More stuff...........

So on the 17th of Dec. Adam had his 20th birthday! We now have one less teenager. Adam, as most of you know is going to college at Portland Bible College. He is on winter break but he works near his college dorm so he stays in Portland. He actually worked on his birthday and he was grateful for the extra hours. Adam has worked so hard and is paying for his college almost entirely on his own! I was on a job interview in Portland a couple of days before his birthday so we met up for an early dinner.

Adam has turned into a "health nut" and I say that with the utmost admiration. He doesn't touch sugar, everything he eats must be natural and organic. He is running and working out and he's in great shape. Kudos to you son, we are very proud of you!

Jon is busy with school, basketball and church. If the team can pull together they may do well but our league is the toughest in the state.


On the 17th Cody performed in the schools winter recital. Cody has an amazing ear for music.
All of the pictures from the recital are HERE


Christmas was low key for us. Adam came home on Christmas Eve about 6:00 p.m. and had to leave on the 26th in the morning. We had a great meal and good fellowship. The oil needed to be changed in Adam's truck so we took care of that chore. Adam and Jon whooped up on Cody and I in Pinochle.
I took most of the week off and spent time on chores around the place. I cut down some trees and had a burn pile going on the 23rd. I was raking debris into the pile and set the rake up against a nearby tree. I turned back towards the tree and forgot about the rake and just like in the cartoons, I stepped on the end and WHAM. Busted my lip open and nearly knocked out a tooth. This was an hour before Lorelei and I were leaving to go Christmas shopping. So I spent the day going from store to store with cool stuff oozing out of my continually swelling lip. To top it off, somehow I got poison oak all over the back of my neck. Hmmm....I think it's safer for me at work.
The new chickens are finally starting to lay a few eggs. Queenie is doing well. The bird feeder has been jammed lately. Mostly juncos and chickadees and of course lots of quail. We also have a wayward female pheasant that has been hanging around (wayward because she has a tag on her beak so she must belong to someone).
I will post some Christmas pictures when I get to them.

Glynn Jr.

Lorelei's birthday and California visitors....

Well....Friday was Lorelei's birthday! We couldn't put all the candles on the cake......well....mainly because they wouldn't fit. So we put 3.



Actually the candles and the cake were supplied by Lorelei's friend Kelly who drove up from California with her son Ryan for a visit! Kelly is a bundle of energy and just a really great person. We had an awesome weekend.



We really enjoyed Ryan's company also. He loves the outdoors so we spent most of Sunday out on the property. Cody and Ryan had a blast. It was a bit chilly so we bundled up and headed up to the campsite.


One evening there was a never ending game of UNO going on.



Lorelei and Kelly went shopping and drove around looking at property.
We just hung out and had a good visit. Thank you Kelly and Ryan for helping to make Lorelei's birthday weekend one to remember!



Glynn Jr.

Thanksgiving......

Adam got home late Wed. night. We had a fun day on Thursday and Lorelei made an awesome Thanksgiving feast.


After dinner Adam had to show Jon some new jiu jitsu moves.




On Friday the boys and I got up early and did some Black Friday shopping. We picked up a few good deals at Staples and then we went out for breakfast. Adam had to leave around noon to head back to work in Portland.
All the boys are doing well!

Glynn Jr.

Music and Jon's birthday.....

Weekend before last Cody played in a "Talent Show Fundraiser" for the Hopewell church. Cody played his djembe. His "group" practiced for several weeks prior to the performance. They were awesome!
Below: Cody's friend Jared on the left and Cody on the right.


The next evening we (Lorelei, Cody and I) traveled to Portland to watch Adam perform in the Fall Recital. Adam practiced for weeks on a very difficult guitar piece that his instructor assigned him. Adam in the front and his teacher Yas in the background.


What a great couple of days of music and getting to visit with Adam!

Yesterday Jon turned 18! Wow.....it's hard to believe the "Bear Man" is 18. We tried to take him out for dinner over the weekend but commitments with his friends took priority (oh well).
So, Lorelei stopped by the store and last night when Jon got home from basketball practice we had waiting for him a steak, salad, onion rings, his favorite bread and lots more.





That's about it for now!

Glynn Jr.

State Cross Country meet and more......

Sorry for the delay. Things are a bit "bumpy" right now so I have neglected the blog. The economy has affected my job to the point of needing to make some tough decisions.
Enough of that.....what about the State Meet?

On Friday the 6th of Nov. I traveled with the team to Eugene Oregon. We stopped at the State Meet course at Lane Community College.



The boys did a combined course jog\workout. Out of the 5 boys on the team, all have been here before except 1.



We dodged rain drops and a cold west wind and then loaded back on the bus to go and find our motel room for the night. We found our rooms and unloaded the bus. After a short rest we again loaded back on the bus for a trip to Mazzis Italian restaurant. It's a tradition with the team to eat at Mazzis. The place was PACKED with people so we elected to order our food to go and went back to the motel for the evening. The boys played guitar hero in their room and it was lights out at 10 p.m.
Saturday morning we were up at 6:30 getting ready for the big day. The boys devoured food from the "continental" breakfast. Oatmeal, fruit, bagels and such were consumed in quantities only 5 distance runners could. On to the meet for our 10:30 start time. The boys like to be at the race about an hour and a half ahead of time so they can prepare.
Over a hundred runners from the top 3A schools in Oregon lined up for the race.

