2006 Wrap-Up
Since it's now New Year's Eve 2006 and we are zipping up to January without us having blogged since the beginning of November, perhaps our New Year's resolution should be to be better bloggers. Hmm. Well, you know what they say about good intentions...
November and December were sneaky, though, and really flew past us without our knowing what was going on. I can't believe it's 2007 tomorrow and that Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. Seems a little scary, actually, how fast time is going! November and December were a time for family, as they should be, with the holidays. Before Thanksgiving, my parents drove over for a weekend just for the heck of it. It'd been awhile since my dad had been to see us in Seattle and the break was much needed. We visited lots of wineries and wine stores and ate lots of good food, which seems fairly par for the course when our families get together. We went into Seattle one of the days they were here and ate lunch at Elliot's, down by the water. The food was fabulous, and adventurous. Dad got the Cioppino, and got a little more than he bargained for...even with the bib! There was nearly an entire crab in the dish but it hadn't been shelled so he had to crack and pick it apart, while it was covered in tomato-y goodness. Wow, what a mess! We'll spare you the after photo...
For Thanksgiving we headed south to visit Mike's family in California. Winfield and Tracey picked us up at the San Jose airport on their way from Petaluma to Fresno where we all congregated to celebrate the holiday. We had a fabulous time seeing everyone. The kids sure grow fast! Jake is really growing up and is Mr. Social. He is in pre-school 5 days a week and loves his new friends! Ally loves princesses and playing dress up and has both of her uncles wrapped around her little finger!=+) We were lucky enough to be there from Wed through Sun and so had lots of time for family. Here's the whole crew gathered for dinner the first night we were there.
Thanksgiving was spent chopping and cooking and organizing all the dishes. Good thing Erin and Lance have two ovens! Finally for dinner, Jake and Ally's buddy Hannah and her baby brother Henry came over with their parents so that they could play dress-up and watch Christmas cartoons in the play room, while the adults did boring stuff like drink...
Friday night we had another delicious meal prepared by Erin, Winfield, and Mike for Barb's early birthday dinner. Chicken marsala, fancy salad, and asparagus, all followed by a very chocolatey chocolate cake. Mmmm, had to work out extra when we got home! Saturday we worked to get out the Christmas stuff at the Dueker household. The kids could already, not wait for Santa!!! It promised to be a long month of "can we open it today?"... =+)
The weekend right after we were in California, Erin came up to Mill Creek to visit her good friends Angie and JD Huleen and their new baby Alicia. The Huleens live just a couple miles from us so it's a very handy set up! Two birds with one stone and all that. Erin was here alone, we missed you Lance, and without the kids. We missed them too, mostly...So we took advantage of the freedom and whenever she was free, did whatever Erin felt like doing! One evening we ended up in Bellevue for dinner just Mike, Erin, and me and we ate with a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the water!
Much of the rest of December was taken over by wild weather here in Seattle. Sheesh. We had snow and ice that shut down the highways and MANY other streets, which unfortunately caught me mid-commute and I was stuck on the bus for 5 hours! It was terrible and I didn't get home until close to 6 1/2 hours after I left work. Sheesh again. To make up for it, we had two snow days that followed the storm, so I was well recovered and ready to try the commute again...eesh.
After the area recovered from the winter blast and the passes cleared, Mike and I drove to Moscow to watch Peter perform in a play at the U of I. A hilarious dark comedy, where he played "the perpetually stoned son." He just gets better every time we see him perform! We also got to eat at the Red Door to celebrate our friend Bob Dwelle's 60th birthday. Yumm!
We got back and another crazy storm hit, though this time it was wind that did the damage! We were among the hundreds of thousands of Seattle area residents who lost power, but we were lucky enough to only be dark for about a day. Our area was very randomly affected and we were back online by the next evening. Not everyone was so lucky. Webb and Emily in Renton were without power for 5 days! Eesh. We did trek down to their neighborhood for a holiday party (in the middle of the power outages) at the only house in their neighborhood with a generator. Great food, some Webb special beer, and everyone within shouting distance made for fun times. Then we had Webb and Emily to our place for a warm dinner, a movie, and to let them use our laundry facilities!!! A couple people I worked with were without power for the whole week! Sheesh. What a way to get ready for Christmas.
