Karate Promotion

Conrad has now graduated to his Orange/Stripe "Junior" belt.  His promotion test was Tuesday.

 Here he patienly sits until his Sensei tells him he passes, and shakes his hand.

  It was great to see, he is very good and felt great after he knew he passed.  They order the belts once they know how many students pass, and they get them in a few weeks.  So I will add pics of the promotions, and later add when he gets the new one added to his Gi!

Yes.. I was so proud I teared up!

Camping at Grayland, the weather forecast 10/1 & 10/2 2011

Current forecast is sunbreaks, low chance rain for the upcoming weekend. 

Archived weather indicator patterns (above) from Drydays.com show more of a transitional period with more possibility of rain Friday through Sunday.

Well, I guess we will just see what happens!

My haircut

Mom got a pic, a little blurry, but you can see I went and had my hair cut off!  Feels great, I love it.  I really thought I would have misgivings, but the stylist was a hair design star!

The colors were more vibrant the closer to Leavenworth that we got.  The underbrush was a spotted fiery red.

This Weekend September 24 & 25th 2011

Headed for an overnight to Leavenworth to celebrate moms birthday tomorrow.

She wanted to see the countryside and the leaves turning.

The 59'er Diner on Highway 2

 They boast world famous milkshakes.  We bought some tiny tot milkshakes.  Any they were pretty awesome.  And the curly fries rocked.

 We stayed at the Beaver Valley Lodge.  It was really clean and beautiful.  Rooms with all new material construction.  The toilet, (important feature) was a quiet non running one.  Love that.  It was very quiet there.  The was a general store, hardware store and cafe.  Kinda cultish atmosphere, with all the buildings with the same theme and color scheme, kinda like "too farmy" trying too hard to be picture perfect, but it worked.  I didn't see any stepford farmhouse wives, just regular folk.

I napped for a little, mom & Conrad played scrabble.  The room had all these games.  Pretty cool. And the tv was on the cartoon network when we turned it on.. Eeerie.  The dead bambi above the table made mom (lover of all nature) sit back, but then she forgot about it.

 Conrad and I roamed Leavenworth a little.  The Old Tyme Photos was closed.

 Leavenworth murals are cool.  Leavenworth is pretty picture perfect too.  But since it is known for the Bavarian Ales -- if you stay later you see drunken fools, so the overall picturesque dream is shattered.  That is why we stayed out of town.  And we only visit town in the early morning before it gets busy.

 We had breakfast at the Old Sawmill Cafe.  Old photos everywhere and cute Cowgirl and cowboy motif.  Darn tooting great flapjack's are now in my top 3 of all time.  Worth going there for.  Though mom was disappointed that there were no banana pancakes.

Tonight....Keller Skate Event

We did practice Saturday. So here we are again.

Rock and Roll Conrad.

Churro. 

Conrad loved it.

Tonight I tried a Churro. 

 I am afraid that to me it tasted like a cinnamon and sugar coated piece of stale carpet.

                                  This girl STOMPED Conrad at Air Hockey

A fun weekend...

Later in the day Saturday we went to Skate King so Conrad and "Z" could practice skating.  Even though they go to different schools, they both have a school Skate King event next week.  Now they will both have some practice.  Below is when we took a break from skating and had some snacks and they put quarters in the toy vending  machines.  They both got candy and Conrad got a fake mustache. 

Just being silly goofballs!

We saw the wonderful Installation of James McDaniel.  Vintage black and whites at Omega Photos on Saturday.  Found film and negatives produce a wonderful wall scape of history and intrigue.  In every photo, like a "Where's Waldo," is a hidden - or not so hidden - camera!  Very nice.  Each grouping tell a story that draws you in and you see interesting details that really hold you suspended in time. 

 

Thanks Liz & James, it was wonderful!

Scott has an old camera and ordered film as we got caught up in the excitement of picture taking.

Conrad wanted to dress up.  He is wearing a stylish tie, white oxford, and some nice black jeans.  I got him a few different sets of nice clothes and ties so when we went to the WKA (Conrad's Karate Dojo) 45th celebration banquet at the Bellevue Athletic Club, that he could look nice if he wanted to.  And he likes dressing up, so it worked out great.

Little view around our main bathroom. The new thing here is the Rain Shower head. I found one 60% off at Target when I was buying some more washcloths.

I found at a thrift sore some cute little egg shaped soaps, and you know what----they had the initial K on them ...BONUS!

They go really well with the birdie blackboard that I display by the sink that remins us all to brush, wash, floss & smile!

Little view around our main bathroom.   I came home and Scott put the shower head right in, in less than 5 minutes! He is so great... Excitement. I can't wait to use it.

