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

iPhone Pic #3

Last night was the midnight premiere of Twilight: Eclipse, which I attended along with my little group of folks. The lines were hideously long and people started showing up 7 hours before the movie even started. Insanity. The weather? Not the best for standing outside, but we endured. Loved the movie and can't wait to see it again. At any rate, the line we were in wrapped the building, but I snapped this shot with my phone of the folks around me.

Die Hards.

"I Can't Fight With An Eclipse"

Today is the day! Or rather, tonight is the night! Beginning at 630 PM tonight, I will start my 6 hours of Twilight viewing leading up to the premiere of Eclipse at 1201 AM. That's right, folks, all three Twilight movies back-to-back-to-back. Todd is going with me, along with our babysitter and her dad. An odd grouping, no? Actually, it's perfect and will be beyond fun. At any rate, Todd must love me for doing this, or there is some deep, dark request that I'm going to get hit with here soon because "you made me sit through 8 hours of Twilight, Shannon." Shit, see, this is going to come back to bite me in the ass. Whatever. Totally worth it.

So, in honor of the premiere tonight, I'm posting my final round of pictures from our Port Angeles/Forks/La Push trip a couple of weekends ago. We hit the hot spots, and I've highlighted some below. It was, in a word, fantastic. So many fans walking around, but none crazy...save one, but you'll see her below. Everyone was like me, just excited to be there. So, enjoy the final of this three part series. And everyone tell me what you think of Eclipse after you've seen it.

Here's Bella Italia in Port Angeles, where Edward takes Bella on their first date in Twilight. The menu is posted out front, and the mushroom ravioli is appropriately named "Bella's mushroom ravioli."

The sign outside the city of Forks. There was a line of cars when we stopped, everyone waiting to take their picture with it. I yelled at Todd from a distance away, "there's my sign I want a picture of." "What sign?" "The one with all the cars lined up by it, idiot."

A reproduction of Bella's truck at the visitor's center. I don't allow myself in many pictures, but I couldn't resist this one. Too funny. There were two Twilight tour buses that pulled up while we were here. Crazy times in little Forks.

This sign is posted on the back side of the hospital. Yes, I'm serious. Even the hospital has caught Twilight fever.


The craziest thing of our trip was this girl. Dressed up as Rosalie. On the beach. I expected more people to be dressed up, but was still taken aback by this. Todd, on the other hand...this was probably the highlight of the trip for him. He kept saying "She's Rosalie, Shannon." "Yes, dear, I get it." But yet, I don't. Twilight fans, gotta love them.

iPhone Pic #2

I actually felt like tonight was the first "summer" night of the year. Isabelle just got out of school yesterday, and the little ones and I have been sick, so tonight was the first night we ventured out past our regular bedtimes. WOW was it gorgeous. We met a couple of groups of friends down at Gene Coulon to BBQ, and then ended up running into a couple more sets of friends when there. Apparently we all had the same idea! We stayed until sunset, which was truly gorgeous and hopefully captured a bit below with my phone.

Sunset at Gene Coulon

Part Two: Evergreen State

Trip to the peninsula: part deux! One thing I truly love about Twlight is the loyalty to our surroundings; the forests, the beaches, the rain, the green...it's obviously that shit's not filmed on a sound stage. You can't duplicate the Pacific NW on a sound stage! Todd and I are die hard fans of the X-Files. They filmed in Vancouver BC for years before moving production to LA. EVERYTHING went down hill from there. So, I have always loved Twilight for getting this right. And for the record, yes, I know Twilight was filmed in and around the Portland area and that New Moon and Eclipe were filmed around Vancouver. No matter. It's the "feel" of the region I'm talking here. Our forests are thick, lush, mossy...mystical, if you will. Watching the Twilight series makes me feel at home.

It was on our drive to Forks that I was reminded of this all over again. I take for granted the green that surrounds me constantly; the water and mountains I see around every corner. Our drive was awe inspiring around every turn, and this is a drive we've done *many* times over the years. It Never. Gets. Old.

So this is what this post is about; the beauty that is the Pacific NW. If you haven't ever been...ummm, what's wrong with you?!? You're missing out! Get your ass here pronto.

This is what we saw the entire way. I have about 100 more pics just like this - gorgeous.

Lake Crescent lies between Port Angeles and Forks. It's a huge, deep lake.

Our beautiful forest, taken out the car window

Discovery Bay at Sequim, with a view out Puget Sound

Crab walking the beach at Discovery Bay

Last part of this series will post in the next couple of days and will cover all the Twilight hot spots. Yah!!! Anxious for Eclipse next week? Got big plans? We're doing a Twilight marathon at our theater, starting with Twilight at 630 PM, then New Moon, and finally Eclipse. I will need a butt transplant stat after that many hours.