Vacation Part 2: Seattle and Portland

After we returned from our relaxing getaway to Orcas Island, we spent two more days in Seattle. On Monday, Jason's parents treated us to a trip to the Seattle Aquarium. It's a huge aquarium with all kinds of sea life, and Nicholas did well on his inaugural visit. He loved the touch tank and some of the large sea creatures, including the sea otters. I'm sure he'll love to go back as he gets older.

Since he was too little to reach into the touch tank himself, they took out a sea cucumber and a starfish for him to touch.

Later that evening, we met up with some of Jason's family friends at a Korean restaurant for a delicious meal of Korean barbecue-- but not before a stop at a nearby park in Bellevue to burn off some energy and take some family photos.

It may not look like it in this photo, but Nicholas was fascinated by the soccer field and goal. There was also a team of adult men practicing, and he kept trying to run onto the field and get in the game!

On Tuesday, we enjoyed a low key day at home, followed by a quick visit to Green Lake to see my sister and brother-in-law (we planned to spend more time with them down in Portland later in the week.) We ended the Seattle portion of our trip with a barbecue over at Jason's sister's beautiful new house in West Seattle. We had so much fun that I forgot to take an photos, but we loved checking out their new digs, ate our fill of gourmet burgers, and spent some quality time with Jason's family and our best man and his wife who also joined us.

On Wednesday, we scrapped our plans to take the train down to Portland and ended up with a last minute car rental (more on that in another post-- ahem, traveling with a toddler.) After an uneventful ride, we made it to my parents' house. All three of us enjoyed long naps, followed by a low key dinner with my parents. 

On Thursday morning, we made the short trek over to Luscher Farm to check out the community gardens (impressive!) and chickens. Nicholas picked up an apple beneath and apple tree, and proceeded to carry and throw his "ball" all around the gardens. 

Big fan of the chickens!

On Friday, my parents hosted a big family dinner at our house. My aunt and uncle (on my mom's side) from New Hampshire were in town, so it was a great opportunity to get everyone together-- including my brother Geoff and his wife Brooke, my sister Laura and her husband Mike, and my uncle and his girlfriend. We enjoyed an awesome meal of barbecued Chinook salmon in my parents' gorgeous yard. 

Siblings! (And G&B's baby K, due in October)

On Saturday, we headed over to my parents' country club to enjoy some pool time, followed by another big family gathering-- this time with my dad's side of the family. He has four siblings, all of whom have several kids, and we had almost everyone in attendance, including my grandparents, my aunt and uncle who live in the Bay Area, and most of my cousins. It was a fun evening!

Muggin' with Uncle Geoff's shades

We flew home the following morning, August 4th. All in all, it was a fabulous summer vacation. Fortunately the plane trip back went a little more smoothly than the way out, but it's always tough to leave, especially when we don't have another trip on the horizon just yet. But, I know we'll be back soon, and we already have a Thanksgiving visit from Jason's parents to look forward to!

Vacation Part 1: Orcas Island

We left for our summer vacation on the evening of July 24^th. Despite our best preparations for a 4 hour plane ride with a toddler, the flight out was a little rough. That’s a post for another day, but in a nutshell Nicholas screamed for the last hour and a half of the flight. He was officially that kid and we were those parents. But, once we landed, we put the plane trip behind us and proceeded to have a wonderful vacation.

We spent our first day in Seattle, catching up with Jason’s parents, and getting Nicholas acclimated. Then, on Friday we got up bright and early and left for our first overnight getaway without Nicholas. To say we were excited is an understatement. Our destination was beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juan islands, where Jason’s good friend Marc was getting married the next day. After a two hour drive to Anacortes and an almost two hour wait for the ferry, we boarded for the hour trip to Orcas Island.

It was a little chilly that morning, but we got a spectacular,  cloudless day to enjoy the gorgeous views of the Puget Sound and surrounding islands.

Once we arrived, we made the short drive from the ferry landing to the cute town of Eastsound. We parked, and eagerly hit the streets to explore. We wound up getting one of four outdoor tables on the deck of the Madrona Bar and Grill overlooking the bay. Gorgeous.

After lunch, we checked out some of the local shops and galleries, and then headed over to Rosario Resort to check-in. Our room wasn’t ready, so we met up with some other friends who had arrived and were relaxing down by the pool. When we were finally able to check into our room, we were rewarded with this beautiful view off our balcony looking back down at the main resort area and harbor.

