~16 weeks to go!

That's it. From now til June 22 all blogs will be labeled by how much time is left til the big day. IRONMAN! Goodness. The newest phase is the build phase so the intensity and the duration have increased on Mike. Sounds like Julie is increasing too, especially swimming. As for me? Well, I'm just going along and enjoying the fact that I don't HAVE to go out in the weather and run, but I can when I want to. Speaking of weather, we've been having some absolutely glorious weather for the past couple weeks. Blue skies and sunshine. It's perfect for chasing away those early spring grumps that come with gray skies and the fact that it's not quite being time for baby leaves and flowering bushes. It's just around the corner now though with all of the happy sunlight.

Oh what's been happening lately? Well over the past month and a half we've taken it easy around Seattle lots more than the previous months and it's been great! We have done some exploring and spent time with friends. One weekend Mike and I headed over to Port Townsend and took a 6 mile (out and back) walk on the beach to search for sand glass. Once out to the actual locale, we found tons of gorgeous blue, green, white, and brown glass. I even found 4 pieces of red, which was very exciting for my beachcomber soul! We also saw 3 majestic bald eagles and a couple of sweet, silly otters. Sadly while I found lots of treasures, we lost Mike's footpod that he runs with, so all told it wasn't the cheapest of "free" activities we could have done. =+) Se la vi.

Treasure!

Over MLK Jr. Weekend we drove over to Walla Walla, Wa to help surprise a good friend Anne Dwelle on her 60th birthday. We met up with all of the self-titled "codgers" (my parents, the Dwelles, Dawes, and Sities) from Boise and the Boise crew, Janna, Brian, Karin, and Scott.

Surprise!

Moms and Daughters

It was a rousing success and Anne cried...multiple times...as this whole thing was a rolling surprise and we kept springing people on her until we had to stop and give her wine instead to calm her heart. Wine tasting, good food, and great company rounded out the weekend. It was WELL worth all the driving to be able to be a part of the festivities! Well planned Bob and Dad!

Besides all of his Ironman training, Mike has been able to do other fun things too. He went to Vantage with some friends to try out ice climbing -gulp! and loved it! I'm not 100% sure of all that's involved but the photos are nice, and it sounds a little scary. I went to Woodinville with a friend (her husband was with Mike) and we went wine tasting. Rather clever, I know.

Go Guy in Blue!

We also played in the snow a little north of our place and did some snowshoeing with friends another weekend. It was great fun and we laughed a lot over the 4 hours we were out there. By the time we got back to the car we were ready to get warm, dry, and fed so we headed home to make a bunch of pizzas and brownies. Good times!

Earlier in Feb. Lea invited Mike and I to a presentation given by her alma mater Smith. We went as her guests and listened to a really cool talk about "terrior" and how geology affects the growing of grapes for wine! This speaker was a professor of geology at Smith but also has the coolest ever job of "researching" this terroir business which entails traveling around to all sorts of vineyards...WA, CA, Italy, France..... and after digging holes to look at soil, rocks, etc OF COURSE tasting all the wines to see what difference it all makes. LUCKY! It was a fascinating topic and then we all got to do a blind taste test of three white wines and three reds. Apparently I have rather expensive taste in chardonnay, but sadly inexpensive taste in Cabernet Sauvignon. heh heh.

For President's Day weekend, Mike and I got outta dodge and headed to Cannon Beach, OR. Mike took both Friday and Monday off, which was lots of fun!! It'd been awhile since I'd last been there and we had a great time walking the town, watching the glass blowers, wandering the beach, searching for food options and a place to stay, watching the sunset from Ecola Point and hiking in the state park. It was a lovely weekend and we enjoyed playing tourist just the two of us. On the way home we were able to stop and see Uncle Mike and Robin in Olympia for dinner. They were nice enough to share their vat o' sketti with us and it was delicious. It had been too long and it was great to catch up! We came back a day early and spent our free Monday playing in the sunshine around home.

Just gorgeous!

This past weekend my mom came to hang out with us while my dad was in Atlanta for work. While we missed Dad, we were happy to Mom-sit and we got to hang out with Em and Webb too. We went to the book store and Asian market, wandered a bit at Discovery Park, watched movies, cooked good food, and had a great time. When are the rest of you coming to visit?? =+)

Work for both of us is going along, going along. I'm enjoying my students and things are going smoothly. I suddenly have a BUNCH of Spanish II students all in the same chapter so I sometimes feel like I'm a broken record, as I'm sure normal teachers often do! It's been fun though and BOY do I know that material. Whew. Mike seems to be doing well at Boeing although still itching to do something at a smaller company sooner or later. The plane is still selling like mad and happily the landing gear isn't the major hold up, though there's still PLENTY to do.

March is shaping up to be a fun and busy month I think. Can hardly believe that February is over tomorrow. Happy Leap Day! Oh and happy 1st birthday to A.J. Seidel! We love you kiddo.