Pictures: "Wee"kend

This weekend was spent with lots of wee things ("wee" = small/young, not Nintendo Wii...).

On Friday, we met Eric and Jen at the Luau, where we spent the evening over drinks and food with their friends Eric E, Jeremy and Beth. Jeremy and Beth are practically neighbors of ours, but Eric E lives in Colorado and we were supposed to help pressure him into moving back to Seattle. We decided we like him, so we agree that he should move here.

In addition to new friends of the human variety, Jen brought Bodhi along to meet Cowboy for the first time. Bodhi is their insanely cute 4-1/2 month old Berner pup, who has managed to at least double in size since the last time we saw him (only a few weeks ago). I took Bodhi and Cowboy back to the house to play, and Jen and Beth joined me there to chat while the boys stayed at the Luau.

It was amazing to watch Cowboy with Bodhi -- he loved playing with him, but once we got inside the house, Cowboy decided he was going to regulate. He kept an eye on Bodhi and wouldn't let him go anywhere unattended. If Bodhi wandered to a different room, Cowboy immediately herded him back to the living room and made him lie down. Makes me think Cowboy would be really good with a new puppy...

On Sunday, we headed over to Bob and Robin's for a BBQ and a chance to see Eric and Maria while they are in town. They brought their new baby girl, Daphna (who is the same age as Bodhi, but much smaller and less furry). Robin W and Glenda were there with their two little ones (Tatum and Thomas), and of course Bob and Robin's little girl Lily was very busy pushing her stroller around the house. Bob's sister Missy was also there, and Cowboy spent the afternoon being bullied by Harley and ignored by Cooper. To summarize, the crowd included nine adults (including two pregnant women), two toddlers, two babies and three dogs. It was quite a circus, but it was a really fun time.

Poor Cowboy only got to enjoy being "the regulator" for one evening. And I suspect the next time he sees Bodhi he won't be able to push him around quite as easily.

Link: View Bodhi pictures

Link: View BBQ pictures

Rude baby

"OK, now let's listen to the heartbeat..."
THUMP! (swish swish swish)
"Whoa, we've got a kicker here! C'mere little one..."
THUMP THUMP! (swish swish swish)
"Did you see that? The whole doppler moved!"

Pictures: Lyle Lovett

Last night we saw Lyle Lovett and his large band at the Chateau Ste Michelle winery in Woodinville. We've been looking forward to this show all year (it's our favorite concert of the year -- and we're still annoyed that Seattle doesn't have "Summer Nights on the Pier" or "Summer Nights at Lake Union" anymore, which is where Lyle used to play). k.d. lang sang as well, which made it an even better show.

Unlike last week's Brian Regan show at Marymoor (where we were melting in the 90 degree heat), last night was rather wet. The forecast called for "scattered showers", which apparently also means "constant downpour". We wanted to get a good seat on the lawn, so we showed up at 4:30 PM for a 7:00 PM show. We saved some spots for Lisa and Pam and then got busy spending the entire afternoon and evening getting drenched. Luckily it was warm, so at least we weren't cold.

In spite of the rain, the show was fantastic! Lyle played some new songs as well as some of his classic favorites, but he still didn't play "L.A. County" or "Girl in the Corner" -- two of our favorite songs (Chris and I even have a line from "Girl in the Corner" engraved in our wedding rings). He never seems to play those at concerts! Although I suspect that he comes back out on stage and plays "Girl in the Corner" an hour after the concert ends (the song is a "hidden" track on "Road to Ensenada" -- you have to play the CD for several minutes after the last song ends to hear it).

I didn't take many pictures because I didn't want to get my camera wet...and everyone looked like drowned rats anyway. Regardless, we had a great time and can't wait for next year's show!

Link: View Lyle pictures

Updated pictures: Summer 2007

I've added some more pictures to my Summer 2007 set.

