The Eve of all Eves

Ahh, New Years Eve.

We will remember this one for years to come.

There were masks.

The cat really liked Darin's cat mask.
It was my cat mask but Darin switched with me.

I was a pirate. Arrgghh.

Matthew and Ryan.

The Microsoft Boys.

And Skittle infused vodka.

Rummy bears and worms.

Papa John's pizza.

At midnight.

Allie and I.

Dru and Jim. At like 3 am.

Chocolate cookies.

Dump punch. With a kick.

And a great many fun people.

Pioneered Seattle

We decided to let my parents have some quiet-time and headed down to Seattle for the evening. Ended up meeting Dru and her two other friends for Happy Hour (good wine and cheap good food!), and then headed off to our Priceline hotel. Nice.

Woke up and headed to downtown Seattle (which was where we were actually) to check out the Underground Tour. Dru and I happened to go on this during my first visit (almost five years ago!) and had a fantastic time. I decided Darin would really enjoy it - he's a history buff. Plus it's damn cool.

We walked from Pike Street Market down to Pioneer Square to where the tour started. Ended up getting there early, so we just hung out in the place. With all the other gazillion people.

Waiting in the black leather coats.

Then we started the tour. In case you don't know what I am talking about, you should go to the above link and check it out. But basically, Seattle was founded on a mud flat. It was gross. And wet. Then there was a fire (nobody died) and everything burnt down. Instead of building again on the mud flat, they built up like 15-30 feet on saw/wood dust stuff. But, the town didn't want to wait to build again so they built building normally, while the city built the roads at the high level. Now there are underground walkways to the first floor of the original buildings and the streets are on the second floor. Make sense? Read about it! It's cool.

Here we were on our tour:

That's the street above!

I would definitely recommend doing this tour if you're ever in Seattle. I already want to go again - it's just so damn neat.

After the tour, we walked back up to Pike Street for lunch. We had to have the chowder. So good. I am so glad that I started eating fish/fish-type things. Man, now I want some.

The sample pack. Great!

Afterward, we had to get ready for the evening. It was New Years Eve. And we had a party to attend. Dru picked us up (after she worked, ha!) and we headed over to her place to get things ready and to make some weird alcohol contraptions!

Snoqualmie Snowboarding

On Tuesday the 27th, we decided to go snowboarding. Okay "we" didn't decide really, it was one of the conditions for Darin to visit my parents. (I am semi-joking here. He really loves to snowboard.)

Last year we tried at Mt. Baker, this year we tried The Summit at Snoqualmie.

Darin was in heaven.

Thankfully the slopes were about forty-five minutes East of Seattle. And right off the highway. Sweet and simple.

The area.



Ben, Ryan, and Dru!

Dru. She's a Level 2.

My board. In the snow. I'm a Level #1.

Dru and I took lessons, again. Somehow she got into the Level #2 lesson and I was stuck with the beginners. Thank you blog. I am just so nervous about the whole running into children thing. I wish they would just let adults go. Kind of. But I had a great teacher, and though I didn't try a lift (I'm a wimp, okay?), I did walk up like half the hill and come down! Go Del. Darin, Ryan, and Ben went over to the other side of the mountain to another resort-type area. I guess there were three Snoqualmie spots to go to.

Next time.

Dru and Del. Can you see her gloves?



We actually look happy!

And they did night skiing. Right here it was like 4:30 pm.



Darin and Ben - in the bar afterward.

We ended up snowboarding for like four hours maybe and then it started getting dark - though there was night skiing. Darin was a happy camper, but the rest of us were kind of ahh tired, so we quit and went back to my folks!

Until next year? Yikes.

Book List 2009

Did this last year. It's fun to look at all that I have read/listened to. I do love to read.

Reading Log:

• Twenties Girl, Sophia Kinsella
  
• 206 Bones, Kathy Reichs
• The Titan's Curse, Rick Riordan
• The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan
• Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
• The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
• Scarecrow, Michael Connelly
• Rules of Prey, John Sanford
• First Family, David Baldacci
• Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Janet Evanovich
• Wicked Prey, John Sanford
• Cross Country, James Patterson
• The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
• Eyes of Prey, John Sanford
• Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs
• Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, Fannie Flagg
• Divine Justice, David Baldacci
• The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
• The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
• Brass Verdict, Michael Connelly
• Plum Spooky, Janet Evanovich
• Three Cups of Tea, Morgenson and Relin
• Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell
• Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella
• The Secrets of the Fire King, Kim Edwards
• Something Borrowed, Emily Giffin
• Gathering Blue, Lois Lowry
• Something Blue, Emily Giffin

Books on CD log:

• The Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
• Dead Watch, John Sanford
• In a Sunburnt Country, Bill Bryson
• The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
• Lost Light, Michael Connelly
• The Poet, Michael Connelly
• Shopaholic + Baby, Sophie Kinsella
• The Host, Stephanie Meyer
• The Other Queen, Philippa Gregory
• Trunk Music, Michael Connelly
• Naked Prey, John Sanford
• Broken Prey, John Sanford
• Special Prey, John Sanford
• The Undomestic Goddess, Sophie Kinsella
• The Lincoln Lawyer, Michael Connelly
• The Overlook, Michael Connelly
• Echo Park, Michael Connelly
• The Closers, Michael Connelly

Not too shabby, if I don't say so myself. 28 books read. Including re-reading Harry Potter.

