bonus post

So this week Lyn and myself went to the famous 5th Ave Theatre in downtown Seattle. It is our city's premier venue for Broadway performances and top tier plays. It is the coolest building I have seen in a long time. It was built in 1926 and was restored in the 80's. Perhaps one of the coolest things is "Perhaps the most impressive feature of the theatre interior is the nearly exact replica of the dome from the throne room of the imperial palace in The Forbidden City. The magnificent chandelier, located in the center of the ceiling is twice the scale of the original.” It was really neat.Any how we went to see, Irving Berlins WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! It is so iconic of the season. We took the bus down town and it dropped us of 2 blocks from the theatre. We also were kid-less so that made it fun too. (although I think that Henry would have sat thru this thought) Seeing it live was really an experience to be had. The sets were so amazing. For the train scene when they sing 'snow' they have a train car cut in half lengthwise and after they get off at the station the train takes of across the stage!
The musical numbers were great, and they even encouraged signing along during White Christmas! I think that my favorite part was the very end when the granddaughter declares "It's snowing!" and they open up the barn doors at the back of the stage and there is snow coming down. It really showed up nice. It was very sparkly and the flakes drifted down ever so slowly. The next scene was outside of the barn and it was snowing on the whole stage, but before you knew it I looked up and it was snowing on the entire audience! The snow was in fact little bubbles that floated down on the currents of the room and glittered in the spot lights. There were coming from bubble machines on the ceiling. For a small moment I was caught up in a sense of wonder that made me feel as if I were 6 again.If you live in the Seattle area, I would so highly recommend this play, it was the best play that I have ever experienced. It plays thru the 30th I believe.

Other than that we are busy trying to finish making the kids Christmas gifts and get all the baking done for our annual Christmas Open House. We so love doing that and love visiting with all of our friends. Some of our friends live afar, we wish we could see you too, but know that we are thinking of you during this season.

Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving and Christmas set-up

Every year we go up beyond Leavenworth the day after Thanksgiving and get our Christmas tree. Here is a picture up in the mountains where we found our Christmas tree this year. (pretend the power lines aren't in the picture...) It was a beautiful day--there was snow, but it was sunny and not too cold. The kids played on sleds and made snow sculptures until they were freezing (which actually was a long time--funny how having fun makes you forget about discomfort!) Caleb's mom brought along the traditional picnic, complete with card table, tablecloth, plastic champagne glasses for the ginger ale, and Thanksgiving leftovers.
Caleb wanted a picture of his beloved Trooper, so here it is. :)
After returning to Grandma's house, the kids all had hot chocolate. Henry and Fern had so much fun with their cousins. It's so nice to have them living in WA now so the kids can see each other more often.
This is how I've always wanted my kids to be with the Christmas village. They love to lay down and look at the buildings and the dancing couples in the ballroom. We set it up under the fireplace hearth and it is a perfect cozy (and safe...) spot for it to be.

The kids are really excited about Christmas. Fern hasn't quite got the surprise element of the season yet...we were out the other day and I found a couple of presents for Caleb. We wrapped them up and when Caleb came home Henry excitedly told him we got him presents. Caleb said "I wonder what it could be" and promptly Fern runs over and says "It's a hat!". Needless to say, we have been keeping anything else out of sight. Caleb has been coaching her on how to respond to "what did you give me?" and she says "I can't tell you". We'll see if that sticks!

We let them each choose something to give to each other and then they got to wrap them up. (I think Fern's gift to Henry has a 1/2 roll of tape on it and perhaps 3-4 times the amount of wrapping paper required, but she is so proud of it.)

We have been preparing Henry for the disappointment of not receiving a real penguin from Santa (which is the only he wants). When asked what he wants for Christmas, he replies, "I just want a penguin. A real one." I think we need to re-read "My Penguin Osbert"... (It is a story about a boy who DOES receive a real penguin for Christmas, only to discover that he doesn't like taking ice baths and eating raw herring for breakfast, and how eventually he lets him go to the zoo.)

As a side note, Caleb has been laid off again and is recalculating trajectory...(as he says), but December is a nice time to have no work.

