a quick note from Thailand

I'm in Thailand! I arrived late Sunday night with Anneka, Lance, Jared and Jane. We've been here 3 days now and are having lots of fun. I'll post more about our adventures when I get back. Some of the highlights, so far:
--elephant ride
--thai massages (only $9/hr!)
--food
--Yo-Yo candy
--chocolate covered cashew nuts

Some of the drawbacks to our trip so far:
--pouring rain yesterday and all clouds so far
--crazy taxi driver from Ao Nang to Khao Lak
--smells of sewage

We're leaving for a 3-day liveaboard dive trip tomorrow morning! It should be fun and I'm hoping for more sun.

randomly generated photo

Tami has asked that I post the 4th picture inside my 4th photo folder. So here it is. This is a beach in Tulum, Mexico (couple hours south of Cancun). I was here the beginning of July 2005 when I took a week of vacation from temporarily ending my job at AHLA and starting at a new job at Nippon. I was only at that job for a year and I'm back at AHLA. Anyway, Seth and I were at this beach and we were amazed at how beautiful it was and how there were no people to see anywhere. I wouldn't mind going back here. I wouldn't mind being on vacation right now, but knowing that I will be in Thailand in less than a month makes me happy!

long beach, ca

I was in Long Beach, CA last weekend for a get-away weekend. I originally planned the trip around the marathon that was happening there, but I hurt my hip over the summer and couldn't complete my training and so I couldn't do the marathon. (I'm just now finally able to start running a little.) Leslie, Tish and Brett all came down there with me to hang out. It was fun to spend time with family. Anneka hung out with us for a day and we explored Long Beach together. This is down by the marina. We luckily had really nice weather.

We thought Leslie should get these sunglasses.

The marathon had an expo on Saturday that we walked through. They had little give-aways of energy bars and drinks and had clothes and shoes for sale. But then we saw people walking around with 1/2 gallon containers of Odwalla juice. We found that booth right away and got the same thing. We couldn't believe they were giving away so much juice. We all agreed that this was the best give-away. It was so good.

We had yummy mexican for dinner with the lovebirds.

We went to church with Anneka in Santa Monica on Sunday and then went down to the beach afterwards. It was pretty windy, but still nice to be on the beach for a little. We also spent time with our friends Krista and Jen, but we didn't get any pictures. It was fun to catch up with them, too, since we hadn't seen them for over 10 years.

another story

I think this is funny, so I'm going to share it. I just received a call at work from an engineer that works in a mill in Alabama. This is what he said, "Did you just call me?" I said, no. He says, "Oh, that's strange, I just had a voicemail from a girl named Ann and it said to call me back. It was a happy voice and I thought it must have been you." So, I said, sorry, not me. And then he says, "Darn, I guess that means I don't have a hot date for tonight."

And then he said that he wanted to ask me about something else anyway and then I gave him that answer (nice cover-up). Oh man, I can't believe this guy. Let me tell you about him a little more, I think he's in his early 40s and smokes non-stop. I met him earlier this year when I was at his mill completing a study, for him. While I was there, he kept making comments that I had to laugh off, but really were inappropriate. Like, you look just like my ex-girlfriend, I can't get over how much you remind me of her. And another one about my arms being toned and then him asking me if I work out. Just because there aren't a lot of female engineers that work in paper mills doesn't mean he can just say whatever he wants to me, especially since when I met him I told him I was married. None of the guys that work here get hit on by female engineers, at least not that I know of, maybe they do and I just don't know about it. There is one engineer who is dating a secretary from a mill in Columbia. I just hope I don't have to go back to that mill....

motorcycles and roses

I was in Portland on Saturday and hung out with my friend, Craig. He rides a sports bike and he and his friend were doing a "taste" of racing at the raceway in Portland. Which allows amateur riders to have some time on the raceway in-between some races that were going on. I haven't ever been to anything like this before and being the judgemental person that I am, had always thought that raceways were pretty trashy. I was wrong. I was impressed with the guys and girls out there riding. They go so fast! I thought I would have been more scared for them and luckily, I didn't see any crashes. I tried getting them in a video and took this one, so you can see what it was like (these were the "taste" guys, not the pros). I don't even know if they were in it because it was so hard to tell who was who.

They even almost talked me into going on a ride in one of the sidecars. They race, too, but they had another taste thing for being able to sit in the sidecar. I decided against it when I walked by the area where all the sidecar drivers were hanging out. They looked too scary...maybe next time. Plus, I would probably get motion sickness, so I would need to take some medicine first.

