BreakAway

Ok, I believe I have now had enough sleep to write a few complete sentences about my Easter Break.  I was privileged to spend my break from school with about 250 Jr. High students sleeping in tents in the field of Peoples Church at BreakAway. 

BreakAway is our annual Spring Break event where our students join with other churches and do ministry projects throughout our community.  These students part from their normal routine and see the other side of Fresno and the surrounding area.  These students learn that although going to Mexico or Africa are wonderful mission projects, there are mission projects that our community needs as well.  These students divided into teams and spread out doing Vacation Bible Studies, construction projects, delivering lunches, a car wash, landscaping yards, and so many other activities. 

I am proud to have served alongside these students and the other leaders at the event.  Sleeping in tent, waking up early, working all day either building something or chasing kids, returning to camp to eat, worship, clean and do it all over again can be a difficult task; but the people I work with are incredible, as well are the students.  I have never seen 12-14 year-olds put so much heart into something as I see every year at BreakAway. 

*Gerald, Jarrod, and Greg playing Futsal

*Basketball and Fishies...

*Greg and Matt celebrating a goal

 *Which is better chalk or a sandwhich?

 *Easter egg hunt!

 *I'm sure the world record was set for how long a person can sit on a swing.

*Dog Pile!

 *Even the little-helpers were getting in on the action

This week consisted of very little sleep and relaxation as a “break” typically is, but it was much better.  Although, now I am ready for my spring break.  Smile.  Oh well, summer is just around the corner with only 13 more days of school before finals.  I think I can make it till then, but only time will tell. 

Thank you again to everyone that made BreakAway happen and to the students that blessed my life all week.  Thank you Lord for Your love that we were able to pass onto Fresno through activities, work, and sports without necessarily using Your Name.  As it was said, “we may not have said it, but we wrote it in the chalk.”  His love is abounding. 



See ya...Hello There!

I know I have said this before, and most of you would know it even if I didn’t say it; but I stink at goodbyes.  I was determined at the start of the year that it was no more goodbyes…and I stand by that now.  Monday night, I said “See ya Later” to Seattle.  I was blessed to be able to go home, spend time in my favorite city with my incredible parents, dearest Katie, and the joys that go with being home.  Thanks mom and dad for the time of our lives again!  You are the reason home is HOME. 

Now, enough of the sappy stuff, I am also blessed in a second way.  I have two homes.  I left home 1 to arrive 2.5 hours later in home A.  Formerly, I would have said home 1 and home 2, but that still gives a ranking.  1 and A = no rank.  I simply cannot compare these two places that I spend my life.  Fresno has grown a place in my heart as well.  I know I give Fresno a lot of flack and I still don’t like the actual city, but I love the people here too.  I was able to tearfully leave hugs, to arriving to another hug at the airport from the boy that loves me, followed by a hug at home, hugs at work, and hugs all around.  Fresno isn’t so bad.  (I will never say that again, so I will leave it in print here so you know how I feel, but remember the words.  They will not come out of my mouth…just from my fingers).  Smile.

Tuesday night was a surprise for me.  Greg told me we had plans, but would not tell me what.  He came to pick me up and said A or B.  Now, I hate choices.  I tried in every way possible to get him to tell me the choices, but he wouldn’t budge.  Finally I picked A. 

We got in the car and headed down the road; I kept guessing all the way.  2 rights and a left later, I knew where we were going.  OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY!  My favorite.  Somewhere along the way, I did figure out that option B was Sweet Tomatoes, which is in the Top 5 favorites of mine.  He knows me so well.  Needless to say the date was wonderful!  My leftovers for lunch today were just as good as the dinner was last night, except for the fact that he wasn’t here to have leftovers with me.  

CasKat...we miss you Ken!

Ok, sorry for those of you that get notifications of my blog.  This morning has been dedicated to catching up, because I want to let you know that I am sitting next to my dear Katie while we are both blogging about our adventure yesterday.  A non-chronological blog would drive me nuts, so I think I am all caught up now and can finally tell you about yesterday. 


Saturday morning was a regular chore day in Lakewood.  We moved the dock up, which as you will see was desperately needed.  Dad and I fixed a broken sprinkler pipe in the back yard and Mom and Lisa painted the patio furniture to match the new deck.  After this came the fun, but strangely enough, I had fun doing the projects that I used to work on with my dad on a regular basis. 

*Taken from my favorite seat in the backyard...the yellow swing.

*Much better.  My dock is now safe.  And yes, I say my dock, because I built it.  Ok, dad built it and I helped.  I only lost one tool in the bottom of the lake, that dad will never let me live down.  

However, it will most likely have to be moved again, and there is no more room! 

The water has not been this high in years.

Now here is my reminder to you:  Katie is my wonderful friend from Fresno State who traveled with me to Europe and who decided with me to blog this 2011 year.  We have been doing reasonably well with the blogging thing, but it is so much better to be sitting next to her and spending face-to-face time instead of computer-to-computer time.  Katie and I are sitting here blogging together, in our pj's, with our Lakewood Doughnut House doughnuts (which are incomparable to any other doughnuts) and our Starbucks that dad brought home for us.  Thanks dad!

