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Last weekend, our parents threw a Jack & Jill party for Matt and me at our house. For those who don’t know (I thought everyone knew!) a Jack & Jill is basically a bridal shower where boys can come too. We had about 25 people come to the party, a lot of Matt’s family drove over from Eastern Washington and most of our friends were there to share in the great sunny weather, good company and yummy food prepared by my mom, Jan, and me. We got low on food around 8pm, which was a good sign. I refilled the sangria pitcher when it got low for a total of 5.5 pitchers of sangria consumed at the party. It was nice to get everyone together, I hate that “old” feeling where people are too busy to randomly hang out like in the dorms at college. I wish people could have more free time to just spend with each other. I for one, will try to keep that a priority in my world, or at least be available for visitors. The party started at 1pm, and we ate and drank and ate as some people left and the latecomers arrived. It was nice for my parents to meet our Seattle friends and more of Matt’s family before the wedding. As the evening wound down, Matt and I gave a small acrobatic performance and I got Brian and Matt O. to do some trapeze moves on our rusty swingset. (Those pictures are on Flckr). Matt taught some Aikido to the willing. He played his guitar and we sang songs until dark, then it was upstairs for a LOONG game of Settlers of Catan. I think everyone was so tired that it took forever to finish the game: I am proud to say that I won (only b/c Matt wasn’t playing–he is a shark at board games). The next day we had a huge brunch and ate most of the leftovers from the party, then we played Euchre until my parents arrived, and we spent the afternoon at Greenlake. It was a busy weekend but lots of fun. I am excited for the next big party–Wedding!

My parents have been in Seattle visiting for about a week now (of 3.5 weeks total–apparently retired people need more vacation time than the rest of the working world). Matt decided it was time for a big adventure and we went white water rafting out of Leavenworth yesterday. It was a 4.5 hr rafting ride that was a Class III ride–which was plenty exciting for my first time (I’ve done some rapids in kayaks and canoes in MA). Jesse and Deborah came too and we rafted through some HUGE drops and avoided crashing our head on some rock and concrete bridge pillars. The only person that fell off was some lady that wasn’t with us, and it was on the first set of rapids. It was very hot outside and the river was very cold, which are my ideal standards for swimming, so I was content.
Our river guide was a 22 year old guy that was living out of his truck for the summer and told us before the ride that he’s had two brain surgeries and is a cancer survivor. Even though he confessed to almost killing other customers on the river, he took good care of us and didn’t flip our giant raft. We did ram into a few kayakers on purpose He let us swim through one set of rapids and that was fun, except I was mostly underwater the whole time. I got to go through one set of rapids sitting on the bow of the boat like a mermaid-it was fun seeing everything up close like a roller coaster.
The swallows flew along with us and ate any bugs that gathered–I think I’d like to train a swallow one day for a pet and it can just eat the mosquitoes around me when I’m outside. But I don’t have much of a need for one now, the mosquitoes are quite an endangered species in Seattle. My parents survived the ride, they were smiling at the end, and I think I screamed more during the rapids than my mom. I’m so proud of them, trying a new adventure that is definitely out of the comfort zone. Deborah and I are ready for our second time to be a class IV—but I’m not sure if I can be the front paddler yet.