Sunday, August 3, 2008

WA State Open (Tennis) & the Blue Angels


Yesterday (Saturday) was Mike and Andrea's first wedding anniversary. We had a great dinner with them on Friday night, and they spent the night here with us. It was great to be with them. We love them very much, and Katie did, too. They gave her what was probably the very best day in her last weeks of life on this earth. Katie was able to be fully in the moment for their wedding, and to feel like the beautiful young lady that she was, dressed in a gorgeous, brown, matte-satin dress with matching, graceful satin sandals. She took her role to heart, and entered fully into the joy and festivity of it. When I asked her if it was as much fun as she had dreamed it would be, being a bridesmaid, (she had wanted this for 6 years, since her cousin Marcy's wedding), she said, "Yes," it was. Thank you again, Andrea and Mike!

This weekend is a big deal in Seattle: it's called Seafair. There is a parade, hydroplane races and the Blue Angels (Navy Jets) do aerobatics, etc. It is also the weekend of the Washington State Open Tennis Tournament, held at the Seattle Tennis Club. My family loves this tournament, and the club is a comfortable environment to enjoy the Blue Angels' show at the same time, as it's on Lake Washington, and you can see (and hear!) the "flyovers" very clearly.

We picked up Grandma and Kappa on the way, and took them to Seattle in our car (with David driving). My brother and sister-in-law joined us at the club, and we had a nice lunch on the lawn together. Then we settled in to watch some tennis. This photo shows a contest to see who had the fastest serve:

The WA State Open includes players from all over the country (and the world). David's French teacher was even a participant (he used to be the high school's tennis coach)! We watched part of one of his matches. Then we moved to the "center court" area, and watched more matches. The Blue Angels were flying overhead during these events, which would definitely throw any concentration that I had, if I were playing. I had to plug my ears each time, as they were flying VERY low. There were also helicopters, cargo planes and other jets flying over; it felt like being at an airshow. (You will be better able to see what is going on in the photos if you enlarge them.)

No, this isn't a crash; they purposely turn on the smoke, as if they are skywriting, and they did fly that low!


Those guys are incredible pilots; their wing-tips are VERY close together.

The number of boats on the lake was astounding; many are gathered for the weekend, anchored together in a big boom, in anticipation of the hydroplane races today, and the parties that go along with that. Where I grew up, we could hear the engines humming like giant bees, and see the "rooster-tails" (the wakes) from the hydros, as they practiced during the week before the races. Gregg calls it "a race of attrition." We don't attend, as we've seen the races for years.

David is out kayaking with a friend now. I hope you enjoy a restful, happy Sunday.

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