For those who want some snow...

COME AND GET IT!!!! :)

Montreal

This last week has been our vacation for the year, a very much needed week off from work! Wednesday Scott and I drove up to Montreal for the day. It was about an hour and a half drive; most of it was pretty uneventful, it's pretty rural between the border and Montreal. Once we came up on the city limits we were in something we haven't experienced since leaving WA: traffic! This was the bumper-to-bumper, parking lot type of stuff you see around Seattle and Bellevue and Everett. Once we finally got into the city we were able to find parking pretty easily, then made a quick visit to a tourist information center and were off! Our fist stop was city hall. The first thing we saw when we walked in were a bunch of cheerleaders and camaramen/women, we weren't quite sure what was going on, there weren't any signs. Luckily I had a Canadian with me who recognized the mascot for Montreal's football team, who had just won the Grey Cup (Canadian equivalent of the super bowl). I thought I had done a pretty good job of snapping some pictures of the trophy from maybe 10 feet away, but Scott wanted a bit more, and that's when we walked right up to the front and got this picture:
Pretty nice! After that we went to the museum and learned a bit about Montreal's founding and early history, went to lunch and then drove home. I loved walking around the city and seeing parts of the old and new, and learning all the history! I'm still always amazed at the amount of history that is here on the east coast. And the fact that Montreal is a french-speaking city, with no english anywhere (even on their tourist maps) made it that much more interesting!
Back here in Burlington, the weather is still around the high 40's, mid 50's, with no snow on the ground still! We've been hearing snow rumors but nothin' yet. Hopefully it will make an appearance before Christmas. :)

-Abbie

Time Flies

WOW- 2 whole months and Abbie still hasn't anted up a new post-

i'll give it a shot...

School started the first week of Sept. for UVM, and we've had a really good reception this year. The students that were regulars last year have mostly returned to their roles, only this time they're returners! a few more people have been folded into the mix and we're still trying to get everyone involved in the group and get the vision cast as this little group being bigger than the individual students.

Since then we've had a Fall Retreat at a returner's house in Lincoln, VT (very picturesque spot) where we enjoyed a night away from the hustle of Burlington (which compares to maybe a Fall City, WA or Shoreline, WA... as a point of reference)... the Slow got slower... At the retreat we had a chance to connect with one another, newbies and year-olds alike, to worship, play, sleep, study, cook and eat! very rejuvenating, to say the least.

Abbie and I have grown quite attached to little Jaeda Gavin (as seen in earlier post)- we don't get to hang out with her as much as we would like (I think Joe gets jealous of her gazes in my direction whenever we're around) :) But she is a cutie! i'll suggest the Gavins keep her shortly.

My riding days are over... for the winter. Since the slide, i've researched what could have happened, what normally happens, and compared it to what did happen- all i know is i wasn't prepared (gear-wise/skill-wise) and am UBER thankful at the outcome. from this realization, i need riding gear. the Christmas list will encompass the proper riding gear so i'm prepared for the worst while looking good :). i'll also be ripping the bike apart for much needed r&r this winter, so i should be in for a few lessons concerning motorcycle mechanics.

hockey season is here. i've gone and ordered gamecenter, which is a hockey fanatics holy grail of hockey watching via the internet. four games streaming at once on the computer, plus 2 games on two channels on basic cable was almost hockey overload... i recommend it! abbie-- she just gives me funny looks...

it snowed up in the mountains (hills, really...) this morning. Autumn was about 3 weeks long- the leaves are probably 50% fallen and most out-of-state leaf seekers have moved on with the cold moving in.

outside of work and Chi Alpha, i've been filling time in my week with helping the church we're attending regularly (Burlington Vineyard). i'm also getting more involved with setting democracy straight within our union and getting the groundwork together to bargain for better working conditions in the upcoming contract negotiations. i'll be attending the annual TDU convention in Cleveland, OH from 9/5-9-8 with fellow workers for guidance and more education on how to accomplish our goals.

between these 4 commitments, i'm pretty bushed at the end of the week. Abbie and I are looking forward to our vacations the week after Thanksgiving, for sure!

until Abbie chimes in, let the Flames stay on fire and may your time be filled watching those other games, too.

Monthly Update

It seems to be the regularity, anyway....

Scott's working split shifts (you know, the awesome 0645-0930 and 1535-1905, Tues-Fri)... Then work Saturday, all day. THEN get scheduled for the upcoming MONDAY for ANOTHER split. It's fun, really! HA!
let's just say August 31 can't come soon enough (a change in the work schedule for 6 weeks)...

Abbie's still working hard. About to get a little busier with 4 (yes, FOUR) people leaving for various reasons, effectively punching everyone that's left in the stomach with the extra workload they're to encounter inevitably. Not looking forward to the short-handedness.

Since it's summer, we've been trying to take advantage of all we can, while there isn't white stuff on the ground. SO, I caught the bug for this:


I've been riding whenever I get the chance. It's fun, but I'll tell ya, if you are thinking of taking up this pastime, be prepared for all the "be carefuls, don't you know how dangerous it is, BLAH BLAH BLAH" from EVERYONE. It seems everyone has an opinion about Motorcycles/Riding, even if they don't know anything about them. They just know the horror stories from 1st/2nd/3rd hand experiences...

