Cheers to our Virginia Friends!

I know, I know. We have not been keeping up with the blog - but sometimes it feels like we're barely keeping up with life!

The quick update is that after two+ years in Williamsburg, VA, Brian and I are back in Seattle. It is nice to be back to familiar territory, but we miss our friends in Virginia. So this quick post is dedicated to them.

Here are a few of the characters that we left behind, that will always be in our hearts:

Joe and Barbara became very good friends of ours. We met Joe at church because we were sitting in the same general area, and he adopted us. He calls us "the kids" and every week, saved us a seat in church. I'm already missing his commentary and warm smile. On numerous occasions, they opened their home to us. They kindly hosted us for Thanksgiving and me for my birthday and Easter. Now we have to figure out how to convince them to visit us over here!



And this is Joanie and Bernie! They are also friends from church, always ready with a hug and time for coffee.

Last, but definitely not least, are my buddies from LL. Livy and Dan are two co-workers that are friends that I'm so glad found their way into my life.

Miss you all!

DIY - Spices

When in doubt DIY!

What I really like about this creation of jambalaya spice was the layers that resulted during creation. They reminded me of the wild shaped glass jars filled with sand that we used to decorate as kids...

Unmixed Jambalaya Spice

Here's to 2009!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This year we rung in the New Year at The Local Vine with Becca and Kevin, Anne (yes, our friend from NYC), Barb (our new friend from NYC), and Karissa and friends -

Definitely a fabulous start to the next 365 days!

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

December 30, 2008

It wouldn't be a visit to Seattle without too many things to do...

We are so lucky to have so many friends in Seattle! This year we were only in town for a week, and we were glad to head back to Virginia to relax. Since we're moving back to Seattle this year, we didn't concentrate on seeing everyone, and we spent some good time with people we didn't get photos of, but here were some fun photographed moments:

Dinner at the Civitts' with the O'Neils and Welchs.


We cheered on Sarah's cousin Kendall as her team won the 7th grade basketball tournament.


Lunch with Cousin's Kendall and Lauren.

Merry Christmas 2008!

Brian and I were so lucky to spend time with our families in both Minnesota and Seattle. We had a blast in both places - although in MN, we really missed Ryan and Laura who were stranded in Portland because of weather.

During our Seattle Christmas, we had so much fun, we forgot to get out the camera. This year was particularly fun because Nick and Carolyn hung out with us all day! Here's a few takes from our time in the snowy mid-west:

Oh, the time we spend in the kitchen!

The Ruhwedel/Porter/Bosmas

Grandma and Grandpa are a hoot to spend time with!
We play a lot of cards, talk and laugh. They make us feel so special when we brave the mile walk across the lake to visit them (when it's really cold, we just drive).

This year, they were cracking us up with a particular story. They were out shopping in St. Cloud, and Grandpa commented how many nice people there were because everyone was holding the doors open for them. Grandma responded, "We are really old, because even the old people are even holding the doors for us." Ha! We should be so lucky!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Thanksgiving in NYC

We took the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in NYC this year - what a BLAST!

We stay with our good friend Anne, and on this visit, we spent a lot of time with Barb, too.

We watched the Macy's Day Parade with Morgan(my BFF), Sage and Lisa - friends from William & Mary that now live in NYC. Usually on Thanksgiving, we turn the TV on and have the parade on in the background. It was fun to actual be there!

It was our first year at the parade, and the same was true for Horton, Buzz Lightyear and Shrek.

But everyone knows, that Santa steals the show!


We had an AMAZING turkey dinner with some friends of Anne's (they're our friends now, too!) in Connecticut - the conversation was lively, wine delicious, and the laughs continuous.

We walked around NYC and enjoyed the Christmas sites and holiday windows.

Not shown: Fabulous dinners, cocktails, stories, hugs,
and all the memories of just living life.

Westward bound...

We are Seattle bound as we begin a new chapter in life. Details are still TBD so stay tuned or just give us a call.

Photo by J Garner

Before I sign off I just want to say thanks to all those that have been supportive and part of my cheering squad. I appreciate all the help each of you have given me along the way.

Release your inner rock star!

Rock Band 2 has augmented our home entertainment, thanks to the yearly raffle that Sarah won, and unleashed the inner rock star in both of us. So go on indulge yourself or come join us and rock out!

Halloween and a new baby - Lyla

Colleen and I have been friends since 5th grade - and it's a friendship that is still going strong!

