Sunday July 8 is SashBash week!!!

July 7–all 24 of us are in route to Breckenridge, Colorado. Sunday, we have an 8-bedroom house waiting for the Shasserre family onslaught. Craig, Nicole, Olivia, Evan, Ella have flown into Denver Saturday night and they are spending the night with Johnny O. an old soccer buddy of Craig’s. Brian, Emily, Fisher and Amaya have flown in from Seattle. They are spending the night in Denver with friends. Mark, Kelly, Rumi and Teo flew in Thursday and they have been with friends everyday since. Todd, Jessica, and Scarlett arrive in Denver late Saturday night. Kris, Kerry, Sienna and Sebastian are traveling from Mount Vernon, Washington by vintage VW van. They blew a tire on the way. So, they are camping near Salt Lake City Saturday night. They will have a long drive on Sunday. Brent and Dani left from Saint Louis today and they are driving a Subaru all the way without an overnight stop. We drove from Salt Lake City to Grand Junction, Colorado today. It’s been a wonderful day of R&R. We are happy to be spending the night in a nice Clarion. We had a brief swim and a pizza dinner.

Olivia turned age 20 the day we all arrived at Breckenridge. Craig, Kris and Sienna  have birthdays in July. So, we had continuous days to celebrate. The home cooked dinners for 24 went along flawlessly thanks to great cooks and great planning by all.

The house was magnificent….8 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, huge 12 person hot tub, downstairs rec room included pool table, video games, shuffle board, foos-ball, and a theater room (great for watching the World Cup games).

Each morning certain people left the house for hiking destinations, shopping, or whatever. Some groups went to Vail, Colorado and some did not. Some did the eight mile hikes and some (like me) did the three miles hike. We all stayed active in family groups but still had space for ourselves.

This was such a special SashBash. Special because this week in Colorado was the last week of our 22 week journey. Special because our time with family was the first time everyone could be together in one place in the past 10 years. It was special, of course, because Sandy and I were celebrating 50 years of marriage and all of the kids made a commitment to be together.

Remember the game called Roses and Thorns? One night as I was quietly observing all of the wonderful personalities that make up this large family of twenty-four I thought to myself, our “Roses” are those who have come into the family one by one, i.e., Nicole, Emily, Jessica, Mark, Kris, and Dani. They have joined our children and created grandchildren that make this very large family such a blessing.

Sandy and I are so grateful. To our children and their spouses and significant others. And to our grandchildren. Thanks for being special people. Thanks for loving each other. Thanks for making Sashbash 2018 the best one ever!

It’s Fathers Day! I wish I could be with my father today. He just turned 93 this past Wednesday. My dad is a good honest man who struggled throughout life to support his family by pounding nails and lifting ladders–hard work. He owned a small General Contractors business and as I have come to learn over the years running a small successful business is no easy task. He worked as a carpenter for 40 years and ran the business for more than 20 years. Congratulations Dad! Best to you.

Sandy and I will enjoy Father’s Day on Guemes Island in her favorite cabin–the Baker House. We enjoyed a special breakfast prepared by Kerry and Kelly. Salmon berry (picked off the bush) pancakes, eggs, vegetarian sausage, potatoes and homemade bread. My health conscious kids splurged this morning! Brian and Amaya came across to Guemes in the afternoon so the kids could all play together. We enjoyed some homemade cobbler that Kerry had made with blueberries from last year’s crop. We put ice cream on top for a great desert. Then, everyone had to leave to make the Ferry ride back over to Anacortes where there is a more normal civilization.

Monday morning started, like many mornings lately, with a cup of coffee and a beautiful view from the porch of our cabin looking east across the water and small islands to the glorious snow capped Mount Baker. Jessica came by at 1:30pm for my afternoon massage ( a Fathers Day gift from Mark and Kelly). Then, I rushed to get on the 3:15 Ferry and barely made it.

At 6pm we had a nice Salmon dinner at Kelly’s with Mark’s parents Calvin and Patty Linnemann. Teo, the seven-year old, initiated a family favorite conversation starter at dinner called name your Roses, Thorns and Blossoms of the day. Roses are the good things that happened. Thorns are the bad things. Blossoms are things you are looking forward to.

We all took part in revealing the good, bad and things to look forward to….when all was said and done it was clear that family gatherings comes first. And, we are fortunate that the Roses far outweigh the thorns.

