Cleaning out the closet

To those of you with small children this won’t be anything new or exciting…

Since returning home I have been doing a bunch of laundry. This morning when I went into Brie’s room to hang up her clean clothes I also went ahead with the never ending task of removing the clothes that she has out grown from her closet and replacing them with the next size up. Today this meant I moved out most of her 3 month old clothes and replaced them with the 6 month old wardrobe.

Hmmm… if only I could have a new wardrobe every three months. ~Wishful thinking!

At my baby shower we were fortunate to receive a ton of little girl clothes, so I have had to purchase relatively few items. Lucky me! Some of Brie’s 6 month clothing wardrobe still does not fit her petite little frame, but I know sooner (rather than later) she’ll be filling them out.

…and more photo’s from Seattle and False Island

Seattle market…

Hank the Goofball!!!

False Island, Alaska Thanksgiving 2007

Another picture from the Seattle market.

More photo’s from the 49th state!

Above Hank aboard the “Jeanine Kathlene”, and proud Uncle Jeremy

Proud Grandpa Tim

Proud Mommy

Humpback Whales

Sitka, Alaska (home)

Gas

About a year and a half ago when we were looking into buying our new truck (4 door F150) many things were considered. We thought about gas consumption, seating capacity, storage capacity, we wanted to be able to take the dog along, and much more. I love our truck although I wish it got the mileage of a sedan for the amount of driving we do. Unfortunately our fondness of mountain sports and dog are not conducive to a Toyota Corolla  Anyway, Here in Astoria gas is $3.17 per gallon – ick! When coming home from the airport on Monday we stopped in Longview to refuel and were able to take advantage of the new E85 fuel (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) for the bargain price of $2.35 per gallon! How about that! So, if it’s in your area… and you have a vehicle that takes the new E85 take advantage of the savings!

Photo Show

Finally I have all 600 of our pictures from Sitka and Seattle downloaded. I am still waiting for copies of my mom’s pictures to make the album complete. Here are a couple favorites:

Brie hugging Kai

My mom, Hank, and I

My favorite part of the Pike Place Market — fresh veggies!

Turkey, Friends, and Family

I know I have not been writing much since coming to Sitka. We have been busily running around visiting friends and family. Wednesday we kicked off the Thanksgiving festivities by meeting at Eliason Harbor at 9am and jumping onboard the F/V Jeanine Kathleen and cruising out to False Island. After cruising at 7.5 knots for 6 hours we arrived at our destination. I had already been slow roasting the 70# of ribs we brought up, so we started the corn and the 20 friends and family members out there had an awesome dinner! After dinner the girls left our children and husbands and headed out on a 4-wheeling excursion.

The next morning we got up and went 4-wheeling. Hank had never driven one before, and Diana taught him well. He was racing the logging roads at 40 MPH in no time. That night we had the biggest Thanksgiving dinner that I have ever seen. There literally was a pie for almost everyone there.

Friday we came home and enjoyed hot showers again! We were all exhausted and fell into bed at about 8pm.

This morning we went to a Christmas bazaar, spent time with a couple of friends, Brie got her ears pierced, and then we had dinner with Kai (and his parents) and Aidan (and his parents).

I still have not downloaded any of the hundreds of pictures we have taken, so I am hoping to get that done so you can enjoy some of this vacation as we have. Aidan’s mom actually took this picture and I stole it from her for this site.

North to Alaska

We arrived in Sitka last night and have had a great time catching up with family and friends. Today we went to church, which was followed by a great shrimp feed. On a side note -It was so nice to see familiar faces, and be known on a first name basis. One of the things that really irritates me about our Astoria church is that 500 people go to each service. I have been going there three years, and still feel like I don’t know anyone.

Hank doesn’t remember much of town. It’s amazing how much he has forgotten about town in three years. Everyone is interest in the baby and seems to love her.

Today, Brie got to play with Kai for a few minutes. He is about two weeks younger than her. It was pretty cute to watch her interact with another kid her age.

Ron took some great pictures from around town today. I’m too tired to download them tonight, but I’ll put that on my “to do” list for tomorrow, and try to share.

Seattle Fish Expo

Last night we were finally all packed up and left Astoria for Seattle. This morning started early for me with budget and board meeting and tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday I will be working a booth at Fish Expo.

Ron helped set up my booth today while I was in my meetings and then he, Hank, and Brie checked out the Science Center. Hank loved the IMAX theatre. I guess it was too loud and freaked the baby out.

Only a few more days until we head up to the land of sea and snow.

Ladies Night Out

Last night was ladies night out. Linda had two tickets to the Ty “I don’t know his last name” concert and asked me to be her date. So we left our husbands home together with the children while we went out to see Melissa open for Ty Herndon. We got great seats, 5th row, and all in all it was a good night. Melissa did an awesome job! She can really sing. After the concert we all went out for some munchies and a couple of drinks. It was the first night out I’ve had since the baby. I happen to think that it was well deserved.

6 Month Report

Today Brie is 6 months old! To “celebrate” we headed to Portland to see her tummy surgeon. She is up to 14# 7oz. and doing great. He was very impressed with how her stomach is looking and how well her belly button has healed. While we were there we stopped in the see a friend that helped throughout my pregnancy and visit with the doc that took care of me the first time I was admitted for monitoring. I can honestly say everyone at OHSU was awesome. Not only did they take care of Brie and I, we made some great friends!

Back to the baby ~ It is so neat to see how big she is getting. She is a roller now. Actually, She won’t stay on her back. As soon as I put her down she flips over to her tummy. She is “swimming” and kicking her legs. She really wants to be on the move. Sometimes she is able to get a leg up under her, but so far she just scoots around in a circle.

Brie loves sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, spaghetti sauce, apples, pears, and clam chowder. She does not like green beans or peas.

Tuesday we are leaving to head to Seattle through Saturday – I have meetings and then will be at Fish Expo. Then we head up to Sitka. I can’t wait. My family is excited about meeting her.  I am looking forward to camping, hunting, and seeing friends.