*burp

Last weekend was a very special one . . . we got a new nephew, Evan Henry, weighing in at 6 lb, 9 oz, born on Saturday!  And if that wasn't enough, my friend Kate popped out William (Liam) James on Sunday, 10-10-10, weighing a whopping 9 lbs, 14 oz.  Yay for the baby boys!  We are so thankful for their healthy deliveries.

Another of my friends here is due in November, so I decided to try my hand at some homemade baby gifts. I borrowed my friend Melissa's sewing machine for what I promised would be the last time and churned out a bunch of burp cloths.  I figured if you're going to burp the baby, it might as well be on something cute.

I picked up some fabric in the blue-green-brown category at Jo-Anns and sewed it to one side of a cloth diaper, the kind my mom always used when burping my little sister and I figured were still a popular choice today.  They are nice and absorbent.  I thought the pear fabric was adorable:

And stacked together, they look quite cheery. 

I have no idea how they'll hold up in the wash but I double stitched them . . . so we'll see.  Another nice thing was the cloth diapers aren't exact rectangles so my wayward stitches just add to the "organic" feel.  Perfect for my level of expertise.  And there's something very satisfying about making a gift!    

fall again, fall again

Fall is a beautiful season.  I loved our vacation schedule of leaving for the last 2 weeks of September to return to . . . October! Crisp days! Open windows! Falling leaves! Pumpkin Spice Lattes! And all of those other exciting aspects of fall.  As my friend who has transplanted in the South put it today, we really do have a lovely fall, while she phrased Charlotte's as a "poor excuse for one."  The leaves are still in their yellow-green stage but every day I see a little more color and file away the places I imagine will look especially stunning when the leaves have turned - the bay at high tide, a side street lined with maples.  

October also brings everyone's favorite holiday - Columbus Day.  I don't remember having this day off as a kid (maybe because I lived in a country that Columbus didn't land on), but they celebrate it all up here and the kids had a free Monday.  I took that opportunity to head out East for some fall fun.  

Since the kindergartner had been learning about apples in school, he was dying to pick them at an orchard.  Before we headed out, we went to the library and read a couple books about Johnny Appleseed to get everyone in the right frame of mind.  

I was shocked when we got to the orchard to see fifty cars - all minivans - lining the country road near the entrance.  Strollers and wagons at every turn.  Everyone seemed to have the same idea on their three day weekend!  The second disappointment was that there were no apples left on the trees, they had all fallen to the ground already.  Instead of apple picking, it was apple pick-up.  

But do you think they cared? 

No, they did not.  It was a treasure hunt of juicy proportions.  

 I know I always take this same picture, but it's cute, if overused. 

Of course the littlest was here, too, but he had fallen asleep in the car and was still waking up in his stroller.  Which, by the way, is hard to push through an apple orchard.  We kept getting apples stuck in the wheels and the boys had to kick them out.  We gave him an apple and he munched on that thing for the next two hours. 

We ended up picking 15 pounds of apples, which I thought was a lot until the neighbor announced at the bus stop that her two boys had picked 51 pounds.  I hear they're making applesauce.  Might have to stop by.  

I also felt the need to get this big basket, since I could picture it full of mums on the porch.  

The smell of a basket of apples in the sun- so sweet and fallish!   

help wanted

I am in the market for a sewing machine.  I've been borrowing my friend's but she needed it back to make Halloween costumes, and I decided I'll try not to ask for it again between now and Christmas.  And maybe Santa will get me one.  The problem is, I have zero idea what I need.

Basically, I've done three sewing projects, the most recent of which I can not share because it is a gift that has not been given yet.

All of the projects involved only one stitch and I'm not really sure what other stitches I would need.  I'm not real good at sewing in a straight line, either.  I'm just trying to give you an idea of my skill level, here.

So, please, comment . . . what is a good sewing machine for me?

seattle proper

This is my last post about Seattle so deal with it.  

I'm just sad vacation is over, is all.  Now I won't know WHAT to write about.  Except this little peanut of a two-year-old who is talking more than EVER and wore a pumpkin candy basket on his head like a hat for an hour yesterday.   

Back to vacation.

