Cronquist’s Blog

Garage band

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

Donny was teaching Grif-man a little guitar in our garage while feeding the dogs. Self-titled album due out March 2009.

The boys and their boys

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

Day 4 with the Sandridges started with coffee on the patio. It was a slow and beautiful start to the day. We lined up our adirondack chairs that we brought down all the way from Shelton and sat back to enjoy the view.

Katie decided that she wanted a photo of the boys and I thought this was a great picture of Donny and I with our two boys. I can’t believe Kaden is asleep in this picture after he slept 12 hours last night.  We’re not complaining though.

And we didn’t get to have In-N-Out last night, so tonight is our night!  If you not sure where your closest In-N-Out is, check this out:

takin’ it to the waves

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

Day 3 with the Sandridges included an afternoon surf session. Tarah,
Kaden and I gave Donny a wetsuit for his birthday, which was just a
week ago, and we just had to go break it in. It was sunny, the water
wasn’t cold and there were waves.

The ladies and the boys played paparazzi, as you can see here. I wish
they had a lot of photos of us catching big waves, but they had to
leave with the boys before we had even caught one. Oh well. It takes
a while for us Northwest boys to get the hang of this surfing thing,
but when you do it sure is addicting.

I think we are headed to In-n-Out for dinner! Just another special
experience for our families

IMG_1787.JPG

raising the next generation

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

Day 2 with the Sandridges included the ol’ traditional Cronquist family Thanksgiving Day trip to the beach (okay, so its two years running, but its the same beach). This trip was extra special because it was the first time Griffin was able to ride in Big Red. He says its “big” and its “red.” He also says its “blue,” but we’re not sure where that is coming from.  Its amazing to think how much time Donny and I spent cruising around in that old truck and now our boys are cruising with us.  Well, not Kaden yet, but soon.

This is our first Thanksgiving with our little man and we are sure thankful for him and his health and his happiness. He was quite the trooper today, starting with a walk with the boys while the moms went to the grocery store, then the beach, then a terrible seahawk game and then having to sit and watch us eat an awesome turkey dinner. No wonder he was exhausted.  Its been a lot of fun to see Griffin around Kaden. He’ll say things like, “look at the baby. . .he’s so cuuute!” Kaden is very aware of Griffin and tracks him as he plays and looks for him when he hears his voice. Friends already.

And dinner tonight was fabulous. My genius wife ordered the Von’s Turkey Day special, which meant that preparation for today’s spread only took two hours, leaving the rest of our day to play and spend time together. Fantastic. The dishes took about as long (well, not really).

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we enjoyed today, it was truly something to be thankful for.

IMG_1749.JPG

Brunch at Summerland Beach Cafe

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

Day 1 with the Sandridges started with a trip to Summerland Beach Cafe
for Brunch. This is a breakfast favorite, with the best bacon any
where and good OJ too. It was raining hard here to day and a bit
cool, so don’t be thrown by tarah’s Alaskan tundra jacket, we still
live in Carpinteria.

So, here in this picture, we’re piled into the Landrover, with the
ladies in the third row and found that Kaden enjoyed having an
audience while cruising down the road. He also really enjoyed having
Grif-man right next to him and we would catch him just staring at
Griffin. Kids.

If you look close, you can see Kaden in the mirror.

IMG_1648.JPG

Griffen spotted in Malibu

Originally uploaded by Mr_Cronquist.

The sandriges are in town!

This morning I awoke to more news of fires, only this time it wasn’t somewhere else in California.  Nope, this morning’s news came from good ol’ ShelTown where the iconic Timberbowl had burnt to the ground.  The Timberbowl was the only remaining bowling alley left in Shelton and the only place I’ve ever played “league” bowling.  So this news strikes a nostalgic cord, likely only shared by those that enjoyed a bad pitcher of beer while throwing rocks used by the legendary loggers before you, always wondering when the Timberbowl was ever going to get a new computer scoring system.

This picture makes it tough to really see if anything was salvageable, but my guess is that the ball I always used is in that rubble and still ready to throw some strikes.  And if there is any good pieces of lane 7 left, someone send it to me.

Sadly, Donny’s ball didn’t make it out.

I wonder if the fire smelled any different with all of those burning shoes?  Many of those shoes should have been destroyed years before today, but what are the chances that 30 years of shoes would go at one time.

For real news on this historic tragedy, go to Mason County’s Daily news source:  Mason County Daily News–Timberbowl

Feel free to leave your Tribute to the Timberbowl here!

Now this isn’t his first bath. . .

been here, done that. . .