Lake Serene

This past summer we hiked Lake Serene off Highway 2. This was a gorgeous hike. A little rockier than we were expecting, which was a bit rough on the dogs' feet by the time we were done. But the view at the end was well worth it. And there isn't much the dogs enjoy more than a chance to take a dip. The hike was about 7 miles round trip and 2000' elevation gain. The only other hike Ellie has done was Wallace Falls, but she fared pretty well.

At the waterfall

Getting their feet wet

First glimpse of Lake Serene

So peaceful

Swimming at Lake Serene

After the hike we went to the cabin for the night. You'd think Scout and Ellie would've been tired after the hike. But they had some reserve for swimming. 

Drying off after another swim at the cabin

Ellie Bean

Justin and I had been talking about getting a second dog for awhile. We love Scout but thought he'd enjoy having another dog to play with. We were wrong about that. He is very tolerant of her, and they do play together, but I think he's more of a lone wolf. But she's part of the family now and I can't really remember life without her. We picked her up right after Christmas at Cimarron Farms. She was just shy of 8 weeks when we got her. Look at that little puppy buddha belly. She slept on me most of the way home and it was so sweet. But then she woke up and started whining and I have to admit, I started to cry a little. I felt bad for her because we took her away from her mom and litter mates and she didn't understand what was happening. Silly in hindsight, and I know she is happy here, but it was sad. We have a ton of pictures of her and Scout, it was tough to pick just a handful. 

Baby Bean with a mini tug rope

Big brother giving her a hug

Laundry pup

She looks like a fat little sausage piglet!

Playing in her first snow

Sweet puppy face

Ellie not looking very pleased about the long time she had to play outside, its cold for a baby!

Here she is attacking Scout

Fall Visitor/Seattle Touring

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had a few Seattle visitors in Fall 2011. Here is a picture from the Japanese Gardens located in the UW Botanic Gardens, very beautiful.

While Laura was here, we did a hike to Wallace Falls. Here is the obligatory falls photo.

One of my favorite things to do with visitors is the Argosy Harbor Cruise. We actually had sun in November!

We also went to the Kubota Garden. I really enjoy there types of gardens. Neat designs, water fixtures and beautiful greens. 

Thanks for coming out to visit friends!

So its been awhile

Scout in front of the new house

I feel like every time I write a new entry, it starts with an excuse or apology as to why its been so long since I've written. Here we go again I guess.

This post is going to be a few highlights of our last 12-14 months and then I will do more posts about specific things.

1- We bought a house. We had been sick and tired of community living in the condo (or apartment in Philadelphia) for some time. We were fortunate enough to keep the condo and rent it out and to buy our first home in Snohomish. We were looking for some peace, quiet and land, and found just that. The house was built in 2004 on a 5 acre plot. We did a few things before moving in (painting, appliances, crawl space) and continue to do little things here and there as needed and to make it more "our home," and not just a house. One of the best things we did was have a backyard fence put it. This has been fantastic for the dogs.

2- Two of my friends from college came out for a visit to Seattle. Shannon came before we moved to the house and Laura came afterwards. I always enjoy having visitors and acting like a tour guide to show them around our cool city.

3- Justin's mom came to stay for a few days at Thanksgiving.

4- We got a puppy, Ellie Bean, at the end of December 2011. She is a yellow lab and the complete opposite of Scout. She stayed pretty small and is such a cuddler!

5- We got a lot of snow in January. Power was out for about 3.5 days and it got COLD. The poor puppy couldn't stay warm and wasn't too sure what to think about the deep, cold snow.  I typically get up for work at 4:45 but was getting up at 4:00 that week to get the chains on my car, drive to 522, get the chains off, drive to the park and ride, get on the bus to Seattle and then enjoy a hot shower once I got to work. Justin set up a little outdoor cooking station with our camp stove and we survived. It also re-ignited our interest in jigsaw puzzles because it gave us something fun to do when it was light enough.

6- My parents came to stay for almost 2 weeks in April for Easter. We also had our housewarming party while they were here.

7- We had a young man live with us a for a few months while he worked at getting back on his feet.

8- We went on a few hikes and trips to the cabin for outdoor fun and relaxation.

9- We went to San Diego to visit Justin's Grandpa Jay and have a little vacation.

10- We worked with the launch team of a church plant from Northshore Baptist Church called Imprint Church located in Woodinville. I am on the Children's Ministry team, R.E.A.L Kids, and am one of the infants/toddlers teachers. We have been remodeling the space to accommodate more children but should be in our new classrooms by the middle of February. In the meantime, my co-teacher and I have been hanging out with 2-3 babies in the back of the worship center during service. Having our own room will do a lot for containment :)

11- I resigned from Harborview Medical Center at the beginning of January and have started a position with the Home Health division of Evergreen Healthcare. I was pretty burnt out with my early mornings and the long commute. It was hard to leave a place with so many friends and fine colleagues, but I look forward to this new journey in home health. And I am really excited to be able to help patients in their own homes, addressing their specific goals, instead of just what I think they need to do to get out of a hospital.

I am sure there are other things to highlight and talk about, but that seems to be all I can think of now.  Hope that gives you a good idea of what we've been up to.

Summer Back in Washington

We had a few other summer adventures. Justin's mom moved to the Olympic Peninsula a few years ago. We don't get over there too often, but made a trip to see her shortly after we moved back. She currently lives in Ocean Shores and what a beautiful place.

Beach combing

Looking for marine life. We did see a seal but were unable to capture a photo.

