Mazie with her Uncle Ty Ty

Ty's Birthday

For Ty's 27th birthday, we went camping with Quinn, Kent and Logan. The four boys set out and accomplished what they needed to do: drink lots of alcohol, chop wood, shoot a pellet gun, play camping games and grill meat on a rock in the fire pit (except for Logan). Here are the pictures from the trip. And here's a video of Quinn chopping wood:

Storms

I had left the window open. The light catcher charms my mother made for me violent swung against the glass. Rain sputtered into the kitchen. I ran over and latched it shut. The trees bent in submission to the wind.

Much like the sky is bluer, the storm clouds are darker and more ominous in Colorado. The wind carried the darkness over the house. The mountains which are so clear from our deck were gone. The light hid them, so you couldn’t tell where they started and the storm clouds began.

But as quick as it came, the bright blue punched through the mass. The mountains fought to reappear, and the cloud retreated to the east. Within minutes, the storm's only tracks were the wet road.

I love watching storms roll in, and then slowly dissipate. But here, if you blink, you miss it.

Our annual McD's feast

Last night Tyler and I ate our annual meal at McDonald’s. This started about four years ago when we drove by the golden arches late one night and decided we REALLY wanted some McNuggets.

I think everyone secretly likes the quintessential fast food chain. Sure people say how bad the food is for you, but not many people will turn down fries if they’re offered some.

At the drive-thru we ordered our feast: one double cheeseburger, two cheeseburgers, 10-piece McNuggets with sweet and sour sauce, and fries. We brought the food back to our place and laid the food on the table.

And it was glorious! I love how the burgers are practically smashed flat, then you take a bite of the patty with melty American cheese and minced onions — all accented by ketchup and mustard. The best part is when you reach the center of the cheeseburger because your reward is the two slices of pickle waiting for you.

After polishing off our burgers and fries, we devoured the McNuggets. These are Tyler’s absolute favorite. He said there’s something delicious about left over chicken parts, which are ground up and fried, that make him look forward to our annual Mickey D’s meal.

But the next morning always reminds us why we only eat there once a year.

Camping by Holy Cross

We went camping with Logan and Tracy last weekend. Our time was spent eating, drinking, hiking and playing lots of eXtreme croquet. I don't have any pictures of us playing croquet — mainly because I was concentrating so hard on finishing each of the courses we set up. Here are the pictures I did take though.

And I don't know what Logan and Tyler are doing in the above photo...

Off to the home and motherland

Tyler and I spent our two week vacation traveling to my home town Homer (but really Anchor Point) and then visiting Bellingham for the second week.

In my homeland, Tyler got the full Sara Thompson experience: hanging out in Anchor Point with the family, clam digging, town laps, the fermentation tour, adult softball and meeting all of my goofy, wonderful friends that I haven't seen in years. I don't think I scared him off because he said he wants to spend a summer up there sometime. Here are some pictures from the Alaska part of the trip.



After a week we were off to Bellingham. We participated in the 100th Ski to Sea relay, but our team Tippy Canoe and Tyler 2 disqualified for the second time in three years. (Eric told the story of our first DQ in last years blog post, and then I posted our results with our only finish on record.)

Here's the short version of what happened:

We DQ'd BUT the canoe leg still finished first in our division and 31st out of 500 teams overall.

Now the longer(ish) version:

It was my fault AGAIN (my new nickname is DQ Hansen, and the proposed team name next year is DQ'd Canoe and Tyler 2). We were wearing the wrong life jackets and were pulled from the race after the third river bend. The race Web site still says that we finished the canoe leg in record time. I am taking this opportunity to announce my retirement, and I will not be participating in the canoe leg in the future.

Other than the race mishap, we had a great time visiting with all of our friends. The weather cooperated with us, and we went for a nice sail on Steve's birthday. All in all it was a great trip in Bellingham.