Progress

Things are coming along...



...we're getting excited.

In the works

A while back we bought us this nice patch of land. Yeah, it's not much to look at now, but give it a few months...

...by then it'll have one fab house on it.

We can't wait!!

**I ought to get an award for my crooked awesome camera phone picture taking skills, don't you think? ☺

Jam-Packed Weekend

Saturday morning started out bright and early with the Seafair Pirates landing at Alki Beach. The sun was out, but there was a bit of a breeze so it was nice to be outside.

We did the pirate thing and then wandered down the rest of the beach. There was a pole vaulting competition going on and a bunch of kids were taking advantage of the low water and doing trick on their boogie boards. It made me want to play in the water, but after glancing at the murkiness of it, I quickly changed my mind!

On the way back from Alki we stopped in Mercer Island and spent a few hours at a street fair there. Rob was into the 3 on 3 basketball tournament, while I was enthralled by these two little poodles that were dyed green and purple. From Mercer Island we headed down to Southcenter for dinner and then back home to rescue Jackson from his boring day at home.

Dog in tow we headed down to Lake Sammamish where Jackson had his first swimming experience. I thought I was going to have to pull him into the water but he walked right in. He didn't stay for long though...maybe next time.

Sunday was a camera free day, but pictures would have been great! We'd signed up for a 5K that was sponsored by a local community club. It was a little odd but we had a good time and met some very interesting people. They were 'courting' us to join up with them, but I think our one visit there was enough.

Post 5K we hit IHOP (of course!!) to get our carbs on and did a little house hunting...then went home to collapse.

Cayman Islands

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands was our first stop. The boat docked in Georgetown, which was bustling with people. We had an excursion out to Stingray City planned for later in the morning, so we first set out to explore the area around the port and scout out the places we wanted to stop by on our way out for souvenirs.

We stocked up on gifts at the Tortuga Rum store (rum, rum cakes, sauces, etc.), which they graciously delivered back to our room on the ship. We also popped into Hard Rock, to grab a few goodies.

The whole pirate theme was all over the Caribbean (crazy, I know!☺), so we have a gazillion shots of us posing with pirates - fake and 'real', and some pirate ships - again, some fake and some really real (pretty cool).

We then made our way along Seven Mile Beach (absolutely beautiful for snorkeling!!) and ended up hopping a boat to Stingray City. It was here that we donned our snorkeling gear and jumped in to swim with the stingrays. We swam with them, held them, fed them and even kissed them (for good luck)! This was probably my favorite water activity of the entire trip. Rob liked that it was only four feet deep.

One of the guides went diving for a bunch of conch shells to give us to take home. They were really big and really icky on the outside, so we just opted to hold them and pass them off onto the other passengers. The shells are absolutely beautiful on the inside though. Apparently the urchin-like thing that inhabits them is quite tasty...the locals were eating them right out of the shells. Eww, I know.

We bought some disposable waterproof cameras to snap pictures in the water with, but I have yet to develop them. Actually, I have yet to dig them out of our still unpacked luggage, so all the water pictures will have to wait until I get my act together.

I did manage to get a few goobery shots of us on the boat after swimming. And yes, that is my nose plug on the band around my neck. When it comes to being in the water, the nose plug is the best invention ever...as far as I am concerned. The water in Grand Cayman was amazing! It felt like getting into a hot tub...almost. And the color of the water, absolutely hands down the best color of all our stops.

We came across some new housing developments on our way back and Rob was trying to convince me that we need to purchase the one on the right as a vacation home. I told him I'd have to think about it. ☺

There is a small city on Grand Cayman called Hell. Yes, that's right. Hell. They have a post office where you can mail postcards to all your loved ones (or not-so-loved ones) from Hell. Rob thought it's be hilarious to send out a mass mailing from there, but sadly we were out of time so we had to pass it up.

We hit some more shops (FYI - diamonds are super cheap here!!) and then back to the big ol' ship we called home. And that my friends, was Grand Cayman, in a nutshell. Next stop, Honduras!

Upsize us

We're on a hunt. A house hunt.

We've decided that where we are at now is just too small and we are in desperate need for some more space. Our own wings, perhaps??

After being on the hunt for months, we still haven't laid eyes on our next home. We are so stuck in 'the now' that it's hard to make choices based on what will be important in the coming years...is this home in a good school district...are there parks nearby...etc, etc, etc.

We've found two homes that we both just love, but don't like the neighborhoods (Snoqualmie and Woodinville...eek, I know!!) and we know what neighborhood we like (Issaquah Highlands), but can't find any great homes there.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that something absolutely adorable will come on the market soon...

Wanna buy a house?

Yesterday we attended a fabulous Modern Homes Tour that consisted of five homes through the Seattle area. I brought my camera so that I could snap a few pictures, but never got aroudn to pulling it out of my bag. Check out their site, they have some great shots. While they were all amazing homes, modern architecture is not the direction I would like to go. Rob on the other hand was ready to hop on board. He really liked the minimalist look they used in their decorating. Me, I am a huge shopper/junk collector/hoarder and am anti-minimalist. I need a house with plenty of room for displaying and storage! We are still working on finding something that suits both of us. At two of the locations they had putting greens. Each person who could sink a hole in one scored a Starbucks gift card. Putting extraordinaire Rob snagged us two gift cards and I managed to get one myself.

We spent a few hours on the tour, visited his Auntie in the hospital and stopped by Bellevue Square for some Red Mango before heading home. I am still feeling yucky and was exhausted. I was in bed by 9:00!