Frisbee, barbeque on the grill, people chatting around the fire - these are what we anticipate as we wait for those last few weeks of winter to turn into full-fledged, glorious Spring. As we here in the Northwest wait out squawls of rain, hail and wind, there are snowstorms in Colorado, and thunderstorms and possible tornadoes across the Southeast. Large hail and damaging winds are part of these huge storm fronts. Heavy rain will hit many of the large cities from Virginia to Maine over the weekend. The weather forecasts are pretty miserable for most of the United States.
We were fortunate here in the Pacific Northwest to have a perfect April day yesterday - shirt-sleeve weather until about 5:00, then when the sun crept down through the trees we had to put on vests and light-weight jackets. There is an immediate chill once that sun goes down.
We enjoyed a barbeque hosted by Tim and Kathy Hall, Annie's parents. Out came delicious food, and wood for a big fire. Just being outdoors creates a wonderful appetite!Annie's cousin, Eva-Karin, was visiting from California. She is graduating from college this year, and is featured on this post by Annie on her blog, "Earthen Vessel".
The girls headed up to Mt. Rainier for a hike, but the cold temps up there forced them to return to the more balmy temperature of Puget Sound. Annie writes, " What we didn't really think about was the fact that up near Mt. Ranier it would be a lot colder than it is down here by the Sound. We drove through quaint little Buckley and Enumclaw and ate lunch before we headed up to Federation Forest. When we arrived it was most definitely beautiful, but absolutely freezing. And on top of that it was windy which did not make it feel any warmer!" They took their hike through Point Defiance in Tacoma instead. There, they found Taraz and Rahmat riding their bikes on one of the trails!
The Halls made long roasting skewers, with the wire attached to long sticks. This kept our arms away from the fire. We also used them to roast our sausages. 
Kathy took the last pictures here, sending them into my e-mail. Pictured here: Taraz, Rue, and Rahmat, grinning in spite of the smoke from the fire.
And little Gabe was ready to race Rue down the driveway. Isn't it a shame that Rue has to have a head start in order to make it to the finish line!
Gabe was the hit of the party, as most children are, giggling with his mom. Kathy took this picture of Hannah, who was nibbling Gabe's fingers instead of the barbeque. He laughed so hard it made all of us laugh! Annie's videos are available - that's her filming in the lower right hand corner.
