Portland

Yes, a little more from the trip. We shot down to portland, and while we didn't capture photos of all of our favorite moments (lousy battery first off, lousy memory to charge said battery second excuse) we did capture a few. In no particular order:


Portland Street view... we loved walking around downtown


Portland Noon Concert Series downtown - fun. Tuesday & Thursday lunch hour


Hotel Modera - COOL, hip, nice.


"Who said short hair was easier" Musing


Powell's City of New & Used Books - and by CITY of books, i am not exaggerating. Floyd was in heaven.


Tasty dinner at the Marina Fish House on the Williamette...


Portland's International Rose Test Garden (why it's only a test, i don't know, but it was gorgeous). Overlooks the city.


Courtyard of Hotel Modera with fires lit... again, cool, hip, fun.

Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham

so, since we were so beat, we followed up the hike with a trip to a local pub/brewery in Bellingham, the Boundary Bay Brewery. It was great fun, despite our exhaustion. The last picture - Boon, Toot, Nanni - do yall remember ALFALFA SPROUT sandwiches with better butter?!? While I was enjoying my hummus plate, Thomas coughed up that childhood memory and I just about spit alfalfa sprouts into my beer. Good times.

Church Mountain - Glacier, WA

We went into the Mt. Baker Wilderness today in hopes of finding a good trail for a dayhike. The first choice option was a little too snow covered still, so we went with Church Mountain. A lovely ten mile hike in the North Cascades. There were 18 switchbacks in the woods, and then we finally got to a beautiful meadow and the beautiful views surrounding us. Most of these shots are from the more picturesque half of the hike... only one is from the forest. What i must add is that this hike kicked our tails. We are WORE out.

just a couple more random shots from today...

I know some of yall will appreciate these too - even if they are random.



This was taken while we were crossing Lake Washington on the floating bridge. There were SO many boats out because the Blue Angels were in the sky! It was really cool.



And this is THOMAS on his super-cool motorcycle. I can't believe that my "baby" brother is old enough to live on the west coast for a summer and ride a motorcycle.

PIKE'S MARKET -- Seattle, WA

Today was the first day of Evelyn & Floyd's fifth anniversary extravaganza in the Pacific Northwest. We met Thomas at the King Street train station in Seattle, and set off to enjoy the sites. It was a full day (see below) and we loved every minute. Here is a sneak peak at our day.

Red Hook Brewery - Woodinville, Washington

Look at how much fun we had at our tour of the Red Hook Brewery today! $1 gets you a fabulous tour -- very little walking, a whole lot of sampling -- and it was just our speed. We had a blast with Thomas there too, and our "guide" was from Easley, SC. What are the odds!?

Fiftyish years + poor masonry + extreme drought + flash flood storm = first test of homeowners insurance

fun with meredith!

meredith is my dear sweet friend from college. We met during pre-season our freshman year when we were both on athletic teams - she a volleyball player, myself a cross-country runner. i introduced myself rather excitedly during a day at the lake, and scared her away. she slowly realized i meant well, and decided to put up with me. We lived next door to each other in the dorms, and graduated early together. She was my maid of honor, and then moved all of our stuff into our first house while Evelyn & Floyd were honeymooning. She has been a constant friend through the best and worst of times for the last eight years. The first one to find out we were expecting (when i was still in shock over the news!), she has also willingly given of her time to spend a day with RM every-other week since my maternity leave ended. Nancy sometimes says, "Does Meredith know she doesn't have to be your 'maid-of-honor' for the rest of her life?" Mer has a huge servant's heart, the most generous spirit, and is an amazing listener. Simply put - she's a devoted and loyal friend.

Pictured above are shots from Mer & RM's day together today. The funny thing is, she really was hesitant around babies before. You wouldn't know it though - RM thinks she is the most fun, and as you can tell from these photos, totally hams it up with her.