Longs Pass

Today we drove over Blewett Pass to a trailhead located at the top of the Teanaway River Valley. The trail to Longs Pass was about 2000' over 1 1/2 miles. The hike was not very hard but a little tricky in the areas where we lost the trail because of the five feet of snow. It took us no time to get down from the top, we just "skied" with our shoes to the bottom!



At the top of the ridge we enjoyed lunch and the amazing views of Mount Stuart. As you can see, Kent was very happy to be hiking (see below)!




Kent and Annie with the amazing view of Mount Stuart.

Lilac Festival and Silverwood

Caitlin came along with Annie's band on their end of the year trip to Spokane and Idaho. The first spot was one of the student's favorite parts about the trip... Laser Tag. After three rounds of running around the maze shooting lasers at each other, we ate dinner and then drove to the staging area of the parade. The parade starts at 8pm so it's really unique. That night we stayed the night at Post Falls High School.Sunday morning we went to IHOP for breakfast and then headed to Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho. The weather was on the cool side with some light rain; but it didn't stop the students and us from taking advantage of all the rides (even the water rides!). We had a great time going on the two big roller coasters and having fun with the hydro-cars. I accidentally dropped the school's cell phone and ran over it... woops.
Overall, it was one of the best trips with student behavior so it was very enjoyable. Kent stayed home because he had two gigs with his band. He was glad he got a chance to hike up a mountain near Lake Wenatchee on Sunday with some of his friends.

Front Yard

Mom (Carol), this post is for you! Here is the maple and spirea that we planted together last year. It made it through the winter!

Sauer Mountain Hike

Sunday we took a hike outside of Peshastin (ten minute drive towards Leavenworth). This was the firt time we have hiked up Sauer Mountain. The flowers were in FULL bloom!




We were a little out of breath, but we made it to the top! It was a wonderful view of Leavenworth and the surrounding mountains.

Manson Apple Blossom Parade and Cafe Mela

Saturday the Cashmere Middle School (Kent) and Icicle River Middle School (Annie) Bands marched in the Manson Apple Blossom Parade. Here are some photos of the bands and drill teams.

It's a short parade with lots of people cheering on the sidewalks. After the parade we bring the students to Lake Chelan and they eat lunch and hang out on the beach and in the water. The student often feel this is one of the best trips we take in band.

Saturday night Kent was invited to join the Hightower Blues group at Cafe Mela in downtown Wenatchee. Caitlin (Annie's sister) and Annie were the band groupies in the audience. They played blues, swing and some rock tunes. It was a really enjoyable evening.

Rafting

On Sunday we went white water rafting down the Wenatchee River. A group of nine of our friends joined us. The weather was warm enough to keep us happy and the waves were really great. Our raft guide had a great sense of humor and kept us laughing all the way down.

Apple Blossom Weekend

The sun is shining and the imported cops are everywhere... it's the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival! For a few days in May Wenatchee celebrates the spring blossoms with three parades, food vendors, craft show, carnival and cruising downtown Wenatchee all night! Last weekend Kent and I both had our middle school bands marching in the Youth Apple Blossom Parade. Both bands did very well, Annie's earning 2nd and Kent's earning 3rd out of all the middle school band entries!

This Saturday we both marched with our high school bands in the Grand Apple Blossom Parade. Below is a short video of Annie's band performing for the parade. To add some variety, we both try and add moves to the music to add some entertainment value. The crowd loves it when you give them their very own 10 second concert!

The results from the parade are in! Cashmere High School (Kent's) earned 1st and Cascade High School (Annie's) got 2nd. It was a Chalmers' sweep!

After the long parade route and bringing his band back to Cashmere, Kent played lead trumpet in the Wenatchee Big Band. People of all ages were out to listen to the big band music. The local swing dance group, the HepCat dancers put on a little show in front of the band.

Kent played a great solo accompanied by the big band.

And if you think our day was over... you are wrong! Kent picked up the bass at our friends Apple Blossom BBQ at Cashmere's event center The Conservatory. He joined his current and former students in a great set of jazz music in front of family and friends.

Well, that was the end of our very long day (especially long for Kent!). We came home, watched a movie and went to bed. On Sunday we took a whitewater rafting trip down the roaring Wenatchee River. Check back later for a photo!

Tage and Karen Visit Cashmere

Saturday afternoon Kent's Grandpa and Aunt Karen arrived from Canada and Kent's parents Bing and Britta joined us from Kettle Falls. We had a very tasty Danish "lunch" for dinner which is many little rye bread sandwiches with various toppings. Toppings can include: butter, pickled herring and onion, boiled egg and tomato, meat, and cheese to name a few. The possibilities are endless! :)

Tage carefully decorates the meal with Danish flags.

Annie, Kent, Britta and her twin Karen sit down ready to eat.

We had a wonderful time having them visit. Our crabapple tree was in FULL bloom!

Finished Bedroom!

Today we finished a project we started three years ago (with a few years break). When we bought this house in 2003 the walls of the 2nd upstairs bedroom were lumpy with five to six layers of wallpaper and paint. It looked like IKEA with blue trim and yellow walls. We worked for a few days on getting the wallpaper off, spackling, and sanding. Today we finished the painting and organizing it; making it into a real usable room!

The color is off on this photo, but you can see the window seat. Next project is to make a pad for it.

New Bed and Flowers

Our bedroom is an attic bedroom with steep stairs so the largest bed we could fit upstairs was a full sized bed. But we noticed a mattress in a box at Costco and decided to get it. It is a memory foam king sized bed. We were able to easily get to twin sized box springs upstairs.

We took the bed out of the box and cut the plastic. It immediately started to take shape. We couldn't sleep on it for 24 hours.

This is what our back yard looks like right now. The grass is looking better than it has in the past because we installed a watering system last year.

Flowers from our garden...

Last year we planted two Stella cherry trees in our back yard. We were really excited to see that they are flowering! They will have dark black richly flavored cherrys.