On Halloween, Brian and I went down to visit the Ladd's. Gwen was a perfect
Raggedy Ann and Colleen let me play along. We went trick-or-treating with Gwen, and it was hysterical. She was more interested in the dogs living at each house than the candy.

We had to get back down to visit the following weekend because Lyla Jane was born on November 3. I have no doubt she'll be as cute as her older sister!

Classic Egypt - Pyramids and Sphinx

Pyramids of Giza, with our traveling group

Guard on a camel, with the pyramids in the background

Sarah, Brian and a Sphinx that has his nose

Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza

This is one of Sarah's favorite pictures...
A step pyramid (the oldest type of pyramid)
with cobras in the foreground to serve as protection.

This is one of Brian's favorites....

Hieroglyphics

Brian and I have really enjoyed all the travel that we have been able to do. But somehow traveling to Egypt was different. Really different. "Traveling" itself was easy. We traveled in the tourist areas and had Mohammad with us at all times. We always knew where and when we were going, and someone figured out the logistics.

Interesting (and total side note) by Egyptian law, because we were Americans, we were required to have an armed guard (to include semi-automatic weapons) with us at all times. It didn't feel necessary, but it's kind of like getting a free drink while out at the bar: thanks, and why not?!

ANYWAY - Hieroglyphics. They were AMAZING. And everywhere. Once the wall/column was constructed, they would cover it with a plaster, and either "stamp" or carve in the hieroglyphs.

This is documentation of what offerings were made to the god each day. A temple may have been to honor numerous gods, but it was all about keeping them happy.


This is a cartouche:

According to Wikipedia, "a cartouche is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name." Because the figures inside are facing the left, you would know to read this from the left to the right. I don't remember exactly who this is for, but the circle represents the sun, pronounced "Ra" and I think it represents Ramses.


Now this one? Not a clue. Brian took the picture and then included it in the post, but it doesn't mean anything particular to me. I can tell you, the symbol in the center is the key of life representing eternity. The bugs? They look cool, though...


Now this one is from Karnak Temple. This is the first spread sheet. Okay, not really, but it looked like it to me. Back to documenting offerings. The symbols across the top were offerings, down the left are days, and where they intersect is how much. Now that's cool!

First Spread Sheet

Besides these pictures, we saw amazing hieroglyphics in the Valley of the Kings and we visited a tomb of a noble that was incredible. We couldn't take pictures inside though, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Cruising the Nile

We disembarked the live aboard to our next adventure of a floating hotel. We flew to Aswan and our new lodging was a boat on the Nile. Well, it's called a cruise, but it feels like a hotel from the 70's that floats down the Nile.

The boat was nothing special, but the views of Egypt from the decks were beautiful. Peaceful, and definitely showed how water means life. We passed all sorts of little villages and farms.
For three days we cruised down the Nile. We would stop periodically (one to two times a day) to explore temples of the ancient Egyptians. It was very cool to hear the stories of the hieroglyphics, how and why the temples were created, and how they changed over the years.

This was the first temple that we visited. It was in Aswan, and was one built after the Romans invaded Egypt. In general, temples were built by the Pharaohs to show the people that they were favored by the gods. Mohammad (our guide) was an Egyptologist - and he traveled with us, so we learned as we went and he was able to build on the things that he taught us.

Underwater Video - Red Sea

Turtle

Wrassi

SCUBA Diving the Red Sea

We were looking for a SCUBA vacation, and Sarah and our friend Seon, got to scheming...the end result: 2 weeks in Egypt, one week of SCUBA diving and one week exploring pyramids, temples, the Nile and Cairo. Between Sarah and I, Ki and Seon, we were a troop of four. But Seon had seven other Seattle-ites who were also interested, so we ended up with a group of 11. Totally fun! And now we have new friends!

The first half of our trip was on a live aboard boat on the Red Sea, which was chartered by Emperor. This was my (Brian's) first live aboard so I wasn't sure what to expect, exactly, other than a plethora of diving. Long story short, I was pleasantly surprised. The food was fabulous! Simple, but definitely tasty. The accommodations were good. We've been married now for over a year and a half, so Bert & Ernie beds for a few days was okay. We would wake up early to make use of the sunlight. The cycle of activities went like this: Sit through a dive briefing, gear up, dive, take off the gear, relax, eat, repeat. A great way to spend a week!

