The End of Summer

I am a little sad today, as summer officially ends tomorrow with the start of school. Luke and I are still recovering today after our busy end to the summer. We realized the other day, that we have been out of town almost every weekend this summer. With that thought, we vowed to stay home more next summer. We will see if we can hold to our word. It seems that as the summer took up speed the blogging came to a quick end. Therefore, here is one final summer blog with all that has happened over the past two months.

After coming home from Minnesota, my mom, sister, and aunt came to visit for a week. We took on the project of repainting the upstairs guest bedroom and bathroom. Earlier in the summer Luke's family came had helped us repaint the living room and hallway. Now we have painted every room in the house at least once and some twice : ).

Right after my aunt, mom, and sister left, I started a class at PLU called English Vertical Teams (aka Pre-AP for English). The week long course inspired me to incorporate many of the things I learned into my lessons this year. It was also nice to be the student again.

We finished the summer with visits from some good friends. At the end of July Paige and Dave came into town for almost two weeks. In the midst of their busy schedule they were able to take some time to go on a mini trip with us. During our long weekend the four of us went wine tasting in the lower Yakima Valley and spent the night at my aunt's cabin up on White Pass. Before they went back over to Bremerton, we finished off our weekend with some wonderful Indian food in the U district and a nice walk around Greenlake. Before they flew home I was able to catch up with for a Mariner game against the Twins.

After Paige and Dave left, Luke and I quickly drove to Spokane to visit with family. The day after our return, my friend Brittany came to stay for a few days. We had a great time drinking coffee, going out to lunch, and walking around in Seattle. After Brit left, we had just enough time left in summer to rush over to Tri Cities to attend Luke's cousin, John's wedding.

Just as summer was coming to a close we had one more exciting day. Yesterday my entire family came over to share in my sister's engagement. Her fiance Chris had orchestrated a surprise engagement party at Greenlake that we all had the chance to take part in. We were so excited to welcome Chris to the family and of course to hear the engagement story first hand.

As the school year begins it seems our busy schedules only continue. Luke just recently moved into a new position at Boeing, and just last week he started back up with his Master's classes. Hopefully we will be able to carve a little time into our fall schedules for some fun. But before we think about the fall, I have just a few pictures to share from the end of summer.

Brit and I at Pike Place Market

Family picture at John's wedding

John and Kendle
Luke and John
The surprise party The newly engaged couple
Family picture

Minnesota

After Luke and I spent five days in Chicago, we jumped on a plane and flew to Minnesota to spend another five days with friends from college. It was a wonderful trip full of great conversation, plenty of trips to Starbucks, good food, and relaxation. It was so hard to leave such close friends behind. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Just beyond Paige is the view from our rooftop dinner in Minneapolis

One of our many coffee shop visits
Everyone seems to love Dave : )
Paige and I

Paige and DavePaige, Brittney, and I Our whole group during our walk around one of the many lakes in Minneapolis
Cooking dinner after some flag football

The Oxford Crew

Chicago

The long awaited Chicago pics are finally here. Even though it has only been a few short weeks, it already seems like so much time has passed since we were on vacation. We just loved seeing Amy, Dan and Braxton in Chicago. That little boy is absolutely precious and he really took to Luke. On Saturday we had the chance to head into downtown, where we visited Navy Pier, walked around by the water, rode to the top of Sears Tower, and of course ate some deep dish pizza (this was Luke's favorite moment on the trip). We also had the chance to go to one of Dan's games and a team fan dinner. But most of all, we enjoyed our time with family. Here some pics from the Chicago portion of our trip.

Pics from the game

Dan and Braxton signing autographs

Pictures from the Navy Pier Fountain

One of Braxton's favorite things to do with Luke was ride on his shoulders.

View from the top of Sears Tower

Hope you enjoyed the pics. I will try to have the MN trip pictures up by the end of the week.

Mt. Townsend Continued

Here is a quick video of the view from the summit.

