Last Week of Preschool

Last week was the last week of preschool for Marlene. I can not believe that my little girl is starting school in September! Her class had a BBQ on Wednesday and then a "graduation" on Friday. Here are some pictures. It makes me sad that we might not see some of her forends again; Sophia and her family are moving to Hawaii; Aiko and her family are moving soon to California, and as much as you try to stay in contact, it will often not be possible.

Nothing going on

As some of you have noticed and remarked upon, some of the stuff I write is just bla-bla to have text under the pictures. Who am I kidding?! It is mostly about the pictures. We had a very uneventful week, so the biggest update is about Marlene's Garden. By now, the plants are about 10 inches high and have completely overgrown the carnations. I don't think they will survive the jungle. Also Marlene and Amelia went to their friends Grey Bird, Asher and Ally's house. That is it for this week. Next week Summer is starting. We will have the last days of school and then summer-travel will start with Disneyland.

Weekend Travel with Grans

Since Jason's mother was here for a week to help me while Jason is gone, we decided to go on a little weekend trip around Washington. On Saturday we left to drive Highway 2 to Leavenworth. We stopped on the way at the fabulous bakery in Sultan for lunch. After enormous sandwiches we took a box full of pastries with us on the drive. We reached Leavenworth an hour later. This being a beautiful Saturday afternoon in summer, the little town was full of tourists. Leavenworth is a fake Bavarian town in the Cascades full of little shops, restaurants, and hotels. We spent an hour walking around (a little bit goes a long way in Leavenworth). The plan was to spent the night in Wenatchee, so we continued on to Cashmere and Wenatchee. The town was completely sold out. After asking at a few motels we found out about a baseball tournament. So we drove on to Ellensberg to have dinner. We stayed with the theme of the day and ate at the "Matterhorn Inn". Amelia dined on a full bowl of olives. While she liked having one stuck to her finger, it freaked her out to have three on them. Since it is only 2 hours from Ellensberg to Seattle, we drove home. It saved us a lot of money, because Central Washington seems to be a booming tourist destination, and the girls found it easy the next day to sleep in in their own beds. While Marlene was in church on Sunday morning, the girls and I slept until 9 am, which has not happened in a long time. After breakfast the two Marlenes went to the playground, while Amelia and I mowed the lawn (this is the time of year when you can watch the grass grow). I am looking forward to summer when the grass dies and I don't have to mow all the time any more. After a fast lunch we drove to Edmonds to take a ferry ride to Kingston and back. On a sunny day it is like taking a mini-cruise. The actual crossing time is 20 minutes, which is just enough time to keep the kids interested. The Edmonds waterfront is beautiful. There is a park with sculptures and other art that goes along the beach, and let's not forget the beautiful houses and gardens all long the walk. After the ferry trip we went to Ballard to have dinner at the fire house, which houses a great family oriented restaurant. Our timing was great because in the early evening the clouds moved in and it got much cooler. So ended our weekend of travels, in which we had the best of Washington: Mountain passes, forest, snow, high plains, the ocean (okay only the sound), a nice city walk, and the beach.

A week of parties

Last week the parties did not seemed to end. Monday was Memorial Day and we went to a BBQ at Paula's house. It was a perfect day for a BBQ, not too hot and not too cold. It started in the afternoon and went way in to the evening. Amelia loved seeing Karla and Einar again. And Marlene was very excited to run around with Paula's nieces and nephews. Einar entertained the crowd by trying to drink the Lemonade straight out of the cooler, by standing under it and opening the spout. On Friday I went to my store party. A while back we had won money for our great success during the Brewing Event. After Pizza during our last store meeting, we had money left and so we had a BBQ at Ruth's and Emily's house. It was fun, just to hang out, while other people closed our store. On Saturday, then, Tor and Jess had the great Boat Launching Party at the Elliot Bay Marina. After many years of work, Tor (my friend Karla's brother) had finished building his own boat. As I understand it, it was always the goal to have it finished by his 30th birthday. And sure enough Tor had turned 30 a few days earlier. Tor and Jess had worked the last few week pretty much 24/7 to get it ready. The "Yare" is absolutely fabulous (not that I know anything about boats). I very much admired all the wood work. Marlene loved being able to climb into the cabin and looking outside. She very much wants to go on a trip.