. . .
Newberg beat us by a slight margin at the last meet, so we decided to tie it up and (barely) beat them at this meet. . .
It was a fun competition:
Zach and Andrew seemed to be competing against each other as much as against the other team!! They were having fun, though, and encouraging each other, so I'd say it's a good thing!
I'm not sure if Steph could handle having both Zach and Andrew hyped up. . .
In spite of the stress, we were having fun. . .
Newberg beat us by a slight margin at the last meet, so we decided to tie it up and (barely) beat them at this meet. . .
It was a fun competition:
Winning and losing doesn't seem to matter as much anyway. It's more about reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. . .
Gary hung out in Quiz Central, as usual. . .
Megan and Gloria entertained themselves for most of the day. . .
After a quick lunch, we all headed into the sanctuary for the Verse-Off. Zach was feeling pretty confident since he had learned all 27 of the verses but it's still a little nerve-racking. . .
There were 13 other high schoolers who seemed just as confident. . .
Talli did a great job. . .
It eventually came down to 7 finalists with Zach still standing. . .
On to the afternoon rounds. It always seems a little bit harder after lunch. . .
We were still having fun, though, and Zach had lightened up a bit with the Verse-Off successfully behind him:
I'm really not sure what brought this on:
Back at "home", we hung out some more. This is Gloria being flung into the air by Steph's feet. . .
The tree-lined driveway:
When all was said and done, it was a 6-way tie! Pretty impressive!
The McConaughey's showed up just in time for the Verse-Off and it was fun to see Elsie on her birthday. She and Gloria have spent their birthday's togther since Gloria turned 2 and Elsie turned 3. I'm glad we got to carry on the tradition!
Elsie has caught up with me in height. . . hard to believe!!
On to the afternoon rounds. It always seems a little bit harder after lunch. . .
We were still having fun, though, and Zach had lightened up a bit with the Verse-Off successfully behind him:
I'm really not sure what brought this on:
The next set of pictures cracks me up. This is usually how Andrew looks when you take his picture:
This is usually how Zach looks:
So, this is how they look when they are together:
It might have been the effects of the Monster Zach was drinking, because as I continued to snap pictures, Zach became a little more like Andrew and Andrew became a little more like Zach. . .
Thankfully, they eventually returned to their natural states. . .
This is usually how Zach looks:
So, this is how they look when they are together:
It might have been the effects of the Monster Zach was drinking, because as I continued to snap pictures, Zach became a little more like Andrew and Andrew became a little more like Zach. . .
Thankfully, they eventually returned to their natural states. . .
By the end of the afternoon, we had won 12 rounds and lost 5. That put us solidly in 5th place. Not bad! The rest of the evening was spent catching up with friends and just hanging out:
Back at "home", we hung out some more. This is Gloria being flung into the air by Steph's feet. . .
Before bed, I braided Steph's hair:
We were all pretty tired by the end of the day and ready for a good night's sleep:
We were all pretty tired by the end of the day and ready for a good night's sleep:
We were all up early on Sunday so we could get on the road. I had time to take a few pictures of the house and grounds while the others were finishing up their packing. It was a rainy, Washington morning and it was beautiful. This is the "house" the boys stayed in:
It was pretty fancy. . .
It was pretty fancy. . .
This is the back of the house:
The front of the house:
The front of the house:
The tree-lined driveway:
The folks who fed us and put up with us!! We all felt very much at home and I hope we'll be invited back someday!!
The trip home was (mostly) uneventful:
We did have that one problem where Gary took the on-ramp to the freeway, realized he was going back toward The Dalles, and turned around. On the freeway ramp. And, of course, I followed. And laughed. And took pictures!!!!
This led to a whole round of silliness in the van the rest of the way home. . .
Then there was that other incident when I thought I was being pulled over, but the flashing lights went right by me and had traffic stopped just a few miles ahead. . .
Then there was that other incident when I thought I was being pulled over, but the flashing lights went right by me and had traffic stopped just a few miles ahead. . .
We couldn't really tell what was going on but there were about 5 police cars and a pick-up and it looked like a big, 4-legged animal was going down the embankment. I saw one officer with a rifle and Steph said she saw another officer kneeling down with a rifle and taking aim. She freaked out just a little bit:
We still managed to finish up the road trip. . .
. . . without further incident. . .
. . . Just in time to make it to the church for play practice. . .
It was soooo good to be home.
We still managed to finish up the road trip. . .
. . . without further incident. . .
. . . Just in time to make it to the church for play practice. . .
It was soooo good to be home.