So, Katie drove from Seattle to my house to meet us here before dinner.  It took many hugs of excitement after she walked in the front door to get all the way inside; then it was like we haven't been apart at all.  Here was the adventure part:  a new restaurant in Sumner that my mom found in a magazine.  Thankfully mom and dad are always up for a new food adventure too.  Well, mom is; dad is thankful when a new restaurant is found that he can find something on the menu he likes.  This was the jackpot of all finds!  Dad even said there multiple choices for him.

Toscanos Cafe and Wine Bar

Here is the link to their website:  Toscanos

I think this is one of my new favorite restaurants ever.  The place is tiny and at 6pm was full for dinner.  The interior is cute, ambiance was great (after our waitress brought it to us, by lighting the candle on our table), and of course the company could not have been better.  We had this great table in the corner by the window that overlooked the highway.  I must admit that the view was not great, but the view inside was perfect.  It took us nearly 20 minutes to decide what we were eating and I think the waitress realized at that point that we were going to be "that table" for the night.  After getting our food we knew why the place was so full so early.  Incredible does not do it justice.  This was, as most family dinners are, a Two Snort Dinner, with mom wiping her tears of laughter on the napkin and dad rolling his eyes. 


Since a picture can say what words cannot, I will simply post the pictures of our dinners instead of trying to describe them to you. 

 

 

Dessert was next.  We have this tradition with dad, of picking up Baskin Robins ice cream on the way home from dinner.  Last night, we varied from the norm and got dessert at Toscanos (which also took a good 20 minutes to decide).  It was well worth the abnormal.  Katie and I had Creme Brulee, which seems to becoming a tradition for us.  I believe this will be the 2nd picture on my blog with the two of us eating this wonderful dessert.  And again, pictures are better, so here are the desserts.  In the words of Sisterface Lisa, "It is wrong how much I just ate."  We all agreed. 

 

 

 

*Dad did eat more than this, he just got the whiped creme from the Brownie on the side.

Happy and Full Group

We finished eating and waddled out to the car.  I literally mean waddled, because of how full we were.  Next step, the hot tub!  My parents have a new deck and a new hot tub in the back yard.  We have always had both, just these are upgrades.  The hot tub has a stereo system built in, to which we turned on the classics of Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, and other greats.  Meanwhile we turned the Mariner's game on in the living room so we could check the score through the window.  Again, we will not mention the score, although it was better this time. 


Somehow, the hot tub made me feel magically less full.  It was great, relaxing, and a beautiful evening.  Every song or so we would move a seat to the left.  This was to test out all the seats, as each one has different jets and air flow.  It was like a game of musical chairs.  This was all we could muster for the evening.  We started to watch a few minutes of TV before heading to bed, but Dad went straight to bed, Lisa followed quickly for fear of spending the night on the couch if she didn't get up, and Katie and I woke mom up every time the commercials came on in order to fast forward through them.  We didn't last very long either.  Nevertheless, it was an incredible adventure that will hopefully be had again soon. 


For your enjoyment; here is Katie's version of our evening on her blog.  I am excited to read her rendition as it was the same adventure and we are sitting next to each other now, but we didn't discuss what we were going to write beforehand.  http://www.lovinseattle.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home

WICKED was over, cheesecake eaten, and packing was nearly finished.  The time was 12:45am and our flight left at 6:10am.  Only a few hours of sleep for Thursday night, but all events were well worth it.  I left on a jet plane for home!!  I am now in Seattle. 


Friday was a relaxing, stress-free day which involved a manicure & pedicure, a quick trip to Target for white tennies, and a drive to Seattle.  The end result...moose and garlic fries.  We were at opening day!  Friday was the first time in 41 days the sunshine had been seen.   I think Lisa and I brought it with us.  Smile. 
                                   
Opening Day is an adventure I have come to love.  The game is packed, this game was sold-out, with bustling baseball fans of the great Northwest.  Ichiro was given his Golden Glove and Felix received the Cy Young plaque.  This game was especially special because of the Dave Niehaus (1935-2010) remembrance.  He has been the voice of the Mariners since they began in 1977.  I have so many memories of listening to the games in the garage with Dad while working in the yard on rainy and sunny summer days.  Thank you Dave for the memories.  Great job to whoever planned the events order, it was very well done!  His wife threw out the opening pitch and grandkids yelled the opening "Play Ball!"

Here is the tribute that was performed at the staduim, if you are from the Northwest or have any pride for it...you will have goosebumps.  Click Here: Official Tribute Video

We will not discuss the score, as that was not the reason we were there.  We went for the family moments of the day with the reminder of all the other games we have been to in the past.  Thank you mom and dad for the game being the excuse for us to come home and to Charlies Produce for the great tickets in the 23rd row directly up from the pitchers' mound on the first base side.  Great seats! 

