Birthday weekend with Jane

We had a wonderful weekend visit with big sister/aunt Jane this weekend.  She recently had a big birthday and decided to come for a Cleveland visit as part of the celebration.  Fine by us!  We talked about past birthday trip celebrations, so it must be a sort of a tradition, right?

Friday Sam and I took Aunt Jane to the special Rembrandt exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  In the evening the nieces and nephew took her out to dinner.

Pizza at Deweys!

And a birthday celebration wouldn't be complete without some cake and singing.

Today we continued the celebration with a trip to the new Cleveland Aquarium.  Our campus parents group had arranged the visit, so it was perfect that Jane was in town to join us.  We enjoyed seeing all of the fish, especially the tank of lobsters which one views from below (where's the butter?) and the walk-through hallway in which sharks and rays swim around and above.  Cool!  Another fine meal out for lunch rounded out the weekend.  Thanks for coming, Jane!

Seattle getaway

Just a couple of photos from our 36 hour long date night in Seattle this week.


Sadly it was lashing rain on Monday night, so I did not get photos of our supper meal at Le Pichet.  The bourguinonne sauce on the root vegetable main dish Kim had was life changingly good.  I had a super tasty selection of charcuterie as a starter and ling cod main dish with pistou sauce that was very tasty.  And wine, most notably a chewy red from Bergerac.  Super dinner.  No pictures.


I did take a few photos on Tuesday.  Mostly food.


Our lunch at Serious Pie was a no brainer.  Their yukon gold/rosemary pizza is to die for.  That's a 3.14 Ale next to it, a joint project between Serious Pie and Elliot Bay Brewery.  3.14?  Pie?  Get it?

We strolled through Pike Place Market- how couldn't we?- and just had to stop at Beecher's Cheese.  Here's just one portion of their selection.  You might notice a dark, grape ash Tomme (goat's milk, soft cheese) in the middle there made by Quillisascut in Oregon, and redolent of some that I enjoyed in France with Anna last summer.  Yep, that's the one we got.  Very delicious.

And here is a festive holiday arrangement of peppers by another vendor.

We did non-food things too: strolled the massive REI flagship store, and even popped across to Feathered Friends, from whom I bought my down sleeping bag some 15 years ago.  Took in a movie at the fantastic Cinerama Theater.  Our favorite Hotel Ändra kept us comfortable overnight.  Cool and modern stationer Paperhaus had some tempting wares.  And we saw the new (to us) location of Elliott Bay Books, no longer in Pioneer Square but near Broadway now.  Finally, coffee with Kim former schoolmate, house mate and dear friend Sara before catching the ferry back to Bremerton.

We had a super time!

A PNW New Year

Here's a photo-dump of what we've been up to since Christmas on our Pacific Northwest holiday.

Kim and I enjoyed a nice kayak outing.  Just above the trees you can see the snow-capped Olympic mountains peeking out.

On the go!

Sam and I had a vehicular outing as well, on Grandpa Doug's tractor.

Yet another vehicle: ferry boat!  Sam enjoyed spotting the gulls.

The girls out on deck as we approach the Emerald City.

 Pop and Sam out on the beach at low tide.

 At the Experience Music Project in Seattle.  A Gehry designed building, Space Needle behind.

Inside, marveling at the massive guitar fountain.

A clear view of the Olympic mountains, from Seabeck, across the Hood Canal.

Morning sunrise across Dyes Inlet, Rainier peeking out.  Fire on the mountain!

Pacific Northwest Christmas

We are celebrating our holidays in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Above is the tree and the gifts before bedlam ensued on Christmas morning.

Anna and Sam were ready to celebrate!

On Christmas Eve, Mount Rainier came out of hiding, and was bathed in late afternoon sunshine.

Maggie helped her little brother with his stocking on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning there was a beautiful red sunrise (which happened well after the gift unwrapping began.)

Number One gift this year was a die-cast Kubota tractor for Sam, just like Grandpa Doug's full sized one.  After opening this one, all else was mere gravy.

No offense, Aunt Jane, I love the sweater, I just don't like having clothes pulled on over my head with people watching.

Lad and Grandpa comparing gifts.

This present was nearly bigger than Aunt Dorothy.

Anna loves Christmas!

A group photo with matching t-shirts.

Followed by obligatory FUNNY FACE!

Holidays are here!

I've been terribly lazy in updating the blog, so I thought the best excuse to post would be to share a few holiday pictures.

First, our holiday family portrait.  We took this in the lobby of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where Maggie performed her end-of-semester prep orchestra concert just over a week ago.

Here are the three kids- Anna, Sam, and Maggie.

We had birthdays this month too.  Here are the three birthday girls!

And there was another holiday just about a month ago too!  We shared a wonderful Thanksgiving with my sisters and their families in sunny and warm Smyrna, Georgia.  Sam loved having the attention of cousins, uncles, and definitely aunties.

All our best wishes to friends and family for a wonderful holiday season, be it Solstice, Hanukkah, or Christmas.

Super Halloween

We had a pretty Super Halloween here this year.

Grandma was in town for one thing, and that's ALWAYS super.  She also made Sam a very sweet Superman costume for Sam.  He's been eyeing it for two weeks now, smiling every time we said "SUPER SAM!"

However, I don't think Superman had to endure the shame of having his mother and grandmother get him into his suit.  Sadly no phone booth was handy.

Much happier once he's got his suit of invincibility, here's the Super lad and his Super mom.

He really enjoyed seeing the kids come to the door, bending bars of steel, and getting into his jammies.

Visit from Grandma and Choosing a College

We've had a wonderful visit with Grandma Pam the last two weeks.  We even got some glorious sunny and warm northeast Ohio autumn weather!  She and Sam had a wonderful time, especially on the swings.

Mommy makes sure Sam gets plenty of energy food.

Anna gave a presentation to the local AFS group about her six months in France.  With her were the two other students from Heights High who also were away last year (Finland and France.)

A senior this year, Anna has been busy thinking about where she would like to go to college next year. It's not an easy decision to make!  Sam has done his best to help out.  First he suggested the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, home of the Nanooks (great hockey!)

How about Boston?  I hear Harvard is a pretty good place to get an education.

Of course, both Kim and Sam think you can't get much better than Princeton.  Go, Tigers!