Weatherwax Park

We had a nice time visiting, checking out some local hot spots and seeing Keitha's library.

My good friend Heather and her family made a visit to the US in early August. Heather is the dear friend I moved to Washington with back in 2003. She was my roommate for as long as she was living in WA and she was the maid of honor at our wedding. She moved to Australia the summer of 2007 to be with her now husband and they welcomed sweet baby Savannah in May. The visit was too short but it so much fun to see see Heather and her family.

One of the things Justin and I really missed while living in PA was the beautiful mountains and lakes of Washington. We tried a few hikes there but they paled in comparison to the PNW. With work schedules and getting settled, we were only able to make 1 backpack trip, but what a doozy. I am always amazed at the hoops we have to go through to be legal when in the great outdoors (dogs vs no dogs, parking permit, park pass, overnight permit, etc. . .) but we persevered and had a nice overnighter in the North Cascades. We hiked the Thunder Creek Trail in the morning and then headed up to the Fourth of July Pass for the afternoon and overnight. As usual I struggled with the steep climb, but its always worth it once we make camp. About an hour into the hike Justin and I were both stung by wasps. I got stung on my finger and upper arm, Justin got stung on his arm. Thank goodness Scout wasn't stung and neither of us are allergic, but holy smokes. My hand swelled and got really stiff, losing range of motion in several joints. Neither of us wanted to leave but I became increasingly concerned. I hadn't been stung in a long time and never by a wasp so I didn't know what other medical concerns I could look forward to. I trudged along for the next couple of hours with my hand raised over my head to try and decrease the swelling without much benefit. It became less bothersome as the weekend progressed, but for the next 2 weeks I experienced redness and swelling. And oh the itchiness! It was unbearable at times. When at home I could treat it with caladryl but at work I have to wash my hands like 100 times a day so topical medicine wouldn't do. But look at the scenery! Totally worth it.

Camp and a tired dog

My guys relaxing

Time to cool off

The trailhead after the hike

Justin thought he got a nice tan, turns out it was just dirt.

Where did you go this summer? Any recommendations for moderate overnight backpacking trips?

Summer at the Cabin

We were able to make 2 trips to the family cabin on lake Wenatchee this summer. The cabin is always a good time. Good food to eat, peace and quiet, lots of activities and ways to just relax.

A few years ago Justin purchased a bow and arrow. Since there aren't many places to set up a target in Kirkland, Justin has been bringing his gear to the cabin to practice. Here's my archer down on the beach.

The first trip to the cabin included my friend Amy and her dog Sammy. Justin, Amy and I, plus the the 2 dogs, took a nice day hike to Twin Lakes. We ran into some snow as we got into higher elevation but were able to easily forge through. Beautiful views.

What a gorgeous day for a hike.

Here we are at an old Department of Game office.

Scout after a swim. That dog knows how to cool off.

He also knows how to relax in the warm sunshine. He insists on having his own lounge chair, as long as its right next to ours.

The second trip to the cabin included more friends and water activities. Here is Justin headed towards the dock after a wakeboarding trip around the lake.

Matt and Justin chillin'.

The Drive Back

As you all know by now, the East Coast was not for us. I guess you never know until you try something like that, and it was definitely a learning experience, but Justin and I are so happy to be living in Seattle again. We had so many challenges and obstacles living in Philadelphia. We never found community or felt like it could be home, albeit as temporary as it was supposed to be. It really made us evaluate what we loved and appreciated while living in Washington, and how much we took that for granted. It was nice to be closer to my family (we got to see them 4 times in 1 year, a record!), and I know it wasn't easy for my mom to say goodbye to me again, but we made the choice to "come home" to Washington. We know how blessed we were to have made that move one time, and how much more to be able to do it two times (financially). We thank God for the opportunities we had and feel especially fortunate that we could come home. We will continue to trust him in all we do.

The morning of the move started out a little rough. Like 10 minutes after getting the truck, I took a corner too short and crashed the side of the trailer into a wall, bent the tire rim and then had to wait a total of about 4 hours for it to be repaired. Justin and his dad took the moving truck to the apartment and I waited at the storage unit for the repair guy. It was already like 80 degrees and humid by 8:30 in the morning (get us out of here before another hot and humid summer). When the repair guy arrived, he didn't have a new rim, despite the fact that I told them that was what was broken. So he had to go back to the garage, which was like 45 minutes away. Needless to say, not the start we were looking for. I felt terrible for crashing the trailer and delaying the start of the trip, but did feel a little better when I heard I was the first of 4 trailer accident calls that garage had that day. Guess a lot of people underestimate those turns. The guys had the truck loaded before the trailer was ready so they came to relieve me of my waiting duties so I could go back to the apartment and clean. When all was said and done, we got on the road 1-2 hours later than originally planned. We had a few more obstacles along the way, but it was worth it to get back to the Pac NW.

We drove through the Badlands National Park on our way through South Dakota. Such beautiful landscape. And we might have seen a herd of bison, but they were too far away to know for sure.

Our National Park Travel Dog

We stopped at Wall Drug again and I can't pass up a photo op with a buffalo. Go Milligan Buffs!

Gas stop in Montana. Almost home!

We stayed in Spokane our last night on the road. My father in law suggested we leave in the middle of the night to ensure we would have time to unload the truck, return the rental and things like that. I was a little skeptical at first, but was so happy that is what we did and were home and unpacking everything by mid afternoon. And what a pleasant surprise to get to our condo and be welcomed by a card, some balloons, cupcake treats for us and a toy for Scout. Thanks Matt, Lauren and Gwen.