Halloween

Random Pic: fern by tomatoes. [check out those baby blues!]
Well Halloween has come and gone. We had a good time.
Friday night Lyn and I went on a very nice date. We went into Bellevue and saw a movie. Couple's Retreat. It was OK. We had gift certificates from a friend of ours so it was worth what we paid for it. Then we went to a very swank and expensive restaurant called Maggianos. Plates were $30-60. We had seen it before and it always looked so warm and inviting. We received a gift certificate for there. So we made it a date. The service was top notch. The food was so good. So good and so rich that it gave us both a stomach ache. Were not used to that kinda of food, but we would definitely do it again. The only downside of Maggianos was that there was a large group of 19-21 year old debutant girls having a B-day party. The were so drunk that they were actually falling down. The were loud, and stood on tables to get pic of the event. Ridiculous. Question why is it when people get drunk they exclaim to each other "I love you man!" ??? I thought that it was just in movies, but repeatedly I see it in life. WEIRD.
Henry wanted to be a pencil for Halloween. So we bought some concrete form tube and poster board and made one up. Fern wanted to be a purple kitty, so Lyn took that one on. Here are the results:We only went o maybe a dozen houses, but between the 2 kids we received exactly 6lbs of candy! We found a website that gives you a tone of fun experiments to do with candy, we hope to dispose of a good fraction of their candy through this. I continue to sell jobs at work, to the tune of $32K this month! which is phenomenal for Oct. But I am always faced with un-employment thru the winter, so things are really stressful, but we have got through worse, so don't worry too much.
Kids are doing great, and we are getting used to the cold weather. Don't like it but used to it.
Drop us a line.

Small update

HI! :)
So not alot of notable things has happened over here. I went sea kayaking at the end of Sept. That was fun.
My Bro Riley came over last weekend and we rebuilt the suspension on my Trooper. Also we ended up lifting it by about 2 inches also. It looks really cool. I'll get pic up after it gets aligned.
Work has slowed down, and we are facing possible layoffs, so that sucks, But on the bright side that will give us some time to possibly come and visit you!
My class at the university is going well. It's in Therapeutic/healing garden Design.
It rained cats and dogs here yesterday. We received 2 inches in one day.
My kids are awesome, I think that they must be the best kids ever.
Henry and I went to see 'Where the wild things are'. It was fun but I think that they tried to be a little bit too "deep" about it. But time spent palling around with Henry is always good.
We sat around and read architecture books all afternoon today. Someday we are going to design and build our own home.
The kids went to bed easy tonight! that's always a plus.
I am now done with my list of small points about our life.
let us know how you are doing.
Caleb

[random pics]

September...now that it's 2/3 of the way over....

Happy birthday Fern! Fern turned 3 on Sept. 5th. She loved her birthday as well as figuring out how to get her thumb and pinkie down on her hand to make 3 fingers.As per her request, she had pizza and "pop-pop" for dinner and a pink flower cake.
Henry is quite the biker. He loves to ride up and down the street, as well as racing down driveways. In general he is a timid person, but put him on a bike and he starts doing tricks! Caleb: I took Henry mtn Biking for the first time. Even on steep and rocky trails he did great. He is a natural biker.

We went camping last weekend to Jack Pass and found the ideal camping spot on the river. It was a beautiful weekend. The weather was perfect (80's) and there was hardly anyone around, so it was very peaceful. (the advantage of going the week after Labor Day)

We went on a drive and found a really pretty waterfall/stream and Caleb and Henry hiked down to get a better look at it. Caleb: It flowed back and forth from one pool to the other. There were cantilevered rocks and everything looked like something that you would see at a fancy resort, except that we were out in a remote area of the Cascade mtn range. The water was so clear and free of any debris that it looked like a swimming pool. Nothing makes me want to swim more than beautiful water.

This is the view from our campsite, right on the river. Caleb: We played in the river, built dams and explored the area. It was very fun. I enjoyed napping in the sun. I think that mtn sand is better than beach sand. Going to the coast is kind of boring compared to the beauty of the mtns.
Caleb: I must have taken 5 naps each day, I was so tired from a summer of hard work, and the spot was so tranquil that I felt completely at peace, hence many naps!
OK, so this year I have been having fun canning. I canned 21 quarts of peaches last week with the help of Henry and Fern--yes, their HELP. Henry dipped the peaches in the boiling water and then ladled them out after we were finished counting up to 30 (math practice for the day). I slipped the skins off and cut out any bruises, etc and then Fern cut them and put them in the bottles (as well as in her mouth). Henry also assisted in cutting, but wasn't too much of a fan of handling the slimy skinless peaches, so Fern put them in the bottles.
After the first 9 bottles, they were pretty much done with the cutting part, but at least those went quickly! I also canned some tomatoes--so far we've got 32+ lbs from our little garden. I'm so glad that we have had such nice warm weather this summer--I don't think we have ever had such big tomatoes that actually turn red!
Caleb: Henry and I went backpacking this weekend. We went on a trail that is rated as "challenging" in the guide book. It was only 3.1 miles but with a climb of nearly 2000 feet! To make it more difficult we got a late start and didn't get to the trailhead until after 7pm. The first hr we hiked in the dusk until we could no longer se. Then we turned on our headlamps and cuntinued until 10:10 when we reached the peak. The last 100yds is pure mtn climbing, hand over hand, scambling up boulders. At the last point there is even a ladder to get up into the lookout. I am the proudest father knowing that Henry did the entire ordeal unassisted! Along with being a great biker, he is a ntaural hiker/climber. The college kids that shared the lookout with us were so impress they could hardly speak. A 5yr old! Here is a pic after we cooked up dinnerAnd in the morning during the fierce storm that blew in in the middle of the night.We had to hike down in the rain for the 1st hr. Then it broke up a little. We found that it was peak Blueberry season and I spent 40mins having my fill of the most seet berries I truly have ever tasted. AS we where near the end of the hike, Henry turns and says to me "Dad, this is fun". I had a great time too. I hope that this is an adventure that will stick in his memory forever, and that he can always feel close to me because of it, and many more in the future.

