2024 Goals

Scott & I didn't really make any goals for 2023 other than to complete the main renovations happening in our house.  Luckily, we were able to get both bathrooms and the kitchen remodeled as well as the front/library room painted. There is still a long list of house updates we need/want to do, but for 2024 we wanted our goals to be focused on other things.  We tried to pick goals that are not only fun but ones we could potentially complete.  Here's to a busy and adventurous new year!

• try 24 new recipes (cooking or baking)

• complete 24 hikes/volksmarches/stair walks

• read 24 books

• do 24 squats every day

• complete 24 hours of community service

• go to 24 live events (baseball games, concerts, theater, etc)

• average 2.4 miles a day per our Apple watches (total of 878.4 miles in 366 days

• Complete 24 Apple Watch challenges 

Vashon Island

On Friday morning we took the ferry from Pt. Defiance over to Vashon Island.  Once we docked, we drove over to Maury Island to hike at Maury Island Marine Park.  The hike to the beach from where we parked was short, but steep and muddy.  We saw a bald eagle on our way down, and then a stinkin' snake as we reached the beach. What the heck? It's winter, there should NOT be snakes around!  We saw great views of Mt. Rainier and Tacoma.  While we were there, someone asked if we had seen the troll, which we didn't know was actually on Vashon. So after we climbed back up to the parking lot (with MANY stops on the way) we drove over to Pt. Robinson where we got to see both the lighthouse and the new Thomas Dambo troll, the Bird King.  So cool!  We have now seen two of the five new trolls in the area.  We hope to make it to the other three soon.  We had a yummy lunch in town before heading back to the ferry & home. Such a fun day!

This was Nova's second time on a ferry!

View from the parking area.

Another decorated tree!

Heading down towards the beach.

One of the big hills and it was muddy, too!

A closer view of Mt. Rainier from the beach.

The long trudge up!

Go Cougs!

Heading onto the ferry for home.

Nova was doing her Princess wave all day!

Gig Harbor Scavenger Hunt

Scott, Sherry & Gabby were supposed to fly to Iceland the day after Christmas for a week, but the recent volcanic activity put a kibosh on their plans. To be honest, it was probably good that they ended up not going as Gabby ended up being sick.  Sherry came over to stay with us for the week instead, so I took the week off of work so we could do some fun things together.  We picked Sherry up from the airport on Christmas night and she stayed with us until today.  We took advantage of the nice weather on Tuesday and headed over to Gig Harbor to do a scavenger hunt, since our one-year subscription is about to expire.   We learned a bit about the history of Gig Harbor on the hunt, but mostly we enjoyed the great views of Mt. Rainier and the water. 

Casting nets like they used to do in the olden days.

Mussels and muscles.