Little vignette's of our bedroom.  On my night stand there is a cool photo that Carolyn took on a trip up here where we were sitting on a ferry and Scott napped against my shoulder.

I have alot of keepsake items stuck on a memory board on Scott's little dresser.

A very old pic of me when I was half my size..

This is also my favorite pic of Scott at our wedding.  So GQ, looks like he is modeling the tux instead of being the groom.

Okay!  We got a NEW KING bed.  And the comforter Scott's family gave us as a wedding gift is lovingly on the new bed.  Here it is!  Sears had a 60% off sale, and since we had been looking, debating, crunching the numbers, we got a great bed at Sears.

We try to play a board game or have a family movie night every week.  This week it is LIFE Indiana Jones.  It was pretty fun.  Though it was un nerving how I would look over and see that the eyes on the box were following me. Indie was staring a me the entire time, what a rascal!

Overlake Blueberry Farm

Before we headed out on vacation, we went to the Overlake Blueberry Farm and for $6.36 we spent a fun filled hour picking about 2 gallons of berries.
Conrad's outfit, it was Crazy Clothes Friday. He was a camouflaged Leprechaun.. I think.

In Memory..

To my cousin, in remembrance.

I wish I tried to understand your pain.

I wish we could have talked about what bothered you.

You are finally free.

You are finally home.

All of your burdens are in his hands.

May you now be at peace.

Your friend always.

Blue to black..

Scott bought me a Molbaks gift card.  Molbaks is the most awesome of plant nurseries.  I bought 2 planters and plants for container pots.    The large pottery pots are so expensive and heavy.  Of course I wanted large sleek ones.  I got the same look that I wanted and purchased less expensive all recycled material light weight pots and Conrad and I took turns painting them with special "plastic" paint from Home Depot.

Earlier this Spring we changed out the white old shutters for black, and with the new Glidden Trim and Door paint, I changed the blue to black to match the shutters.

Final look, sleek black door and black containers filled with lovely plants, ivy, inpatients.

First Day of School - 4th Grade Mrs. Patti Austin

Today is the first day of school for Conrad.  He is very excited to be entering into Mrs. Austin's 4th grade class at Helen Keller Elementary.

And finally home....

This is an epic light saber battle!

Before we headed home Conrad and his cousin Aiden got to play in the front yard.  They really had a blast.

Some of the photos they wanted to "pose" in an awesome battle scene for me..

This is a pic of Aaron & Christine's home on Spokane.  It is a lovely old house large and spacious.  They recently had the back deck redone, and red trim painted on the gables.  In Aaron's after work time as an electrical engineer, he built this playhouse.  It has the feel it was always there due to the cool stain glass windows that he re - appropriated from a garden shed he promised to make Christine, to the play tree-house.  He explained that all he has to do is take off the footings, lower the house and it can become her potting shed.  I looked, he was right..  He is a genius that way.

Shots of the Silverwood park.  Christine holding Ian on the Carousel.  Little cousin Ian watching as the boys ride a kids ride.  They were just short enough to ride the smaller kid's ride like the planes and copter rides.  Next year, they will have to ride bigger rides.

The boys playing at a play area, and still more little kids rides.

Port Townsend, Coupville, La Conner, Spokane, Silverwood Theme Park

Silverwood Theme Park was so much prettier than I expected.  Going on a Friday made the lines shorter, and the overall feeling much better than if it was over crowded.  We took Ian on the Tilt-a-Whirl and he did very well, I was so surprised!  The boys wandered int he candy store, with a promise to consider something later depending on their behavior (of course!).

Wow, what can I say, La Conner.  As we wind ourselves back home, we stop in La Conner for dinner.  La Conner was breathtaking as well.  We are open air dining on a deck overlooking the inlet with a view of a bridge.

Kite flying on the Port Townsend beach was awesome.  The most perfect weather.  Sunny, but not hot, breezy but not cold. I snuck a few La Conner pics in this one...

We spent a about 3 hours or so, I could have spent all day there sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand.  A great pic of Conrad and his "Pop Rocks" experience.

This year we visited the Science Center and was not disappointed.  There is a part of it on the pier, and also on the mainland.  It was very modern and cool.

A shot of the Palace Hotel.  I recommend this hotel in Port Townsend because of the location, the parking down town is a must, the Victorian atmosphere and Bob" the innkeeper remembers everything.  The "Genevieve" room is a King plus a small couch that Conrad camped on with this sleeping bag (not recommended for adults as this is a Victorian style small sized settee),  Perfect for us.

Dinner at the Fountain Cafe was splendid.  We later were told it was voted best cafe in Washington State. (Bonus!)