Family tourist day

Today we got to "show off" seattle....starting in edmonds, then to the ferry terminal, then downtown to the seattle center and space needle, then to the monorail, back across to gas works park and lake union, then home. It wad 40 and raining the entire time. Nice.

We finished off the day with the Final Four and a pizza party.

On the monorail!






Gas works park...looking south at downtown seattle in the rain.

A quick Photo Recap 3.10-3.18

I successfully finished my third week of work and kaylee her second. Kaylee made a new friend this week (hooray) and we did some exploring near our house.

The Week in Pictures:

Carpooled down through portland to Molly Davies wedding in McMinnville last weekend:

The Grand Ballroom in McMinnville



Our group vacation home, shared with 5 friends (although we got the master suite). :)



Addy and her best car buddy, caitlin.









The McCabe Chapel...in wine oregon country.

Friday Night excursion to Richmond Beach!





Fremont Market shopping with brian and katie raynor



Quick trip to Bellingham for Chuckanut 50k, touring town, seeing friends. Top 10 finishers below including MT's Mike Foote and Mike Wolfe!


Drove down Chuckanut Drive on the way home...

Lake Washington and the world of IKEA

Today we decided to explore our new surroundings so I purposed a circumnavigation of Lake Washington. Edmonds to downtown Seattle to Renton to Kirkland and back to Edmonds. After grabbing coffee and making a quick stop at Urban Outfitters, we headed out to IKEA.

IKEA successfully blew my mind. From a logistics/supply chain/marketing/HR/display standpoint, IKEA is astounding.

I've never seen a business that creates its own business multi plex park with hundreds of thousands of square ft of parking, then figures out how to successfully and gracefully run 5-10,000 people through their maze. The maze is so taxing that they treat you to an intermission; a high school sized cafeteria and bistro complete with most any food you could imagine all at staggering low prices. One hotdog and an ice cream cone? $1.50.

They literally created a yellow brick road of a shopping paradise. Its like being transported inside a Sears catalog and viewing the displays firsthand. Everything about it is 100% surreal.

I couldn't tell if I wanted to run and scream, or thoroughly investigate the displays and start shopping. As with most shopping trips performed by men, the trip is palatable only if the shopping mission has utility and my pocketbook has the funds to backup our current "needs". Some people call Costco the $100 store. If that's the case, lets call IKEA the $500 store.

So after winding our way through the current of humanity, taking the obligatory intermission at the cafe and agreeing upon our items, we arrived at the "pickup warehouse". All 70 aisles worth. I don't do a lot of furniture shopping, but apparently IKEA is SUPER cheap. Their sercret? Outsourcing labor. That's great, but they are actually outsourcing their labor to husbands, boyfriends, and that guy from econ class that is somewhat handy. Its deviant, bold and brilliant. And it costs them...nothing.

Lets just say I know what ill be doing ALL tomorrow afternoon...

Entrance to the madness...



Taking pictures of potential (eminent) purchases...
Addy snaps a shot from the cart...



If you ever visit IKEA and are serious about shopping there, do NOT drive a KIA

After the shopping adventure, we finished our circumnavigation of Lake Washington by cruising into Kirkland, and playing at Waverly Park. Very windy.

3.1.2012

27 years old and a full plate of responsibility. Although when I look around I quickly realize that I wouldn't want it any other way.

JOY!

Please notice the german chocolate cake made from scratch....



The baker...



Record player!



And nina...

In the books

First day of work is in the books. The day flew by as I attempted to decipher aeronautical speak and the NATO alphabet.

We celebrated with sparkling cider, cabernet, molasses cookies and by building a cardboard airplane that addy "flew" down the stairs.

It feels amazing to establish a family routine after years of a chaotic schedule involving working nights, weekends and shuffling addy back and forth between houses.

Enjoy the pics.

Winter mtn biking

Got out today on my Jamis and rode some single track with Brian Howard. Forty degrees and drizzling made for a sloppy day. Only crashed 14 times with 1 brilliant superman that put me 5ft in front of my bike.

Grants Pass (?) provided a plethora of trail options including a myriad of man made features including drops, ramps, etc. Pretty amazing place.



Excited to keep exploring the trails here...still can't believe you can mtn bike in the winter. Wild.

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