Photo of the Day

The problem with our house in California was that our back yard was all patio & hill. Luckily the front yard was pretty big so we were able to get that bouncy house for Corey's 8th birthday party. It was super hot then, even though it was October.

Woodinville Volksmarch #3

Today we completed our 3rd Volksmarch in the city of Woodinville. It's about an hour and a half north of here. We lucked out and had dry weather again. Unfortunately the ground was still wet & muddy from yesterday's rain so Winston had to have a bath when we got home. He wasn't too happy about that!

We started at the Red Hook Brewery then walked to the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery before heading into town and back. I'm sure the winery is quite spectacular in the spring & summer when everything is in bloom. Even though it was quite a long drive I'm glad we went because we got to explore a bit of Woodinville that we never knew existed. After our walk we had lunch at Ruby's Diner before heading home. Thanks Clarissa for joining us!

The 5 of us in front of a cut out of a large wine barrel.

This tree was really big. It looked like it had been in a fire.

Here is everyone going through it.

The girls with a sculpture on the grounds of the winery.

We managed to find some pretty blooms. A few things are blooming way ahead of schedule this year due to the mild weather we've been having.

An Azalea bush (I think).

This was the main building.

Grape plants.

Gabby by another sculpture.

I thought this sign was cute.

A beautiful fountain which was really long.

A view from near the top looking down.

We crossed a bridge that had these dragonflies on it. We saw a couple of river otters.

Corey sitting on the sculpture.

This is Corey in front of a building on the Columbia Winery.

The group by the Volksmarch flag.

The entrance of the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery

Gabby enjoying a double dark chocolate milk shake at Ruby's Diner.

Luau

Last night we went to the Mormon church for a Luau. We had delicious food followed by some fantastic performances by the kids. It was a lot of fun! Thank you to Pamela who scored us a table right up front so we could get some great pictures & video.

Our hula girl.

Scott & Gabby

There's Gabby in the back with the pink skirt.

Corey & Madi. Love Madi's green braces.

Here are a few videos. I wanted to make sure I didn't go over the 100 MB limit so unfortunately I had to cut them short.

A group from the Lacey Ward also performed and they were really fun to watch.

Here are some of the older girls performing.

Gabby was in two numbers. I think this was the 2nd one.

Here she is in the first number.

Photo of the Day

This was taken on Corey's first day of kindergarten. Corey has always been our more independent daughter. She decided she did not want us to drive her to school on her first day. So we walked her to the bus stop at the end of our neighborhood then got in our car and followed her bus all the way to school. We were definitely more nervous than she was about starting school!

Photo of the Day

This was taken at Gabby's kindergarten graduation on June 16, 2006. Notice that Gabby's shoes have no laces. I remember teaching Gabby how to tie her shoes before the start of kindergarten. She had a hard time learning to do that and to this day she still hates to tie her shoes. She currently does not own one pair of shoes with laces :) Even her Nikes are velcro. What will she do when she gets her pointe shoes???

Photo of the Day

Here are Scott and the girls in front of a waterfall on Mt. Rainier taken in July, 2004. It was our first trip to Mt. Rainier after moving back to Washington. The girls look so small! Gabby is wearing a Scooby doo shirt and even the bandaid on her knee has Scooby & the gang on it :)

Photo of the Day

I can't believe I still have my class picture from 1st grade! This was taken at Oakland Elementary School in Tacoma, WA from 1974-1975. Can you pick me out? There wasn't much diversity back then, even for Tacoma. I think my brother and I were the first Asians in that school. I am in the front row, far left in the blue dress. I remember how much I loved my teacher, Mrs Livingston. My favorite subject was art because we would watch a demonstration on the roll-away TV then spend lots of time cutting, gluing and making cool stuff. I had the biggest crush on that blond boy next to me. I think his name was Douglas. (Yes-I discovered boys early.) Ah, the memories! Love those plaid clothes!

