Happy Thanksgiving!

Jaime and I made it through Thanksgiving (with 22 of her closest relatives!) It was a grand time in San Francisco - we managed to stay active the whole time - Jaime's grandfather lives across the street from Golden Gate park - and I got to carve my first turkey! All I can say is God Bless butchers! Otherwise I would definitely be vegetarian. We also got to catch up with Uncle David and Aunt Elizabeth up in Napa (and got some wine tasting in as well!) and spent Wednesday afternoon/sunset by ourselves at the Marin Headlands. It is a great joy that when we travel to SF, we get to spend time with both of our families...(and can get time alone)

Two turkeys were cooked, 4 pies were baked, some large number of potatoes were mashed, good wine was poured unselfishly, and a grand time was had by all. Many many thanks to Steve (Pagra) for hosting us! There is no greater joy in life than good food, great wine, and the love of family, honestly. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Marin Album available here and Thanksgiving dinner album here





Now on to Christmas...

Blah

I injured my shoulder/neck this weekend - pulled a muscle or something. Spent Sunday on the couch...getting old sucks...

Check out the new widgets - I have a Google Voice account - click on the link and you can leave me a voicemail. Also - enjoy "Just Breathe" - the latest single off of Backspacer. That's all for now. Time for ibuprofen!

Halloween!!! (Keep it classy, North Bend!)

I realize these are becoming simple weekend updates. Come on, isn't that what "everybody's working for"? "The weekend"?


After a quiet Friday night at the gym, Jaime and I had another action packed weekend (now with kung fu grip!) I FINALLY picked up another keg on Saturday - a 1/4bbl of Diamond Knot IPA. Well worth the drive to Mukilteo! After cleaning up around the house a bit, I got back into "costume" and we got ready for dinner. Had friends over, enjoyed good wine and great steak, and greeted a total of......................


2 groups of trick or treaters. Apparently a lot of the parents in the neighborhood are in the dark to the fact that we give out treats for them as well! Keg cup, anyone? Anyway, on to Sunday.

Ah there's nothing like an extra hour of sleep when you might possibly have been up a little late. Sunday we slowly gathered ourselves, and decided to embrace the lingering fall sun with a hike on the John Wayne trail out of North Bend. The air was brisk, but it was sunny, and an absolutely gorgeous day out. Our hike ended up somewhere right around 6 miles. Not too bad on a Sunday afternoon with an hour less of daylight. The trail follows the old Milwaukee Road railroad grade out of the former town of Moncton along the edge of the city of Seattle watershed. I have to admit, I've had a bit of a fascination with this area as of late. As we had previously (briefly) hiked the other end of the watershed at Landsburg, I would LOVE to be able to go all the way through (and follow the railroad grade) but unfortunately it is off limits. Here's a link to all the pics. And for the interesting back story on Moncton (known as Cedar Falls to the railroad), be sure to check out this link.

(As the sun sets, shadows lengthen)

We headed back to the car. Before heading to Renton to visit family, the Sportwagen required a fuel up so we stopped in North Bend for some diesel. Why would I include a boring story about getting fuel in the blog? As we're waiting our turn for one of the diesel pumps, a girl in a hoodie, sweatpants, and slippers gets out of her car, and pulls the gas hose out. As she places it back on the pump, she turns her backside to us and we discover that 1. She is NOT wearing undies and 2. She's got an itch on her butt that she can't wait to scratch. Wooooooow. Kids, say no to crack. For a second I thought she was just going to drop her pants and moon us - she might as well have...It was one of those moments where you turn to each other and give the "oh my god, did that just happen?" look...

After that - visiting Geoff's parents, dinner with Jaime's Aunt and Uncle, and home for an early dinner...that's a simple close.

Ooh - one more thing - I've committed to Movember - a month to shed light on men's health (and grow a cool mustache!) Here's a link to my fundraising page (benefits the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Live Strong). I'll be updating with pictures of my 'stache as it comes in, stay tuned for updates!

Pumpkin Carving

Behold, Jaime and Geoff's Jack'o'lanterns of 2009 -

(Spooky night shot! I'm getting good with the camera!)

Jaime's getting quite good with the carving kit. Me? I just stick with the Homestar Runner theme...(maybe a Strong Sad pumpkin next year, Courtney!)

Another great weekend on the books, even if the Huskies got blown out of the water. In fact, as I keep telling everyone (trying to justify it to myself) the game was never really close, so this loss is a lot easier to bare.

Friday night we finally made good on our promise of awesome Greek food for Michal. We also left the Sportwagen in the very capable hands of my brother for it's first official service! On the drive up, it rolled over 10,ooo miles! A fresh change of oil, and I'm sure it'll be ready for another 10,000. I'd say I'm proud of our baby, but that would just be weird.

Saturday was the Husky game (At least it was dry) and a nice night with Craig at Beveridge Place pub, playing cards and (for me, anyway) enjoying many fine brews. Sunday was house cleaning, and of course, carving pumpkins...

I suppose I should catch everyone up on last weekend, too! We took Kendal (and my brother) to a farm to pick out our pumpkins. We met up with Kendal's friend Morgan, and parents Tara and Ryan. The kids had a great time, and it even stayed dry for us. I'd get all into the details, but the pictures speak for themselves...

Inebriation - Fun when it happens to others

Have I ever been drunk? Oh yeah!
Have I ever been REALLY Drunk? Sure...
Have I ever been so drunk...well, we're not going to continue this - instead, enjoy this video!

Another great weekend...

Saturday was the Seattle Food Truck food fest (very impromptu) or as Craig pointed out - the hipster mobile food fest (lots of skinny pants, witty t-shirts, and army hats) Twas supposed to be an absolutely glorious event, and it almost measured up. The food was good, but the organization wasn't. To their credit, there didn't seem to be an official organizer, and it was their first year. I got a Dante dog (ketchup, mustard, onions and cream cheese!) and a pulled pork sandwich. What I did not get was the burrito that Jaime had waited in line so patiently to order - the lines were ATROCIOUS and it was around 3:30 by the time we decided we weren't going to see our Mexican food. We'd been waiting about half an hour, and they were up to number 106 (we were 126) from 99. Unfortunately we had other engagements to get ready for (but you already knew that, I mean, it's US! Of course we have other stuff to do Saturday!)

We headed home and prepped for dinner with my coworkers Deke and Miranda down at their house in Puyallup. Nothing beats a Saturday night, great friends, a good steak, and a glass of red wine. That the Huskies pulled off an AMAZING come from behind victory was even better (go Dawgs!) Thanks to Deke and Miranda for hosting us!

(Kendal, what do you think of your new sister?)

Sunday we enjoyed breakfast at the 'rents house with our new niece Natalie (and the rest of the fam). I get an awesome breakfast, Jaime gets to hold a baby - everyone wins! Sunday afternoon we had a wonderful visit with Courtney and Dan at Beveridge Place Pub, where we shared great conversation and I got a fresh hopped IPA. Fall is the best season for hop lovers!


And so begins another week...

Nature, F*ck yeah!