Link: View updated summer pictures

To geek or not to geek

I listen to Cosmo radio on Sirius during my drive home, and the other day one of the callers talked about this really geeky guy who actually used Excel to list the various sections of his grocery store. The hosts laughed and joked about how horribly geeky that was, and how "I don't think I've ever even used Excel! That's Microsoft Excel, right? Hee hee hee hee!" (Note, the host who said this is a guy in his late 20's or early 30's and a Princeton graduate...so it's not like it was a 22 year old bimbo who thinks a make-up exam is when you're tested on your mascara-applying skills.)

I started thinking about the Excel (yes, Microsoft Excel) spreadsheet I used to plan our wedding. How I had all the sheets linked and I wrote macros to run reports on budgeting, alternate options, and to track our thank you notes against the gifts received. I thought about the spreadsheets I use to track medical treatment, lab test results, insurance coverage, and my health status.

No! Could it be? Am I a geek too?? But Excel is so basic -- it's like remedial data management! We joke about it at work! We roll our eyes when someone tells us they are using Excel to track information! And it's not like I maintain a SQL database or anything -- it's Excel!

And then I realized, based on my prior comments, I might actually be a geek. Either that, or I need to stop listening to Cosmo radio.

(Another clue that I might be a geek: The same host likes to use the phrase "Ohhh snap!" a lot. Whenever he says it, I think of the "object snap" feature in AutoCAD, which is called "osnap" for short.)

"If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?"

I'm not waving, I'm trying to fan myself. I'm not really into this whole 90+ degree heat thing. And no, it's not a dry heat. It's just a plain ol' HOT heat.

(Quote by Stephen Wright)

Pictures: Dry Falls & Sun Lakes

In spite of two sick boys (Chris and Cowboy), we had a great time during our camping weekend with Mark, Erin and Finn. Chris and I packed up the car and headed out to Sun Lakes State Park on Friday evening, arriving around 9 PM. Mark and Erin showed up right after we started setting up camp and set up their stuff at a nearby site. Finn came on Saturday, because he had a wedding to attend in Seattle on Friday night.

Sun Lakes/Dry Falls is a few hours east of Seattle, in the desert half of the state (it's really easy to forget that half of Washington is a desert when you live on the coast, and it's always amazing to cross the mountains and end up in a completely different climate zone). Dry Falls is the name given to an amazing canyon that used to be the largest waterfall in the world. It's 3.5 miles wide and falls 380 feet (by comparison, Niagara Falls is 1 mile wide and falls 165 feet) and was formed when the Glacier Missoula Lake came through around 15,000 years ago. Sun Lakes is a state park located in the bottom of the canyon, built around a series of freshwater lakes.

I haven't gone car camping in years (I think the last time may have been abalone diving while I still lived in Pacifica), and I'd forgotten how cushy it is! No worrying about packing everything in and out, carrying all of your equipment on your back for miles, divvying up meal preparations amongst the party to reduce weight and redundancy. We weren't sure what to bring (Chris is a backpacker too) so we just threw it all in the car. How simple! We had our nice camp chairs, bags of food, clothing, and towels, Cowboy's tent and sleeping pad, and even three sleeping pads for me alone! It was really easy. We set up our tent on a nice flat spot (campsites are marked and maintained -- no looking for a reasonably flat spot in the middle of the woods or mountains) and set up Cowboy's tent facing ours. I hooked the flap of our vestibule to the front of Cowboy's tent so that he could look into our tent and we could still zip the screen shut. Finn set his tent up nearby and Mark and Erin were across the way. It worked out very well for everyone.

We spent the weekend swimming in the lake, hiking in the desert canyon, and hanging out at the campsite. Erin organized the troops to prepare a delicious grilled salmon dinner with risotto and roasted corn on Saturday night, and we enjoyed french toast, bacon and eggs for breakfast on Sunday morning. Those types of meals are another perk of car camping -- no living on couscous, mac-n-cheese and oatmeal.