The only complaint, which I do not usually complain about cold weather, is how cold it was!  The roof was open, which was beautiful, but the breeze was not helping me stay warm.  It was even too cold for dip-in-dots...we were bundled in as many blue and green layers as we could find, plus our Mariner's blanket and still freezing. 

In the words of Dave Niehaus, "My Oh My" (said in the sportscaster way; that only Dave can say) it was a great day!

Catching Up 2...

OK, I am going to make this a very quick catch up, because I am eager to post about this weekend, and this weekend is nearly over...GRR!

I realized after I posted about April 1st, that March 31st was also exciting.  I had a day with no school!!  Quite an excitement, since our Spring Break is still not for another 2 weeks....we are eagerly awaiting its arrival for a break from school.  January 19-March 31 with no break is far too long! 

Anyway, March 31st Lisa, Greg, and I spent the afternoon cleaning our garden.  It was blissful!!  When we first got the condo, the garden was more like a jungle, and I hate to admit that it was nearing that bad again.  For you that had seen it, it was certainly not as bad, but getting there.  I did the weeding and trimming, while Lisa and Greg pulled up the bricks to cut the tree roots that were under them and now they are all level and walkable again.  Now it is ready for spring and dinners in the backyard. 

Tuesday, April 5 - Bowling

                                                               

After spending way too many hours finishing a research paper and getting that turned in, Tuesday night our Bible Study group went bowling.  Now, there are many games and sports that I will be competitive playing, but bowling is simply not one of them.  I am not a good bowler and there are plenty of people I know that are good bowlers.  Maybe my dad taught me not to be competitive bowling years ago when he would take us bowling, as he is one of those great bowlers I know.  With my "I'm just here to have fun" attitude, bowling was a blast.  We bowled two matches where I lost in a group of 13 both times.  Greg was  very encouraging, but he is the best bowler I know.  Needless to say, if you add up the score for both of my matches, it will not beat Greg's lowest match score.  I will not admit how badly I bowled, but I will tell you that he bowled 212 and 223.  Again, the best bowler I know!

                                  Thursday,  April 7 - Wicked!
OK, I do not mean 'wicked' as in, "That's bad!" or "Sweet" or any other weird usage of the word wicked; I mean I went to WICKED!  As in the Broadway experience, lots of singing, dancing, and costumes that will draw you into the world of OZ. 
                                                      
This was an event with Makenna and her parents.  I think originally this ticket was for Matt, so Makenna and Matt could go with Makenna's parents, but he had class.  Sorry Matt, but I am glad you did!  HEHE.  First we went to a restaurant called Richard's which is downtown and apparently one of the oldest restaurants in town.  AMAZING! and headed off to our incredible seats to watch all the facial expressions of the singers.  I cannot believe how incredible it was.  I am so blessed to have been able to go.  I was told by Makenna's mothers that this did not require a thank-you card, since I tend to write them when I go somewhere with their family, so I will write my thank-you here:  Thank you to Shawn, Dean, and Makenna for letting me come with you!  Love, Cassie. 
                                            

Funny Side Note:  It had been raining all day and Makenna and I decided as we were walking out the door that we would not need an umbrella, since it had finally stopped raining.  As we were walking out with the heard of people after the show was over, nearing the door you could hear great sighs and mini screams.  It was pouring buckets like I have never seen it rain in Fresno.  We tiptoed, since you cannot run in heals, as fast as we could to the car and safely made it without melting.  We picked up cheesecake to go on our way home and ate it remembering each great moment of the evening. 

Catching Up...

My failure to blog in the month of April is ending here and now.  I feel as though I should apologize that I have not written lately, but as you will see, I have been simply living live.  April has been packed with additions to my life that are not in my regular routine, but the regular routine must still exist.  Therefore, no blogging.  Sad Day!  ...as my sister would say.  Here we go:


I don't want to skip out on the wonderful excitements of April thus far, so this may take more than one post to catch you up, but I am not going to spill the beans early about yesterday and today, so you will just have to keep reading...


April 1 - Late Night Broom Ball.

This is a game where we take the J-High peeps to play on the ice at the Gateway Ice Center.  Broom ball is a game, similar to hockey in the sense that you have nets to score in at each end and the players have a stick.  The similarities end there.  We all have tennies on; who needs skates when you can run in your sneakers instead, we use sticks that look like plastic brooms, we use a plastic ball the size of a dodge-ball, most of the players wear catchers' knee pads so they can run and slide on their knees.  There are essentially no rules, other than have fun and be safe.  Way too much fun!  Don't worry, it is not quite as dangerous as it sounds...not quite.  All were picked up at 12:30 am after 2 hours of playing a high-intensity game way past every bed time, safe and sound. 

A great prank was played on a fellow J-High leader where we had him convinced his car was stolen from the parking lot - broken glass and all.  Lots of Laughs!!

Now, I know I have barely gotten started on this whole catching-up thing, but I am off to live another adventure.  I will post again soon, I promise this time!

*Besides, Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd, I spent continuous hours on the couch sick from a mystery-of-life, i.e. unknown cause.  Nothing exciting to blog there....