Thursday, April 21, 2011

I'm baaaack...

...in blogland. I think this has been the longest time between posts since I started. But I'm not going to go back and verify it, I'm just going to dig in.

Got the great news the other day that my dad's cancer appears to be gone! At least that's what the x-ray showed...he will still need to get a cat scan in 4 months, but it looks like the treatments he underwent at Vanderbilt were successful. Great BIG wahoo!

Back in January the girls and I had a fantastic trip up to Seattle with another homeschooling family. We took Amtrack, and it just might have ruined us for plane travel. What a difference it makes being able to get up and walk around, mosey down to the snack car, go to the restroom whenever you want...It's not a terribly practical (or inexpensive) way to travel cross country, but to buzz up to Seattle and back it's perfect.

While in Seattle, we got to see the Harry Potter exhibit that was at the Science Center, go up in the Space Needle at dusk (this was a group favorite!), swim in the hotel pool, and go to the aquarium. We also got to visit with Aunt Jan.

(...somewhere I have a photo of Bret and me in this same spot...wayyy before kids!)

The girls with Aunt Jan -- in front of a totem pole, note the space needle in the background.

I like how this picture juxtaposes the needle and totem.

We've been playing a lot of music with friends, attending weekly Wednesday potlucks hosted by another homeschooling family, having visitors (Bret's mom Joan and brother Kevin were here for the crab and beer festival at the Kennedy School in February - yummmm!), and enjoying our new kitchen/dining/living rooms (just the kitchen is new...but it now opens up to the dining and living rooms).


We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Washington for a 3rd time with a homeschooling group (we get a great discount), painted our living room and hung pictures, and cooked 16 new recipes in 4 days for a friend who's an author and needed the recipes photographed for a Pacific Northwest cookbook she's writing (she also needed photos of kids helping with the recipes...which sounds easier than it was!). The girls have taken lots of things apart...and put them back together again.


Bret and I started the C25K running program (thanks to our friend Allison in Wyoming!). It's been good to get out there and see more of our neighborhood, and exercise...rain (or hail!) or shine!

I re-organized my sewing room, and Bret has been working on several projects, including making a model surfboard.




And that's about it.

9 comments:

Sarah Jackson said...

You've been busy! Now that you're organized, do you want to do the Kids Clothes Sewing Challenge with me? It starts May 8 and I could use a buddy to keep me moving. Summer is coming and my kids need clothes.

Carolyn said...

Hey Sarah - is there a link for it? I'm intrigued...send me an email pretty please!

hi, i'm kat. said...

yay! good for you for blogging :) your sewing room looks awesome and i'm very intrigued about his surf board! hope to see ya'll soon xoxo

Rachel said...

Wow, what a lot of fun stuff! Taking stuff apart is so fun, and I'm pretty impressed that you actually put it back together...we usually skip that step.

Carolyn said...

Rachel -- well, most of the time we put them back together...but not always!

Kat -- yes! You have inspired me again, my friend. Good to be back.

memetopia said...

Hey there, Thanks for the update. And I thought I was busy! WOW! I will have to show Hamish Brett's model. He will be most intrigued. Your sewing room looks very very inviting. I'm just back from a homeschooolers (parents) book talk at a local independent bookstore. Yup, found a few goodies! I'll sure miss my POrtland bookstore fix in May. This kinda assuages it... but only kinda...

Carolyn said...

Memet, you'll just have to find another time to come to PDX for a book fix! I've also found 2 local independent kids bookstores that are close by...danger! :) The surfboard model is pretty darn cool! My sewing room is now more messy, but still a great place to work!

memetopia said...

Hamish thinks that Brett needs to make his surfboard a bit bigger. What is the plan?? Is he wanting to make a bigger one once he gets the proportions figured out. Is he going to put the model through any testing? Are you going to buy a pet mouse to do the testing?

Carolyn said...

Ha! The girls have been asking for a guinea pig...might be too big for the model...and not sure I want one in the house! Bret may build a big one some day...but probably far in the future...he found some cool books at the library on building boats/etc...