Betcha I'll beat it this year. :)

Thirteen Eagles

In case you were wondering, bald eagles are very abundant in NW Washington State.

Now we have a lot of eagles at the Orlando landfill too, but I guess you can't count that. I guess technically (technically) that the landfill is not their natural habitat. It's gotta make you wonder. Maybe a little? We really have a lot here. Like over 30 in that one given area.

Anyway.

If you drive East from my parent's house (headed up to Mt. Baker), you will drive around the area where they are? Breed? Eat. I think. Eat sounds right.

They are near the river (the un-named river) where there are fish for them to eat. Right?

Well, we found them!

Beautiful!

We counted thirteen bald eagles on this trip. We saw others on different days, but this day there were 13. Pretty amazing actually. They're just hanging out. Looking for fish. Chillin'.

We also found two wineries.

Ha.

Winery #1. Challenger Ridge.

Mom, Darin, and Dad.

Cold grapes. But in the sunshine.

Happy Mother and Darin.

For some reason I love this picture.

Grapes. Told you they were happy.
It's the sunshine.

Winery #2. Carpenter Creek.

We went in the second one kind of quickly. We were getting pretty hungry. And the sun was out and annoying the heck out of Darin and I.

* Side note - the sun in the Pacific Northwest during the winter doesn't go high in the sky like it does in Orlando. It stays in the mid-sky, at that annoying level when you're driving when you can't get it out of your eyes. And it gives you a headache. And it still is continuously there. So we complained and went home. I guess that was not the thing to do in a place where they don't get as much sunshine as we do.

Back to the story. We had a great time driving around. Dru stayed home and read this book. Like the whole book. Impressive.

But we got to explore. And drink wine. And we found this incredible bread bakery. And had a great day. And saw thirteen eagles.

XMas 2009

Christmas was Christmas.

Fun. Exciting. Silly.

Opening presents. Gathering wrapping paper.

Putting bows on Cricket.

Eating breakfast.

That evening, my parents had their good friends/neighbors Bill and Sherrie (and MIL Bea) over for dinner also. We enjoying sharing our holidays with friends especially because we there were even more people to talk to and celebrate with during this special time of year.

She let me do this once.
And then she moved.
She's mean.

Bea and Sherrie. With the ham. We love ham.
Ham was great.

Princess Cricket under the lace.

We had an excellent dinner. And an excellent breakfast. And had excellent company.

Christmas day went by fast, but we still had a long time to enjoy Seattle and experience new things.

Christmas Eve in Seattle

Let's talk about Christmas Eve 2009. We flew from Orlando to Seattle this day - last year we had to because of scary Seattle weather, and this year we chose to because of price.

So why not?

We thankfully switched our flights early (we were supposed to go into the MN, but there was a blizzard warning and we switched to Atlanta) and got to Seattle thirty minutes early.

I still can't figure out how you can get somewhere early while flying, if I ever figure that out I will definitely post about it.

Anyway, Dru and I had planned a dinner surprise - going to Bonefish Grill! Traditionally when we were growing up we'd go to this one Chinese restaurant by Jewel (the old one) in CL. Every year we'd go there. But Darin can't really eat Chinese (too fatty/greasy). So we switched things up a little bit.

Bang bang shrimp and a happy hour martini.

Del and Darin. After hours in a plane. But with drinks.

After a nice dinner of eating too much, we headed home. It was Christmas Eve and presents were to be opened. That was our first tradition. We always open one present on Christmas Eve and it's always pajamas. When we were little, my brother, sister, and I would all get some sort of matching pjs. Thankfully my mother stopped that a couple of years ago (though I was actually looking forward to get matching pjs with Darin.)

We had to find our presents under the tree:

Darin was sneaky.

Hurray for presents!

Opening. And not taking our time.

Unfortunately (for you, I promise), I didn't not take pictures of us in our newly acquired pajamas. Though we were cute.

Cricket with her present from Jake.
She had to open one too!

And the last tradition of the evening, making a plate for Santa. We do it every year. It's fun. It's a tradition. Sometimes we get a little bit more into it (snazzy shot contraptions for Santa to drink), some times we do an obscene design (it only happened once with a poorly placed banana), and sometimes we put gross food out (like brussel sprouts, yak).

This year was nice and sweet.

"May your days be merry and bright!"