Oh Canada

For Labor Day, or Labour Day, as the case may be, we went to Vancouver, British Columbia. The land of the maple leaf. Home of our friendly neighbors to the north.

It took some convincing considering Dave's dislike of Canadians. When I got to the bottom of the deep dislike, I learned that it's rooted in the simple fact that Canadians don't find him funny. Specifically, they don't find him funny when he says things like, "Greetings from America!" and "We come in peace!"

In spite of the Canadian's lack of a sense of

humour and a lot of rain, we had a great time.

My primary purpose in heading north was to stockpile as many of these as I possibly could and bring home a stash to last through the winter.

And some of these, too.

Of course I ate way too many and got sick.

So we went here....

....where I bought some of these to counter balance all the Canadian candy. It worked. I continued to gorge myself on the world's best candy.

Dave, whose eating habits are better than mine, was more interested in this.

A fascinating and beautiful city.

We made it back to the US with:

0 Smarties

0 Turkish Delights

2 Jugs of Maple Syrup

A Sort of Homecoming

I had to chaperone the Homecoming Dance at the high school. Tiffany was fascinated with it for weeks. What kinds of dresses do the girls wear? How is it decorated? What music do they play? So I decided to ask her to be my date. She was overjoyed. It was so fun to have a little pal hang out at the dance with me. She was the prettiest girl there!

Little Scoot Coupe

We went to Friday Harbor for Dave's birthday. It's a spectacular island in the San Juans. It was a long, but stunning ferry ride from Anacortes. Apparently people from Washington refer to this area of the San Juans as the sunbelt or something like that. Sunbelt seemed like a stretch to me (as I've said before, Washingtonians have very low standards for weather) but it was clear and sunny and beautiful.

Dave above the harbor.

We rented this little number, a "Scoot Coupe", to see the island. The scoot coupe is not for the cowardly (or those who like to travel over 35, make sharp turns, and go up hills.)

Islands, islands everywhere.

Our sweet ride took us to some really pretty vantage points. We saw a seal here. Or maybe a sea lion. I'm still not quite sure the difference.

This guy here...he loves the open road. Don't try to tame him. He was born this way. Born to be wild.

Filling her up at the gas pump. What she lacks in power and agility, she makes up for in fuel efficiency.

Pin the glasses on the silly dad

The kids decided it would be fun to plan a surprise party for Dave's birthday. They made signs, cupcakes, and a very clever game. You may have heard of the classic birthday game, Pin the Tail on the Donkey. We played a similar game. Put the Glasses on the Silly Dad. The pictures were too blurry to post, but I was so impressed with Tiff's clever idea. It was a crowd favorite.

Dave and the girls.

Cupcakes and presents!

Of all the things in Target, they decided that dad would like this more than anything else. They turned out to be right.

Happy Birthday Silly Dad!

Say Kachees!

We went to Lake Kachees with the Bennetts just before school started. We took the sailboat and found a beautiful, remote camp spot. This island was across from our camp.

Tiff and the Bennett boys at camp.

Nat and me heading to the island.

Courtney and Kayla Came to Town!

Courtney and Kayla came to visit the last weekend of August. I was so excited to see them. And seeing them go wasn't the easiest, but we had a great weekend that went by too fast. I miss my amigas!

We had beautiful weather most of the time. ("Beautiful" in Seattle, I'm learning, means it's not raining very hard.) We even had some sun.

This is me, Courtney, and Kayla at Alki.

The girls were in love with Courtney and Kayla. It helped that Courtney let Tiff wear some of her makeup. Tiff doesn't exactly have that relationship with me. In fact, just this morning I went through her drawers before she woke up to find some eye shadow to wear. And found it I did!

Here we are at Deception Pass.

Nat Nat.

Tiff Tiff

A little cliff at Deception Pass.

The girls know it freaks me out when they get too close to the edge. They think it's hilarious. That is why they are in a restraint here.

The family

Dave showing Nat a tiny hermit crab from one of the tide pools.

One of the greatest parts about being a new parent for me is getting to constantly see the wonders of the world through the eyes of kids.

Tide pools.

I LOVE this picture.

We took a ferry to Bainbridge Island....

.....and ate at one of our favorite restaurants on the island.

Some cute sleepers on the ferry ride home.