That evening, we went to the rehearsal, and then we boarded shuttles over to The Kitchen for a fun outdoor rehearsal dinner.

The next morning we slept in until after 9am, which was bliss. (Best night of sleep in 18 months!) Jason had to start getting ready with the groomsmen at noon, so we had a few hours get breakfast and squeeze in a little sight-seeing. We headed back into town, where we strolled through the local farmer's market (my pictures below don't do it justice, but the flowers and produce were gorgeous) and then enjoyed omelets and cappuccinos at Mia's.

After breakfast, we made the short drive over to Moran State Park so that we could make the drive up to the top of Mount Constitution. Standing at just over 2,400 feet, Mount Constitution is the highest point in the San Juan Islands and offers stunning panoramic views of the entire Puget Sound-- as far as Mount Rainier to the south and Vancouver, B.C. to the north. We were probably there on the most beautiful day of the year.

Afterwards, I drove Jason back to get ready for the ceremony with the other groomsmen. Then, I headed back to Moran State Park for a four mile hike around Cascade Lake. I wound up getting a little bit lost and found myself back at the resort when I was about 80% done with the hike. This would have been fine-- except that my car was still over in the park. So I jogged back to the car and wound up getting a little more of a workout than I had planned.

Fortunately, I still had plenty of time to get ready for the wedding, so I headed back to the room to read and relax for a little while. At 5pm, I drove down to the ceremony, which was on Rosario's beautiful Point Lawn overlooking the water.

(Handsome groomsman and I post-ceremony. Check out the deer behind us!)

After champagne and light appetizers on the lawn, we moved over to the restaurant for more appetizers, dinner, and dancing. Such a beautiful Pacific Northwest night!

The next morning we were up bright and early to beat the ferry lines and head home. After a short stop for a Thai lunch in Anacortes, we finally made it home around 4pm. It was wonderful to have two days away, but it was also pretty great to see the look on Nicholas' face when we walked through the door. He had a wonderful time with his Dzia Dzia and Grandmama, and we are so grateful that they watched him for two and a half days, but we missed him and were happy to be reunited.

Next up, a recap of Seattle and Portland...

Northwest Summer Vacation

Labor Day has come and gone, but I wanted to share a few pictures from our "summer vacation" to the Northwest back in July. We kicked off our week with wedding festivities in Seattle, including a harbor side rehearsal dinner on a gorgeous Seattle evening.

The next day, we enjoyed the beautiful wedding of Jason's best man, Kalani. Seattle pulled out all the stops weather-wise and the bride and groom's beach themed outdoor ceremony was perfect. (You'll notice my groom is the third groomsman to the right.)

Despite a late night out for the wedding, we rallied the next day to enjoy a wonderful reception hosted by my in-laws to introduce Nicholas to all of their Seattle friends. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos at the party, but we had a great time catching up with many family friends we hadn't seen since our wedding. The following day, Nicholas turned six months old, and we celebrated with a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo with Dzia Dzia and Grandmama. Nicholas loved the giraffes, monkeys, and elephants.

After squeezing in some visits with my Seattle girlfriends (hi Aja!) and Laura, Mike, and Diana, we headed south to Portland. My parents picked us up downtown, and we immediately hit the road to Cannon Beach. The weather was little overcast, but we enjoyed two relaxing nights at the beach with Gammy and Grandpa, eating fresh seafood and dipping our toes in the Pacific.

We returned to Portland for one final night, and my mom organized a family dinner with my siblings and their spouses, as well as my grandparents on my dad's side and my aunt and uncles on my mom's side.

It was whirlwind trip, and went entirely too fast! I could have spent another week in each city. But we had a great time catching up with family and friends, and enjoyed some gorgeous (cool by Texas standards) Northwest summer weather. We're already looking forward to next summer's visit.

Hi ho, hi ho...

... it's back to work we go! After a wonderful 10-day trip to the Northwest over Christmas, we're back home and getting settled into our normal routine. Or at least I am. Someone doesn't start school again for another week and a half. But I'm not bitter or anything...