Can you spot Jon?


Jon's back problems continued to plague him and he finished back of the front runners. An overall disappointing season for him.

Below, Jon obviously in pain as he fights his way up the hill.


Below: With 300 meters to go in Jon's high school cross country career he puts the pain aside and passes about 5 runners at the finish.



The Amity boys ran well overall, to finish 6th as a team. Aaron ran to a 7th place finish and stood on the awards stand with the top runners in the state! All of the pictures of the meet can be found HERE

In the past 5 years I have traveled thousands of miles with Jon to watch him run. He has a gift. He is graceful and powerful. We have ate on the road at nearly every fast food place there is. We have talked with excitement after good races and sat in peaceful silence after not so good ones. We have stood in the pouring rain and wind of the Pacific Northwest and basked in the sunshine and sweltering heat of the east coast. It's hard to put into words how I will miss these times. One more track season to go and Jon's HS running career will be at an end. Thanks for the memories son!


Glynn Jr.

Weekend at Eagle Crest......

So like I said below, after the meet last Friday Lorelei and I headed over the mountains. Being the end of October you never know what weather you will hit traveling over the nearly 5,000 foot mountain pass between the Willamette Valley and eastern Oregon. There was little traffic and we made good time. We were approaching the summit around 7:00 p.m. pitch black outside and the car suddenly "stumbled" and the "maintenance required" light began flashing? I backed off of the accelerator, Lorelei says something like "oh great". The car was still running and I got back on the gas and we kept going! The car ran great the rest of the night and the next day although it did "stumble" again on the way home. I guess with a 185,000 miles on you, you should be able to stumble once in a while.

We had great weather and a very relaxing time just setting our own schedule. We stayed at Eagle Crest.



No we didn't win the lottery......we have a friend that owns one of the Challet's and gave us a great deal on using it for the weekend. On Saturday morning I woke up early (as usual) and put on a pot of coffee. As I sat there figuring out what I was going to do for the next hour or so....Lorelei surprised me by getting up and saying...."what do you want to do today". Wow....so we got ready and headed out. First thing we did was to do what most any couple would do that is on a trip away from home at a resort location.........we checked out the second hand stores in Redmond! We found Lorelei a pair of shoes and I found a good gortex rain jacket for $7.50!

Wow all that shopping made us hungry so we stopped for a burger on our way out of town to see some sights. The first stop was a cool spot along Hwy 97 that we first visited years ago when we had all the boys with us. Peter Skene Ogden Viewpoint is NOT a place you want to visit if you are afraid of heights or if you have children along and a wife that has a heart attack easily. You park your vehicle and proceed past 124 giant signs that warn of danger and cliffs ahead.



Walk right up to the 3 foot high man made wall and peer over and look 300 ft. down to the river.......cool!


Lorelei was not as excited as I was, especially when I found that if you walked out to the edge of the park that the wall ended and you could actually walk along the rim of the canyon with nothing between you and the river below.....even more cool!
Please excuse the poor photography in the next couple of shots. The midday sun was way too bright!
So I walk over to the ledge and hang my feet over so Lorelei can take a picture.


Then I asked her to walk near the edge, and by golly she got pretty close!



Next we headed to Lake Billy Chinook which was only another 20 miles down the road. We pulled out our camera gear and had a blast! Very neat place to visit and photograph.
Lorelei took this beauty!







We hurried back to town and went out to dinner. Sunday we got up and had a leisurely drive back over the mountains. We had a great time!
All the pictures from our trip are HERE

Glynn Jr.

Amity Boys XC win District Title.....

On Friday the Amity boys won their 4th consecutive District Title! Blowing away the competition. Jon is still suffering back pain and finished 9th in the race. He is having a difficult season and he will likely have the same pain this Saturday when the team runs with the best teams in the state of Oregon! We are currently ranked 6th in the state. What a great accomplishment for these guys.



Below: Aaron and Jon get mentally prepared for the start of the race.



Lorelei took pictures too.....Hey...you are suppose to be shooting the runners!



The girls ran well also, but their season ended with this meet.



All the pictures from this meet can be found HERE

After the meet Lorelei and I had dinner with the team and then we (just Lorelei and I) headed east over the mountains for a couple of days for our belated anniversary. More on that next time. Also stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of Cross Country!

Glynn Jr.

Fall is in the air........

Well.....we have been busy with Cross Country, school, work and the usual stuff around the place.
We picked the last tomatoes and cucumbers out of the garden over the weekend. We picked the rest of the Gravenstein's but there is still some Winter Banana apples on the trees. Lorelei has been making the best apple sauce and apple cobblers you could imagine!

We had a chance to do senior portraits for a family that we are acquainted with. Lorelei agreed to help out and a big help she was! The shoot was on Sunday afternoon at our place. I was getting the camera gear ready and we decided to take Cody's school pictures while we were in the mood (Cody wasn't in the mood but we were).

