Long overdue

I promised this post last week. Then again a couple of days ago. I'm past excuses, so I figured I could do nothing more than bite the bullet and just get something in living, breathing blog color.

Our 4th of July weekend was spectacular. Event after event...good food, great friends, fabulous time...too much to even begin to recount, which is why I think this post was a challenge. I just couldn't wrap my head around all the goodness!

First off, our nephew Jake came to visit from Texas. Jake is 14 and this was his first time visiting Seattle. We hit a couple of tourist attractions, but mainly took him out to see the best part of our beautiful city; the scenery. With our gorgeous forests, miles of pristine hiking trails, rocky beaches full of sea life...the kid from Texas LOVED it!

Jake and the kids

While Jake was here we celebrated the 4th of July with friends or, as it came to be known, our rolling party on wheels. We had our blue cooler on wheels that we just rolled from party to party with food and beverages inside. It was oh so white trash fantastic! We also played a soccer game that day which Jake participated in with us, and set fireworks off that night. Always a good time launching fireworks, but Jake especially had a blast.

Todd helping Sophia light a sparkler

As I mentioned, we hit some tourist hot spots: Pike Place Market, the Locks, Gas Works park, Snoqualmie Falls, the salmon ladder, Discovery Park...but some of these are a bit off the beaten path. All in all, I think he got a flavor of our great city.

Flowers at the market

But really, I'd be lying if I didn't say I think his favorite part of the visit was going to the beaches. He and the kids loved turning over the rocks and watching the little crabs scatter. They collected sea shells, looked for sea stars, jellyfish, and anything else that turned up that day. This is a favorite activity for my kids, and Jake was no exception. All in all, I think a great holiday was had by all!

Hudson on the beach

Pacific Northwest crab

I blame the heat...

Wow, it's been a while since a legit post. Sorry about that. Every day and night seem filled lately with some type of activity. It's fun, but exhausting. By the time the kids go to bed, it takes all the energy we can muster to drag ourselves to the couch and devour as much True Blood as we can before looking down and saying, "oh shit, it's past midnight." Then I drag myself to bed and think about all the bad things I want Alexander Skarsgard to do to me. Oops. That last part was supposed to just be in my head. My bad.

But really, True Blood? Wow. That show owns me right now. I'm blown away and am going to read the Sookie Stackhouse series as soon as I finish those books about the girl that kicks the hornet's nest with her dragon tattoo. Or something. I still don't know what the fuck's going on in the dragon tattoo book, so I hope the pace picks up here soon. I talked with a newfound acquaintance at one of the 4th of July parties we attended this weekend and she raved on the Sookie series. Though only knowing her five minutes, I trusted her opinion because a) like me, she couldn't get into The Time Traveler's Wife (it takes a bold person to admit this in a room full of females), b) she was also not "blown away" with the beginning of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (we're gonna fight about this one, aren't we?), and c) she floves True Blood like me and doesn't care if the neighbors see it through the windows and think we're watching porn. Oops. Again, should have kept that one to myself. I'm pretty sure we're book soulmates, and you all know what a fickle bitch I am so that's really saying something. Ah...dragon tattoo girl, I want to like you. I really do. But you gotta get going or I'm ditching you for Sookie. Because eventually there will be Eric, and then we've come full circle to Alexander Skarsgard. See what just happened there? :humming....I wanna do bad things to youuuuu.:

Sorry this was only a semi-real post. I blame the heat. Coherant thoughts are hard to come by when it's 85 degrees INSIDE the house. An honest-to-God-no-rambling post will come soon that gives a glimpse of our visit with our nephew, Jake, and the traveling cooler party that was our 4th of July.

iPhone Pic #4

Wow. I haven't updated since my last iPhone pic? Ugh. Shows how busy we've been. I fully intend to update tonight or tomorrow with a recap of the 4th of July weekend and the visit with our nephew, but for now I want to get my iPhone picture for the week out there in the world. We hiked out to Twin Falls in North Bend over the weekend and I snapped this shot as the path curved down by the river.

Twin Falls Hike