25

My eldest son, Tyler, turned 25 this month. It was our first family get-together at Grandma's house since she died. I brought her smiling picture with so she was present with us. Tyler and Jami are buying her house so we can keep celebrating there.

I was sitting on the floor in the living room and I looked up at the chair and this is what I saw(altho more clearly)--a straight pin. For years I have kept pins in the sides of chairs and sofas because I like to dig around in my ears with them and some of my kids followed suit. I am happy that I'll be able to find a pin when I visit Tyler! I even put them at other people's houses so when I'm there I have a pin. Mary, Becky, and my mom have a few. I don't know how people can follow the rule about nothing smaller than your elbow in your ear. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?!!

Washington

My friend Jody and I took a trip to Washington to visit her sister. It was such a fun 8 days. Tami lives in DuPont with her husband and 3 kids. Her husband is in the Air Force and is overseas right now. The siteseeing was great, but the most fun was getting to know Tami and her kids. I enjoyed being around young kids again since mine grew up. And Jody is the Brown family history/story teller and I loved hearing all the tales.

Tami's neighborhood--that's a kind of pine they called the Gumbi tree.

Air Force base. And there's Mt. Rainier. We'd be driving around and all of a sudden we'd see it and exclaim, "There it is again!"

The back yard.

Ferry

We took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle.

Seattle skyline

Jody has an injured back so this is her version of the girl on the front of the Titanic--with a purse, of course.

To Market, to Market

In Seattle we went to the big market.

Watched the guys throw fish and yell. There were musicians scattered around. When we parked and got out, I could hear a guy singing and playing guitar and loved his voice. I was so excited to see he was selling cd's for $5. I love it and listen to it almost every day--John's tired of it ;)

The lucky golden pig. Oh--I miss those guys!

Across the street from the market is the very first Starbucks. I had a carmel mocha--just like candy.

Farmers Market

We went to a fun farmers market in Olympia. There was a big selection of fun things, a band playing, stands for eating, and good people watching.

Pets were not allowed ;)

Bubby looks a bit unhappy--probably hungry.

Low Tide

A stop for Olympia coffee. I had already had my Diet Dew so I did not imbibe. Jody and Tami got a real jolt.

There was low and high tide in the Sound. Low tide is kid fun--picking up rocks and watching the little crabs scurry about.

A few handstands.

FULL!

After being here I felt so happy and FULL. The beauty was almost too much. And to think that nothing here can even compare with what Heaven will be like---OH MY!!!

My fellow travelers. The Princess, The General, Bubby, Tami, and Jody.

We did a little hike to see this waterfall.