Which was PERFECT, because we had a couple days on either side of our into-the-wild camping adventure to experience the city of Seattle.  What a wonderful place it is!  I love the vibe of the city.  It's surrounded on almost all sides by water so there are bridges and ferries galore.  The people seem preoccupied with physicals fitness - whether that be jogging at all times of day on the paved walkways by the water, or the attitude of adventure that led to the amazing REI flagship store and all things outdoor-related.  They also love their dogs in Seattle, and I saw many seated on the floor of restaurants and walking through the city streets and parks.  Definitely a city I could live in - besides the rain rain rain.  Matt says I'd be gloomy, and I guess he's right.  But we got a couple beautiful days that made me think all the rain talk was just hype!  

We visited the observation deck on the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower.  What a view!  Technically, this costs money, but I promise we didn't know that at the time and no one asked us anything. :)  You can see the Space Needle between our heads.

And there it is again, a little closer!  At the base of the Needle is a whole 'park' of sculptures, fountains, and cool buildings.  

Later we rode bikes down paved bike/running path that winds 20+ miles through the city.  We just rode to the locks, where they let big boats in through a series of gates.  The salmon ladders were there too, with an underwater viewing area that let us watch the salmon swimming upstream.  They go from salt to freshwater while swimming through the locks . . . I read a bit about them and they are pretty interesting creatures, if ugly.  We all know they're tasty, too. :)

 A warehouse on the docks. 

I also had the very special opportunity to see two of my cousins that were moving in to Seattle Pacific University.  It had been several years since I'd seen them!  Fun fact: our dads are twins so I guess technically we have half of the same genetic makeup.  That explains why Meggie, on the left, looks so much like my sister Elyse!  

Meggie is a PA this year - I loved seeing her wing decorations and it brought back some fond memories of good ol' TU!  Mary Claire is a freshman and has a lot to look forward to at this fine establishment!  I called Elyse and told her she should apply . . . I also got to see my Aunt Patti and have lunch with her as she was moving MC in.  I love family. :) (I am about to go camping which explains my large vest in this picture.)

 Here's another picture of the gum wall . . .

And the famous Pikes Place Market!

Where they are so cute as to grow flowers on the awnings!  

This is the fish-throwing spot . . . although I was amazing to see a fish slithering up and down on the ice, until Matt told me rather incredulously that he couldn't believe I thought that was real, couldn't I see the string tied to its tail?   No, Matt, I couldn't. 

 

 The fruit and vegetable stands looked so tasty and vendors cut off slices of apples and mangoes as we walked by.  Check out the giant mushroom below:

My FAVORITE part was the flowers . . . beautiful bouquets for five to ten dollars!!!!!!!!!!

 Glenn buying flowers for his sweetheart. :) 

 And, here it is, folks:

 The very first Starbucks.  Just a little place, really, but this is where it all began.

I must comment on some of the food we experienced in Seattle.  A notable lunch was had at Salumi, a little sandwich/meat place.  They cure all their own meat and there are salamis everywhere.  We found this joint because it is one of Anthony Bourdain's 13 Places to Eat Before You Die.  Thus, I have lived.  I am not a salami fan, but Matthew's sandwich was so amazing . . . as was my warm pork wonder.  :)  I had another wonderful sandwich at Paseo, which we walked to from Jess and Glenn's, and which is also top-rated in Seattle.  Yes, we ate well.

All good things must come to an end . . .

We are back to reality, which is a nice reality.  Matt cut his hair the first day back so he is shaggy mcgee no longer.  And, I must say, we are happy to be a family of three again!

ports

Port towns are the cutest things.  We love our local Port Jefferson, for it's ferry boat and cheap and generous ice cream shop. (I just realized I'll have to wait another 6-7 months for PJ ice cream. Sigh.)  But the port towns out West were even more enchanting - less crowded, more remote.

After traipsing about Port Townsend for the morning, we boarded our last ferry to cross over to Whidbey Island, our last jaunt before driving on to Seattle.  

 Goodbye, Port Townsend!

We had to do some adventuring at Whidbey, so we headed to a fairly awesome lighthouse that stood behind a fairly old fort - built in the early 1800's to protect the US from the unpredictable Canadians, who were under British rule.  The armory was fortified during WWI and manned during WWII to protect the valuable waterways.  Interesting.  

My hopes of every being a "Keeper of the Light," romantic though it sounds, were ruined when I got nauseous and disoriented at the top of the tower.  Another dream dashed. :)

From there we were itching to get to a restaurant that Jess had been telling me about for days.  In the small town of Coupeville, a local tavern served mussels plucked from the bay out back.  A big bowl o' mussels?  Yes, please!  We also had some outstanding fish and chips.  It didn't hurt that it was our first meal we didn't have to scrape together ourselves! 

