Ski To Sea 2008

This is the second year my husband has participated in this event. The first time was in 2001 and we was approached by a guy at the gym he went to. He completed the cross country event. This year he was asked by our friends Ray & Lisa, whom we know through volleyball. Lisa's employer was sponsoring a team and they needed someone to ski the downhill portion for them this year. Ray was doing the running leg. So Martin agreed to be their snowboarder. Not a lot of people like this portion as most of this leg consists of hiking up the hill rather than skiing/boarding down. just like the first time Martin practiced (once) on the run and then showed up ready to go.

The team did really well considering they were just a bunch of average guys, with the exception of the cross country skier, who apparently is a pro. This guy manged to finagle them a really good positron out of the starting gate and the rest of the boys performed well also.

After the race the company (Lucid Consulting) even put on a BBQ for the racers and their families. What a great weekend...

Saturday at the Farmer's Market

Today we spent the morning in Bellingham walking around the local farmer's market. It took a little bit of arm twisting to get Martin out but in the end the good food won him over. This was the second weekend in a row that we went.

Last Saturday I took my new camera and since the weather was so beautiful we all got a little dressed up and headed out. Any photos in this post will be from last weekend.

Some of our favorites are the crepes, chocolate croissants, pretzel sticks spread with Nutella, Sno Cones, Mallard's Ice Cream, Goat's Kefir and much more.

Grace loves to stop and watch the performers, whether it's the guy with the crystal balls, the musicians or a hula hoop lady.

Then she asked to have her picture taken with Daddy!

Then she shared her new favorite treat with Aubrey.

And finally on the way home we stopped at the car wash...

More Home Improvement...

Remember the infamous planter?

Well it now has it's first inhabitant. Check it out:

I'm a Winner!

Check this out: I won, don't know what but I won...

I'll let you know when I receive my prize.

A Picture Post Just For Grandma!

Here's your granddaughter after her bath on Thursday. She didn't want to take it off, actually wanting to go into town wearing it. LOL
The braid was a first too, she usually doesn't even let me brush or clip her hair up. But today she wanted hairspray just like Mommy, so I took full advantage...

Mother's Day Crazy-ness

For Mother's Day we decided kind of last minute to pack up and head over the moutains to visit my mother-in-law Becky. They live in Winthrop and it's about a 3 hour drive, which we did in approximately 2 3/4 hours. Yeah!

We had sneakily planned to take her out to Sunday brunch (my favorite meal of the week!) at Sun Mountain Lodge.

I had never been there before and the drive up the mountain was incredible. The view was stunning and I can't wait to go back there again...

Brunch was fabulous, especially the steak, done rare, just the way my MIL and I love it. Both the boys, Martin & his dad, are not so fond of undercooked meat. To each his own, but boy did they miss out.

Miss Grace looked fabulous in her new dress and of course she sported her styling straw hat which made the whole thing even cuter.

Wow! I am Speechless...

More home improvement projects! Two in one week, we must be setting a record here...

Yesterday Martin's cousin Mark who came up to visit two days ago helped Martin install our new pot filler. If you're wondering what a pot filler is ask my husband, it was his idea to put one into our kitchen. :)

Anyway, the model that goes with our kitchen faucet costs approximately $1600 give or take. So needless to say we've been putting it off as it definitely is a non essential item in our lives. Well, cousin Mark, who is a devoted Costco shopper, found us the Costco version for less than $300. So here it is:

House Improvement

I know, I know....I should be blogging about my Nashville trip and what I learned, the wonderful girls I met and reunited with, etc, etc.
But that post just seems too overwhelming right now for a headache and a late Tuesday night. So here is a post about our new home improvement that took place Sunday evening.

Hubby says to me: "You want to help me put up our chandelier? It should only take about an hour and a half." Well, little did I know that finally about four hours later we would be admiring our handy work, finished, lit up and correctly positioned in the window.

I guess the two lessons I took away from Sunday night with my husband are:

1) It will always take longer than expected.

2) Never take flash photography when your husband (who incidentally is afraid of heights!) is balancing on two planks between two rickety ladders about 15 feet in the air trying to connect a lamp to the electric circuit. He may just think that he's being electrocuted....

OOOOOOOPS!

Playground Date

Last weekend we actually managed to drag Martin away from work, chores, his phone and the computer for a few hours and drove into town. We headed to Boulevard Park and the new Woods coffee stand that has opened there. I had never been and we decided to get some drinks and treats and walk the park. Of course Grace demanded a mandatory stop at the playground. I guess it wasn't such a great idea to dress her up in the new clothes Grandma had bought for her birthday. White is not so white after about a gazillion runs down the slide. At first she was kind of hesitant about climbing up by herself, but after Martin helped her out a few times she quickly got the hang of it and did so the rest of the time all by herself. There was another little boy there and he had no qualms asking a strange man (ie: my husband) to help him too. His dad had his hands full with the little man's baby sister. After a few slides the boy apparently warmed up to us as he felt the compelling need to inform us that "Daddy had a shower this morning". Martin and I looked at each other and had the hardest time to not burst out in gut wrenching laughter. Martin did manage to keep a straight face and when the Dad in question inquired what Jr. had said replied: "Oh, just giving the hygiene report." LOL