Scenic Road Trip to Leavenworth

Mom, Bonnie and I took advantage of another gorgeous day to drive through Stevens Pass to Leavenworth in the Cascade mountains. The trip was so incredibly scenic, but there are no places to pull over, so Mom and Bonnie were snapping pictures from the car, as we drove by.

~ Leavenworth ~

Kids (and adults) were having a blast sledding down this hill in the middle of town.
Made me wish we had brought our sled with us!
Oh well, next time I'll know to be prepared with sled in trunk.

Mt. Rainier Photo Op

Yay, sunshine and clear skies! Mom, Bonnie and I decided to take advantage of such a perfect day by taking pictures of this beautiful part of the country. We drove around searching for good views of Mt. Rainier. The trick was finding not only a good photo op, but also a place where we could safely pull over to get the shot. We finally found one!

Santa Came Through!

Santa was feeling generous this year and finally brought Katie the Jeep she has wanted since last Christmas! She was excited, but nervous about driving it the first time. However, it didn't take her long to get the hang of it. She drove down the street and picked up her friend who also seemed to enjoy the ride.

Happy 6th Birthday, Sweet Katie!

Six years ago, my baby girl was born,
promptly on her due date at 2:11am.
7lbs., 12 ozs., 19"
The best Christmas gift ever.
The best day of my life.

Her cake was shaped like a dog bone.

Garden d'Lights 2009

Regina, Katie, my Mom, my sister and I visited the Bellevue Botanical Garden to enjoy their beautiful holiday display of lights. It was spectacular, as always!

Decorating Cookies

Regina baked up some sugar cookies and my Mom made some butter cookies... um, too many, actually! And of course, they needed to be decorated. Katie, Regina and my Mom took on the task and did a delicious job!

It's a Party!

This year we decided to have a birthday party for Katie so she could invite her friends to celebrate with her. Because it's such a busy time of year anyway, we hesitated to add to the chaos, but in the end, we went ahead with it because Katie wanted it so badly. So, we held it at KidzBounce in Preston so the kids could bounce off the walls and get all of their wiggles out! Katie was thrilled!

Festival of Peace and Light

Katie's school presented an impressive holiday concert today. The kindergarten students sang Trotta Trotta Cavellino in Italian, Jingle Bells in Spanish, and Peace in 12 Languages. They held it at the BCC gym and it lasted about an hour. Here is a 2-minute video of Katie's participation:

DAY 6 - VA to WA

LONG day! 15 hours on the road, 845 miles. Park City, UT to Fall City, WA (home). While we slept last night, it snowed probably 3 or 4 inches, but it was a dry, powder that easily blew off the car. The drive today was difficult though. By the end of the day we were so tired of driving in snow/rain/sleet! Miraculously though, we could finally relax when it cleared up right around the WA state border.

DAY 5 - VA to WA

8 hours on the road, 504 miles. Estes Park, CO to Park City, UT. Tomorrow we hope to finish the trip in Seattle.

DAY 4 - VA to WA

9.5 hours on the road, 595 miles. Topeka, KS to Estes Park, CO. My sister, Bonnie is with me for the rest of the trip. We're staying tonight at the Stanley Hotel, which is a beautiful, 100-year-old, haunted hotel in the mountains with quite a haunted history. This hotel is where Stephen King stayed, in room 217, which is a haunted room, and he was inspired to write The Shining. Apparently, the strange things he wrote about in The Shining are based on personal experiences he had during his stay at the Stanley Hotel.

DAY 3 - VA to WA

Hanging out in Topeka, KS today. Waiting for the roads to be a little bit safer after the snow storm yesterday. Bonnie and I are planning to head out tomorrow morning. It's sunny, windy and FRIGID cold here. I haven't felt this kind of cold in years. Brings back childhood memories of growing up here.

DAY 2 - VA to WA

Drove 11.5 hours, 646 miles. Lexington, KY to Topeka, KS. Lots of rain today. The trip ended with sleet turning into snow. I hate driving in snow. But I did it! Fortunately, the car's navigation system guided me perfectly to my sister's apartment, where I'm staying tonight.

DAY 1 - VA to WA

Yesterday, Regina and Katie flew back to Seattle. Katie has to be back in school today. I stayed behind to drive Betty's (Regina's Mom) car back to Seattle. Now that it's been 6 months since her stroke this summer, it's pretty clear she won't be driving anymore. Betty's car is brand new, so Regina and I will buy it from her to replace ours which we are ready to trade in anyway.

Regina and Edy went through Betty's house and packed the car with as many of her things as they thought she could still use. Betty will move in with us as soon as we have made some changes in the house necessary to accomodate her immobility.

I started driving today, but got a later start than I had anticipated. Didn't leave Edy's house until about 1pm. Drove 391 miles, 6 hours on the road, from Waynesboro, VA to Lexington, KY. Tonight I'm crashing at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Lexington.

Waynesboro, VA: Dec 3-6

We decided to take advantage of Katie's days off from school Dec 3 and 4th to fly back to Waynesboro, VA to visit with Regina's sister, Edy, and family. It was our first opportunity to meet MacKenzie Lee who was born last month.





While we were there, MacKenzie was baptized, so we attended the ceremony. I was responsible for photography and decorating the baptism candle. Katelyn and I spent quite a bit of time designing and executing our idea for the candle. We were a good team and I'm happy with how it turned out.


Also while we were there, we got several inches of snow. Fortunately, it didn't get in the way of any plans and it was beautiful!