San Juan Trip: Day 1

We launched in Lk Wash this morning. We were delayed by the lake closure due to the Blue Angels practice. There are worse ways to spend the day than sitting on a boat in Lk Wa watching the blue angels fly directly over head. Had a swim and a sandwich and then headed for the locks. Made it smoothly thru the locks and headed north. We ran into some chilly weather and rough chop in Admiralty Inlet. The water was flying in Tim's face, coming over the bow and splashing in over the swim step. I finally gave up trying to wipe it up and just sat down and said a little prayer. I was a little afraid, but kept telling myself "boats are made to do this". It helped! We made it to Point Hudson Marina in Pt Townsend about 5:30. We docked up for the night, went to a local brewery for dinner, walked around the town and now we are sitting in the boat blogging and Tim is reading his boating books. It is pretty windy and not exactly warm here. Funny, last night it was too freaking hot to sleep and tonight we have on sweatshirts. Gotta love washington!

Tomorrow we are headed for Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Our friends are supposed to meet us there, but they've been sick, so we won't know until morning if they actually show up.

It is TOO DAMN HOT!

Update: at 6:30, the car read 105! That is flippin' ridiculous!

Tim & His Dinghy!

Tim is so very proud of his new addition this year to our boat...he got a dinghy. This little dinghy is not a cheap little toy. After you buy the dumb thing, then there is the "kit" you need to attach it to your boat, and then the engine. The dollar signs just keep increasing. Even though Tim was very creative with this dinghy expenses, making some of the parts himself and rebuilding a 1960 3 hp engine he bought from a friend, this little sucker still ran about $1000.
Anyway, yesterday when we were in Gig Harbor it came in very handy. We went to the Tides Tavern for lunch. All the dock space was taken, so we anchored out and took the dinghy to shore (which was not Aimee's favorite idea!). After lunch (and several beers!) Tim dropped me off on our boat when the sailboat next to us asked for some assistance. Their girlfriends were out in their dinghy and the engine wouldn't start. Tim had to tow them back to their boat. Of course, he didn't do it for free....that's not Tim's style....he charged them the fee of a beer. That is the going price if you want anything from Tim out on the water....as long as you have a cold beer, he'll be happy to help you! :)
The weather was incredible!

Office Visitor

This Peregrine Falcon spent a good part of the day with me today sitting outside my window at work. He hung out for about 3 hours. If he comes back tomorrow, I'm going to have to give him a name!
It was pretty weird to turn around today and see him sitting there, just staring at me. He would look right at you and follow you when you moved around the office. He fluffed his feathers a few times and shook off some dust, but that was about it. Otherwise, he just sat there watching.
I was told they eat pigeons. There is another Falcon that visits another manager on the other side of the office sometimes. We know this is a different one, because his leg wasn't banded. Anyway, this other Falcon has been know to spit up bones on the windowsill after eating his lunch - the pigeon special. Sounds like something fun to watch....NOT!
Hopefully "my" Falcon will have better manners and do his eating elsewhere!

Happy Birthday Aimee

Today we celebrated Aimee's 33-DD Birthday. We spent the day in the Sound on the Lady Barbara, a 47 foot boat belonging to some friends of Aimee's parents. We left from the Tacoma Yacht Club and headed to downtown Seattle. Along the way we passed the pirates ships that were landing in West Seattle for Seafair.
It was a beautiful day on the water, but hotter than heck when we hit the city and decided to walk around the Pike Place Market.

It was a great day with friends, food, and plenty of adult beverages. Tim hadn't even finished his first beer when he was trying to sneak a peek at Aimee's cleavage. That's my husband! :)

Happy 17th Kaitlyn!

Today, Kaitlyn turns 17 years old! My little princess has grown from an adorable little girl into an amazing beautiful young woman. I am so proud of her!
Happy Birthday Princess! I wish you the whole world, served up on a silver platter, with nothing but joy and happiness to carry you through this year and all of the exciting years ahead!
I was able to surprise Kaitlyn last night with a little party with some of her friends. Shockingly, she didn't have any idea what was up. Even after Charlie and Mackenna arrived, she still was a little clueless. It wasn't until Ryan walked up the driveway that the lights dawned!

Team Merrill Lynch - Relay 09

Relay For Life '09

This weekend was the 25th Anniversary of Relay For Life, which started right here in Tacoma, by one man. Now 25 years later it is the largest fundraising event for the American Cancer Society held in over 5000 locations and in 19 different countries.
This year Team Merrill Lynch was affected by all the changes that have taken place over the past year and the down turn in the economy. There were still over 40 employees and family members that showed up to walk the track over the 24 hour period. The team raised over $12,000, which is nothing to sneeze at, but doesn't even compare to the funds we've been able to raise in the past.
Kaitlyn and Mackenna were both on the team this year, raising funds and taking their turn on the track. Their goal was to stay until about 3:00 in the morning. However, after the week of finals and the last day of school taking their toll, by 11:30 last night they were ready to head home. Can't say I was too sad by that news. I was tired myself and happy to go home to my bed!

