Skamokawa After-Party

​From the Grange, nearly everyone drove over to Papa Ken’s property to relax and visit around the fire pit, while Tor roasted marshmallows for s’mores that everyone enjoyed:

The kids entertained themselves with some Spikeball Pro:

As the night wore on, the kids migrated to the grain bin:

Bonus Pic: Auntie Karen and the Crowston family had some extra beds in their suite at the Skamokawa Resort that they let us have for Saturday night; the kids checked out the grounds ahead of time, and we reminisced about our stay there 12 years ago for Papa Ken and Bev’s wedding:

Papa Ken & Auntie Karen’s 80th B-day Party

​Lots of Peterson family from all around travelled to Skamokawa to celebrate Papa Ken and Auntie Karen’s 80th birthdays - and Bridget joined in since she shares the same birth day of September 17.

While the festivities began on Friday, the big party was on Saturday afternoon at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. There was tons of food including grilled salmon and pulled pork sandwiches. Mom made a tearful speech, and Bridget played piano for the happy birthday song:

Afterwards, the cousins assembled on the porch for a group photo:

Action Shots

​Some nice hi-res photos of Jillian in action with her Olympic Rangers Volleyball Team:

Media Day

​Here’s the pics of Jillian from the recent Media Day photo shoot of the Olympic Rangers Volleyball Team:

Pre-Season Press

​Blast Zone Media published an article about the upcoming season for the local high school volleyball teams, including RA Long. This photo of Bridget headlined the article:

First Day of School Pic

​Bridget and Tor headed off to their first day of school this morning. Bridget is a sophomore at RA Long High School, and Tor is an 8th grader at Monticello Middle School.

Bridget has a leadership class at 7:00 am every day, so she will be waking up extra early this year.

Close to Home Match

​Jillian and her Olympic College Rangers volleyball team played in Centralia on Monday night. It would be the closest-to-home match all season, so lots of family and friends showed up to cheer her on.

Despite outstanding all-around play from Jillian, the Rangers fell 0-3.

Everyone stuck around afterwards to greet and congratulate Sweetie-Pie. She easily had the largest cheering section:

College VB Opener

​Jillian played in her first collegiate volleyball matches with her Olympic College Ranger team this past weekend in the NWAC North Region Challenge.

Mom and Bridget went up to Edmonds College on Friday to watch two matches, including their first win against Clark College. Jillian played all rotations as one of the setters in a 6-2 offense.

Dad and Tor went up to watch two more matches on Saturday. The matches were all close, and other coaches are remarking about how much better Olympic is this year.

Auntie Sheryl and cousin Karlie also came to watch, and bought some Crumbl cookies for Jillian:

Jillian played very well all weekend, and produced many highlight worthy plays, including this one:

Second Look

​The Olympic Volleyball website got updated with player headshots under the Roster section:

Clicking on Jillian’s name will provide her bio:

First Look

​Jillian’s Olympic Volleyball Team recently had their media day, where group and individual photos were taken of the team and players in their Olympic Ranger uniforms. In this team photo, Jillian is #8, on the far left:

More coming …

A Blue Day

​Bridget and Handsome rode in the August OFEA show at the Wacker arena in Beaverton, and swept each class, earning 1st place in all 7 classes they entered.

Here’s 5 of the 7 championship ribbons that they won:

Bridget ended up winning the English high point, and taking the Reserve Grand Champion for the entire show (despite not even riding in any Western classes). 

New Skamokawa Patio

​We got the new Skamakowa barn patio mostly finished - just have to bring it a little further out. Tor worked hard helping out - carrying brick, tamping and screeding. Here’s the result:

Everyone had a good sleep, and woke up around 8 am Sunday morning. We did a little work before Mom showed up with Bev’s breakfast, so we relaxed a bit before getting back to it. Our day ended just before 2:00 pm - another productive boys’ weekend.

Boys Weekend at Skamokawa

​The crew for Boys Weekend at Skamokawa was Papa Ken, Adam, Tor and Dad. This pic is the evening fire pit where we talk about guy stuff:

We got right to work before noon on Saturday with the big job: the new brick patio in front of the new barn addition. Tor helped with several things, including moving brick and tamping gravel:

Come evening, Papa Ken grilled up hamburgers, and we ate those and macaroni salad from Bev, along with some s’mores. Then, we chilled around the fire before heading to an early bed. Tor and Dad slept in the new loft on our blow-up queen mattress - it was a very nice sleep:

Herdsmanship

​Bridget worked her Herdsmanship shift in the horse barn at the Clark County Fair with Mary, her Royal Riders teammate. She keeps the area swept clean and watered down, tends the horses, and greets and talks to visitors.

Little Fans

​A bunch of little cousins came to watch Bridget at the Clark County Fair 4-H horse show, and wanting to see the “neigh-neigh” Handsome.

During the lunch break, Tor joined Kenny and Rory on some of the little carnival rides:

Cheering Section

​Being the closest horse show of the year, lots of family and friends turned out to watch Bridget at the Clark County Fair. Here’s the pics that we got:

Also in attendance were Papa Ken and Bev, Grannie and Papa Bob, Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin, cousins Tierney and Wrigley, cousin Cale and Erika, and cousins Kenny, Rory and Grant.

Bonus Pic - If anyone visited Handsome in his barn stall, they’d find this poster:

Sr. Champion 2X

​Bridget and Handsome showed in the 4-H Senior Division at the Clark County Fair on Tuesday, and came away with two 1st place finishes:

Fitting & Showing:

Stock Seat Discipline Rail:

She also claimed 2nd (Reserve) in both Bareback and Hunt Seat Discipline Rail, and 4th in Hunt Seat Equitation.

Earlier in the week, she placed 5th in Horse Judging. She has now qualified for the 4-H Senior Washington State Fair in Puyallup, and is looking forward to lots of quite tasty scones.