What We've Been Up To (Mostly)

Finally an update -- but it's an out-of-date update. I wrote this on July 30, but didn't get it posted (obviously). Since then, we've had dinner with Chris, taken our trip to Glacier (and spent two nights in Missoula with Christina and Steve), and have had Megan and Shahv here to visit. Sarah (Hart's mom) arrives this afternoon. I hope to give you more details on these fun activities soon!

Robyn & Peter's Wedding Reception
At the end of June we hosted a wedding reception for our friends Robyn and Peter. The term "reception" is used loosely here -- it was a potluck and everyone who attended was laid back and good-natured. It was still a lot of work, especially because it was an excuse to do all the work on the house that's been on our to do list.

Robyn and Peter got married in Georgia in April, but wanted to have a celebration with their friends here. About 40 people, of which more than half are public interest lawyers, came. We ate and talked until midnight and had a great time.

Robyn, in her wedding gown, insisted on helping us clean up. It's unusual to see a bride wielding a sponge and Hart had to get a picture of it.


Visit from Jim & Lois
Hart's dad (Jim) and his girlfriend (Lois) came to stay with us on the afternoon of the party. They had been on a road trip up the coast and spent a few nights with us. We had a lovely visit; they got a chance to see the city and eat good sushi.

Blakely Island
In mid-July, we went with our friends Paul and Katherine to their cabin on Blakely Island. It's a small island in the San Juans that's not accessible on the state ferry system. Katherine spent her summers when she was a kid visiting her grandfather there for weeks at a time. Seeing something that's so important in her life was great. And we had a lovely time at their place, which has a huge deck right on the water.

We took a tour of the island, read, walked along the beach, ate fresh crab (that Paul caught and cleaned), cooked and relaxed. It was fantastic.

[Paul & Katherine's view and deck]

Mindy's House
The next weekend, we planned to go to Oregon to see our nieces Susannah and Michelle play in their final softball tournament of the summer. With temperatures above 100 degrees, the games were cancelled. So we went down just to hang out.

Saturday night, we took the kids to see Pirates of the Caribbean. The movie is almost three hours long, but the kids had no trouble sitting through (well, not much trouble). We ate popcorn and drank soda for dinner and the girls and I tittered about how cute Orlando Bloom is.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the quintessential dive of a diner/bar. The food was tasty and Mindy visited with some members of her church, who came after the morning service, from which Mindy played hooky.

That night Hart flew out of Portland for a few days of work in San Francisco. I stayed until Thursday morning. We went down to Portland every day (it's about 45 minutes south of Mindy's house) for various errands related to the house they are building.

Monday the girls came with us and we hit the jackpot on items for their rooms. I had fun playing interior designer, explaining why accent colors are important in a room (instead of solid purple, as Susannah originally wanted) and the difference between an orange-pink and a blue-pink (to Michelle).

Other than that, we looked a tile, granite, appliances, etc. and, most important, chose paint colors. By the time I left, the only color left to choose was for Richard's room.

Hart flew into Seattle Wednesday night. I drove up in time to pick him up from work on Thursday.

[Susannah & Richard watch TV while Ida (a 100-pound tummy dog) sleeps on Susannah's head]

Hart's Vacation
Friday was Hart's last day of work for two weeks. We ordered Pizza Hut to kick of the fun and have had a simultaneously lazy and productive weekend since. Chris, a friend that Hart met during his Workshop days, is in climbing Mt. Rainier as I type. He's coming to Seattle for dinner with us on Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning Hart and I will head to Montana and Glacier National Park. We have reservations for Wednesday night, but are otherwise unscheduled. We plan to camp in the park for at least two nights and then will explore other nearby areas.

What's Coming Up
Megan and Shahv, Hart's sister and brother-in-law, will be here the last Saturday of Hart's vacation. They'll be here for six days, but are spending part of the time in Vancouver. I'm hoping the weather will hold so we can enjoy some wonderful Seattle evenings.

The day after they leave, Hart's mom, Sarah, will come up for a week. We plan to spend a night on Whidbey Island, just to wander around and see a new part of the area. Hart and Sarah have tickets to a Mariners vs. Yankees game on Tuesday and Sarah and I have appointments at Habitude, the best (and most casual) spa I've ever been to, on Friday.

Otherwise, Sarah and I will probably visit some plant nurseries. Our yard is finally ready to plant and I want to peruse the native plants. I may even be ready to buy -- mostly because my dad is coming the week after Sarah leaves and he'll go crazy if I don't have a job for him to do.

We're already anticipating our neighbors' reactions when they see my 60+ dad working up a sweat in the yard. Since they never see us in the yard, I'm sure we'll seem pretty cruel.