The Graduate

Thursday night Rose graduated from West Seattle High School. The ceremony was at the Seattle Center at Memorial Stadium.

Her grandparents flew in from Chicago so they could attend the graduation of their very first grandchild.

After graduation the whole family +2 (Rose's boyfriend Shea and Kaitlyn's friend Charlie) went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Tukwila.

Rose hasn't solidified her plans for next fall. She's thinking of taking some time off and working for awhile and possibly attending Gene Juarez beauty school next January.

Memorial Day 2009

We took Kaitlyn and her friends Ambra and Mackenna boating today on Lake Washington.
We anchored in Andrews Bay (off Seward Park) and the girls were brave enough to go in the water....at least for a few minutes. Kaitlyn and Mackenna were out of the water in a nano-second, but Ambra was able to take it for at least 3 or 4 minutes. I will admit, it is still really chilly this time of year!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today would have been my Dad's 80th Birthday.

I miss you Daddy! I know that your birthday in heaven was much better today than any birthday here on earth!

Only in the Big City!

So as I'm sitting waiting for the bus on 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle this afternoon, I look up and see the police officer on horseback. He was riding down the street right next to the cars.
Now seriously.....what the heck is he and his trusty horse going to do if they see someone make an illegal left hand turn or go through a red light?
I get that they want to have a police presence in downtown to detur crime, but please! Keep the pretty ponies down on the waterfront or in the pike place market, not on the busy traffic streets during the evening commute!

What a weekend!

It is a weekend like this past one that reminds you why we live in Seattle. When the sun is out there is no place like it anywhere! What an incredible weekend for mid-May. It was sunny and 75 both Saturday and Sunday - perfect boating weather!
Although Tim had the boat out on Opening Weekend, this was my first venture out in 2009. Saturday we spent the day floating around Lake Washington and Lake Union. We stopped at Ivars in Shilshole Bay and had a picnic on the swimstep of the boat.
Sunday we were back out again. This time with my friend Aimee and her friend Patty who was visiting from California. We picked them up in Lake Union and boated out toward the Locks. We stopped, gauwked and took photos of the crabbing boats made famous by the Deadliest Catch TV show. Its pretty amazing to see them up close and realize they aren't that big for the beating they take in the rough AK waters during filming. You couldn't pay me enough, but I digress. Anyway, after heading back into Lake Union we floated through the Mountlake Cut and into Lake Washington where we checked out Uncle Bill (Gates) house and then toured the southern part of the lake until heading back in about 6:00 p.m. to Parkshore Marina, where our boat is now stored. Tim is getting closer and closer to having it moored on the water. Right now its in the dry storage at the marina, which is a lot closer to water than the horse barn that it was stored in all winter in Spanaway. If we only made more money and could afford all the things we want....isn't that just life?!

Mother's Day 2009

My Mother's Day celebrating took place on Saturday instead of Sunday. My Mom is in Indiana visiting my sister so for the first year in a very long time, we did not have NY Steak cooked on the grill out back. Kaitlyn had to work on Sunday, so we scheduled our Mother's Day dinner for Saturday night after she got off work.

Saturday morning Tim was out running errands and came home about 10:30 with Starbucks coffee for me and a dozen light pink roses (pictured). What a sweetie! The roses were beautiful and smelled terrific. Since one of my favorite foods is mexican, we went to Azteca for dinner. All of us got different versions of fajitas. Kaitlyn and I had yummy margaritas (of course, one of them was alcohol-free) and what a shocker - Tim drank beer! After dinner we went to the mall. Kaitlyn had a gift card and bought some cute shirts at American Eagle. Afterwards we headed home and hung out.

Sunday, Tim and I went to the Little Creek in Shelton for a few hours. No big winning was happening so we had lunch and then came home. Kaitlyn was working on a "project" when we got home but was keeping it secret. About 8:30 she came into my room to present me with her project. She had created a MOM & ME photo montage. It was so sweet. There is one tiny photo of the day she was born. When I looked at it, I commented that it wasn't a very good photo of me. Her response was, "come on Mom, you just had a baby, its fine. Besides it is our FIRST photo together". How freaking sweet is she! Below is a camera phone photo of her gift to me.

More JSB Photos

Kaitlyn got home about 12:30 on Saturday. She stayed up texting will her friends until after 1:30 when she finally went to bed. She was up at 9:00 and at work by 10:00 (barely!). When we took down her hair on Saturday night, there were 41 bobby pins in it. It was a rats nest that took a very tender loving mommy hand to brush out! She had a ball at JSB!