Stephanie's Visit

My cousin Stephanie is visiting from Sydney, Australia where she lives with her husband, Andrew. We haven't seen her in four years!!! It was so nice to see her after all this time, and introduce her to Andy. They bonded, as you can see below, over music and dancing.

Andy's favorite treat of the night was the peaches and blackberries for dessert. I guess eating them all day at Discovery Park wasn't enough!

The garden

Shawn's garden -- everything is growing like crazy. He's got a variety of tomatoes, and we're hoping they start ripening one of these days!

This pumpkin started growing out of our compost pile, so Shawn moved it to the garden where it is flourishing.

This is the look of a kid who is about to spray you good! Notice my shaky camera work as I quickly turn and run.

After some unfortunate and traumatic sliver incidents, Andy is careful to step on the stones when he gets out of the house without shoes (which, I admit, is often).

Pizza Dough

Andy helps his dad make zucchini-wheat pizza crust!

Dad and Family

My dad, his wife Naoko, and daughters Karen and Arisa were in town last week and came over for dinner on Tuesday night. The girls were so excited to play with Andy, and he loved the attention -- he came right out of a late afternoon cry-fest and became the energetic, laughing boy I know. It was so much fun watching the three of them play together!

Karen and Arisa impress us with their musical stylings.

Boating!

We spent this Sunday on Mom and Tom's motor boat - it was Andy's first time on a boat. He managed to get into every nook and cranny in the several hours we were on the water. We fished (caught two dogfish -- where were the Chinook?) and stopped at Maggie's Bluff for lunch before heading back to Pier 66, where Tom moored the boat for the weekend. Thanks Mom and Tom for a great day on the water!

Andy at the helm -- notice his left hand on the wheel and his right hand on the gear shift. He's obviously born to be a skipper!

I love this photo - Andy laying in the bow of the boat, reading his new book on trucks. Have I mentioned that he looooves trucks?

Back at the wheel!

After a long day on the water, some fishermen just need to take a nap....

G.R.O.U.P. Dinner

Here's the gang, plus our families! We're friends from our LL.M. days (almost 10 years ago, yikes) -- the G.R.O.U.P., so named when we truly were a Group of Really Overeducated Underemployed People. Below is Kristie (center) and Connie (right) (two original GROUP members) with Kristie's husband Dak, Glen's wife Lisa, and Connie and Michael's son in the foreground. We gathered at Glen and Lisa's fantastic new (well, one year) house for dinner this Saturday. Thanks Glen and Lisa! We were treated to live music! That's Connie's husband Michael.

Here's the other original GROUP member, Glen, with Lisa (I can't believe it but I somehow didn't snap a photo of adorable baby Ryan!).


Listenting intently to Michael.

Tickle time!

What a trooper! Aidan busted his lip but bounced back to watch his dad play guitar.

Friday post-nap

Nonna stopped by to say hi to Andy and he slept through most of her visit, but woke up just in time to get a cuddle and a story before she left. This is Andy's typical post-nap face... Pointing at an "avion" as he calls them.


No need to cry over spilt milk, have Herbie lick it up!

Our good-hearted, fun little boy.

Peter and Esther

Peter and Esther received their professional photos -- look at these beautiful people! So in love.

Sprinkler

It's warm this weekend, so we got out our sprinkler and had some good old fashioned fun! Andy is most interested in picking up the sprinkler and taking control. He's been able to spray the hose for a while now, much to our peril, and now he's mastered pointing and spraying the sprinkler for his amusement. Basically, we're wet no matter where we sit.

AARRRHHHH! Getting sprayed!

Andy's new car

This is Andy's new car - after just a day with it he has figured out how to motor all over the patio and front yard powered just by his own two feet! Forward, backward, in circles, you name it. What's crazy is that he strikes a pose sometimes that I just KNOW came directly from Shawn's genes -- one hand on the wheel, the other arm propped up on his elbow on the back of the seat, very "I'm the man." Another early morning!

Halfway to 70

That's right -- halfway to 70. Or as someone at work put it, 3.5% of a millenium. Which has the dual effect of making you feel old and insignificant at the same time.

I got these fun balloons from the gang at work. I felt like I was underwater all day, har har. I'm not sure I've ever seen Andy quite that excited -- that was some high-pitched screaming!

I met Shawn after work at my favorite restaurant, El Camino, for the same meal I get there every time - plantain chips and flank steak in mole with a cranberry marg, YUM. Shawn brought a gift and these beautiful roses. How lucky am I!

The next day, Andy picked me this bunch of flowers. That's my sweetheart. I really AM lucky!

Andy and Bryn's first camping trip!

We spent last weekend camping with Melissa, Tod and Bryn at the Swift Creek Reservoir on the Lewis River in southwest Washingon. I've been working for several years on relicening 3 of the 4 dams on the Lewis River that create Lake Merwin, Yale Lake, and the Swift Creek Reservoir, so it was so fun to see all the places I've been hearing about and working on for so long -- the dams, lakes, hatcheries, recreation areas, etc.

We lucked out -- all of the camp sites had filled up hours before we arrived and people were being turned away in droves, but we pulled up to the campgrounds anyway because we were supposed to meet Miss and Tod there. As were were idling in the road, the campground supervisor came out and told us that a family had just given her notice that they were leaving in 15 minutes, and promised us the site! We ended up with a wonderful camp site just perfect for our two familes!

This photo does not do justice to the size of our many tent-like structures and facilities!

On Saturday morning, Andy work up at his usual time of just before 6am. So, we took a walk around the sleeping campgrounds and down to the beach!

My sweet pea!!!