Julie's Birthday and bouncing

We stayed over New Years so Julie could spend her birthday with her family. Jana and Chad had just moved into their new home (we are talking days here) and hosted a birthday party.

Thank you guys. You went above and beyond.





Next we went to a place called Sky High. Think of a giant room with trampolines as floors and foam pits to jump into. Yes, there is an emergency room right next door.

Bouncing and slapping your self in the face. It tingles all the senses.

Break time.

I don't know about you but my eyes go straight to the toes.


Okay Karen. I can now tell your children I once saw you get high. Sky high in fact.

Scott never fails to impress. An inverted twisting flip? And his hat stays on? Backwards? Outstanding!

Seattlite Friends

Even though we only see our friends here maybe once or twice a year they are great friends. Maybe it is because we see them so little that our visits feel like special occasions or a reunion of sorts. Either way it is one of the things I look forward to the most when we go to Seattle. We managed to find a few evenings to hangout or have dinner together.

Hangin out playin games.


Will (and John) even have a built in friend in the Emerald City. Carter and they get along like old friends too.



Crappy Phone pics.


Here we are at Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory. This is Michelle, Julie, and Nicole. They have been best friends since grade school. I wish I had friends like that.

Christmas and dinner at Beth's

Christmas morning. The Merrells...er now the Condie's, Smith's, and Hyde's have a tradition of lining up youngest to oldest before seeing what Santa brought.


The big guy found us at just over 1500 miles away from home. His secret weapon? UPS, FedEx, and online package tracking.

Dinner at Beth's(not on Christmas)

We are fans of the Travel Channel's show Man vs Food. A few seasons ago they did an episode in Seattle. One of the places he visited was Beth's. It is famous for it's giant portions. They have a 12 egg omelet on the menu that weighs 4 pounds and is served on a pizza pan.

A tradition at Beth's is you are given a plain sheet of paper and some crayons. Some of the drawings make it to the wall and some can be found as the covers on the menus.

Great Grandma Ray seemed to find her menu quite entertaining. My m-i-l also got a special kick out of it.



When they brought out the food all our jaws dropped and the camera hit the ground. Not one picture of the gravy covered feast. In all frankness there was another opportunity for a pic approximately 4-6 hours later. Tho the portions were just as big, they were slightly less photogenic.

Seattle, first installment.

Dec. 24. Christmas Eve Party

Julie doing her Mr. Peanut impression, or is it Groucho Marx?


Stolen glances from Scott. I see you looking ;).





Party time. We cleared the chairs out of the way and the ho down begins.

Drink something warm and snuggle up with those you care about. I love the look on Diane's face, but I think it has more to do with Lauren taking a header right in front of us. I don't feel bad for not reacting to it. That is her dad sitting next to me. He doesn't look concerned does he?


Lisa and Trace.

More to come soon.