Who's your best buddy?

Uncle Bubba!

Or at least that's what I've been brainwashed to believe since birth...I kid, I kid.

Happy birthday to the best buddy and uncle ever! I really do just LOVE you.

Housewarming Party

On Sunday (after napping from being up at Clint's triathlon), I had some people over to the new place for a little housewarming party. It was pretty fun giving my friends a house tour and showing them all the little projects I've worked on. I had bought a few take-and-bake pizzas from Costco (so cheap and so good) along with a couple cases of beer to make it easy. We had fun eating and chatting as people came and went since I made it "open house" style. Jessica even brought over 10 month old baby Ben, so it was fun to visit with him. He is such a cutie. After holding him while giving a house tour, I went to put him down on the ground where he held this crouching position for quite some time.

mean muggin'

Unfortunately, that was the only photo of the day, but I'm planning to take some pictures of the new place now that it's furnished and I'm all settled in. I'll be sure to get those posted.

Thanks to everyone that was able to make it and warm my house! It was great to see you all, and thank you too for stocking my wine (and margarita) collection :)

Triathlon Man

Early Sunday morning, Clint competed in the long awaited Seafair sprint triathlon. He has been training for the past few months ever since we bought bicycles over Memorial Day weekend, and the day was finally here. Clint couldn't have been more prepared (although he did say he almost left the house that morning without his bike) with all the training and researching he had done. Since it was so early, and he wasn't sure how much of a spectator sport it would be, he said I wouldn't need to be there. I took that opportunity to then show up and surprise him!

I set my alarm for 5:30am (ouch) that morning, and decided to make a game time decision if I would go. The alarm went off, and my first reaction was to turn it off and go back to sleep. I sent Clint a "good luck" text, and stayed in bed. Then I got to thinking, I'm already awake, and I'd hate to miss it. So with that, I was up and at 'em, and headed over to Seward Park. Once I parked and made my way to the start of the race, I gave him a call. "Surprise, I'm here, where are you?" I was gonna be pretty upset if I had come out for it and wasn't even able to find him!

cloudy morning and lots of people

It was early enough before his heat that he was still getting his bike and gear all set up. He walked over to the fence and met me there so I could say hi and wish him luck in person. I'm pretty sure he was happy to see me and have me there to cheer him on.

Matt and Gemma were also at the race. They both were intending to compete until Matt broke his arm falling off his bike while out training one day. Gemma was still going through with it, so Matt was there to cheer her on. That made it nice to have someone on the sidelines with me during the race.

rise and shine

Matt and Clint

Gemma gettin ready

As it got closer to the start of his heat, Clint headed back over to his bike to get ready. He would be in the first wave of the sprint triathlon (the olympic triathloners were already going) with the rest of the men in his age group, and Gemma was in the second wave for women. Matt and I headed over to get a good spot along the beach to watch them start with the swim.

hydrating

stretching

wet suited up

The horn sounded for Clint's wave, and a bunch of little blue swim caps started moving across the water. It was impossible to tell which one he was, but I was able to spot him as he finished and headed up the beach to his bike.

they're off!

little blurry, he was moving really fast :)

I was also able to get a few shots of him transitioning from the swim portion to his bike, and then watched him take off as he headed out to ride over the I-90 bridge and back.

safety first

With a little bit of down time, I got to see Gemma finish swimming and head out on her bike as well.

Clint then made it back from his bike ride, changed shoes, and was off to run around the Seward Park trail.

all the bikes waiting for their owners to finish the race

I then made my way over to the finish line to get a good view of Clint crossing it. It was fun to see the top finishers come in and get their pictures taken. Every finisher received a medal that was given to you by a Seagal. I was certain that would be Clint's favorite part, but as he was coming across the finish line, he kept right on going without stopping or even seeing them. They got his attention and made him turn back in order to get one, ha.

finisher!

