gumbi

How in the world do kids sleep like this? I would be in so much pain if I woke up from this sleeping position. I found Oly like this in the middle of a nap and was so impressed by the gumbi moves I had to photograph it.



Hope you are all enjoying your weekend! We just got back from a whirlwind weekend in Seattle... hopefully with pics to post soon of a wedding and a birthday party!

the day when it pays to be an enginerd

Most days I sit at a desk, in meetings, discussing, brainstorming, filling out checklists, checking design manual constraints, emailing, scheduling, updating, summarizing, and generally doing a lot of nerdy tasks. That's mostly my life as a transportation engineer in a design/construction office.

However some days are better than others. Like the day we wrangled a helicopter to come to our office and fly over a bunch of future project sites so that we could have someone create a "design visualization" displays to take to open houses and community meetings.

So some of us luckys got to ride along.

Looking west towards the Cascades (Cashmere, Leavenworth, and Stevens Pass are that direction). Hwy 2/97 on the right side.

Centered over Hwy 2/97 looking west.

Over the Columbia River, looking south towards the pipeline/pedestrian bridge (foreground) and George Sellar Bridge (Background). Wenatchee to your right, East Wenatchee on your left. Yes they are two different towns.


Looking north up the Columbia River towards Lake Chelan.


If you are ever wondering why people from Washington think they live in the most awesome place in the U.S.A... (I have heard the term "mountain snob"...) maybe these pictures will help tell the story. We don't mean to degrade where anyone else lives, we just LOVE it here! And just know that about 2 weeks after these photos, the WHOLE valley turned white and pink as the apple and pear blossoms in all the orchards bloomed. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

I love my job. It rocks.
I also love my home. We are so very very blessed.

If ANY of y'all are ever in this area and would like a free place to camp (our back acreage) or a tour guide, or a cup of coffee, just give me a holler because I would love to introduce you to the valley and the mountains!

Also, Annie and Kyle, the Wenatchee Valley misses you -- come back soon!

progress

slowly but surely...
the turtle won the race, right?

a special day

Sunday was a lovely day full my two boys, no cooking, flowers and family. All together wonderful. And I wanted to share these pictures of my day with you!

My mom and I pulled the little old red radio flyer over to Plain Hardware for our free Moms Day lattes and flowers while Steve and Dad pressure washed the house, and Olaf took a nap. We spent over an hour there trying to pick out various flowers and plants with which to create the perfect container garden :) I am trying to do one for full/part sun, anchored with a red dogwood, and one for shade, anchored with a hosta. I will post pictures once they are done, but for now here is a picture of our spoils...


Olaf wore a pair of vintage OshKosh overalls today (circa 1979/1980) - yup myself and both my sisters wore those when we were little. TOO DARN CUTE.


Also Steve specifically wanted me to post this. He said "Ah yeah... that's BBLLLOOOOOGGGG worthy"!

Happy Mothers Day!

To all the mom's in my life...
Because you still love your children, even when they are doing this...
YOU ROCK. Hope your day is filled with laughter and lots of love!

Sharing a bit of Hawaiian sunshine with you

Today is Saturday. I will be home ALL day... how nice! It is sunny and warm and no wind (crazy for Plain in the springtime). We already walked around outside for 20 minutes or so, and I again felt so blessed to live here!

Schedules have been crazy lately between work, remodel, softball games, bridal showers and bachelorette parties, work gatherings, and friends and family. I wish I had taken pictures at all of these events... but alas I did not. However I am still far behind on telling you all about Hawaii, so here's a little bit about that!

We went to Kona, on the west (dry) side of the Big Island. Some of the best snorkeling in Hawaii is on the Big Island, so I was excited to try it! Our first full day (day 2, as day 1 was spent flying) was spent at "Snorkel Beach". Not much of a beach (sand etc) as it was a lot of lava flows, but the fish were awesome! Olaf got his first feel (and taste) of saltwater, and LOVED it.





Oly wasn't feeling too good on day 3 (fever, cold, teething...) so we decided to do a driving tour of part of the island so he could sleep all day in the car. We scoped out a few beaches, toured a macadamia nut factory, watched some surfers on a crazy erratic wave up north, and looked at the "LOST" like jungle of trees. The picture below is at the surf spot we stopped at.


Day 4 Steve, Olaf and I drove down to tour the City of Refuge, then took turns snorkeling across the bay. Later in the day we met Mom and Dad at the old airport beach in Kona for more snorkeling and sunning.





Day 5 Stevie finally got to SURF at Banyans. My folks were busy going to the Volcano, so Olaf and I hung out at the condo and he slept, and I studied for the PE exam (bleh). That afternoon we went shopping/touring around the City of Kona, and then all met up for dinner at the Kona Brewing Company. YUM. Randomly, we met a guy there from Wenatchee who now lived in Kona. It's a small small world.



Day 6 we went to a VERY nice beach at Mauna Kea resort. They only let like 20 non-guest cars into the lot, and we got lucky, squeezing in around #18... It was one of those GORGEOUS white sand beach, palms, shade, waves to splash in, and more good snorkeling! I really liked this beach, and so did Olaf. After that we stopped in just to "check out" the Hilton Resort down the coast aways. It was ANOTHER WORLD I swear. I saw a 10 year old wearing what was probably a $300 outfit... and it was just a bikini, sandals, and a posh little hat. The people watching was incredible - these people had MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY! Not that I wouldn't stay there if I could afford it - because it was a really nice place - just attracts a different style of folks!

Day 7 we flew home. Pretty uneventful except I (accidentally) let Olaf get his fingers stuck in the rotating belt at baggage claim, garnering many mean looks from other passengers as he WAILED and WAILED and WAILED. But he luckily was just fine so PHEW because I felt awful!

All in all it was a needed break. I didn't think about our remodel, work, or finances for a whole week! How fantastic is that?

I miss you, Hawaii... Can we come back?

teaser

I am using my parent's computer right now, and so I have access to their pictures... Here's a teaser snippet of our trip to Hawaii with the RolyPolyOly!

Mauna Kea Beach

Chillin at the Condo

"Snorkle Beach" aka Banyans

Gramma Cathi and Oly