3 Giants Reunion

So…I'm not dead. I'm still alive. Don’t worry.

Review:
In 2003 I did an internship for an evangelist that was based out of North Carolina. The internship (basically traveled from one summer camp to the next doing whatever that camp director needed us to - be that work as cabin staff, sports directors, kitchen staff, whatever and also helping with the daily chapels that our boss spoke at - and I was his assistant.) was a ton of fun and some of the best memories I have. Literally. While I was there, we went to a camp back in Washington and some tall kid named Vaughn from middle-of-nowhere in Eastern Washington came to hear our boss speak because he was considering doing the internship. He was hilarious and we totally hit it off as friends. Sadly, he was only there for a day, but it was a good day. :) He ended up starting the internship the term after I left and so did another girl from Alaska named Joanna. I kept in touch with the gang after I left and kept hearing that Joanna and I were "SO much alike" and was kinda sketchy - sometimes when people say that you really ARE like the other person, but usually you're not - but whatever.

So for New Years 2004, I went back to visit in North Carolina and actually was recruited to drive the 1.5 hours north to the airport to pick up Joanna and Vaughn when they flew in. Joanna's flight was about 4 hours earlier than Vaughn's, but oh well, right? She and I totally hit it off too!! She's loud and fun and sarcastic…and tall!! Once we had everyone (and all their stuff) we went to load up into the rental car …whoops. I'd gotten a Toyota Echo. We crammed everything (and everyone) in and were joking about how tall we all are (Joanna's 5'11", I'm 6'0" and Vaughn is 6'5") and how we were like 3 giants in a clown car. Well, that car ride started a 6 day whirlwind of meeting some of my life-long best friends. Vaughn actually was flying back to retrieve some of his stuff (he was not gonna stay for the following term afterall) so he and I got to break all the rules the interns had to follow (ha) and skip their classes and stuff, and I stayed at Joanna's and she and I had such a blast.

Shortly after Vaughn and I left, I made a VERY simple scrapbook for each of them - each different to capture the memories I had with them individually and as a group …and somehow managed to not take any pictures of them. I meant to make myself one that held the contents of both books combined, but I never got around to it and now TOTALLY wish I would have. (JoJo is gonna scan hers and I'll print it to fake it.) A few weeks later, the evangelist was speaking in Seattle and so Vaughn came over and I went there and we were reunited - but only for a few hours. It was sad. :( They loved their books and we went on our way.

Other than Joanna flying through Seattle last year on her way to Hawaii and spending her hour layover with me, the 3 of us haven't seen each other in over 3 years!! That's a long time!! We've all kept in touch and stayed fairly close - I'm a working girl, Joanna's still in school in Alaska and Vaughn's continuing on in North Dakota to be a professional college student (he has 2 majors and 2 minors…weirdo) so we're all stuck thousands of miles apart. Sad.

But this past weekend somehow fell into place- Joanna could come visit, Vaughn would be in Eastern Washington and could drive over to hang with us …it all worked out!! We called it The 3 Giants Reunion.

Pictures:
*sidenote: before Joanna even got here, another one of our friends from the internship called and warned me: "That Joanna - she likes her alcohol" which became our joke for the weekend. *

We love Vaughn and our boyfriends know it. :) He's just the best guy in the world to balance out Joanna and I - he's totally a cheese ball posing for pictures and he's the kind of guy that would see something funny happening and take a picture FOR us. He's great.

This next shot looked just like the above shot during the "1,2" part of the countdown, and on 3 he got this surprise (so that smile is genuine!) :

Saturday we went to Pike's Place. Joanna is a photography student and is SERIOUS about getting the absolutely perfect pictures - like this one, holding the camera above her head wasn't "good enough" so she actually said "Vaughn - can I sit on your shoulders and take a picture?" (and of course he's rad and said "SURE!!")

And seriously- who sits on the floor at Pike Place to take a picture? :) Although this particular one was of Jimmy Buffet's tile... Us at the first Starbucks: Where we saw a Padres fan in a Trevor Hoffman jersey!! That's MY name! :)

Seattle CHEESE festival

After Pike Place we were off to the Space Needle: We were less than 100 people away from the 45 millionth visitor to the Space Needle. We could have won a trip to PARIS!! WHAT?!?! Grr.

So we went and played on sculptures:

I'm an amazing photographer (but was practically laying on the ground to get this...guess JoJo's photography habits aren't THAT bad if the picture turns out right) :)

3 giants in a crosswalk

Then to the Mariner game!! (I know! Such a fun touristy day!!)

3 giants at a Mariner game *disclaimer: none of these pictures I'm posting here been "improved" in photoshop yet - I'm just excited to post them. I'm working on some cool alterations.*

On Sunday, Joanna took pictures of Jason and I at a local park. They turned out SUPER cute, but there's so many pics of that I'm gonna do a seperate post. After she was done with Jason and I, Jason took some pics of the 3 of us. We're fun:

Awww... I can't wait for the next reunion!!!

(Asia and Ashley, I am TOTALLY up for a crop soon - I've got THREE books to make this time!) :)