Crazy Summer in Seattle

Seattle - it's the place to be!

It's been a fast, fun-filled summer, but I'm glad there's finally some downtime. Our house has been like a busy little bee hive lately. We had Mountain Man's mom for a few days at the end of June and our niece and nephew for the month of July. Their family joined them on the 5th week. The day our family left, my sweet friend (and college roomy), Molly, came over with her family for a fun evening.

At the same time that the kids came, our good friend, Matthew, from Colorado got a job here in Seattle and moved in with us. He's been here since July 4th weekend. His wife (Mindy) and baby came up the day after Molly & her family left and they stayed for a week to look for a place to rent. Then, they went back home to pack up their belongings for the big move. Two days after Mindy and baby left, my long-time friends, Codie & Jennifer came in for a girls' vacation. They left yesterday. Mountain Man and I now have four full days to ourselves until Matthew, Mindy and baby return on Thursday to live with us for about a month, or until they find a place to rent.

CRAZINESS, I say, but it's been A LOT of fun. I've loved all of the energy buzzing around, but I'm not gonna lie; I love this normal workday at home! I'll be posting quite a few pictures of all of our summer activities soon.

The Pumpkin Patch

Bob's Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch is just right down the road from our house. I had such a fun time walking around the farm today, and even came home with some honey crisp apples and pretty gourds. I'm still such a country girl at heart. I really miss our donkey and goats and big garden that we had in Elgin. Maybe we'll have that again someday. For now, sit back with a nice warm cup of cider and enjoy the pumpkin patch!

Happy Fall, y'all!

Japanese Gardens

Yesterday, I took the photog group (three fabulous teens) that I'm teaching to the Japanese Gardens to practice our skills. They took some fantastic shots and we all had so much fun!

From Japanese Gardens

From Japanese Gardens

From Japanese Gardens

Lime Kiln State Park

A couple of weekends ago, Sharon & David Ziegler celebrated their 40th Anniversary while they were visiting Seattle (from Nashville). Liessa and I went with them for a fun day of whale watching over onSan Juan Island. See our gallery in the San Juan Island album.

We took the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor and drove over to Lime Kiln State Park, which is the best land spot for viewing the whales. We saw some porpoises and a seal, but no whales. :(

A heron fishing for lunch

Porpoises as seen from Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse

Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse

Mt. Baker and Cascades from ferry

A Fun Weekend with Ivan

Click on the photo for the gallery.

We've had absolutely gorgeous weather this weekend, so we trekked on over to Whidbey Island via the Mukilteo ferry, and visited Fort Casey State Park and Deception Pass. We hiked to the summit above Deception Pass for some great photos of the area. On our way back home, the guys spied some "long yellow plastic things" which I had to prove to them was actually fields of flowers! They didn't believe me until we got right up to them! :) It was a fun, long day!