A Check Off the Bucket List

Washington is such a gorgeous state.  Any opportunity to check out it's beauty is a win for us.

Last year, Noa worked with our mutual friend Mark (who happens to be a pilot) to plan a double date where we would take a plane from the Bremerton Municipal Airport to Friday Harbor (one of the San Juan islands).  The plan was to fly over the Kitsap Peninsula, greater Seattle area, and Olympic National Forest to the San Juan Island.  We'd eat dinner somewhere in downtown Friday Harbor and then head back to Bremerton. We had it all worked out, but then there were last minute issues with the plane and the date fell through.  Major bummer.

Fast forward to this past Friday and we got a do-over.  Lucky us!  

We met up with Mark and his sweet wife, Trish at the airport.  I loved the plane that was on reserve.  I don't remember the specific model, but it was a vintage-looking Cessna that reminded me of a candy bar.  

For the ride there, I sat in the back with Trish.  We were the official photographers of the trip.  :)

It was a perfect day - warm, clear, and ideal for a plane ride.  Once we were buckled in, we jetted down the runway and up, up, up in the air!  It was pretty exciting!

The ride to Friday Harbor was full of local sights.  Seattle, of course:

Mt. Rainier (this picture does not do it justice at all!):

The Ballard Locks:

The Boeing Factory, which has the largest building in the world (by volume):

And the finally, the San Juan Islands:

And we spotted Friday Harbor (downtown pictured):

We easily landed on Friday Harbor and walked 10 minutes to downtown, where we dined on the water with views of the ferry.  But, time went by quickly and soon we had to head back to the plane, but not without a pit stop for ice cream first.

Yes, good times for sure.  That was some great ice cream.

This time, Noa sat in the back with me.  We took off just as the sun was beginning it's ritual sky painting in the evenings.

For the ride home, we flew right by the Olympic Mountain area.  We were not disappointed by the views. Of course, the photos don't quite do it justice.

Leaving the San Juan Islands:

This is the Dungeness Spit (the longest natural sand spit in the US; over 5 miles long):

And lastly, nighttime views of Bremerton:

Catching Up (February)

Since I last blogged, we've had guests here at the Hammer house, including Noa's mom and Anya, his sister.  It was wonderful to have them here to help with Ruby (now that I'm super pregnant and need lots of breaks!) and allow me to rest a little more than I typically get to.  Plus, it's always nice to have family be a part of our every day lives here.  Being far away from family is probably one of the hardest parts of living the military lifestyle.  I love our life and the adventures that come with it, but it's always refreshing to spend time with family members.  

Ruby loved having her "ama" (Grandma) and "auntie" Anya around.  She didn't show much reserve or shyness at all when they first arrived, which is a big milestone from her, since this happens with most people, family or not.

Ruby loved playing games with Anya.  Auntie Anya taught her how to build bigger, taller block houses and other fun structures. 

I took the ladies downtown for lunch and shopping one freeeeeezing day.

 Of course, Ruby had to push the stroller for part of the time - it's one of her favorite things to do.  Her eyes now just barely peek over the top!

Checking out Ama's new light-up sneakers.  Fancy!

Anya bought Ruby this really cute wooden cookie set for her play kitchen, but Ruby didn't quite understand the difference between the "frosting" and the "cookie" pieces.  So, we decided to make real cookies and practice frosting them.  Ruby was a natural and loved using the sprinkles.

Okay, I'll admit it - I might have frosted a few of these.

We visited the glass museum in Tacoma (yes, we are crazy for bringing a toddler to a glass museum).  Apparently the displays were so thrilling for Ruby that she ended up falling asleep in Ama's arms.  This was just too precious!

Anya and Noa were able to get away and check out the city one day.  The two of them hit many of the local landmarks, including the Space Needle where the obligatory tourist photo was a must.

Soon after grandma and Anya left we had a brief day of snow.  It really was brief…it lasted only several hours before it all melted away.  

We have some wonderful friends here in WA who will soon be adding to their family through adoption.  Their two boys will be coming here all the way from Ethiopia!  Our Care Group wanted to celebrate and support them, so we dedicated one of our meetings to them.  I made the cookies and we also had Ethiopian coffee, decorations, and a fruit try in the shape of the country's flag.  We played games and shared updates on our lives.  It was a fun, low-key night and the cookies were a hit!

Our dogs, who now play second fiddle to Ruby and baby-to-be recently had surgery (dentals) and did great!  I was looking over the paperwork and noticed under Sadie's name that something was listed as a "geriatric" test.  Wow, how fast time flies.  She's already ten years old and will be eleven in May (Gunnar will be turning nine this year).  These dogs have been through so much and continue to be a delight in my life, even on the days that I can't give them all the attention they deserve.  I'm so glad they made it through the procedures smoothly and are back to their normal selves.  Oh, and Ruby was super excited to pick them up at the end of the day.  When the vet tech brought them out, she (Ruby) squealed in delight.  It melted my heart.