All of Cody's pictures for this shoot are HERE







Just when we were finishing up with Cody, J.B. and his family showed up. He is a wrestler and a sprinter for the track team (Lorelei and I took some pictures of him and his sister last year during the track season). Like I said before, Lorelei was a trooper and shot pictures right along side me. She has an eye for this stuff. Below is one of her pictures of J.B.



Well....back to Cross Country for a moment. The season is winding down. Jon is still having back problems. Not sure how the season will end for him. We only have 5 guys (5 is the very minimum for a team) if any one of them is sick, injured or otherwise cannot run in two weeks then our chances of repeating as District Champs is in question. We will see what happens.

Glynn Jr.

Happy anniversary to us.....

21 years ago today.

Wow....I had more hair back then!



Lorelei has been sick for the past week or so. Our anniversary will be spent this afternoon at a cross country meet. The kids look forward to this race every year. It's a fast course and lots of schools will be there. It gives everyone a good look at the competition they will be facing at the district meets coming up in a few weeks. So we will probably go out to dinner or something when Lorelei gets to feeling better.

Glynn Jr.

Seaside 3 Course Challenge......

Last Friday the cross country team headed for the coast. The coach took the team on the mini bus. Cody and I took the Expedition and hauled all of the gear.


We stayed at Nehalem Bay state park campground. Riddle: How many cross country runners does it take to set up one tent?



After we set up camp we headed north to Seaside High School where they were serving dinner to the kids for $3:00 which included spaghetti, roll, salad and a drink. The best part was coaches ate free! There were a BUNCH of people eating and having a good time. This meet is huge with over 90 schools coming from as far away as Cerritos California! After dinner the kids headed out to look over the track at the high school and of course they figured out a game to play with someones shoe.


Then we headed back to camp. The kids needed to get in a run so we headed down to the beach. Everyone got in a few miles on the beach and then we had time for some pictures! What an awesome group of kids this is. We have the pleasure of having two foreign exchange students and a home schooler this year that adds a really cool mix into the group.



Well the kids knew that eating at 5:00 in the afternoon they were going to be hungry again. So they brought a bunch of extra food (some of it the coaches did not know about). So about 8:00 they start cooking and eating. Out came a pot to make more spaghetti. There was salad and then there was these banana boat things? Of course marshmallows and candy bars were mixed in for good measure. I think they ate until close to 10:00 pm.





We needed to get up early to break camp and make it to the meet. This meet is unusual in that there are 3 courses. Easy, medium and hard. Even with three courses and splitting up the boys and the girls (so 6 races in all) there were still between 300 and 500 runners per race!



Jon has been fighting extreme back pain the second half of his races. Friday before we left we took him to a local gal in Amity who is a message therapist and she worked on his back. He has been doing extra core work to build his abs and back muscles. He is doing extra stretches for his back and trying NOT to sleep on his stomach. He went out at a moderate pace for this race to see how he felt. He had no back issues and finished in 2nd place in the small schools division! Jon faceplanted into a hill near the start of the race, hence the interesting coloring on his face and arms.



The kids had a blast. Cody was a great help and took a bunch of pictures for me.
All of the pictures can be found HERE



I know I don't have many more times like this to spend with this group of kids so I enjoyed every minute of it!
Glynn Jr.

Cross Country!!

Sorry for the lapse in posts. Cross Country season has started. I am helping out with coaching so free time is at a premium. Jon has had some back pain and still fighting nausea after races. We are trying different things and hopefully we will figure things out.
The kids wanted to do the "Trask Mountain Assault" this year. So we headed up in the hills a couple of Saturdays ago.
Below: Jon comes through the mud bog.


Team picture below. Note the bloodied knees!


The only way to get cleaned up nearby is the VERY cold stream that runs near the course.


Lorelei helped out with pictures and one of her pictures got published in the newspaper!
Below is Lorelei's picture that was published.


All of our pictures of this event can be seen HERE

We have a meet tomorrow, then one over at the coast on Saturday, then another one next Tuesday!

Glynn Jr.

September already....

So the end of summer vacation is at hand. Jon is running and his first meet is tomorrow night. A reporter for the Salem newspaper came out and did an interview with him and brought along a photographer. Kind of nice to see the bigger papers taking notice of his accomplishments. He has worked hard for four years, training almost year round.

Cody will be starting middle school next week! Wow how the time flies by. Last week Cody had some friends from church come over and they camped out up at the campsite. They had a blast. They cooked their own dinner and breakfast, picked blackberries made s'mores and were just boys. What fun they had.

Last Sunday Lorelei and I took the boat down to the river and went out for an afternoon of fishing and photography. I drove the boat and it gave Lorelei a chance to concentrate on photography and she got some cool shots!

Below a Great Blue Heron eyes our approach.




Below: Another interesting one she took.


Not to be outdone, I did manage to get an Osprey with his dinner.





Here's me looking serious trying to locate some more wildlife for Lorelei to photograph. According to her this IS a picture of some wildlife.





We didn't catch any fish but we had a great afternoon. Next week we kick off a new school year.

Glynn Jr.