A Night in Seattle...

Last Friday evening we headed to Seattle, to Terri's cousin's place near the Ballard Locks. It's on the water and is SO relaxing...besides the beautiful home that Tara and Ivar have, it has an incredible view and is beautifully decorated! Josh, Mandy and Jayden also came with us and Jessalyn and Sean came up shortly after we arrived...so the whole crew was there. Great friends...well, more like cousins...Connie Stark and her girls, Katarina and Hanna, were also there and we all had a wonderful time. We enjoyed appetizers and a drink on the deck as we watched boats come and go and later we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from their deck...wow, this is something we could handle on a daily basis...we are very jealous of their location! Oh, can't forget that Aussie joined us as well...she had stayed there for two weeks while we were gone this past spring and she seemed happy to return and see her pals, Cosmo and Merlin! A great dinner, wonderful dessert (nice job on the pies, Tara, Kat and Hanna!) and fun conversation...made for a perfect evening. Before we headed out...Kat decided to jump off the deck into the water...Hanna soon joined her and then Jess and Sean as well. Tara had swam with the girls before we arrived, but didn't want to go in now...although the others had another idea...and she was quickly tossed in...skirt, shirt and all. She's such a great sport...and then jumped a couple more times! We said our goodbyes and headed home...after a very nice evening!




















The next day and following day, Sunday, was our neighborhood's annual garage sale. Josh and Mandy managed it and over the course of the weekend made some good money to go towards our Christmas cruise to Mexico...they were really excited and did a great job. After it was over, we loaded up everything and hauled it off to Goodwill...time to clean things out and "lighten" the load in the garage! Phew, what a relief to get rid of everything!

Tuesday was Jayden's last day at soccer...and she did awesome! Mandy was able to take off work early to come watch and she and Terri were so proud of Jayden. It was fun to watch her running in there with the other kids and showing off what she'd learned over the 5 weeks! It'll leave a void in the Tuesday schedule for Jayden and "Mimi" but they met a little girl who they'll continue to get together with so they can play and Jayden can get out on those days.



















Wednesday...another "mimi day" had Terri and Jayden heading to the park with another friend of Jayden's...Evan. These two are pretty darn cute together and seem to really enjoy playing together. Evan REALLY likes Jayden and if we aren't watching, he'll try and steal a kiss from Jayden! It's too cute! Evan and his family will be returning to Pullman soon and we'll miss them...guess the two of them will have to become "email buddies!"







It's Friday night and tomorrow morning we are heading to a photo workshop in Seattle. It'll be fun to see what the speakers have to say...to be inspired and motivated by them and to get out and shoot in the afternoon...though it could be hot! Forecasters are calling for some HOT weather the next couple of days...with tomorrow being the start of it all...guess we'll need to be sure to bring plenty of water to stay hydrated!

Have a great weekend and we hope you are all enjoying the summer as much as we are!

Fun in the Sun...

This past Wednesday, Jayden, Jessalyn and I headed to a park in Auburn (Les Gove) where there is an awesome water feature for the kids to play in. It has bright colors and fun shapes with water coming out at various heights, speeds...it's called a "rotary spray playground" and is just perfect for smaller (and bigger!) kids...and with the nice weather we've had lately, it was a nice place to spend some time. We met a friend of Jayden's, Peyton, from her soccer class, there and the two of them enjoyed the water, though Jayden wasn't too sure about it at first...it took her some time to warm up to it, but enjoyed it and as you can see from the photos, the girls had fun trying to catch the water droplets!

After the water and some lunch, the girls had to get some swinging time in and then we watched the noon entertainment they had for families. It's a great park with a wonderful program...we will definitely go back again!

Next week is the last week of soccer for Jayden...she's had fun and is learning new techniques...this past week she was a bit reserved and not sure about it, but has promised "Mimi" that next week she'll play hard as her mom and papa are talking about coming to watch her play. We'll be sad to see it end, it's been fun and a good experience for her...the first, I'm sure of some organized sports for her.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Well, the weekend after our night at Snoqualmie Falls, we headed to Cannon Beach with good friends, Kelly and Tammy Grimm. Being that it was Fourth of July weekend, we headed out a bit early, leaving on Thursday afternoon...after Rick got home from Houston (where he roasted!!) after meetings there earlier in the week. The drive down was nice, we left home and it was about 85 degrees, beautiful and by the time we got to our hotel, it was about 25 degrees cooler...but still sunny! Phew, we weren't dressed for that and quickly grabbed a sweatshirt. Grimms were about an hour behind us and once they arrived and unpacked, they joined us for a drink on our deck before we all headed to dinner.
















