SnowBearder

Bear and I went to the park and he got to try out the snowboard Danielle got him at Goodwill last summer. He did very well; all balencey and swooshy. Bear, by the way, is a big fan of the Flying Tomato.

Happy Birthday Willow and Chase!!!!

Today Willow Nelson, and my cousin, Chase Spieser share their birthday with a ton of little green leprechauns....Happy birthday guys!!!!

Home!!!

So, we had a great time... we really enjoyed getting to know Amya. She's an absolutely adorable spunky little girl, very intelligent for her age. We thought that we would feel like our kids got older while we were gone, but (i can't speak for john) i felt like they were younger than i remembered, which was refreshingly cute! Willow seemed sleepy and unimpressed upon our return, she is infinitely trusting of people and surroundings this early in life. Bear enjoyed himself very much while we were gone, but was very excited to see us. When i opened the suitcase, he seemed totally confident that there were going to be souveniers, luckily he was right.
An unexpected side effect of the trip, very unexpected, was it made me appreciate home (which i needed after the winter around here) I am still not sure how that worked out. Out west is absolutely beautiful, much more mild climate. (They are looking forward to a dry heat this summer) Huge mountains and waterfalls everywhere, and rocks and moss. I think i realized that there are more exciting places in the world, better climates, but no place feels quite like home. I do like getting around and seeing my options though....

How the heck do they figure out when to have Easter?!?!?!

Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25, and they use the Gregorian calendar to determine the date. The details are very confusing...

Willows B-Day

Monday is not only St.Patty's Day, but is also Willow's first birthday! I should probably dress her in green.

Some Random Willow Pictures

On the move in the living room in her favorite monogrammed sweater.

That is the snowsuit. Anytime she is jammed into this snowsuit, she freezes and refuses to stand or even move -like when you dress pets. Here, the day to day pressures have taken their toll and she has decided to take a quick power nap in a grocery cart.

Again, the grocery environment is just too much, and Willow has trouble staying lucid.

A blast from the past. Here is Willow a few months ago, while she could still be reasonably crammed into that car seat.

Rain

So, Thursday it started rainung in Seattle and I immediately got chilled and damp. I thought, "Ok, maybe i couldn't take two months straight of rain...then i realized that in michigan we have five months straight of snow, followed by two months of rain....hmmm...
The meteorologists have it rough out here because they have to give predictions for a ton of different mini climates and elevations. Mountains, valleys, coasts, gorges, eastern desert, western foresty area, etc...
Everything is covered in moss, and there are lots of rocks....those are two of my favorite things, the waterfalls are not too bad either. The Shaw's town is really young and full of breweries, pizza, and vintage clothing stores...and they have a theatre that serves pizza and beer as well. I might have to return regularly for shopping trips, if those stores are as cool on the inside as they look from the outside, i think i'm in for a treat. Dan's job sounds really cool. Open schedule, as long as you put in 40+ they're ok with whatever schedule works for you. His landlord works with him as well, and we met him last night at the local brewery/pizzeria. Young and cool as well, and with the appropriate vest and winter hat. The people seem very outdoorsy and active. They asked where we were from and John told them Lansing, not proudly...it ended up being the guy's home town and where he was born. His grandma still lives there. John had to do some back peddling...

Oregon

We are at Dan and Carol's in Hood River, Oregon. It is fantastically beautiful here. We got to it by driving through a narrow green steep gorge that I couldn't believe a town was in. Then it opened up and all of the sudden there was a straight-up for-real town. It is chisled into the hillside and is comprised of microbreweries and people who wear sleveless fleeces. Just what I like.
What a great place.
Dan and Carols house is charming and bright and they tell us that when it is not foggy, you can see across the gorge to the whitecaps.
Last night when we got into town, Danielle, me, Carol, and Amya met up with Dan at Double Mountain brewery and had some pizza and greek salad and India Red Ale. Reeeeal nice.
I am going to pick up a few sleeveless fleeces while I am out here.
Amya is beautiful and chatters. Sharp girl. She do what she want.


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Seattle!

We are here and it is a lot of fun. I am having a lot more fun now that my conference is over and I don't have to carry that public speaking fear around.

Danielle was asked to be an extra in a Jennifer Aniston movie they are filming here. We watdched them set up the street with rain machines and lights.

The Grille, downstairs from our hotel room.

We got to check the Seattle Aquarium off of our list of aquariums visited. It was nice, but much smaller than any of the others we've been to.

Skip was also there for a conference so we got to have dinner with him and walk around town.

Bear Teaching Me Some 4-Square

I have not played 4-square for 22 years, but Bear gave me a refresher course in the driveway. He's pretty good; moves like a gazzelle.