We did have a few crazy crossings of the Red Sea. However, the bumpy crossings (moments when the crew tells you to just go to sleep...doesn't matter that you slept all night, just go to bed again otherwise one might get seasick) would have happened no matter who we decided to dive with. Red Sea in September, apparently the chance of waves is high. It didn't dampen our fun!

The boat

Before arriving in Egypt we were expecting to see large life while we were diving. A good example would be schooling hammerhead sharks and manta rays. When we got there the conditions had changed, bumpy instead of nice and calm, so most of the big life was at depth or had moved to different areas of the Red Sea. Bummer, but we were excited to see how beautiful the coral reefs were.

Despite the wild conditions, this is how we would start the day.

We spent our time with some large life, gray reef sharks, and a bunch of fun and interesting smaller life like anemone fish (below), octopus, lion fish, cuddle fish, and more. Some of the coral reefs that we encountered were amazing! 20-30 feet of cascading tabletop corals, fan corals, and hundreds of types of soft corals. Having been there, now, and diving for a week, I can understand why the Red Sea is some people's favorite spot to dive in the world.

Anemone Fish

Anemone Fish

To Egypt and back again

Over the past few weeks we've been traveling throughout Egypt. We spent the first week SCUBA diving the Red Sea and the second week in Cairo, Aswan, Hurgada, and Luxor. This was an amazing trip for us and over the next few days we'll share some of our memories and pictures.

For now we'll share a picture that we took in Cairo.

A little experiment...

We got the opportunity to get a discounted season pass to Busch Gardens this year, which means that we get ample opportunity to ride roller coasters and enjoy some interesting shows too. One of the side benefits is that one can go taste beer at the park for free too.

While we were at the park recently we went in for a tasting with some friends when our taste/brew master made an interesting recommendation. We were tasting the Michelob Porter when he recommended making an ice cream float with it. The beer by itself is pretty nice. It is kind of heavy, but has some coffee and chocolate flavors and aromas. So after our tasting we grabbed a six pack and gave the Porter float a shot...we made it with 1/2 a beer each and a couple scoops of chocolate ice cream.

B: I thought it was interesting, but it benefited from an extra scoop or two of ice cream. End of the day I think I would rather have a rootbeer float, but I might have to give it another chance.

S: Eh, just ok...but would give it another shot with an ice cream that had some fudge in it or was more chocolaty than the one we had.

Old Friends in a New Town

Colleen and I (Sarah) have been friends forever! We met in 5th grade. We use to pass hours just walking around our neighborhood in Anchorage. Skipped school together (only once!). Played pepper in the street (just volleyball back and forth), swapped stories during college, attended each other's weddings. And now, here we are.

Colleen, Brad (her husband) and Gwen (the 3-year old) moved to Virginia two months ago. They are about an hour away from us, but we are happy to see them when we can. So far - we've been able to hang out quite a bit!

Here we all are enjoying lunch at the Cheese Shop in Williamsburg:

Busch Garden pictures to come soon...

Have you ever been to Berryville?

Berryville? Probably not - but we'll get there in a second...

It was back to Washington DC for Labor Day weekend. Brian and I drove up Saturday morning, and it was great. An easy 2 1/2 hour drive, and we met up with Phil. Yeah for Phil!


Phil lives within walking distance of the Mall, so the three of us wondered through and into the Air and Space Museum. The last time Brian and I were in DC, we saw everything from the outside, so it was fun to check out the inside - and the AC was welcomed because it was HOT!


I made the boys practice looking animated in the pictures - and they got pretty good! The museum was cool - but definitely was cooler in the 80's.

Darn. The museums closed, so we worked our way to dinner via margaritas... Sushi for dinner, which was a totally treat for us! Given all the conversation, our throats were dry, so we had to stop for another beer or two...good times!

Then Sunday morning, it was time for BERRYVILLE! An hour west of DC, Mary's (Phil's lovely girlfriend) family has a house they call the "farm." It is a beautiful restored farmhouse, with a very modern pool area. Mary joined us after work - and Sunday we enjoyed the sun and the laid back feel of the country. Brian and I treated Mary & Phil to herbaltinis - YUM!
We (okay, Mary) made dinner, played games and laughed like crazy.

Then we (okay, I) STILL had Monday off of work, so we enjoyed a good ol' fashioned BBQ with friends, food and fun. And what's a pool party without red keg cups! I guess you are really only as old as you act!

Happy Labor Day!