Also, I surprised Abbie with a mini date night to Woodstock, VT for an outdoor concert. One of our favorite bands was opening for Eric Hutchinson, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. Awesome show, awesome weather. Couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a Saturday night.


We're also part of a church plant, Burlington Vineyard. We'll be commencing a once-a-week format this Fall! Definitely fun to be part of TWO plants- leaves a lot of room for creativity/meeting people/mistakes, etc...
On the other hand, it leaves you short of time... meh, what's new!?

So the weekly schedule doesn't seem to vary much for each of us. We're just taking them as they come, hoping we can do whatever we can to help those in and around Burlington... it's also fun to be around little Jaeda Gavin!

4th of July in Boston

Scott and I were both blessed with having a long weekend for the 4th of July, so we chose to drive down to Boston to experience their fireworks show and also do the tourist thing and walk around. The drive down took us about 3 hours, we got there late afternoon on Saturday, checked in to our hotel and immediately took the train to downtown. We had no agenda, no itinerary, we just started walking. Most of our time was spent walking the Freedom Trail which takes you around the city of Boston to key places during the Revolutionary War. A couple of the notable sites were the Paul Revere house and Bunker Hill Monument. It was amazing for both of us to see signs dating buildings all the way back to the early 1700's. One popular spot with some TV history was the outside of the "Cheers" bar; we didn't go inside of it, it was definitely PACKED.





The fireworks show didn't start until 10:30p, but when it did, it was AMAZING. It was by far the best show either Scott or I had ever seen. They set them off from a barge in the middle of the river, we watched from a bridge that had too many people to count. The walk to the train after the show also had too many people to count, it was literally a sea of people leaving, almost all the streets were clogged with people.

Sunday we set out early for Fenway Park to buy some tickets to the game that afternoon, Red Sox vs. Seattle!! The tickets we bought were for standing room only, so we spent most of the game walking around the park, watching from different vantage points and taking a lot of pictures. Fenway is a pretty impressive stadium.





All in all, the weekend was great, just the type of getaway we both needed. It was just nice to not have any expectations, no list of places that we HAD to go to. Boston is a great city, lots of history, lots to do. We may even try to go back down there for 4th of July next year, who knows. :)

Random thought...

While sitting at a stop light, waiting an excruciatingly long time, I noticed a late 70's corvette stingray for sale. nice ride. it was definitely one of my favorite cars growing up. the lines and style were nearly untouchable. then i got to thinking why i liked it so much. what the underlying reason was.

sometimes i like something because of past experience/ownership. doesn't apply here.
sometimes, because it's rare. somewhat applies.
sometimes, because of the quirks. applies.
so what's the quirk, you ask? well, something kinda silly.

i've realized our family, wherever we were along the way, almost always owned at least one older car. don't get me wrong, it's not that we never wanted a new car, it's because we couldn't "get" one... perhaps it was the threat of young children that kept my parents away from the dealership. perhaps it was the dog that was always being toted that threatened the interior. or perhaps my parents just didn't want debt... (good reason, by the way).... whatever the reason, i appreciate older cars that much more. (by the way, since scott moved out, there have been 2 new vehicle purchases, so #1 is looking like the culprit)

i digress.

well, with older cars comes older technology. remember, back in the day, when one of life's lessons (which doesn't have to be emphasized as much, anymore) was to keep the little fingers clear of the door being shut?
that lesson was one i learned to fear and respect at a YOUNG age. those doors were HEAVY, and could take off a child's fingers relatively quickly. i can count the number of times my fingers have been caught someplace they shouldn't have been, on... well, one hand :)

having been part of my parents' ownership of various pickup trucks, a monte carlo, an old stationwagon (wasn't it an LTD, dad?), a 70's blazer, and 2 late 70's mercedes diesels, i have been exposed to and learned to LOVE a loud, solid click of a door being slammed shut.

you see, back in those days, the technology afforded heavy duty latches for well-made vehicles. with heavy duty latches, slamming a door shut sometimes was the only way to completely close a door...... i appreciate a good "click" in a heavy door. i think Abbie does, too... she likes to slam our 4runner's doors... (I keep trying to tell her it's a Japanese vehicle, with light doors).
:)

so...
i saw that stingray and knew it had those heavy doors... i thought about running over to it to slam the doors, but the light turned green.



while we're reminiscing, i'll leave you with a common phrase that was part of my childhood...
"money doesn't grow on trees"... boy, that phrase makes MUCH more sense now that i've got to do the "growing". :)

THANK YOU MOM AND DAD! us kids never realized what we had! (p.s. can we come over for dinner? laundry? do you still have cable?, etc...)

NHL Playoffs and epiphanies

The Flames are out. Again. Scott's weeping. Again. Will they EVER get past the 1st round???
I've been thinking for some time now that Evgeni Malkin (superstar on the Penguins) looks like someone... finally came to me tonight. I mocked up a quick side-by-side for ya:

Close, no?

Abbie and I are recovering from our first year with the XA student ministry. The students leave Burlington this coming Friday (after they're all done with finals) to go off to their summer commitments. AND, finally, the weather has turned for the better! We were out until 8pm throwing the frisbee, until we couldn't see it coming at our faces anymore. Maybe we'll get out and do some more geocaching in the near future. One treasure has eluded us so far.