We are Fortunate

Some days end with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Today is one of those days for me. Why?

7am: The day started with a 7 mile run where I ran in search for a house that Brett saw online that would be the most perfect house for our next house. I feel fortunate to have the strength and energy to run. I am fortunate that we are looking to buy the next house (even if it is months from now).

10am: Drove down with Natalie and Chris to Katie and Steve's to celebrate January birthdays (Katie and mine) . We are lucky to have such great friends and I was touched with the gifts, cake and celebration for my birthday.

4pm: I went shopping (which was long overdue, I will admit). We are fortunate to not be impacted by the recent Microsoft layoffs and are lucky to still have our jobs.

7pm: The evening ended with Bolognese by Brett. This is one of my most favorite dinners and is detox friendly...proving his full support of me in everything I do.

Baby Corbin and Baby Peyton...sweetly holding onto each other.

My time with Baby Corbin.

Oli had a smashing time with his buddy Nate. Hope Nate didn't mind being a human playground. We'll repay him when their is a Baby Bishop.

Birthday Gals (and helper) blowing out the candles.

Babies and Mammas

A Sunny Day

Amazing what a sunny day can feel like in Seattle in January. So we took advantage of the sunshine and the good moods. And came good on our promise to go ice skating again.

Pretending to be a leopard, like in Jungle Book.Oli and his best friend Rohan who came over for a playdate. The house is so full of commotion with the two of them. I love the feeling of a "full house".

"What is that bright thing in the sky?"

Sad Noodle Face. I was very appreciative of Brett making dinner last night. However, I threw away the directions to the new type of Pad Thai noodles. As Oli was trying to separate them to eat them he frowned, "sticky, sticky, dry, dry noodles". But then gave Dad a thumbs up for the mushrooms.

Regardless, thanks Honey for doing dinner and the sticky, sticky dishes. :)

Happy Dessert Face. Oli made gingerbread men with me - notice the blue ice skates he included on his man.

Obamiconme

Just a little fun in advance of inauguration. http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/


We "HOPE" he is a good boy. (that was Dad speaking)


My wonderful husband has "CHANGED" my life in so many wonderful ways.


I live to make "PROGRESS" on anything and everything.

A Good Monday

Maro and Charlie came over tonight with pizza ingredients in hand for us to all make dinner together while catching up on the last 3 weeks of our lives. It was a fun evening and great to get caught up and hear all about their 10 day old grandson, Beck.

Thumbs up for the home made pizza's. Thanks, Maro!

We finished off the night with a very serious game of Jenga. Take note of Oli's second Spiderman costume of the night :). Dont tell Charlie, but we're sure Maro was knocking the table when it was his turn..

A Good Sunday

Days don't get much better than this...started with a 5 mile run with Scout (I have very much missed my running partner). This is the beginning of a half-marathon training plan for the Mercer Island Half in March. Ok, I blogged it, therefore I do it.

After the run, Scout and I met up with Natalie, Maggie, Ashlie and Avery for a walk along the Kirkland waterfront. Scout is proudly showing off his new girth...man oh man, they are too generous with the parmesan cheese in San Diego.

The afternoon was filled with ice skating. Oli loved it. He wanted to go back tomorrow and after he learned it was a "daycare day", he wanted to come before daycare and he promised he would be very quiet and no one would know he was there.

The evening was filled with a birthday celebration for yours truly. A home-made cake decorated by my favorite boys. It reads, "Wendy is 31". Very factual.

Our day ended with a grueling 3 back-to-back games of Chutes and Ladders. Oli ( aka 'Spiderman') was rooting for me since it was my birthday, what a kind boy. We'll see if that lasts...one of many New Year's Resolutions is to have a weekly Game Night with Oli.

Back from South Africa!

After many flights and many books, we arrived home Wednesday evening. Sure, we are jet-lagged but a very small price to pay for such a fantastic trip.

The drive from the wine country (where we spent Christmas) to Capetown was along this beautiful coastline.
We hiked to the top of Table Mountain. This was a very challenging hike...we celebrated that night with one of the best meals we have ever had at Cape Grace Hotel.

At our game park, there were 3 female elephants. The male elephant was recently culled because it was becoming aggressive and now supposedly the females are being good girls. Might have fooled us...our final safari drive included a "mock" (so he says) charge of one of the elephants. When it started to charge, it was close enough to touch.

The giraffes were plentiful and majestic. They were so calm and peaceful to watch. Did you know that giraffes are unable to make any sort of sound? If there is danger they just all face the direction of danger. Also they sleep laying down but with their heads (and necks) completely erect. Funny sight to see.

And the cheetah's! What stunning creatures (and I think they know it by how they posed for our photos).

One day we took our rental car and our safari partners (from Boulder, CO) on our own safari at the neighboring National Park. We started at 4am in order to catch a glimpse of a lion. After 8 hours of careful searching, we gave up. On our way out of the park, there was a complete traffic jam of cars and landrovers watching this young male lion. What a sight!

Greetings from Africa

Greetings from Africa! This place is wild...and I am not "jokin', lyin' or pretendin'" (one of our favorite Oli'ism's).

We are a few minutes from heading out on our afternoon safari drive in the game park. Who knows what we will see today - it is a hot one so the watering hole may be hopping!

Highlights so far have been witnessing a buffalo fight on our first day, observing cheetah's watch their prey yesterday and today being chased by velvet monkeys (ok that last one was a bit scary and very comical when all it took was the waitress to wave a table cloth at them).

We have some fantastic photos - cannot wait to share them!