It was a supremely relaxing weekend, which was perfect. As Erin put it, it was nice to spend all of our time focusing on nothing but staying cool. "Hmmmm...maybe I'll get back in the water..." "I think I'll move to the shade now..." "Back to the water for me..." The days were hot and sunny (in the 90's) but the nights were blissfully cool. The wind really whipped up in the evenings (we were at the base of a canyon, after all), which was great for getting rid of bugs and keeping the temperatures nice and comfortable.

As I mentioned, my two boys were sick but both handled the weekend very well. Chris has some kind of sore throat/congestion thing going on and Cowboy, apparently, is a nervous wreck. He was anxious the entire weekend, trying to constantly protect us and patrol the perimeter. The only time he relaxed was when we were both with him and he was able to keep an eye on us at the same time. It exhausted him and messed up his digestive processes (we took him to the vet this morning to make sure that he's OK, and it turns out his digestive issues appear to be entirely in his head -- at least this time).

So that was our weekend: friends, sun, water, desert canyons and crazy dog. Pretty great weekend! I've posted some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Link: View camping pictures

Pictures: 4th of July

I just posted some pictures from the 4th of July. I'll update my blog later with my tales from the desert!

Link: View 4th of July pictures

Happy (belated) 4th!

Sorry I'm a couple days late with this post, but it's tough when the 4th of July falls on a Wednesday and you have to be at work at 7:30 AM the next day.

We had a really nice 4th of July this year. Chris and Finn hung our new door the evening before, so all we had left to do was install the deadbolt. Chris did most of it and did a great job in spite of his little problem with reading the instructions and actually following them (remember the Valentine dinner). He didn't even make that big of a mistake, but he was so angry with himself for not following the instructions and thus not doing it perfectly. He was also worried about drilling the holes so I ended up doing that part. I thought guys like to do stuff like bore holes in door frames? No matter -- I like to do it too, so it all worked out.

After finishing the door, we headed out to the dog park to let Cowboy cool off in the water. While at the dog park, we like to hide from him when he gets too far in front of us. It is kind of mean...but funny. He suddenly realizes that he doesn't see us anymore and his ears go full mast as he looks for us. He backtracks, and if he can't find us right away he'll start running back to where we came from so we have to stop him before he gets too far. No, he's not exactly a tracking dog (he never smells us and rarely sees us -- I think he relies on his ears to get around).

Once we got to the water, he spent a long time doing his Superman belly crawl in the shallow water. He does it every time, and every time people laugh and we try to pretend that he's not our dog.

To celebrate the 4th, Carrie got us VIP tickets to the Wamu Family 4th at Gasworks Park. We drove to Wallingford and ended up driving most of the way home again before we could find parking. So we ended up walking most of the way to Gasworks and entered the flood of people at the park. Ben told us to head back to the VIP area where our tickets would be waiting, so we worked our way through the masses of people who'd been there all day to stake out a piece of grass for the fireworks show.

We got to the VIP area and the difference was amazing: plenty of space, tables and chairs set up on the lawn, free Wamu fleece blankets, live jazz music, a caricaturist, and a free catered dinner with open bar. Plus, we were set up right next to the water, so we had an unobstructed view of the city skyline and the fireworks barge.

The VIP area was teeming with local celebrities too! Well, there were two that I recognized, but that's more "teeming" than my average day. Mayor Greg Nickels was there looking rather mayoral, and to my delight, John Curley was there! From Evening Magazine! I've had a crush on him for over a decade and I giggled like a schoolgirl when I saw him. Chris rolled his eyes, Ben & Aran looked at me like I'm crazy, and Carrie & Kirsten just laughed. At least Chris was indulgent enough to take a picture of me with John in the background.

