Mid Winter

Dudes in the kitchen - and we're not wrestling!

A heart M

Riding out the storm in the kitchen/shed

Tennis Afternoon - So bad we quit our game to go back to rallies

Double rainbow in the midst of chaos, a spectacular shout out to the Creator...

The weather is still cold daily, however there are glimpses of spring in the air. This last weekend was nice and I actually could've gone without the layers. Things are moving along day to day. Our friend Mark was here for about 10 days at the end of July and beginning of August. We had a great time with him. Him and I were also able to go up north for two days during the week and had an awesome time camping. We got great waves and survived a tempest! We were going to leave Monday night, but there was torrential rain and Howling winds. Melissa suggested we sleep at the house and just leave early Tuesday. All the reports were indicating that the storm should clear in the morning, so we left in the morning with the utmost confidence in getting waves and good weather. Man were we wrong. First we were both so tired that we were struggling to stay awake. On top of that the storm was in full effect and we were getting blasted by wind and rain. When we got to our destination it looked like a disastrous venture. The weather was gnarly and every spot was looking horrific. We napped out in the car for a couple hours and decided to go find a campsite since it finally looked like the weather was breaking up as predicted. We set up our camp and went for a surf which turned out to be spectacular. While we were out there the conditions were insane. At one point there was so much wind, rain, and sea spray that you couldn't see anything and then 20 minutes later it glassed off. For those of you that don't surf - that is a crazy phenomenon. Usually with that much weather the water surface will show it's effects for a day. After that last hurrah Mark and I looked at each other and shed a tear for our tent assuming that it definitely would not have withstood the last barrage. Then there was another tear for the thought of us either having to sleep in the clown car or in a broken down tent.

Somehow the tent was still standing even though one of the poles burst. We scoped out a better spot and moved camp. Once that was accomplished another ridiculous surf was in store and we finished off the day fully wave stuffed. Of course once night came the clouds poured forth their fury once again. For the next couple of hours we bbq'ed in the camp kitchen and hid out in there listening to music and placing bets on wether or not the tent was STILL going to be standing after this onslaught. At about 10 we ran for the tent during a brief lull and surprisingly the sky started clearing and we had a pretty peaceful camping night. The next day we woke up to a crisp blue sky and a very welcoming sun shine. It was such a rad day. It was exactly what we were looking for and at the end of it it was very sad to leave.

That weekend Mark took off on Saturday. We were super stoked to have Andy and Liz stop by. They'll be back out on Thursday and we're so pumped to really get to hang out with them now. I can't believe that it's been so long since we've hung out, but having them here was awesome and it felt soo good to hang out!

The day that Andy and Liz came in was also City to Surf. It's a 16k run from Downtown to Bondi. It's really cool in that it's such a community event and everyone gets really excited about it. Melissa has been training for it for quite some time. Even though she's been plagued by injuries she pushed on as she does and killed it! Next year we'll both be running it!

Melissa's work is busy and she's had her hands full. I'm loving my job and super super stoked on it. It is seriously everything I've wanted.

We're also in the process of looking to move. We've spent a couple of Sat's looking at spots and locations. Hopefully we can slot into something perfect! That's all for now. Come and visit and you can get more! haha!