In STL Again!

We arrived in STL last night! Lemme just say that traveling with an exhausted one year old is not fun for anyone. But, we all survived, and with most of our hearing still in tact.

Dad's new place is very nice. It needs a bit of updating, but it's all cosmetic, and he's working on it. The furniture he's bought so far is beautiful!

To celebrate, we're having a BBQ here on Sunday. We're trying to call everyone to invite them personally, but just in case we miss you...come on by after 3 and have a hot dog and chips, or bring something to toss on the grill. If you need his address, give one of us a call.

Rattlesnake Ridge

Seattle is always an amazingly beautiful place to live, but especially in the summers. We took advantage of it on Saturday, and went hiking with some friends. We did a four mile loop known as Rattlesnake Ridge.

The weather was fabulous, the company even better, and we had a wonderful time. As you can see, the scenery at the top made all 7 blisters on my feet worth it.

FYI - Marilyn went in the hospital Friday night, but as of today she is doing better. She's off the ventilator, and even managed to crack a joke. She's exhausted, and has quite a road in front of her, but it's looking positive. Keep praying for her!!

Rarely A Dull Moment

Living where we do is often an adventure. Across the street from us is a park, and we have seen some strange stuff in that park. Most is harmless, and it gives us a good laugh.

Today as I looked out our upstairs window, I saw some guy in a truck emptying all his trash down the hillside of the park. I grabbed my camera and headed outside to take pictures of what I could, and maybe get a plate number. I struck out on the plates (he had none) but I did video the entire thing, and got a pretty good shot of the guy's face.

Interestingly, this same truck was parked across from our house last weekend - the same day as my car was broken into.

I called the cops, and they came by a few minutes ago. I had burned a DVD of the pictures and video, and handed it off to them to deal with. I doubt they'll find the guy, but if they get lucky maybe what I provided them will help convict him.

People Are Mean

This past weekend my car was broken into. They call it "car prowl" it happens so frequently. Although I was lucky (I'm told) that my car wasn't damaged, the theif made off with every piece of electronic gear in the car - namely iPods and my GPS.

I made a police report, but I don't expect much. I also called our car insurance, but they won't cover any losses not directly a part of the car. So, our homeowners probably would, but we didn't loose enough to cover the cost of our deductible. So, we're screwed.

We plan on replacing the GPS this week, but not the iPods. Maybe at Christmas, if there are some good sales.

Mean people suck.

Congrats

Congratulations are in order for one of my cousins. She was recently chosen (as one of a very, very, very small group) to be a part of the Executive Training Program for her company!

From what I understand, her boss and her boss's boss nominated her without her knowledge. She found out yesterday, and is thrilled. How awesome to have bosses that believe in you, want you to succeed, and are willing to put themselves out to offer you that opportunity. And how fantastic that she has found a job she is so good at that everyone recognizes her potential for great things.

K has worked her tail off for this, and she deserves it. Congratulations Cuz!! You rock!!

Rain!

We woke up this morning to a sound we haven't heard in a long time...rain! It rained a few drops in June, but our last significant rainfall was in May.

The most common misconception about Seattle is that it rains all the time. We have a ton of cloudy days, but all in all our summers are dry, cloud free and amazing.

Kendra is One Bullet Tall

This weekend was the conclusion of the summer-long festival known as Seafair. Yesterday we headed down to the pier to look at some ships that were in dock and on display. There were two missile guided destroyers, a Coast Guard Interceptor, and two Canadian destroyers. We took a tour of the USS Shoup, a destroyer based out of Everett. It was pretty awesome to see. Yes, that is a large caliber bullet Kendra is next to.

Today we decided to go check out the Blue Angels airshow over Lake Washington. We walked from our house to I-90, along with several thousand other people. WDOT shuts down the interstate for 2 hours, and everyone walks out on it to watch the show. It's amazing to stand on a floating bridge, over a lake and get buzzed by planes. It was sunny and hot, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Click here for pictures of what we saw.

We invited a few friends over for dinner, and are now playing with our new Wii Motion additions to our Wii. (Yes, they are as awesome as advertised.)