When school wrapped up and Boeing let out for the holidays we relaxed and began thinking holiday thoughts. We got together with some friends from Mike's grad school days and had a great time chatting and eating at an alehouse nearby.
The next morning around 4:00am we were both randomly wide awake, so opted to begin the trek to Moscow for Christmas. We knew there was a snow storm brewing up at the pass and it was perfect timing for the drive. Conditions were terrible but we were nearly alone on the roads at that hour and were in no rush to get home. We made it though and all the way to Moscow by noon and by then the pass was being closed off and on for avalanche control, stranding lots of people during their holiday travels. Whew.
We had a wonderful Christmas in Moscow with all of us kids home...including the youngest who just had to shred every piece of wrapping paper he could get his teeth into!
To wrap up the year, and this blog/novel, this weekend we headed to Renton to hang out with Webb and Emily. The boys made beer and Emily and I just hung out and chatted. We played games and laughed a lot Friday night and then got to bed early. Yesterday, first thing, we all trekked out to Snoqualamie to try our hand at snowboarding. It was a first for all of us, but Mike and Emily are downhill skiers. The whole escapade was hilarious and I spent a lot of time on the ground. With the initial help of a quick lesson, some liquid courage at lunch, and a ride up to the top of the bunny hill, we had no choice but to make it to the bottom...and we did it! I'm no pro and boy am I sore, but it was a blast and I'm ready to try it again, or will be when my "push up off the ground muscles" unclench.
When we limped our cold, sweaty, bruised selves back to the Girards house, Webb's mom Sherry was there waiting for us with a ton of seafood! Live crab, clams, mussels, and prawns to celebrate the new year...and not killing ourselves on the slopes. We ate all the deliciousness we could hold, THANKS SHERRY!, and drank far too much wine. It was a great time with lots of laughter and good friends. What a way to end 2006! Happy New Year to you all, and we'll see you in 2007!
November and December were sneaky, though, and really flew past us without our knowing what was going on. I can't believe it's 2007 tomorrow and that Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. Seems a little scary, actually, how fast time is going! November and December were a time for family, as they should be, with the holidays. Before Thanksgiving, my parents drove over for a weekend just for the heck of it. It'd been awhile since my dad had been to see us in Seattle and the break was much needed. We visited lots of wineries and wine stores and ate lots of good food, which seems fairly par for the course when our families get together. We went into Seattle one of the days they were here and ate lunch at Elliot's, down by the water. The food was fabulous, and adventurous. Dad got the Cioppino, and got a little more than he bargained for...even with the bib! There was nearly an entire crab in the dish but it hadn't been shelled so he had to crack and pick it apart, while it was covered in tomato-y goodness. Wow, what a mess! We'll spare you the after photo...
For Thanksgiving we headed south to visit Mike's family in California. Winfield and Tracey picked us up at the San Jose airport on their way from Petaluma to Fresno where we all congregated to celebrate the holiday. We had a fabulous time seeing everyone. The kids sure grow fast! Jake is really growing up and is Mr. Social. He is in pre-school 5 days a week and loves his new friends! Ally loves princesses and playing dress up and has both of her uncles wrapped around her little finger!=+) We were lucky enough to be there from Wed through Sun and so had lots of time for family. Here's the whole crew gathered for dinner the first night we were there.
Thanksgiving was spent chopping and cooking and organizing all the dishes. Good thing Erin and Lance have two ovens! Finally for dinner, Jake and Ally's buddy Hannah and her baby brother Henry came over with their parents so that they could play dress-up and watch Christmas cartoons in the play room, while the adults did boring stuff like drink...