Busy August. do you see a trend here?

Well, I bet everyone is wondering about how things are going for us. Work has been lousy. I sell around $45,000 per month, but in July I sold $450! And up until the 22 of Aug I hadn't sold anything! But I'll get to that in a minute. First of all we went on a cruise to Alaska. I love Alaska, I didn't that the cruise was all that great. I enjoyed the food. Probably a bit too much. I really enjoyed time with all my Bros' and Sis'. I really enjoyed seeing whales and Dolphins and what not. I think that the thing that I did not like was not being able to more fully experience Alaska. It's analogous to eating a giant cake with a toothpick, with a timer running. With the short time you have in port, and the expense of any of the "excursions" [$180 pp whale watching] you simply could not do much. The weather did not help either the first couple of days. (this pic shows the weather, it also shows the size and luxury of the ship. Outdoor movie theatre) Although ironically the rainiest day (Juneau) was the day me and Riley did the most hiking. We hiked 7 miles in the rain. We came back to ship soaked to the bone. We saw some really neat stuff though. The next day was decent weather and our port was Skagway. When we got off the boat we witnessed a train derailment. It was interesting, no one got hurt and we enjoyed watching them re- rail it. Now keep in mind we took over 300 pics. We had to narrow it down to the most beautiful and descriptive.Here is an example of not being able to get "into" the landscape. We took a "tour" in which we simply drove along the highway and stopped every 10 minutes for about 10 minutes to snap photos. It seemed that no one cared to experience it, they were simply content to get the photographic proof that they were there. I would rather hike the land for a day without a camera than to take a thousand pics of it in an afternoonHere we are leaving Skagway. The ships seemed so large and magnificent when we were parked next to them. As we pulled out they nearly disappeared in the shadow of the large mountains that were in the background. Gods creations will forever trump anything that man can come up with. I just wish that I had more time to see His work. The next day we went into Tracy Arm. It is fjord that is large enough for the ship to enter. We saw the most stunningly beautiful valleys and cliffs. And the glacier...It was so blue. As were the icebergs floating around the ship. It was neat that the ship had sideways thrusters, so when we got into the end of the channel we merely turned on our axis to spin the ship around. On of the problems that the ship created is that it is so large that it distorts your sense of proportion. The viewing deck is probably 50 feet up, so when you see icebergs you can't tell how big they are. I would love to return one day with a sea kayak and 3 days supply. This is a pic of the voyage between Tracy Arm and Ketchikan. It was so tranquil. We spotted lots of Humpback whales clearing their blowholes and breaking the water. We just sat there in the warm(ish) sun and watched them. Until they hooked and Xbox up to the outdoor cinema screen and let kids play Xbox at a very loud volume! That is one of the worst things about the cruise. If you go to Alaska you go because you want the wilderness experience. You can get noisy Xbox anyday anywhere. Over all though it was neat. Especially that night at our fancy Formal Dinner, when about 50 dolphins were swimming along side of the boat at pace with it. They were all jumping in and out of the water. I think that is one of the best parts of the cruise. "Formal night was made bearable by my fathers pimpin' plaid dinner jacket.
Here is a pic of the opulent main area, The Piazza. The blue column that you see with leaves on it is one of the 16 elevator on the ship. They went between 17 floors.

The ship was 930 feet long. Her you can see one of the main cabin decks. Riley took the pic, and I am at the far end of this hall. No surprise that you can't see me as I am almost 900 feet away!Like my cake analogy, it was good, it just left me wishing for more. All in all I had a good time. I wouldn't choose to do it again. Well maybe when I'm too old to go backpacking thru 3rd world countries and climb mtns.
I am thankful to have had the experience, Thanks Dad.
So back to the sales at work. The Monday I returned to work, I sold $45,125 in one day! I had been working on it all before hand but everyone waited till then to sign. So that is kinda cool. I have been consistently the top producer int eh company for most of the summer. I have outsold the other 2 guys combined, plus some. I love my job. The economy is worrying us though. work over all has been slow. usually we are scheduled out about 4-5 weeks at this point. Right now we are 4-5 days out.
I have crying kids breaking glasses and I can't concentrate very well. Everything is going well.
Hope that it is for you too.