 

Penn Cove

A little later in the fall, orcas supposedly swim into this bay.  I was sorry to have missed them.  

From there we headed back toward the mainland, over Deception Pass.  The bridge was quite interesting and Jess and Glenn knew enough about the bridge and the water around it to give us an informative tour. 

The water in the pass was a beautiful blue-green.  A sign nearby read that it was 30 fathoms deep, and was named Deception Pass by Captain Vancouver because of the swiftness of the current and the changes it makes with the tide.  We climbed all over the little island between the bridges and even spotted a seal swimming through the channel!

Our last commune with nature was at a little beach nearby.

We spent some time discussing whether we could see clouds or mountains on the horizon.

We discussed camping again, but the drone of planes from a nearby base and the close proximity of Seattle convinced us to just head back.

Despite how I might sound, it was a wonderful trip and such a joy to be out in the wild.  It's amazing how large this country is and the vast variety of terrain it offers.  I'm often to busy to stop and thank God for his awesome creation, but when I think of what I've seen in even my short life, I am thrilled by both His grandeur and attention to the minute details.  My photographs do little to capture the vastness of it all.

twilight

We slept well that night, although I think it may have rained again.  However, time heals all wounds, and the rain is no longer significant.  I do remember that Matt spent the better part of the evening blowing up our air mattress, which was sweet, and it kept us dry and off the ground.  (Correction - it DID rain!)

 Matt took this picture because he said my hair looked pretty.  What a joker.

Our campsite at the cheesily named "Heart O' the Hills" campground was surrounded by the tall trees characteristic of our entire trip.  Beautiful, eerie, haunting.

Anyone ever seen/read Twilight?  I stopped after the first book but after being out in the setting the books are based on (we were just a few miles from Forks), I started to think about them more.  To the point where I had to forcibly STOP thinking about them because I was already scared of bears, no use adding vampires to the mix.  Anyway, now I want to give it another shot and I got book #2 from the library today.  We'll see how it goes.

We had a little invasion from Squirrel Nutkin, who tried to get at my granola bars.

Don't worry, we just brushed away squirrel germs and divvied up the granola into our individual bags of trail mix we packed for lunch.

The boys, always itching for adventure, picked a 4 mile trail for us to hike that took us to Lake Angeles, a lake tucked in the mountains and only accessible by trails.

It was a beautiful hike, and we didn't spot another human our entire time.  The trail led us up a couple thousand feet and along silent, misty ridges.  Speaking of Twilight . . .

Towards the end, when I was wondering if the lake actually did exist, patches of sunlight began to filter through the trees.  It seemed so beautiful after a couple hours of the gray fog.  

We finally found the lake, or what we presumed to be the lake, as it was covered by a cloud.

Lake? Are you there?

We climbed onto a rock to eat our lunch and from our perch watched the fog roll in and out around the edges of the lake, occasionally revealing the opposite shore and a beautiful island of trees in the middle.  

 Does anyone want to go to Olympic National Park yet?

After lunch I was ready to take the much easier hike DOWN to our campsite, but the boys hadn't had enough yet and wanted to hike around the lake.  So Jess and I left them to their devices, grabbed the car keys, and headed out.  We all felt that if there was any time we might see a bear on our trip, this was going to be it, so Jess and I kept up a lively conversation the entire time in efforts to scare any bears out of our path.  At one point we were both stopped in our tracks by a low grumble . . . that turned out to be some distant machinery.  I think we picked up our pace after that.

Turns out we wouldn't have enjoyed the hike around the lake since the guys had to forge their own path, and at one point cross a "bridge" of fallen logs.

When we picked them up they were bedraggled and triumphant, but also tired, since  they ran the whole way down the mountain (supposedly shouting "GIRLS! GIRLS!" at intervals.  However, we were long gone.  Fools.)

After packing up camp, we drove east to Port Townsend, a charming little establishment at the tip of the peninsula.  After a disappointing survey of available campsites . . . we spent the night INSIDE!  Despite my jabs at camping and instructions to find me at the Holiday Inn Express, I wasn't the driving force behind our decision.  It was so nice to take a shower . . . and oddly the inn was the set for a few scenes from "An Officer and a Gentleman."  Not a bad view from the room, either!