Oregon Zoo Day of FUN

I took the kids down to my folks house for the weekend. We were doing our best to Celebrate Steph’s 25th Birthday at a time when we could be there as well. It seemed like a great opportunity to hit up the Oregon Zoo, especially since Jake was not able to accompany us on this voyage down south. If he was writing this there would be his sarcastic “OH DARN!”

We started out weekend out by making it to my folks just before a crazy storm blew in. The clouds were amazing and the rolling thunder we could hear was relaxing.

Nothing sounds better during an awesome storm the fresh homemade pizza and a campfire…right?!?

      

I think Blake agrees!

      

Ayden definitely agrees!

And just in case you are wondering why it is she is so covered in flour…this is why…

    

Then of course while the adults enjoy the campfire the kiddos enjoy their bath time and running around Grandma’s house in their towels.

Well Saturday we got up and were able to make it down to the Zoo. We opted for taking the IMAX Light Rail all the way down to the ZOO for the fun experience. The ride out to the ZOO was nice and calm and fun…expect having to keep Ayden from licking the nasty windows…ewww! Now the ride home was a whole different story. Meet a crazy man who actually tried to offer our kiddos some candy. Then about 5 minutes later he was arrested and pulled off the tram. Kids got to watch the whole thing. HAHA…still makes me laugh when I think about it. Then as we got close to our stop another nasty storm kicked into high gear. We were surrounded by lightning and some of the crazies rain/hail I have seen in a long time.

We were, surprisingly enough, able to make it all the way around the ZOO. Ayden crashed when we closed out the ZOO by doing the train ride around. She became very heavy…but walking around and constantly adjusting her made her eventually wake up. :)

Pictures from the ZOO are soon to come…if Jamie ever sends them to me ;)

A BIG THANK YOU to Mom and Dad for taking me and the kiddos on a great field trip to the Oregon ZOO…next stop…OMSI

There's a new editor in town

I got permission from the boss to make my own posts here. By the way, you can all thank me in the comments for forcing her to use a legible font.

PSC Race Day #4 Results (End of Spring Series)

By: Jake

Well, I packed plenty of gear in preparation for some cold rain, which obviously brought the sunshine! Here is Andrzej and friends crossing the finish line in one of the four races completed that day.

 

The wind was light, which makes for good conversation and challenging sailing. Troy was kind enough to committee all four races for Andrzej, Sandy, Victor, Nikki, and I. From what I could tell, I think he was having a good time relaxing and working on a nice tan. That is until I dropped off my chatty son, Blake, to assist him in his race committee duties.

Because of my humble nature, I'll spare you the most of the gory details that led to my winningest day yet. The wind surely blew in my favor to allow me to maintain a lead over Sandy/Victor and Andrzej. It may have been Andrzej furiously tending to the comfort of his guest crew (and what may have been an attempt to bribe the race committe) that slowed him down. Sandy and Victor obviously had some pressing discussions about their next line dance that may have detracted them from the race at hand. Nikki and I were able to overcome distractions of children needing fish crackers, toys getting sat on, and Nikki's reluctance to man the tiller. It was a great finish to the series, and has us all looking forward to the Summer Series, where tans are sure to climb the priority list.

Results for Race #4

Skipper	Points	Rank
Sandy Bochonok	9	2
Andrzej Kasiniak	11	3
Jake Parks	4	1

Results for Spring Series

Skipper	Race #1	Race #2	Race #3	Race #4	Total	Avg	Rank	Best 5	Rank
Troy Hunter	4	3	3		10	3.3333	1	5	1
Jake Parks	7	5	6	4	22	5.5	2	5	1
Sandy Bochonok	5	2	9	9	25	6.25	3	7	3
Dave Miller	7				7	7	4		#N/A
Jack Bailey	7	8			15	8	5	12	4
Andrzej Kasiniak				11	11	11	6		#N/A

Note: Because Troy and I tied for first when looking at our best 5 finishes, we simply compare the next best until somebody has more points than the other. Comparing average of points/race also shows the true rank during a tie. So, in this case Troy had more first places finishes than I did, so he comes out on top. Unfortunately, Dave and Andrzej did not complete 5 races and I'm not sure how to score that when it comes to best 5 rank. I thought about just adding 5 points per race until it filled the quota, but I think showing their rank of Average score/race should be sufficient.

Finally, I'd like to wrap up by apologizing for the changing format of race data, but I'm trying to build a smart excel spreadsheet that will make results more informative. I'm also trying to set up something that can get us some statistics on hull performance. I've attached the standard word document and I've also included my excel spreadsheet, just so the data isn't my little secret. Please give feedback on the new format and what statistics you like seeing.

Spring Race 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

PSC Race Day #3 Results - Spring Series

By: Jake

The day started with the lowest tide I've ever seen. Good thing the dock was still floating ;)

Anyway, today's race was an interesting one. Once again the wind shifted after I had set up the course, but today we agreed to just leave it and sail the course backwards. Of course this led to all kinds of confusion during the first race as to what side we should be rounding marks on, but once we had it all figured out, it was a fun time.

Troy and Sandy arrived and we decided to go ahead and rig 3 boats, we would each single hand the C-Larks and be our own race committee. The first two races was some good solid racing with Troy leading the pack. Just before the 3rd race, the wind picked up significantly (right up to the edge of my single-hand comfort level) and we agreed that we should definitely race again! After some flailing around the start line a bit, Troy counted us down to the start. His nerves of steel and body chiseled from granite took Sandy and I to school! Not to take away from his wins, but just remember he was sailing against an old lady and a newbie!! (sorry Sandy)

Okay, enough of the funny stuff, here's the results for the day.

TROY: 1,1,1

JAKE: 2,2,2

SANDY: 3,3,3

Overall Results

PSC 2012 SPRING SERIES FINAL SCORES OF QUALIFYING SKIPPERS 

      POINTS FROM BEST         TOTAL

NAME     FIVE FINISHES      POINTS      SERIES PLACE

TROY HUNTER                5          10                  1^ST

SANDY BOCHONOK       7          16                  2^ND

JAKE PARKS                    9          18                  3^RD

JACK BAILEY                12          15                  4^TH

DAVE MILLER                 7            7                  ? 

Dont forget!! Reminder that our next race is next weekend. Meet Sunday 6/10 Noon at the boat house. We would love our new members to come and crew for the skippers. It is a quick and fun way to learn and get closer to being skippered.