Out and About

If you remember the tv show, Twin Peaks, then you may remember this waterfall from the opening credits. Every once in a while, we will head over to Snoqualmie Falls, take in the beautiful views, and go for a hike down to the bottom of the falls. It is right in town and a great place to visit.

We dont' have many photos of May and June. We lost a roll of film when we exposed it accidently and then there's the weather. Who is inspired to take photos with such dreary weather? Yes, I have been complaining non-shop about this nasty May and June we are having, but this weather has been non-stop rain and clouds. I was hoping for photos of lazy days at the beach, picnics, swimming in the river and growing our garden, but we have had cold, rainy days instead that remind me of a continuation of fall and winter....(and the garden plants have all died except for our radishes.) We have been housebound most of the past 2 months or simply not in the mood for camera snapping since our days seem pretty mundane....

However, we can't just crawl under our covers and wait for the July sun to appear, so we have been trying to get out and about and enjoy the days (despite the rain.) Here we are posing for a photo at the salmon hatchery in downtown Issaquah.

We had a nice hazy day sometime last month and we rushed outside to play in the yard and finally finish staining our fence. Millie is so cute and happy and loves her swing on the tree again!

There's Millie peeking around our fence and I am all the way at the very end putting on the finishing touches!

In May, Millie received a package of 10 caterpillars in the mail as part of a butterfly kit from Grandpa and Nana. We turned on the heaters in the house, so they would not get so cold, and watched them grow and grow. They all formed a chrysalis and after 7 days or so, turned into beautiful butterflies. I can't believe they all made it! Millie really loved watching the entire process and checked on her "pets" everyday. On June 8th, we had a nice day and decided it was warm enough to release them outside. She was sad to see them go, but we thought it was pretty cool to put them on our hands, blow them gently and watch them fly up high!

Goodbye Painted Ladys! Hopefully, if they were smart, they headed for California!

"Dancin" in the Rain

So this has pretty much been the scene the last 40 days or so. Rain, rain, rain! But when you've got a kid, you've got to get out of the house or else you'll go stir crazy! End of the school picnics, hikes, playground time, rides on our bike or scooter, it's all been done in the rain this past May and June.

Millie did have fun when she found this huge puddle!

Bubble fun at our end of the year pre-school picnic.

Our Graduate!

I cannot believe it is the end of the school year! How fast did that go?! We had such a great year at Alpine Co-op. The first few months were pretty tough cuz Millie cried when I left and I wound up staying at school with her in the beginning. But her confidence has grown, friends were made and we love teacher Amy. Millie now waves goodbye to me with a big smile when I drop her off. And at least 2x a month I was a teacher helper in the classroom since it is a co-op. That is one of my favorite parts of being in a co-op.

We are so proud of our graduate. In the fall, Millie will stay at the same school, but move up to the 4 year level. Love her so much!! (PS-Graduation was one of our rare, nice days in May. I believe it was 24th May that the sun made its last appearance....)

Where is the sun?

Hoping for more sunny days soon, but will always love the view of our mountain. Fresh snow in May! Now if only the rain would stop...

Hawaii, Part 2

Before anymore time passes, I figured I better get the rest of those Oahu photos on our blog. It has been a very rainy month (going on 20 plus days of rain here in Snoqualmie) so it is a good time to post these photos and remember warm, sunny days! I loved spending the end of the day on our beach. It was so great to listen to the surf and when it got really dark, we discovered lots of little crabs emerging from the sand.

We spent one day at the Polynesian Cultural Center in the northern part of the island. I'm glad we made this trip cuz we all had a good time. Millie got to catch a catfish, got several tattoos and even learned how to play a few new island games....


After we left the PCC, we went in search of the famous Giovanni's shrimp truck. It may not look pretty, but they cook some very delicious shrimp out of this truck. In fact, it is one of the most famous shrimp trucks on the entire island. I highly recommend it!

Millie loves shrimp, too!

...and we can't leave Hawaii without eating some of their shave ice.

The hardest part was deciding on which flavors we wanted!

Mike doing some boogie boarding.

Millie went floating around the bottom of the waterfall at Waimea Valley. The water was SO cold!

Relaxing in our cottage at the end of a very wonderful, amazing holiday! We'll definitely be back again.

Our new gadget

Here's Mike keeping up with his correspondence on our "new" Remington Rand Model 17 typewriter-circa 1938. Millie did not even have any idea of what a typewriter is; she kept calling it the "big calculator."

Oahu, Hawaii-Part 1

We spent 2 amazing, beautiful, sunny weeks in Hawaii earlier this month. We stayed at Barber's Point Navy cottages on the SW side of Oahu. The cottages were so close to the ocean. At night the surf was sometimes so loud we had to shut the door . We could not have found a better location for 2 weeks of relaxing. The photo above is our cottage and you can see it was a pretty short walk to the beach.

Our view from the front "lanai." Millie loved the sand and water and we went swimming almost everyday. We would wake up in the morning, put on our bathing suit, then spend the day collecting sea glass, playing, swimming and ended the day with a BBQ on our grill.

The beach was called White Plains and was really popular with surfers and locals. Millie and I loved jumping over the waves and spent many hours in the water.

On our second day, we drove a few miles up the road to check out Ko Olina Lagoons. What a beautiful place!

Millie and Papa at the end of another beautiful day. You can just barely see Waikiki and Diamond Head off in the distance.

Today we headed out to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I know Millie's favorite was the train ride.

Getting lost in the hedge maze at the Dole Plantation.

...and how lucky were we to wake up one morning and see this sleeping animal on our beach!

This is a monk seal and they are not normally found in Oahu, but if they do show up, it is normally at this beach. He is very much alive, just very sleepy! Later in the morning, the beach lifeguards put up signs and posts around the seal to protect him. They are critically endangered and it is a federal crime to even approach them...We found that out after we took the photo.....

Germaine's Luau tonight! Even though this is a big tourist outing, it was a great show. The food was excellent, the performers were really good and all seemed to be having fun and admission price included 3 free drinks each.


I have lots more photos of our trip, so stay tuned for more later!
Here's to hoping the sun arrives back in Washington, it has been raining for over a week now!! Maybe Hawaii can share it's sunshine with us, too.