25 YEARS

It was just by chance that I had gone to a different dinner hall that night. He was sitting alone. I thought he was too cute to sit by himself. I never gave him another thought. Two years later a different school and he was in my physics class. By the end of the semester we started dating. Three years later, almost to the day we were married.

He even smiled. :0)

What a view!

Jeff was a frozen "PoP". He did not wear a coat.

I sure do love this man.

Twenty-five years and four children later I love that man more today than I did way back then. For our 25th anniversary Jeff made arrangements for my dream to come true, to renew our wedding vows at Kerry Park. Sneaking dog, he made the arrangements secretly. I did not know until a week before!  Most of our Seattle "family" braved the FREEZING weather and snow. I thought the light snow made it feel very romantic. It was so funny after the ceremony a small crowd had gathered and they all cheered for us! Pretty cool.

We had a great party at our place following the ceremony. Heather made our 3 layer cake and Sarah Elizabeth decorated it. They cleaned our house, and set everything up. Everything looked so great.
The girls watched Emily and Joseph so that Jeff and I could spend 2 bliss full days together. Our first weekend away since Joseph was born.

My girlfriend Janet, chose my flowers.

Party following our ceremony.

Too pretty to cut!

Present time!

Those ROTTEN daughters shoved cake in our faces!

 It was a fabulous day spent with wonderful friends and family. We are so blessed.

Woodland Park Zoo

What a great was had by all! We were dog tired by the time the day ended. It was down right cold when the day started, about 45 degrees. It never really went above 50degress all day and it was cloudy. Kept the crowd down.

The highlight of the day came when the children got to feed the giraffes. We love the giraffes and to get to feed them, WOW! Joseph has never shown and interest before, but this time after watching the girls, he ran up to the feed stand and did it too! I loved it. He lost intrest when he finished and found out that he could not pet them. :0)

My camera malfunctioned and I lost the pictures of the baby gorilla that was born about a month ago. She was cuddling with her Momma right beside the viewing window. Joseph very gently and quietly got right up against the glass and said, "Aw, look at the sleeping baby". The penguins are gone because they are getting new digs. The new attraction is the flamingo's. It is so funny to see these birds in such a cool climate. You know they are wondering what the heck they did to get an assignment here!

Hope you enjoy the pictures. It was hard to select which pictures to use since between Sarah and I we took nearly 200! I think 100 of them were the giraffes.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Welcome to Seattle!

After flying by grandma's farm, flight delays, and being totally exhausted, WE MADE IT! Our room has a beautiful view, we have seen a few friendly faces of families that were here back in late March. I love how the children feel totally at "home" here. They know all the nooks and crannies of the house. We are on the third floor which we like best. There is a extra den and the library is just a few doors down. We are in the first of two kitchens which we like best as well.

I cannot not get over just how exhausted I am. I feel like I could sleep for a couple of days. Joseph is caught between the two time zones. He is not going to sleep until around 8-9pm but he is getting up at 6am, arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggg!

Today we went to the aquarium with Neil, his new wife Lilly (who we had not yet met and she is darling!)and Smelly! I do not know what the kids were more excited about seeing Smelly and Neil or going to the Aquarium!

The afternoon was wonderful! Since Neil is a volunteer at the aquarium he was able to get some things out of the touch tanks for Joseph to feel. HE was not too crazy about it but he did touch them! He did not seem to mind the sea star so much. We went through fish tanks and it was great to have our own personal guide! Joseph and Neil were inseperable! They are crazy for each other and Neil is just a big kid. Lilly and Emily bonded very well as did Sarah but Emily and Lilly hung out more together which was wonderful. Barbara and Sarah hung out together and Jeff and I were able to find a minute or to for us. As per usual Joseph flipped out with the seals!

It was a great day had by all. The sun came out around 5:30 after a day of hit and miss light rain. We all headed over to the Lockspot Cafe for awesome clam chowder, fish and fries. Poor Jeff was about to pass out after he got a full tummy. One last fun stop on the way home was to Joseph's favorite spot the Seattle Troll. HE loves it!

Tomorrow it is off to the zoo!

Will post pictures as soon as I can. I killed our laptop before we moved. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow one for the RMH but it is not allowing me to upload pictures and make posts to Joseph's caringbridge

Old friends

Gathering with old high school friends and with the great water fighter, Ben. Left to right Ron, (Russ's partner)Russ, Woody (in the back), Dennis, Barbara, Janet, Hunter the dog and me. It was so nice to see everyone and catch up. It is amazing how you can be a part from someone for years and then meet up again and act like time never separated you.

Ben and I once teamed up against Janet in a great water fight~guess who won! :-)