Family Fun

I thought I better post before I lose all my (2) loyal readers. This weekend was the annual family reunion par-tay! Some of us hiked to Niagra Falls, sporting our purple bandanas.

Some of us goofed around on the beach.

And some of us hardly moved. Bonus points for you if you can identify the buns!

P.S. - I love my family! Thanks for being there, guys!

Home Again

We are back from sailing. We had a glorious week- great weather, great company, beautiful places, and fun sailing. It's hot in the valley and summer is here. Here's what we came home to and a view of the OUTSIDE of the kitchen. Hurrah for roses and honeysuckle and a very tired dog after a week at the kennel!

We got Crabs!

Hello today from Coupeville, Washington from the "Local Grown" store providing internet access. We continue to have a great time sailing and have had terrific weather. Thursday we went from Port Townsend to Langley, on Whidbey Island. We did a lot of motoring as the wind was not blowing the right way. When we got to the docks, there were boats coming in with live crabs, from a short (50 hour) crab season. We did some trading and got 2 live crabs which we cooked and ate. We also found another ice cream store with internet access.

Here's our boat at Langley with a local heron visitor:

Today we sailed from Langley to Coupeville. The sailing was great and we all had turns at the helm. We got in to Coupeville in time to explore the shops and relax. We'll post pictures of Coupeville later. Tomorrow we start back toward Seattle.

Ahoy Wednesday

We spent the whole day today in Port Townsend. That means we had time to explore, take photos, do laundry, work on the boat, shop, and walk. Around noon we were back at the docks getting ready for lunch when we looked up at the sky and saw these amazing rainbows in the clouds. It kept changing for about half an hour but was truly beautiful to see. Here is one shot and you can see the colors, but it was even more colorful in real life. We felt fortunate to see such a fabulous sight. The photos on this page are all taken by Richard and note that this was really what we saw.

Here are some shots around town. Port Townsend has many, many beautiful historic houses. This is the lighthouse keeper's house.

Here's the Jefferson County Courthouse, built in 1890. Amazing!! And one of the many gorgeous houses. We set sail again tomorrow. More adventures to follow!

ahoy Tuesday

Tonight we're blogging from Elevated Ice Cream in Port Townsend, Washington. We had another great day at sea. We sailed out of Port Ludlow and headed north to Admiralty Bay and the Strait of Juan De Fuca. We ended up at Port Townsend. Highlights of the day were being boarded by the US Coast Guard (we checked out okay, whew!) and seeing a US Navy nuclear submarine pass by escorted by a Coast Guard cutter. We saw pelicans, porpoises, herons, and seals. Here's some more shots by Richard:

This last one is a picture of the Adventuress, a tall ship that we saw today that ran aground the day before in the San Juans.

Ahoy Maties

I'm blogging from our boat at the marina in Port Ludlow, Washington with the free wireless. We are sailing in Puget Sound for a week with my sister and her husband. Our boat is named Frog Prints, it's a 34 foot Dufour. Here it is at the dock in Seattle:





Yesterday we sailed from Seattle to Kingston. Here's Rachel at the helm, and Jeff on the boat.

Today we sailed from Kingston to Port Ludlow. We got here in plenty of time to hike to a pretty waterfall and check out the area. Here's a couple of photos Richard took of the wildlife on the dock:

TA-DA!! Kitchen!

Well, we are near the finish line. There's still some little stuff to be done but here's a preview for you of our new kitchen. We like it a lot. Come and see for yourself!

Nate the Great

Nate helped make a video for his careers class. His friend Morgan did the filming and Nate did the riding, out at Black Rock. For those of you who would like to see what he does out there, here is a link to the video, that has been posted on Pinkbike.com. He's the one riding in almost all the scenes. Just click on "play video" to watch.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/23780/

Kitchen is almost done! It's looking awesome! Pix coming soon.

Unaccustomed Earth

I'm reading this great book titled "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri. It's a collection of 8 stories and very well-written. I wondered about the title, but then figured it out when I read the quote at the beginning of the book:

"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Custom-House"

People often ask me how I can "stand" to have my two older kids living so far away. I really don't mind and am truly glad they are citizens of the world. I'm proud of their bravery and williness to try new things and see new places. Now I can tell people they are striking their roots into unaccustomed earth.

Stained and Finished

Here's a little preview of what it will look like. The finish looks really nice on the cabinets. The drawers and open areas are taped off so it looks a bit strange, but this is the color of things to come. The countertop comes in one week, as opposed to June 16, which is what they told us yesterday, before we found another countertop company.