The Best Two Days of Your Life

We bought a sailboat a few months ago. The SS Sassy II. We named it after the sailboat Dave and his brother had a long time ago. We have been very excited about having a sailboat. Looking back over the past two months, the Sassy has somewhat of a checkered history.


Take 1.

The first time we took it out, we were with the girls. After almost breaking the mast by driving under an underpass at the Mercer Island launch, we got it in the water. Dave tried and tried to start the motor. It never happened. After a few hours and a few meltdowns, we packed it up and headed home.

Take 2.

The next day Dave and I went back to Mercer Island to try it without the girls. We sailed for awhile, to the middle of the lake, and then the wind died. Since the motor was still broken, we were stuck, or "marooned" since I like to use nautical terms when sailing. Some drunk college kids on a speed boat were nice enough to tow us back to the launch.

Take 3.

Three weeks, a new fuel pump, and some money later, Dave got the motor fixed. We were very excited to be back in the sailing business. We got the girls again and went to a different boat launch. We got the mast set up (one of my least favorite tasks because it involves smashing fingers and lifting heavy things) and the boat in the water. Dave pulled on the newly fixed motor once and the pull cord broke. Tiffany started to cry saying "I knew it! I knew it!" Natalie and I went to buy a new cord. It got dark and cold and was nearly impossible to restring the cord. We aborted our mission and packed up again.

Take 4.

I decided the SS Sassy and I needed a little space and some time apart. Chris Bennett was nice enough to help Dave fix the cord and get the boat in the water in Kirkland. When I was convinced I could safely board with no issues, we loaded the Bennett and Westra kids and motored over to where we are leaving the boat in the water. The kids loved it and the day went without incident. (Except for the part where Dave and Chris had to tie the boat up, fashion an anchor, and wade to shore in chest deep water).

The next day Dave kept saying he was worried about the boat. We drove back to check on it. The anchor worked. Our boat was still there. However, the mast was laying across the bow within inches of an anchored ski boat. Dave and I walked out to the boat, he in his shorts, me in my undies. We discovered that, for various reasons, the mast had fallen and bent the brace on the boat. We (mostly Dave) took it apart, brought it to shore, and spent the next few days figuring out how to fix it.

My dad got to town the next day ready to sail. We told him the bad news and my dad pulled out one of his classic Bruce isms. "You know what the best two days of your life are? The day you buy a boat and the day you sell it."

He was great in trying to help us get it fixed. We ordered a new part (which came the day he left) and took the family out on the boat without a mast. We had a great time seeing all the houses on the waterfront. When Max got over it being "too sceeery and noisy" he started enjoying it too.

Take 5.

With the new part, we headed back to Kirkland to fix the problem. Dave got it all fixed up, we reattached the mast (with no smashed fingers) and I decided to forgive the Sassy. Joy and Jerry joined us and, while there wasn't enough wind to sail, we had a great time on the lake watching the sunset.

When we told Jerry about our troubles with the boat, he said, "You know what the two best days of your life are......"











Joy and Jerry.

















If there is a moment to capture, Jerry is there to capture it.














My favorite captain and boat repairman.

Lincoln (not Linkin) Park

We went to Lincoln Park on the Puget Sound past Alki Beach. We were hoping to catch crabs and clams but the tide was too high to see much of anything but seaweed. It was a pretty day though, and we got to go back during low tide later. Pictures to come...

Max had high hopes and wore his goggles. Actually, he pretty much wore the goggles everywhere, including bed.

Mom, me and Dad.

Me and Mom.

The zipline swing at the park was awesome! Rue loved it.

The Belnaps go to Washington

My family came up to go to our Seattle Wedding Open House. Mom, Dad, Rachel, Rue, and Max were here for about five days. It was great to see them and sad to see them go. I'm hoping Dave the tour guide did a good job in persuading some or all of them to move here.







We went to the Snoqualmie River to throw rocks and hang out. Here, three of the four grandkids cooperated with getting their picture taken.


Rue, Grandma, Natalie, Tiffany, Grandpa, and Max.

The water felt cold to everyone else.

Tiffany, Max, and Rue. The girls were so cute with little Max.

Rachel, Max, and Rue.

Natalie loves finding and collecting pretty rocks.

Me and Dad at Snoqualmie Falls.

A picnic and playing on the hill by Snoqualmie Falls. It was a beautiful Seattle day.