We celebrated Valentine's weekend with our dear Apostles.  Spending time with them is always a breath of fresh air and it was awesome to have the whole family here.

The kids did great together - you never know how it's going to be with a couple of toddlers, but overall, they played really well.

Puddle jumping!  They had such a blast, but were soaked up to their knees afterwards!

We had to turn their seats forward facing in the rental and it was pretty fun to watch them enjoy this new point of view.  When the middle seat was up, you could see their little eyes peeking up over the top.  Adorable!

Also, you can kind of tell how wet they got by looking at Ruby's pants and sneakers.  We stripped them down as soon as we got home and put them in dry clothes.

I'll have more pics to share of their visit in the next post, but these were the ones I was able to quickly download off my phone.  Anyway, as you can see, things have been busy here, in spite of baby-to-be only weeks away from arrival.  I'm trying to slow down, especially since I've had more aches and pains, but I also want to try to get in all the fun stuff before I really need to slow down with a newborn at home!

Super Weekend

It really was a super weekend.  First, some of my local friends threw me a sweet little "sprinkle" for the upcoming baby.  It was held at a local coffee shop and we had the most amazing strawberry cake, fancy coffees, and laughing about name ideas.  The ladies even voted on their favorite name as a group (shhh…I'm not telling yet…since we are still undecided).  Baby girl and I received some very thoughtful gifts and I felt so loved by my friends. This little one is lucky to be born into such a welcoming community of people!

Oh, and if you are wondering what we are all holding, they are chocolate bar favors that say "she."  They were super cute and lately I'll take as much chocolate as I can.

The next day was Sunday, but not just any Sunday….SUPERBOWL Sunday and the hometown heroes, the Seattle Seahawks, were playing the Denver Broncos in NY.  We hosted some (and by "some" I mean around 25) of our friends at our house.  Everyone arrived decked out in Seahawks gear…the 12th man* was in our living room for sure.  This wasn't a typical Sunday, for sure.

I didn't get a ton of photos, since I was watching the game and wrangling Ruby, but here are a few I collected throughout the event.

We had a halftime football game outside:

Ruby got into the spirit, even if she isn't smiling for the camera.

There was a surprise birthday cake at halftime too.  Mmmm..cake….

Most, but not all, of the crowd represented here:

Sorry for the blur on some of these photos…they are iPhone pics, so the quality isn't great, but you get the idea.  The Hawks ended up winning by a landslide, which kept everyone's spirits high throughout the day.  I'm glad we got to share the momentous occasion with some of our local besties. Oh, and no, we aren't forgetting our Patriots (who are still #1 for Team Juloa), but the hometown team comes second in our books.  What a treat to be here when they won and won big.  Go Hawks!

*for those of you unfamiliar with this term, read all about it here

Christmas!

This year we celebrated our last Christmas in the northwest by staying home.  It was just us - our little, growing family - and although we missed our extended family, it was still a wonderful day.  On Christmas eve, we attended our church's Christmas eve service….

photo borrowed from my friend Jason

…followed by an invitation to spend the evening with some friends and their extended family.  It was fun to meet new people and be a part of new traditions, like eating krumkake (a traditional Scandinavian treat that reminded me of soft, strawberry ice cream in a rolled cookie cone) and participating a family sing-along.  It was a beautiful night.

We got to sleep in on Christmas morning (even Ruby!), which for us is 8:00 am.  She was excited to see the tree with all the presents under it. It was a very sweet moment.

Then we led her into the dining room where her gift from Santa awaited….a play kitchen.  It was a huge hit!

We opened our stockings (even the dogs had a full stocking waiting for them) and then proceeded to make breakfast.  Noa, er, I mean, Santa brought me a Belgium waffle maker since it's my all-time favorite breakfast.  We had a waffle breakfast, complete with strawberries and whipped cream.  It was delicious!!

After we cleaned up, it was time for presents.  This year was really fun because this was the first Christmas that Ruby really got into the idea of opening gifts.  She needed a little help here and there, but overall, she got the concept of tearing the paper and would then show her excitement at whatever the gift was.  She would cheer or yell, "hurray!"  She even put on some of the clothes she opened.  It was so fun to see her reactions.

 Yes, we are all still in our PJs - even mommy and daddy.

This picture cracks me up because it's a totally blur.  As soon as she figured out how to put her new baby in the toy stroller, she was off and running.  This has become a very popular toy in our house.

And the baby isn't the only one to go in the stroller, as you can see.

Later that day, we headed to the Landers' house to join in their family Christmas dinner (thanks, guys!) and hang out.  It was a wonderful time visiting with friends who have become like family here.  Ruby loves playing with their boys and petting their dog, Harley (he's been on the blog before), as well as playing with some of their fun toys (they have a toy ambulance that she loves).  I was able to try out my baking skills by bringing dessert.  I made a dark chocolate peppermint roll for the first time and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  

All in all, it was a beautiful Christmas.  I'm so glad we could share it with friends, connect with family (over the phone), and develop our own traditions and ways to celebrate such a special day.  

Merry Christmas!