All over Seattle.

It's not normal for me to spend 95% of my day, in the middle of a work week, driving all over Seattle. But, yesterday was that day... It reaffirmed to me that although I love Seattle, I have no desire to live any nearer than I do now--if only because when one tries to cross the Mercer Island Bridge from I-405 to I-5 at sunset, all of Lake Washington is glaring in your face, and it's impossible to see the road and the surrounding vehicles.

In the morning, Bronco and I drove through Seattle to Snoqualmie Falls, for a little mini-outing with our new staff member--Stuart--who is currently raising support to come to Arlington as the Associate Director of Junior High Ministry (See Photo - L-R - Stuart, Me, Bronco). We're all trying to get to know each other a bit through some fellowship/meeting time each week. This week, it included to trip to Snoqualmie Falls and lunch at an Ethiopian Restaurant (yuuum! You can easily guess who planned the trip...)

In the middle of lunch, I received a text message from Corrie (see photo w/me) saying that her dad's office had a lot of extra tickets to the Angels/ Mariners game for their company party, and would I like to take some kids? I hurried back to the office and called lots of girls. I tracked down two of my Owyhee River Kayaking girls, who were thrilled to spend several hours in Seattle on a school night, and my friend Heidi, who was also thrilled to be out on the town on a school night. I wound up driving back South within in an hour of arriving home with Bronco and Stuart.

Safeco Field was beautiful! and the game was amazing because not only did Dr. Spencer provide us with tickets-- we received vouchers for free hot dogs and sodas! Amazing. Heidi and I were also so brave as to experiment with the famous "Garlic Fries" (which are basically 52 fries covered with an entire jar of minced garlic. no kissing.) Astoundingly enough, the Mariner's squeezed out a victory in the bottom of the 9th inning, and although we were disappointed that our dance rendition of "The Sprinkler" didn't make it on the Jumbo-tron, we jumped up and down and yelled a lot for Ichiro and all the Latin American players (since it was Latin-American player appreciation night.)

The girls and I had several good conversations about the same things we always talk about (boys, school, parents, friends...in that order) and also about how they can grow in leadership this year... I'm glad that one night of MLB can inspire better friendships and opportunities to encourage a few of my students...