Photo of the Day

Here is Corey having a camel ride at the zoo in Des Moines, Iowa taken August, 2000. Going to the zoo was one of our favorite activities when the girls were little.

Photo of the Day

I think we were able to get a picture with almost every Disney character over the two years we had yearly passes to Disneyland. Here are the girls with Pocahontas taken June, 2003. Kind of hard to see, but Gabby's shirt says "Spazz". So fitting! More character pics to come..........

Photo of the Day

This was taken at our house in Iowa in 1999. Now that was a cold winter! Corey was nice enough to pull Gabby around in her sled.

First Golf of the Year

The weather has been so beautiful this week it's hard to remember that it's only February. When the weather report called for sunny conditions today, we decided it would be the perfect day for our first golf outing of the year. We played at Capitol City Golf Course with our friends Jerry & Brenda. The girls came along as our caddies. Unfortunately the sunny weather also brings cold temperatures at night, so we had a bit of a late start due to the "frost delay". It didn't help that the course was also full of other golfers taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Luckily we still managed to get in 9 holes before it got dark. Actually I think we could probably have gotten in 3 or 4 more holes, but we were all tired with aching feet. That's what we get for having sedentary jobs :) Jerry & Brenda did better than we did, but we still had lots of fun. I'm glad that we went and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next round!

Waiting for our turn to start.

Good form!

Corey practicing in the sand trap. She got it out of there several times.

Serious golfers.

In the parking lot.

Relaxed pose.

I made Scott give me a kiss every time I hit my ball into the air. Needless to say I didn't get too many kisses :)

Jerry putting.

Mt Rainier was gorgeous today.

Corey pulling the pin.

Gabby got in some practice shots.

Brenda taking a little nap before we started.

Chipping in.

Photo of the Day

Corey & Pooh Bear enjoying a yummy lunch. She is 1 year and 9 days old in this picture. How cute is she?? Poor Pooh has no clothes.

Photo of the Day

My friend Heather and I signed our kids up for swim lessons when we lived in California. Here is Gabby with her friend Brittnie and their coach. If I remember correctly Gabby didn't pass because she refused to put her face in the water and wouldn't jump into the water. At least she knows how to swim now!

Photo of the Day

Here is Corey dressed as Belle for our first Halloween in Iowa. She would have just turned 4 years old. She wasn't able to wear this costume trick-or-treating, however, because it was too cold. She ended up wearing a really warm Dalmation costume.

Photo of the Day

Neither Scott nor I could remember why the girls were dressed up like kitty cats in this photo. The date on the back was 7/9/03. It looks like Corey is wearing soccer socks, but soccer was over already, so I'm completely clueless! I wish I had written something on the back of the picture! Note how tan they are. This was just a couple of weeks after we got back from our vacation in Phoenix.

Photo of the Day

Corey was a really late teether. Which is really funny because she started drooling non-stop from the time she was 3 months old. Everyone kept telling us this was a sign that her teeth were going to come in. Right........at 11 1/2 months Corey still had only her two bottom teeth. She loved to smile for the camera. Can you tell?

Photo of the Day

This photo of Scott & the girls was taken up at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in 2006. It was actually quite cold that day and we had not dressed very warmly. Scott was wearing my sweatshirt because our cooler had spilled water & ice all over his jacket. He's lucky I'm always hot and let him borrow it!

Photo of the Day

This photo was taken in the summer of 1981 in front of a temple in Bangkok, Thailand. My mom, my brother (Jerry) and I had gone overseas to visit my sister & her family who were living in Indonesia at the time. We spent some time travelling in Singapore & Thailand. Pictured are me and my nieces & nephew. From left to right: Angie, Susan, Ronny, Toni, Gina and Julie. I had just turned 13 years old a few weeks earlier. You can tell I am the whitest one having just come from Washington! We had such a blast that summer. I will try to scan in more pictures of that trip so stay tuned!