Clint ended with an amazing time, finishing 13th in his class and 115th overall out of over 600 people. I'm so glad I pulled myself out of bed to be there to watch. So proud of him!

triathlon man

Ferry boat road trip

On Saturday, my mom, grandpa, and Uncle Bub and I all set out on a one day road trip. It was going to be a nice Summer day, and I was looking forward to spending it with family. Our plan was to take the ferry over to Port Townsend to have lunch and site see. We all met at Mom's that morning, and headed out to the Edmonds ferry. Once we got there, the line was a 2-hour wait...yikes! We decided to change our route and drove up to Mukilteo instead.

The line at Mukilteo was much more tolerable. We had a little bit of a wait, but then they were able to squeeze us on at the end just in time to not have to wait for the next ferry.

waiting in line while smelling delicious fish n chips

here comes our ferry!

We got out of the car and went up to the ferry deck to watch as we left Mukilteo and arrived at Whidbey Island. Mom and I used to make this trip quite often when Liz's mom lived just off the ferry on Whidbey. We would go over in the Summer for the 4th of July, as well as Easter, Thanksgiving, and even Halloween. It's been years since she sold that house, so we had fun reminiscing as we drove by.

first ferry of the day

me and Bubba

No stops were made on Whidbey Island...we were on a mission: get to Port Townsend for lunch. We headed North on the island to the Keystone ferry (or Coupeville, it seemed to have two names), and this one took us right over to Port Townsend. We watched the campers right on the beach as we took off, and also saw some baby seagulls out on a piling. It was turning out to be a beautiful day, perfect for riding ferry boats.

stretching our legs while waiting in the ferry line

Thanks for having us!

campers

Momma

Dad on the lookout

screaming babies

another seagull family

boat launch in Keystone

Papa explaining something

goodbye Coupeville

After traveling for what seemed like forever (when you're hungry), we finally arrived in the cute little town of Port Townsend. I can't remember ever being here before, but the town is full of touristy shops, restaurants, and a beautiful waterfront.

First things first, park the car and get lunch! Bub knew of a sandwich shop that he wanted to take us to, so that's where we headed. We turned the corner off the main drag to find this adorable house that has been converted into a cafe. We walked in and started drooling over all the fresh baked breads, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and the hugest homemade pies you've ever seen all out in the front display cases.

We ended up splitting a couple of their ginormous sandwiches (on fresh baked bread of course). I don't know if it was because I was so starving, but this chicken salad with pesto and pine nut sandwich on homemade wheat bread was the most delicious thing I've ever had! It was definitely worth the wait and two ferry rides. Dessert was even better as we forced down their generous portions of pie. Mom and I had the raspberry cream cheese pie, while Papa and Bub had the King's Pie (chocolate ganache with bananas topped with custard...yum!).

After lunch, we walked off our calories and explored the town. We headed down to the marina and checked out all the cool boats that were docked. We also walked along the beach and collected rocks to put in Mom's yard. It was fun to watch the people out and about, either on the beach, out kayaking, or camping right on the waterfront.

resting after our big lunch

We also checked out the Pygmy Boats and the wood shop.

Before heading out, we walked along the main drag and did some shopping. I found a little store called Conservatory Coastal where they have the cutest home decor. I could spend a good amount of time in there looking at everything, but time was limited with the fam. I ended up finding a cute scarf and some tiny sand dollars to put in my bathroom.

Conservatory Coastal

the sand dollars in a shell Mom had and gave me

We then made our way back to the car, and headed to Kingston to catch our last ferry of the day. It was a pretty drive, and we even got to go over the Hood Canal bridge.

We had just missed the ferry in Kingston, so we had about an hour to kill. We got out of the car and walked around the ferry area, then got some cold drinks and sat in the park. 

The ferry showed up, and we boarded for our last ride of the day. We sailed back to Edmonds, where we had originally started. The weather was getting a little chilly by this time, but still clear blue skies.

goodbye Kingston

hello Edmonds

After a fun day, we made it back to Mom's house, and I headed home. Our day trip took us about 9 hours and 105 miles. We all had a blast and it was great to get a chance to spend time together.

Our route