Kayaking 2012

We're back from our 3-day kayaking adventure!  It was a great getaway filled with nature, friends, and fun.  Sadly there were no whale sightings this time, but we spotted numerous harbor seals, eagles, and even a mink.

It was amazing to have Dave there this time.  He got to steer our kayak from the captain's seat in the back, and we worked as a team battling the tides and wind.  Together we failed miserably at a game of Farkle, enjoyed a horseshoe tournament triumph, and leaned back in our kayak cockpits to sun ourselves and watch for whales.  We were the orange/red kayak in our rainbow fleet, and carefully navigated "Nemo" from island to island.

Many thanks to Dana for taking the lead in arrange this year's trip, and for risking her camera to take some wonderful photos!

Brinnon, briefly

The weekend before last Dave and I made it out to Brinnon for a quick, but fun, visit.

Kayaking on Hood Canal

We laugh that we're supposed to be the spry, fit 20-somethings, and always feel like we're running to keep up with my parents!  I guess that shows what you can accomplish in your retirement.

While out on the water, we saw dozens of seals - in fact, it was sometimes creepy because they would pop up, then dive down and sneak closer.  It was like they were stalking us...these floating heads in the water.  Okay, that makes it sounds really creepy, when it was really one of those amazing nature moments.

I helped man the barbeque for dinner, which was interesting since I'm pretty incapable.  But it resulted in some yummy roasted vegetables.  Cathy also made us to-die-for vanilla scones the next morning.  Nom nom.

Our visited ended with a short, but satisfying, hike to see a waterfall and walk-in campground along the river.  We walked back right down on the river's edge.

And of course, we always enjoy a good ferry ride...all the makings of a great, outdoorsy weekend!

Karla & Brian's wedding

Back in June we celebrated the marriage of my cousin Karla to her now husband Brian.  I was honored to be part of the wedding, serving as the "Week-of Wedding Coordinator."  I oversaw set-up, queued the bridal party, and generally tried to help out so that my cousin and aunt could enjoy the special day.  I think I did okay - I became very emotional about wanting everything to go off perfectly for my family. :)

The wedding was beautiful.  The bride was beautiful.  It was wonderful to watch the event unfold with my husband by my side.

I was honored that Karla chose to wear my veil.  She also had a garter made by the amazing Brianne.  I wore my grandma's pearls, and Karla carried her handkerchief.

Dave was a huge help, both to me, and in completing wedding set-up.  When he wasn't running around for me, he was taking some beautiful pictures...

Yup, they had a World of Warcraft groom's cake.  Needless to say, Dave was a little jealous!

What a GORGEOUS bride!

The groom (right) with his best man (left).

Our family, we know how to party.  Hahaha.

Congratulations to the bride and groom!  And Brian, welcome to our big, crazy, silly, always entertaining family!

D.C., briefly

Last weekend Brianne and I flew to Washington, D.C. for the wedding of our amazing middle school friend Sarah.  Last summer Sarah and her fiance flew out for my wedding (Sarah is in the lovely purple dress in this Galaxy Girls photo - Thanks, Princess Mars!), and it was great to see each other twice in one year.  I was sad that Dave couldn't join in, but I enjoyed the quality time with some of my favorite people in the world.

Here's a taste of our 4 days in the District:

Thursday - Arrival and bachelorette party

Brianne modeling our party garb

The Bride

Friday - Pedicures with the bridal party, Erik's arrival, jazz in the sculpture garden, DC sites

Erik (B's boyfriend) and Bri

Awesome bike storage solution at the sculpture garden

The tiny replacement National Christmas Tree (the old one blew over in a storm)

Saturday - National Archives, National Galleries, Wedding!

National Archives

National Galleries

 

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs., and thanks to Sarah, Gavin, Brianne, Erik, and Sarah's family and friends for a wonderful long weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend

Dave and I went away for the long weekend.  With several wedding and reunion trips coming up (and entirely separate flights - Yuck!), we decided to take some relaxing time with just the two of us, away from projects and distractions.

I wanted to take Dave to the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula, which I visited in March as part of a conference.  We also wanted to go out to the coast and see some of Olympic National Park, so we stayed at Lake Crescent Lodge and visited the Hoh Rainforest and La Push.

As one might expect, we took about a zillion pictures.  To summarize our trip:

Fun at the mouth of the Elwha River on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and at Third Beach near La Push

Hiking around Lake Crescent, through the Hoh Rainforest, and down to Third Beach

Relaxing at beautiful Lake Crescent Lodge

And in case you were wondering...yes, we stopped briefly in Forks.

Dave took my picture with Bella's car

 But we skipped the "Twilight Tour" despite the awesome sign that read: "Twilight Capitol of the World - Where vampires and werewolves are welcome and shirts are optional."

Can't wait for our next adventure out (further) west!

done, Done, DONE

It's been a long break from this blog, filled with papers, posters, reading, teaching, and grading.  I have never had a quarter that was so continuously stressful, and the only thing that kept me going was the light at the end of the tunnel - completing the program.

That's right, I'm a graduate!  My Master's project was approved, I got my grades (and I'm quite proud of 'em), and I completed all my TA responsibilities!

On Wednesday night I was officially done with school, but just as that chapter closed, I took off for the Environmental Education Association of Washington and Washington Science Teachers Association joint conference.  I was able to stay with my dad and Cathy (thanks!) for three nights while I attended conference sessions.  Friday I was part of a field trip to the Elwha River, home to two dams that were built without fish passage.  The dams will be removed beginning in September, sparking a major ecosystem restoration effort.  Saturday I attended several conference sessions and enjoyed the keynote speech from Ken Miller - a cellular biologist, professor, and textbook author.  Sunday I caught one more session before taking the ferry home.

I wish I had more pictures from the long weekend (there were some GORGEOUS sunrises), but here are a few views from the Elwha field trip:

 Our mini-bus for visiting the dam sites - it was squishy to say the least...

 The lower dam

 The far side of the lower dam - the Elwha was a great site for hydropower because of the cliff walls

 The lake that formed behind the lower dam

 At the mouth of the Elwha on the coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca - someone had fun making this!

I wish I had a recording of the sound of the waves moving these rocks

- they were perfectly polished, geology in action!

Now I'm focused on catching up on all the things that I fell behind on in the last couple of months - things around the house, errands, etc.  I'm also starting my job search...

I can't wait to see everyone!  Thanks for all your support and congratulations!

THAT was the day

The other day I miscounted how long we've been married and I was convinced I had missed the 6 month mark.  Dave and I tend to celebrate the 6 month/1 year milestones, so I was feeling all sad.  Then I realized that February 21 is really the 6 month mark - phew!

It's fun being newlyweds because we're still processing everything.  I did a fair amount of thinking about the wedding when designing photobooks and cards for Christmas.  But when recovering photos from Dave's phone, I came across this one:

That's pretty much the first thing I did when we got into our room at Cannon Beach on the first day of our honeymoon.  Now THAT was a good day.

Weekend trip to Victoria

I'm a little behind on sharing the few pictures we took on our weekend trip to Victoria, but better late than never!

I've decided this is still cute considering we were in dark, rainy conditions with Dave trying to capture us with his phone camera :)

It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed the escape.  We took the Victoria Clipper and stayed at the Empress hotel this time (que fancy).  The first day there was drizzle, but nothing too major until after dark when we got drenched going to dinner - in part because they had a wait, we contemplated going somewhere else, and then went back.  The next day it was stormy.  On and off hard rain and strong winds.  It made for some amusing photos (one in which it appears I have no eyes):

All in all we really enjoyed our weekend getaway!