The show itself was amazing. It started off with the Star Spangled Banner sung by the Total Experience Gospel Choir. Then we heard copter blades, and in came a military transport helicopter pulling a HUGE American flag! The helicopter circled Lake Union, ending with a fly-by right over our heads. It was incredible. As a military kid who grew up saluting the flag at sundown (I was rarely awake for Reveille) and standing for the National Anthem before every gathering (including the movies), I was in awe.

The helicopter with the flag would have been enough to make my night, but we still had the fireworks to come. And WOW, what fireworks! They were choreographed to music, and they were simply amazing (one ironic twist is that most of the music was not American). There's just something about fireworks that makes me feel like a little kid again.

We had a great time (thanks so much Carrie!), but I did have to work the next morning so we left right after the fireworks show. We joined the masses again and slowly forced our way up the hill to our car, then drove the remaining 6 blocks to our house (we should have just walked the entire way).

I took a lot of pictures and video of the helicopter and the fireworks, but they are on my other laptop so I can't post them yet. I'll post them soon.

This weekend Chris and I are heading to central Washington to camp out, swim in the Sun Lakes, and enjoy 90+ degree weather with Mark, Erin and Finn. Should be a good time! Although I bet Cowboy will be really really hot.

This little piggy got roasted

Last weekend felt like the first true "summer weekend" to me. We've had other weekends with nice weather, but this is the first time this year that we've spent doing our standard summer activities -- playing with Cowboy, going to a BBQ and kayaking on Lake Union.

Our neighbor Romero had a BBQ on Saturday to celebrate his birthday. He roasted a pig, brought in a keg, and cooked up some amazing side dishes (I could have snacked on the garlic mashed potatoes and cornbread all weekend). The weather was beautiful and it was nice to spend a relaxing afternoon/evening with neighbors and new friends.

Romero lives two houses down from Tilly's, so we stuck Cowboy in Tilly's yard so that they could play while we were socializing (Tyrone and Drea were at the BBQ as well). At one point someone said, "Do you feel like we're being watched?" and pointed to the fence. Tilly was looking over the top and Cowboy had his nose wedged between two of the slats. Apparently, the BBQ was more interesting than play time.

I have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of the roasted pig (but I've been having trouble with most red meat lately). It looked to me like something out of a horror flick, and the taste was way too "roasted flesh" for me. I've had roasted pig on a spit before, and for some reason that doesn't bother me as much as this "flattened pig in a box". Maybe it was because the pig was the exact size as Cowboy and looked a bit like Cowboy when he sprawls out on the living room floor.

Regardless, everyone else (including Chris) loved the roasted pork, and I got to learn about each cut from Romero and his butcher friend.

On Sunday, Chris and I enjoyed a day of kayaking on Lake Union. We took out a double rather than our singles so that I could be lazy. Unfortunately, Chris did not agree to that part of the plan, so I ended up paddling as much as usual. We almost had a spider crisis in the middle of the lake (I checked my area for spiders, but Chris didn't check his and ended up having a little skirmish to eject a spider out of his lap), but we didn't capsize and I felt much better after we beached at Gas Works and thoroughly checked both cockpits for creepy crawlers.

Now I'm back to work while Chris takes a few days to take care of house business. We have to replace our back door after someone or something kicked in the bottom, and the Orkin man is coming by to get rid of the spiders that I'm paranoid about (especially after a coworker was bitten by a hobo spider in his house).

Can you tell that I'm not a big fan of spiders? I once jumped off the front (yes, the front) of a moving speedboat to avoid one, and another time I leapt out of a moving car -- which I was driving. That sure got Chris' attention (he was in the passenger seat). And yes, I live in the most spider-infested part of the country.

However, in spite of my distaste for spiders, I do not mind them if they are outside (where they are supposed to be) and have plenty of room to stay out of my way. And I'm even willing to hold a tarantula -- although I am incapable of keeping my cool while doing it...



Link: View Romero's BBQ pictures

Link: View first summer pictures

Pictures: Colorado

I just added some pictures from Colorado on my Flickr site. Enjoy!

Link: View Colorado pictures