September 2010

Cutie-pie Claire.

We attended Rich's 20-year High School Reunion!!  Can you believe it?  Wow, he's old.  There were several of his classmates who were pregnant or still in the young parenting phase.  I just thought it must be a huge contrast compared to our parent's generation where it was probably unheard of for someone at their 20-year reunion to just be starting a family.  However, one of Rich's classmates was already a grandpa!  The reunion had a family picnic in the afternoon.  The group started to gather for a big class photo.  Rich was across the park at the playground with Claire.  I told the group to hold on while I hollered for Rich to come back for the photo, and they didn't wait for him to get back!  The nerve.  Rich wasn't livid like I was, but he added that that was pretty much his experience in high school.  That evening was the reunion party and many people were impressed that Rich still has his high school car - a 1971 AMC Javelin.  He would love to fix it up someday - pretty much the only reason he'd want to own a house is for the garage.

Fun trips to the Tri-Cities include waterskiing on "The Mighty Columbia River".  The cheesy laser light show displayed on the Grand Coulee Dam has given us years of laughs.  Thanks to Matt for always taking us out on his boat.  I've managed to get up on skis on one trip.  Yay me!

Rich's band booked a gig in Canada.  Woohoo!!!  I guess the guys raided Dave's mom's closet for some furs and other fashionable statement pieces.  There was much drama getting all the band on the island for the show after the ferry stopped running for the night.  Kudos to Tyler and Annie for sprinting to the next ferry dock and bribing that captain to make an extra stop at Newcastle Island.  

We have the best landlady ever.

Has your landlady brought goodies with the water/sewer/garbage bill?  Has she given you holiday ornaments or cookies?  Has she dropped off primroses for planting in front of the house in Springtime?  It really wasn't that hard to plant them.  Woohoo.  Has she brought presents for your child of car activities to take on your upcoming road trip?  Thank goodness because I didn't have time to do that before we left.  Has she remodeled your kitchen while you were away on vacation?  Has she brought a gift for the new baby and the big sister and introduced your daughter to the joys of Princess dress-up?

Wait a minute........go back to the kitchen.  WHA-HUH-HUH?  

Remodeled the kitchen while you were away???  YES WAY!!!

The old kitchen was a huge upgrade from my previous one, so I was pretty satisfied with it.   

So much stuff, stuffed into the kitchen.

Ta-da.  The transformation was complete in 8 days!  They thought it would take longer, but they got ahead of schedule and our landlady finished painting in the wee hours of the night.  I LOVE IT!  Granite counters, an under-mounted sink, a full-size dishwasher, wider counter/cabinets on the side wall, and faux tile flooring that lets crumbs just blend in.  :)  Our landlady said she truly enjoyed doing this for us and keeping so much of it secret for a big reveal.

A new kitchen for Claire.  We bought this for her 2nd birthday, but she didn't seem ready for it, so it's been in the corner of the basement.  Soon after her birthday she discovered it and would squeeze into the corner to "just wash her hands".  I set it up with borrowed toys from Mama.

O Canada - The Bridge

We braved the Capilano Suspension Bridge that goes 450 feet across.

It's 230 feet high and bouncy with all the people walking across it.  It was hard to walk in a straight line with the wobbling from side to side.

Across the main bridge are smaller bridges that go up to 100 feet in the air connecting you from tree to tree.

Good thing the park is child-proofed, because this sweet-faced girl likes to RUN AWAY.

Both Claire and baby boy wanted to be part of the story pole.

Taking a rest after a long day.

Yeah for adventures!

O Canada - Vancouver, BC

In Vancouver's Stanley Park, we hopped on board the kiddie train.  You can see Claire loved it.  Even 7 months later, she mentions the train and going "underwater" to see the orcas (through a tunnel with orcas painted on the sides).  

Claire got behind the tractor at another petting zoo.

We walked some trails at Stanley Park.

 We stopped for a rest to take in the views.

I was thrilled to be in Vancouver at a newer hotel with air conditioning.  Victoria was having a rare heat wave.  Temps were in the high 90's and our hotel had suicide windows, so the only relief was a cold bath in the middle of a sleepless night.  Claire was used to sleeping in her crib, so we pillow-barricaded her in the hotel beds.  Even so, she fell out of bed a few times.  Poor girl.  

We enjoyed a Chinese take-out picnic on top of Cypress Mountain.

Despite beautiful scenery, all Claire could think about was the fudge intended for dessert.  

"I want dat!  I want dat!"

At the end of the night we caught sight of an owl as it took off in flight.

O Canada - Victoria, BC

We wanted to do a big vacation for our 10th anniversary year.  As far as vacations for just the two of us, we have been on our honeymoon, a weekend trip to Mexico, and this year's weekend trip to Olympic National Park.  Every other week off of work, we've visited our families or a few close friends.  In TEN YEARS.  It was definitely time we had our own vacation.

Rich has always wanted to go back to Dominican Republic, but we wanted to stay within our budget.  That put my ideal European vacation out of reach too.  We looked into going on an Alaskan Cruise.  I thought it would be perfect, with my energy level at zero, to be able to simply lounge on a boat for a week.  But, 5 minutes before booking our cruise I learned that cruises don't let pregnant women aboard!  Longing for the thought of laying on a beach like a beached whale, we looked into Hawaii and Mexico, but darn that Dave Ramsey, we turned those down too.  We ended up visiting Victoria & Vancouver, BC, and staying well under our budget.

We took a ferry somewhere and this time I actually found the car in time to drive it off the ferry!  Last ferry ride was for our weekend excursion to Olympic National Park.  I thought I had time to go to the bathroom before the ferry docked.  Then, I couldn't find the car.  Picture the pregnant lady running down the aisles of cars all in a panic.  I even asked 5 of the staff and no one could help me find "Car Deck C".  Of course, I left my cell in the car so I couldn't call for help.  Rich had to drive off the ferry without me and I had to get special permission to walk off the boat.  I wandered the pier at 11PM until Rich found me.  He was not a happy husband.  Anyway, here we are on the ferry, together and happy!

 Claire enjoyed going to petting zoos

and her first ice cream cone.

We smelled flowers at Butchart Gardens.

with Dahlias the size of dinner plates!

We did a lot of walking, in the garden this day, and all through town sight-seeing and searching for restaurants that had gluten-free food.  Rich was on Claire duty the whole trip.  I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other and that's ALL I could do.  In the zeal of packing light, Rich confidently left the stroller at home, since our only stroller is a jogging stroller with huge wheels.  The first day Rich stated, "I'm only going to say this once.  I wish we had brought the stroller."  So, Claire got lots of shoulder rides from Daddy.

We enjoyed a picnic along the water with yummy gluten-free bread, muffins, and cookies from Origin Bakery, the best gluten-free goodies I've tasted so far.

and Claire was certainly Daddy's Girl.