Ahem, I digress. Our trip home was great, and we managed to visit with numerous different family members and friends. There are still plenty of people I would have liked to see, but despite filling almost every single day with several visits, it just wasn't possible. Overall, however, we had a great trip! Highlights included:

• A traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner celebration with J's family
  
  
• A delicious Korean feast for Christmas day lunch with J's close family friends
  
  
• An overnight trip to Leavenworth, WA with J's sister and brother-in-law where we tubed, snowshoed, and filled up on traditional German food and beer


• A quick trip down to Portland to visit my parents and have dinner with my brother and future sister-in-law


• Visits with two high school friends, one of whom just had a baby


• New Year's Eve with some of our closest friends in Seattle

I didn't do a great job taking pictures, but here are few from our trip to Leavenworth:

Whew! It was an action-packed whirlwind and we had a great time, but it was nice to get home this past Sunday and settle back into our own home. And now it's time to think about the year ahead... I've got some specific goals for 2011 that I'll share with you tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope you're all settling comfortably back into your own routines.

Seattle Wedding

Found that camera cord! Here are a few pictures from our trip back to Seattle last weekend for J's sister's wedding.

J and I at the rehearsal dinner (Salty's on Alki in West Seattle). Can't beat that view!

Beautiful bride and groom taking pictures around town at some of the city's famous sites:

Kerry Park

The wedding part down in Pike Place Market

You can't see them in the picture below, but they gave out tiny herbs they grew from seeds in mini galvanized tubs as both the favor and our escort cards (our names were printed on paper, attached to little popsicle sticks and inserted into the herb pots like you would label plants in your garden) in honor of the fresh, organic, NW theme. Adorable, and such a cute way to decorate the tables.

And perhaps the highlight of the evening... the bride and groom performing Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love" at the end of the reception (Kristin on vocals and Dan on keyboard):

Congratulations Kristin and Dan!

Goodbyes

They've started, and I hate it. In addition to being sad because I'm leaving and won't be seeing many of these people for a long time, they're just awkward and depressing. Some goodbyes are teary-eyed, others are stoic and comprised of very few words, some are awkward with promises of staying in touch that we both know will not be fulfilled, and others are just plain sad. Today was my last day at work, and I said many goodbyes-- several from each of these categories. My co-workers, however, did a great job of making me feel special and appreciated with a few well timed surprises, and I know that many of them have crossed over to become real-life friends that I will keep in touch with for years to come.

We began toying with the idea of business school in November, decided that we would definitely go in March, and have been making preparations for Austin since April. So this move has been looming on the horizon for a quite a while. The anticipation has been exciting, but after months of planning, debating, worrying, discussing, and dreaming, I'm ready to get the show on the road and finally start this new chapter of our lives. Now that we've said goodbyes to co-workers, many friends, and most of our family members, I'm looking forward to the end of goodbye and the beginning of hello. Hello road trip, hello business school, hello Austin. Just T-5 days until we hit the road. Hello, adventure.

Taking it all in...

We had a fabulous Seattle summer weekend, and I find myself trying to take in and memorize all the things I love about the city this time of year-- the view of the Olympics off the viaduct as I drive home from work, the way the sun highlights the jagged peaks of the mountains as it sets behind them, and the fact that it stays light until 10pm at midsummer. The way the blackberry bushes at Greenlake smell in the sun, and the scent of pavement after a summer rain. The lushness of all the neighborhood gardens, overflowing with huge tumbling peony bushes and fragrant roses, and the way the blue sky looks through the thick canopy of leaves when I'm lying in the grass.

Summer has always been my favorite season because it's so spectacular here in the Northwest. I know summer in Austin will introduce me to a whole new set of fragrances, sights, and experiences that I will grow to love, but despite that I know I will miss Seattle's natural beauty and the amazing gifts Mother Nature bestows upon the Northwest every summer-- it makes the long months of gray skies worth it!

And then there are our friends... Having moved around quite a bit as a kid and in my adult life as well, Seattle actually ties my parents' current home as the place I've lived the longest. After 5 years here, I've made some amazing friends who will be dearly missed. Of course, I already have plans to get most of them out to Austin for a visit in the next year. Fortunately I'm moving to a city that just about everyone wants to come check out.

I'll sign off with some photos from the weekend. My amazing girlfriends threw us a going away barbeque on Alki beach, and we had such a great time. We also made time for one last trip up to Kerry Park to enjoy the city view.

Summer has arrived!

. . . Finally! After what seems like one of the longest, coldest (and definitely snowiest) winters in recent history, it feels like summer has finally arrived in Seattle. This past weekend, J and I hosted our first (and last!) BBQ of the season at our house. It was great to spend time with all of friends before we head south, and we couldn't have gotten a better evening . . .


Homemade sangria, a warm grill, and great company! I'll miss all my Seattle girls!