Lake Chelan and Leavenworth

Bright and early the day after Thanksgiving we got up to head into the mountains.  I wanted Ina to see Washington mountains and not just the city life of Seattle.  It was still pretty cloudy on the way, but coming around a curve we saw a fabulous rainbow that was huge! It was so beautiful.  

Our first stop was a small town called Leavenworth.  It's a german style village with gift shops.  We enjoyed a great German meal in a biergarten complete with lots of foods and sauces I had while I lived in Germany.  It was so good!  

This reminded me of my camping buddies!

The town was packed with tourists and so we didn't stay super long.  We hopped back in the car to head to our destination:  Lake Chelan.

Chelan is a summer lake community that is a hot destination for city goers.  I knew it would be the offseason but I still wanted to go to the mountains.  We booked a time share on the lake and it was absolutely magnificent.  Our condo was waterfront with an amazing view of the water and mountains. 

These mountains are in the desert so they aren't covered with evergreens like the rest of the mountains but they are still gorgeous. 

We relaxed on the first night and then on Saturday morning we headed up to the top of the mountain for some views and to find a hiking trail.   It was quite treacherous climbing the mountain as the road was narrow, single lane, no guard rails and covered in snow and ice.  When we got to the top, however, it was worth it.  We could see forever.  We chose a really easy trail that followed the view and walked along the path for a while.  

We found a very female snow person on our way!

As we headed back down the mountain we decided to try one of the many, many wineries in Chelan.  It was really fun and relaxing to sit and taste the different wines.  One of the wineries had a giant bonfire going and even set off fireworks.

The view from the wineries was amazing.

On Sunday morning we woke up and headed to a recommended eatery in the town of Mason.  It was called Blueberry Hill and it was hilarious.  Surrounded by acres of berry fields, the interior was decorated with trinkets from grandpa's shed.  I had blueberry juice and a blueberry crepe that was unbelievably good.

We packed up and said goodbye to our lake vacation.  On the way home we decided to take Route 2 which is a winding mountain pass road.  I was a nervous wreck as we went down some of these steep hills.

But it was a beautiful view and I was grateful to be home safely! 

Thanksgiving 2014

Our good friends Doug and Lisa invited us to their home in Bellevue for Thanksgiving.  I was really excited because Doug is the best cook I know.  The entire meal was out of BonAppetit and it was fabulous.  Every morsel was amazing.  My job was to provide appetizers.  I made some yummy prosciutto cups filled with a pear blend and a popcorn turkey for the kiddos.  We had a lot of fun with that! 

Though the day was nice and relaxing and gracious, it really made me miss home incredibly.  I've only spent one Thanksgiving away from my family before and I missed everyone terribly.  I missed the kids playing with their uncle and great grandparents.  I missed cooking our two turkeys.  I missed the insane amount of food.  I have so much to be grateful for and I know that my list of blessings is longer than I can even try to list, but maybe next year I can swing two trips home for the holidays.

Nana's Here!!!!

Paul's mom joined us in The Emerald City for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  We were so excited to see a familiar face!!!!  She got in late Monday evening.

We have had fabulous weather over the past few months and of course when she got here it was rainy and cloudy!  

On Tuesday we took her to the famous Public Market and she was in love!  Surrounded by an innumerable amount of fresh fish vendors she wanted to buy it all.  We had lunch at the Pike Place Market Grill and then walked around.

We stopped and got Daddy Seattle's best pickles (free brine shots)

And got some of Mommy's favorite black licorice ice cream.

We then headed to the famous Seattle Bubble Gum Wall which was equal parts awesome and disgusting. An entire alley of chewed gum stuck to brick walls.  We found a spot that said Nana and I'm sure it was put there for Ina's visit.

 We found this lovely pig snout.

 And posed for gross pictures.

'

A lovely windowsill

And my contribution to the glory!

The kids made their mark as well.

We walked a LONG walk to show Nana the public library which is really cool and then back to the market.  We saw these fun signs on the way.

A beer you wouldn't see in PA!

And then we met Daddy at Etta's -- a famous restaurant from the Tom Douglas chain.  All local, fresh ingredients.  Yum!!!  And cheers to a great day.

4th Sunday

Part of the Union Church cycle is a mission focused 4th Sunday.  Every month on the 4th Sunday everyone gathers for prayer and a short message and then the congregation disperses to serve.  Some people go to a cancer center, others to an alzheimers unit, and many stay in house to make food for homeless camps.  The kids wanted to stay so we helped to make burritos.  The people gathered made 600 burritos and then loaded them into a truck.  A different group of people took them to various locations throughout the city to hand out to people who needed them.

The kids loved helping and really felt like they were contributing.  It was awesome!

In this very football minded town the church put the game on the screen while we worked.

Salmon life cycle

Noah had a great field trip to Carkeek park with his class to learn about the life cycle of salmon.  His class will grow salmon from eggs in the school and then the salmon will be released back into the local waters to grow.  

The kids first played an awesome game where they acted as salmon and swam (ran) through a stream to try to get to the ocean.  On the way they encountered a wind turbine (spinning rope), wild animals (rubber balls) and had to search for food (colored chips).  When the kids made it through the course they had to look at their chips/food and see if they had blue ones.  The blue ones meant they died from pollution.  

The kids did the entire course again, but this time without turbines or pollution and the number of salmon to live was significantly higher.  The kids learned about human impact on the salmon population and how we kill off our own food source in various ways.

After the game the kids walked along a creek where the salmon were laying eggs.  At the end of the creek an educator was waiting to show the kids the anatomy of a salmon and explained the various fins.  She did a dissection and the kids squealed that it was gross and they were going to throw up!

I was really impressed with the trip and I felt like I knew so much more about salmon and the life cycle when we were done!

A Day Away

Union Church offered a Women's Day away on a Saturday afternoon and I thought I would sign up to get to know some people.  It was at a convent -- St. Mary's by the Lake. So far all of the convents I have been to for women's retreats have been awesome!  This one had a sanctuary with an all glass wall overlooking Lake Washington.  

It was a very slow and thoughtful day with two women leading the group in bible studies followed by small group reflection and individual reflection.  

The first big question we focused on were "What do you want?" when Jesus asks his disciples "what do you want me to do?" in Matthew 20.  We had time to discuss what we really want in life and shared ways we could be honest with Jesus about our real hopes and desires.  We talked a lot about how our actions don't always reflect what we really want in our life and our attention isn't always focused on our real hopes and desires.

After a great gourmet boxed lunch we entered a second time of reflection focused on the question in Matthew 16 -- Who do you say that I am.  People were wondering if Jesus was Elijah or the Messiah and Jesus responds with that question.  The facilitators encouraged us to think about our own actions asking the question "who does my life say that I am?"  and if someone who knew us would categorize our life and actions what would our life proclaim?

Both of these questions were really meaningful and really poignant for me.  And it felt so good to search and listen and pray and not to be worried about attendance or preparation in any way. 

What a blessing! 

Sitting in reflection by the lake... so beautiful!