Tuesday morning we left the island and Anacortes for the three hour drive to Mazama. The drive, all on Highway 20, heads east through cities like Sedro-Woolley, Concrete, Rock Port and Marblemount. We passed through Porcupine Lake, Blue Lake, Diablo Lake and Beaver Marsh to get here. I never get tired of this beautiful drive and the cabin in the woods destination.

Wednesday we spent the day with Emily and Amaya at Pearrygin Lake near Winthrop. This was our first day in Washington with temperatures near 90 degrees. The cool lake water felt chilled but perfect for such a day.

Thursday we returned to Mount Vernon to spend a few days with Kerry and the kids at Big Mama’s Farm. I hopped on the tractor to cut the grass again and Sandy and Kerry did the heavy labor moving dirt and mulch on a new garden.

Kerry and the family have blueberries, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes and watermelon. They have new vegetable gardens of peas, broccoli, cucumbers, cabbage, chard, cilantro, basil carrots,beets, and hot peppers. And, for good measure there are rose bushes in abundance. This place is looking good and the hard work is paying dividends.

Then, finally, Sienna wants you all to see her bearded dragon lizard. His name is Norman. Lovely creature. Sandy just loves hanging out with Norman.

And, Sebastian just loves getting his picture taken. So, he jumped into the picture frame just as I clicked.

Our friends, Gerry and Sue, arrived in Seattle Friday afternoon. We had planned to stay in Seattle two nights. When Sandy found the hotel room rates were $200-$300 per room per night she decided to search for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo via AirBnb. We found an awesome place in Kent, Washington,15 minutes from the airport at less than half the hotel rate. We saved more than $300 per couple on our weekend in Seattle. Thanks to thrifty Sandy.

All day Saturday we were Seattle tourist, first, visiting a new Starbucks Museum on Capital Hill. This massive open space was unlike an coffee house we have ever seen. They offered coffee tastings, coffee brewed from huge batches of beans, and pastries. They were delightful. We took the monorail to see the Space Needle but the wait to get in was too long. So, we wandered over to the Music Museum. It was an expensive dud. Don’t do it!

We visited Pikes Market. Then, we took an Uber ride to Pioneer Square– drove by SafeCo Field where the Mariners play, and CenturyLink Field, home of the SeaHawks and Saunders. We finished the morning with a nice lunch in some Irish Bar. Then, we started singing Army marching songs to motivate us as we hiked uphill for more than a mile to the car.  All in all, with Sandy’s encouragement, we hiked  4.6 miles up and down the Seattle streets until Gerry, Sue and I cried uncle. We were ready for a nap before dinner in Kent.

Sunday, after Mass we headed north. We dropped by to see Kerry, Sienna and Sebastian and to pick up a dozen fresh eggs that the hens laid that day. Then, we drove on to Anacortes to do some food shopping before loading on to another Ferry to get to Guemes Island. Brian and Amaya came over for a short visit Sunday night.

• Monday, we spent all day exploring Guemes and just chilling until dinner at Anthony’s. That meal was another fun travel story. Kelly and Rumi came to join our table for six. We ordered our food and were having an enjoyable conversation over drinks and appetizers. We waited more than an hour for the main course before Sue asked Gerry to order a glass of wine. He misunderstood her request and got up to ask the waitress to check on our food order. A few minutes later the manager came by to inquire about our complaint. Dinner was served, followed by desert. Then a BIG surprise came next. All six dinners were on the house, FREE! So we had a great memorable evening and the debate was on as to who was most responsible for getting the meals comped…..was it Sue orwas it Gerry? Or, was it Kelly and Rumi? FREE dinner at Anthony’s WOW!

The next morning we drove up through Blaine to Surrey, Canada to catch a huge car Ferry out of Tswassen. An hour and half later we were in Victoria, CA. After a 30 minute cab ride we were in our new AirBnb on Princess Street, 1.7 miles from downtown Victoria. Tuesday night the four of us walked for a while to find a restaurant with a bay view. Gerry enjoyed watching sea planes lift off and land and he kept an eye on the bay throughout our meal. The evening ended with a game of cards, one of many.

Wednesday, we spent the morning and lunch a Butchart Gardens. These spectacular botanical gardens were started by Jeanie Butchart in 1904. The most magnificent thing you will see is how the gardeners have transformed a rock quarry into natures paradise. It can’t be captured by pictures, but I tried.

This morning Sandy decided to go purple. And, with Rumi and Sienna’s help she streaked her hair. She is now known on the Island as the “wild one.”

I completed the week with a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a member of the Guemes Island Country Club participating in the Annual Tide Goes Out Tournament.  What a hoot!