Friday we awoke to a completely foggy beach and with THE rock (Haystack Rock) right out in front of the hotel, we couldn't even see it at times...pretty crazy! Despite the fog, we were thrilled to be there...the beach (any beach!) is one of our favorite place to be...the sound of the waves hitting the beach, the birds, the smell of saltwater...it's all very soothing and relaxing! So, fog or not, we weren't going to let that affect our day. After breakfast, we all headed out to find some "sunnier" locations...which didn't really materialize much until later that day...there were spots here and there, but not a lot. One of our stops was the Tillamook Cheese Factory...where the last time we had stopped, they weren't working, so it was fun to see the cheese being packaged this time...and gee, imagine we just "had" to get some of the ice cream...okay, so no one twisted our arms, but we couldn't leave without saying we had some fresh ice cream!! YUM!! The afternoon had us walking on the beach and although we had sweatshirts on, the sun did come out after a while and it turned out to be quite nice for the evening. After dinner we went on the beach and saw a large group all dressed up...two brides and two grooms, a double wedding! We had a fire on the beach planned that night which was a ton of fun. We can't remember the last time we had done that...as kids...which was WAY to long ago! Kelly came prepared with everything we needed for the fire and between "the pit digger, Rick" and the "fire-master, Kelly" we had the best fire on the beach!




















Saturday, July 4th, was another grey morning, but not nearly the dense fog as the day before. We walked into town for breakfast and then did a bit of exploring of the area (okay, we stopped at the outlet mall as well!) before deciding we needed some more wood for another fire that night. It turned out after we got the wood in Warrenton and were driving down the street, we saw the street lined with people in chairs, all dressed in red white and blue...it seemed that we were just ahead of the parade! So, we opened the sunroof and waved as we drove down the street...and we checked off our list "be in a parade" so we can now move on to another one of those items on the bucket list!! :~) Another wonderful walk on the beach with lots of sunshine this afternoon and plenty of people and dogs out enjoying the sunshine and warmer temperatures...and even the water (brrr)...and we saw another wedding...boy, the beach is sure a popular place for weddings! Drinks again on the deck before dinner and then it was back to the beach for another fire, but this time we had the "makings" for smores...which we had missed the night before! Another wonderful fire, some nice fireworks around the beach and many others out enjoying the beautiful evening. It was interesting to see the beach patrol really out patrolling, as there weren't suppose to be any fireworks on the beach - so they were up and down quite a bit. Our smores...ummmmm, quite tasty and the mess, well worth it! Now we have left over "makings" and plan to have them one night here at home with the fire pit...anyone want to join us!?!





















Sunday was a sad day...we had to go home. After a great breakfast, we took our time and waited until the last minute before heading out...we wanted to get in every minute of the beach we could before having to say goodbye! It was a great weekend...and even if the weather wasn't sunny all the time, it was still awesome! And, from what we heard from the kids at home, they were all cooking, so I think we had it better anyway!

Now, we're home for a while, no particular plans for a while...a photo workshop in a week and probably another trip to Hayden as well as one to Moscow before the summer end. We hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying your summer...we must say, living in the Pacific Northwest in the summer is pretty darn good...the weather is just about ideal!

Snoqualmie...

Last weekend we celebrated our 27th anniversary and had the pleasure of spending a wonderful night at Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. We checked in Friday afternoon and after getting our things in our room, of course, we had to walk over and look at the falls...the water is just amazing...truly part of nature that is a work of art...if you've never been there before, it's definitely worth checking out! We enjoyed a bottle of wine (yes, we drank it all!) in our room before heading to dinner in the dining room where we had a wonderful meal! The next morning after a great breakfast (too much food in a short time...we're not used to meals like that!!), we headed to the spa. There we experienced an incredible hot stone massage...WOW!! We both had the same thoughts...that we could handle this every month or two - of course, paying for them would be another thing! After such a relaxing time, we had to get our things together and we checked out...and then spent the afternoon exploring a bit of the area around Snoqualmie. It was a beautiful day...about 75 degrees and beautiful blue skies! What a wonderful way to celebrate another year together...we are truly blessed to have so many happy years together...and we look forward to MANY more ahead!