Mt Townsend Hike

Today the Walker family ventured out on a day hike. It turned out to be a glorious Northwest day, and we thoroughly enjoyed our adventure. Although the hike was slightly more difficult than the "moderate" climb the guidebooks had described, we still felt the view from the top was well worth it. From the summit we were able to see Mt. Rainer, Mt. Baker, and the Olympic Mountains. If it had not been for a few low-lying clouds, we would have also been able to see a beautiful view of the Puget Sound. Regardless the trip was well worth the effort. Here are a few pics from the day.










P.S. Pics from Chicago and MN are still on the way. Our main computer was down for a week, but it is now back up and running. I hope to have them posted soon.

School's Out!

On another note school is out for summer. It was rather surreal as the end of the year drew ever closer. Maybe it is because June has felt more like February with our low temperatures and rainy days. Even the students seemed to be confused by the weather and surprised that the last day of school was approaching so soon. Well I must say, I am thankful. Although the school year was quick, I am ready for the break. On Thursday Luke and I are off on our first summer adventure. We will be heading first to Chicago to see my cousin Amy, her husband Dan, and their adorable son Braxton. Then from there, we are off to Minnesota to see our friends Paige, Dave, Brittany, and Mike. I can't wait! When we get back from our trip I will have plenty of pictures to share. Until then I hope you are all enjoying your summer season, and hopefully the weather in your area is cooperating a tad bit more than ours.

New Bike!

Last summer we purchased a road bike for Luke so he could commute to work, saving both time sitting in traffic and money on gas. We figured eventually the bike would pay for itself through the savings. All summer I was jealous and sad that we could not go on weekend bike rides together. Therefore, Luke and I decided to buy my birthday present a little early this year (My birthday is in September), so that we would not miss on the summer biking season. We started looking for bikes Memorial Day weekend and by the end of the weekend we settled on this beginner road bike. We even took it out the day we bought it for a quick ride. Today we are off to go on a family bike ride with Luke's parents and sister. I am sure we will have a great time. . Here is a quick picture of my bike off the Internet. I hope to have some of me actually riding the bike soon.

Spring Break

This break has been rather interesting. I usually look forward to this break as a time when I can break out my shorts and t-shirts and enjoy the new sun and fresh air. However, this break brought a completely opposite occurrence - SNOW. It snowed not just one day but two. I couldn't believe my eyes on Wednesday when driving home the thick rain turned to white flakes. As I continued to drive, the snow only became more intense and it continued through the evening. By the end we had almost two inches of snow at our house which lasted through the next morning. Once again, to my dismay, we had snow on Friday. This time however the snow was wet and slushy. It stuck just slightly to the grass but never to the roads.

Although the snowfall kept me from breaking out the shorts and t-shirts, it didn't keep from redecorating the kitchen. In fact it only encouraged me to stay warm in my cozy house and paint all day Wednesday and Thursday (with the exception of a few Home Depot trips). The redecorating started a few weeks ago when my dad came and installed new marble tile counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms. We then decided that we wanted to repaint the kitchen and try out a suede technique by Ralph Lauren. Now that the project is finished, I have a few pictures of the redecorating process to share with you.

Before Pictures

After Pictures

Maggiano's

Amy this post is especially for you. Two summers ago, when Luke and I were visiting Amy and Dan, they took us out to a wonderful dinner at Maggiano's in Nashville. We went solely for the famed family feast that consists of three all you can eat courses. The first course is your choice of two salads, two appetizers and of course bread. The second course consists of your choice of two pasta dishes and two meat dishes. The final course is dessert. The food is fantastic and when you are with two guys that can really eat the "all you can eat" is amazing. For the food, atmosphere, and great fellowship the price is definitely worth it. Therefore, when we found out a brand new Maggianos had opened in Bellevue, Luke and I were looking for any reason to go. We finally made it last November and convinced Jennie, Chris and Bekah to go with us. We had such a great time and of course left with our stomachs bulging. I only have one picture from the event which I stole from Bekah's facebook. If any of you are looking for a fun evening of food and great friends, we definetly recommend this place. Thanks Dan and Amy for introducing it to us.