Happenings

We left for Walla Walla on Saturday last.

Visited friends, drank wine, took in the amazing scenery of the transformed Walla Walla Valley.

New buildings on campus... could hardly resist the urge to grab some freshman by the shirt and tell him/her "why, in MY day, we weren't so lucky! We had only two elliptical machines in a tiny gym, no art building, and no campus center! My first semester, the library was under construction and I had to order books from a little desk and wait two days for them to get to me! The library wasn't even open all night! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE SUFFERED, in my day."


Sometimes, it's hard to believe that colleges go on without you. It's as if, like some mythical Brigadoon, the whole thing existed only for those four years. Without you, it's not the same.


But, it is there. And it is the same. But different. I half expected to see people I knew walking across Ankeny field, heading to the library to write their theses. The transportation was surreal. Especially when I looked at Charles. He didn't belong there, in my college world. In my personal Whitman Bubble.


I can't find my camera, so I don't have any photos of that trip to show you right now. The College visit was a teeny-tiny part of the whole weekend, which consisted more of hanging out with old friends, discussing the future more than reminiscing about the past. Also, of Charles getting licked by a couple of friendly Boxers. He's a tasty guy.


We drove from Walla Walla to see our new nephew in the Tri-Cities.


We took photos of that, too, so perhaps we left our camera there. That, or it's buried under a mountain of sand in the backseat of the car, which I'm sure is great for cameras.


You see, from there, we drove to the beach. It was a long trip. Charles wailed from Wauna to Ilwaco. I guess there's only so much car a guy can take.


We were reunited with the dog at my folks house, but then Tony left us on the Amtrak to go back to work. The same day our friends the Specks drove down for vacation.


We had fun.


Charles enjoyed lasagna:
He really enjoyed lasagna:

We visited Beachdog (lilliputian photos stolen from Kelleigh) (giant dog borrowed from Kelleigh) (the dog will be with my folks for Thanksgiving) (I'm thinking of getting a saddle):

And Charles got to bathe with the ladies, both Adriana (almost age 2) and Tessa (age 3 months). Both were more demure than he was in the bathtub:

We also went to the beach, many times, running the dogs ragged.

Buster chased the stunt kite our friends flew, dutifully protecting his family from that noisy beast:

Charles didn't eat any sand. Bonus!

Tony drove down yesterday to be with us. I guess he loves us. How blessed are we?