A Dramatic Birthday

Bill and I discovered that "Guys and Dolls" was going to be performed at the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland this year.  I love a good musical and "Guys and Dolls" is one of my favorites.  So we made plans to fly there for my birthday weekend.

It has been a really long time since we had been to Ashland.  We went when the boys were really young and Bill had taken his dad there several years before he died.  So that gives you a little bit of an idea of how long it has been. I knew that they obviously did Shakespeare at the Elizabethan outdoor theater as well as the indoor theaters and I have been to a more modern (17th or 18th century) play.  But I had no idea that they did musicals there so I was pleasantly surprised.

Bill loves Shakespeare so he bought tickets to see "Antony and Cleopatra" on Saturday night.  It was in the outdoor theater and from past experience, we knew that it would be cold so we came prepared with winter coats and blankets.  As with most Shakespeare plays staged these days, the costuming was fairly modern.  The Egyptian costuming was probably the closest to ancient Egyptian but the Romans had a kind of science fiction like costume design (no togas) and the soldiers had modern fatigues and rifles.  They certainly didn't look much like Roman soldiers.  The production was top notch as one would expect from the Ashland Shakespeare Festival.  We went to "Guys and Dolls" on Sunday afternoon and that was so much fun!

Ashland is definitely a tourist town.  It is very easy to spend a lot of money there.  We did it as cost effectively as we could.  We stayed in an old 1930 era motel which was fairly inexpensive.  I had read some reviews on the internet so I didn't have any high expectations--and no surprises from some of the less than satisfactory parts about staying there.  We found some relatively reasonable restaurants to eat at amongst the really expensive eateries. They weren't out of this world wonderful but they were adequate.  Going to the play and musical were our splurges.

I always tend to celebrate over a number of days.  Thursday I went to the hospital to see my friend, Denise, since were didn't do our usual celebration of our birthdays together by going out to dinner before going to the September AORN meeting.  We had lunch together in the cafeteria instead.  On Friday--I spent the afternoon with my friend, Colleen, going out to lunch, shopping and to see "A Walk in the Woods" starring Nick Nolte and Robert Redford.  It was an okay movie and had its funny moments.  Then while we were in Ashland, the Packers were playing the Seahawks so I insisted on watching the game for my birthday.  The TV in our room wasn't very good so we went out to a sports bar to watch the game and cheer the Packers onto victory.

All in all it was a great birthday festival.  I got to spend time with some friends.  I got to go on a flying adventure with my sweetheart and be entertained by some first class entertainers.  What more could a woman ask for!

Air Force Ball

It was such a nice surprise to find a picture of Tom and Maddy heading to the Air Force Ball last night.  They looked fantastic all glammed up for the event.  It is the first time Tom wore his mess dress uniform.  And Maddy had a great glittery dress.  So fun!

Brought back great memories of military balls that Bill and I went to before Tom was born.  This wasn't the first one we went to together.  For some reason, I can't find a picture of it in my albums.  But it was the Christmas Ball at Fort Lewis in 1985--just before Bill left to go to Fort Benning.  Hard to believe that 30 years later--our "little guy" is now going to these kind of events.

Our Busy Summer: Catching Up on My Blogging

Hi!  Using this weekend to catch up on the goings on this summer.  It has been a busy one--mostly with work.  But we and maybe more so my family have been doing a few other things.  After I finished Tom and Maddy's album, I started working on other photos from the summer.

My nephew, Graham, graduated from high school in Ohio on May 30th.  So proud of him and his accomplishments.  He is at the Air Force Academy now.  In fact, Sherrill and her family are visiting him this weekend.

We were so thrilled to have Tom, Chris and Maddy with us for Father's Day.  I got a lot of one-on-one time with Tom and Maddy so it was like having Mother's Day for me too.  I took them wine tasting at a couple of our favorite spots which was a lot of fun.  That evening, we took Bill to the Kennedy School for dinner.  I thought Maddy would get a kick out of eating dinner there with her being a teacher and all.

Meanwhile back in Tomah, Darren and Dane were helping Dad celebrate Father's Day.

Tom and Maddy actually spent most of their time in Washington in either Seattle or Winthrop getting ready for the wedding but they did go on this tour of Safeco Field with Maddy's dad.

And they took a trip out to Ellensburg to pick up Maddy's wedding ring and visit their old haunts there.

Right after the wedding, Tom and Maddy went to the Bahamas for their honeymoon and had a wonderful time at the beach, snorkeling, and touring Nassau.

 Lots of time at the beach.  Both on Paradise Island.

And Blue Lagoon Island.

And they thought swimming with the dolphins was such a blast.  Especially when the dolphins pushed them under their feet at 15 miles an hour.

Tom got back home in time for his 26th birthday.  

Tom and Maddy adopted a new dog from the animal shelter.  Her name is Sadie and she and Ariel seem to be getting along very well with each other.

Darren does a lot of fishing.  And sometimes Tess goes along.  They had a great night of fishing on this particular night catching muskies.

They go to a cabin up north every summer so these are the pictures from that trip.

This summer was a big one for the Packers.  Brett Favre returned to be inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame and have his jersey retired on the same day.  That has never happened before.  It was pretty special.  A sold out crowd at Lambeau Field just to see Brett Favre--no game.  Just see him.  Darren drove over to Green Bay a few weeks later to tour the stadium and watch a practice although he said it was so crowded, he couldn't really see much.  Here is hoping to a fabulous season for Green Bay this year.  GO PACK GO!

Bill and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  We went to Roots on Friday night and got this nice surprise when we got our dessert.  On Saturday (our actual anniversary), we went out to Black Angus for a prime rib fix.

Chris is home for a couple of weeks so that he could spend some quality time with Mom and Dad before starting school again.  He got home in time for his birthday and we took him out to Beaches that night.  He was treated like a king getting his crown and carmel corn.  He is trying to learn to cook and eat less meat.  He isn't trying to be a strict vegetarian but trying to figure out how to eat more healthy with less meat so he has been trying a lot of vegetarian and vegan recipes this summer.  He asked for a cookbook and some items for his kitchen so I happily obliged.

Labor Day weekend so far is consisting of hiking.  We took Chris out to the Mosier Twin Tunnels trail yesterday.  I let them to the whole trail (or most of it anyway--they turned around at the tunnels).  I took my time and hiked about 4 miles of it and took a few pictures.  I like seeing the remnants of the old highway like the barriers along side the highway and the mile marker in the pictures above.  After we went hiking, we drove to Stevenson for lunch and to pick up some beer at a brewery there.  Today--Bill and Chris went hiking in town--in the rain.  But happy to have it since we have been in such a drought this summer.  It has been so disconcerting to see the trees so stressed that they are changing colors already.  But it isn't in a good or beautiful way.  I don't think we are going to get the beautiful fall colors this year if early signs are any indication.  So hoping for more rain and snowpack this winter so we can get back to more normal Pacific Northwest weather.

So that is what we have been doing besides going to the wedding.  Hard to believe summer is almost over.  

Tom and Maddy's Wedding Album

I have been spending almost two months working on a wedding album of Tom and Maddy's pictures.  I have been thrilled to work with so many wonderful photos of that beautiful day back in June.  I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed making the album.  Photo Credit:  Some of the photos were mine but most of the photos were taken by Teri Pieper and her husband--photographers in the Methow Valley.  They did a great job of capturing the day.

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