Friday night we had another delicious meal prepared by Erin, Winfield, and Mike for Barb's early birthday dinner. Chicken marsala, fancy salad, and asparagus, all followed by a very chocolatey chocolate cake. Mmmm, had to work out extra when we got home! Saturday we worked to get out the Christmas stuff at the Dueker household. The kids could already, not wait for Santa!!! It promised to be a long month of "can we open it today?"... =+)
The weekend right after we were in California, Erin came up to Mill Creek to visit her good friends Angie and JD Huleen and their new baby Alicia. The Huleens live just a couple miles from us so it's a very handy set up! Two birds with one stone and all that. Erin was here alone, we missed you Lance, and without the kids. We missed them too, mostly...So we took advantage of the freedom and whenever she was free, did whatever Erin felt like doing! One evening we ended up in Bellevue for dinner just Mike, Erin, and me and we ate with a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the water!
Much of the rest of December was taken over by wild weather here in Seattle. Sheesh. We had snow and ice that shut down the highways and MANY other streets, which unfortunately caught me mid-commute and I was stuck on the bus for 5 hours! It was terrible and I didn't get home until close to 6 1/2 hours after I left work. Sheesh again. To make up for it, we had two snow days that followed the storm, so I was well recovered and ready to try the commute again...eesh.
After the area recovered from the winter blast and the passes cleared, Mike and I drove to Moscow to watch Peter perform in a play at the U of I. A hilarious dark comedy, where he played "the perpetually stoned son." He just gets better every time we see him perform! We also got to eat at the Red Door to celebrate our friend Bob Dwelle's 60th birthday. Yumm!
We got back and another crazy storm hit, though this time it was wind that did the damage! We were among the hundreds of thousands of Seattle area residents who lost power, but we were lucky enough to only be dark for about a day. Our area was very randomly affected and we were back online by the next evening. Not everyone was so lucky. Webb and Emily in Renton were without power for 5 days! Eesh. We did trek down to their neighborhood for a holiday party (in the middle of the power outages) at the only house in their neighborhood with a generator. Great food, some Webb special beer, and everyone within shouting distance made for fun times. Then we had Webb and Emily to our place for a warm dinner, a movie, and to let them use our laundry facilities!!! A couple people I worked with were without power for the whole week! Sheesh. What a way to get ready for Christmas.
When school wrapped up and Boeing let out for the holidays we relaxed and began thinking holiday thoughts. We got together with some friends from Mike's grad school days and had a great time chatting and eating at an alehouse nearby.
The next morning around 4:00am we were both randomly wide awake, so opted to begin the trek to Moscow for Christmas. We knew there was a snow storm brewing up at the pass and it was perfect timing for the drive. Conditions were terrible but we were nearly alone on the roads at that hour and were in no rush to get home. We made it though and all the way to Moscow by noon and by then the pass was being closed off and on for avalanche control, stranding lots of people during their holiday travels. Whew.
We had a wonderful Christmas in Moscow with all of us kids home...including the youngest who just had to shred every piece of wrapping paper he could get his teeth into!
To wrap up the year, and this blog/novel, this weekend we headed to Renton to hang out with Webb and Emily. The boys made beer and Emily and I just hung out and chatted. We played games and laughed a lot Friday night and then got to bed early. Yesterday, first thing, we all trekked out to Snoqualamie to try our hand at snowboarding. It was a first for all of us, but Mike and Emily are downhill skiers. The whole escapade was hilarious and I spent a lot of time on the ground. With the initial help of a quick lesson, some liquid courage at lunch, and a ride up to the top of the bunny hill, we had no choice but to make it to the bottom...and we did it! I'm no pro and boy am I sore, but it was a blast and I'm ready to try it again, or will be when my "push up off the ground muscles" unclench.
When we limped our cold, sweaty, bruised selves back to the Girards house, Webb's mom Sherry was there waiting for us with a ton of seafood! Live crab, clams, mussels, and prawns to celebrate the new year...and not killing ourselves on the slopes. We ate all the deliciousness we could hold, THANKS SHERRY!, and drank far too much wine. It was a great time with lots of laughter and good friends. What a way to end 2006! Happy New Year to you all, and we'll see you in 2007!
posted by Meghan at 3:26 PM
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