We also stopped by the rose gardens, since I haven't ever been to them before. All the roses were in bloom and were so pretty. There was only one color of rose that smelled very strongly, which surprised me. Shouldn't all roses HAVE to smell good?

julie's big 18!

My "little" sister Julie turned 18 on Friday. It's wierd. I remember changing her diaper. Oh well. Leah and I drove down to help her celebrate and Corinne and Nathan came up from Vancouver, too. It was only the girls that got to go to DQ to get blizzards and french fries, in a true 18th birthday party fashion. Even mom came with us. We had so much fun and laughed so much while we were there. I think the other people there thought we were crazy, but we were ok with that. We decided to take a bunch of pictures and you'll see there is a theme in them, after the first one.

We also stopped by the new Great Wolf Lodge, it's pretty close to where my parents live. It was impressive, they had some really nice features, but they also had some pretty cheezy things, too, like fake trees with faces, alongside a realistic looking wolf. I think they should have just stuck with the realistic animals/plants. The water park that is inside looks pretty nice, too. But, you have to stay there to go inside of it. In the huge lobby area, they have a bunch of couches and coffee tables with games for people to play. We were going to stay around and play a game, but we had to get back home. I think we should have our next family gathering there in the lobby and see if they even notice.

Happy Birthday, Ju!

jeff hanson

I saw Jeff Hanson play at chop suey last night. He is such a unique musician and I love his sound. He has a few songs on his myspace page, you should take a listen. You'll become addicted...I have already listened to those songs over and over again since last week. And now I have his latest cd, madam owl, so I can listen to it over and over again....I like getting new, great cds. Bart came with me and we both really enjoyed his set. I especially liked the songs he played with the band. I think it's because there was more background, so his voice wasn't so prominent. That was the only kind of weird thing because when he talks, he has just a normal voice but when he sings it is really, really high. Anyway, I don't know anything about singing voices, I just think it's nice to have something that sounds different and good at the same time. I took a short video of one of his songs...my battery ran out.

hanging out with Savannah

I was finally able to see Savannah and her mom, Melanie on Friday night. I hadn't seen them since April! We met up at the Alderwood Mall for dinner and shopping after I got off work. It was so good to spend time with them. I get a long so well with Savannah's mom. We had a yummy dinner at the Macaroni Grill and then walked around the mall. At Savannah's request, we went into this store that you can make your own bear. I guess she has already done a few of them, so she wasn't allowed to get anything else there, but I couldn't believe how much stuff they had just for making a silly bear. I would have a hard time buying just one bear for a girl. She'll be growing out of that soon, though. We also looked at a jewelry store and she of course wanted all the really big, dangly earrings, but she isn't allowed to have those, either (phew). And did everyone know how much the 80s are back? I guess I should have kept some of my plastic, brightly colored hoop earrings so Savannah could have them. And she told me they are all wearing stirrup pants (with the socks under the stirrups) at school and that she really wanted a pair. She is in the 5th grade this year and that is what I wore in 5th grade. Weird! She also really wanted to get this hat, which we probably should have gotten for her because look how cute she looks!

We ended the night with ice cream at coldstone, per Savannah's request. Guess who had the cotton candy flavored ice cream with gummy bears? I tried a bite and it was so gross. I guess I am old. :)

bumbershoot!

Even though it was $40 to get into Bumbershoot this year, I decided to go with Leah and Lance (who was in town for the weekend). I can't believe it costs so much now. I remember going with Leslie for like $7. I hadn't been to it for years, so it was good to go. We saw a little comedy show which was hosted by the "Sound of Young America", which is a radio show on public radio stations, but I guess it's not on any Seattle stations. I think I'm going to check out some of their podcasts because their logo is: A Radio Show About Things that are Awesome. And who needs more than that to want to listen? We tried seeing some films, but the line was too long (that's the part I don't like about Bumbershoot). I did enjoy seeing these guys: Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles.
And Two Gallants were pretty good.
But my definite favorite of the day (which I'm going to now purchase his album) was John Vanderslice. He had such a nice voice and he was pretty funny. You should check out his cd.

And then the interesting things that happen again at the Seattle Center. This old dancing guy was at the Bite and so were the guys holding the signs outside of the center. They have important messages to get across: dance and repent.

want to buy a house in sequim?

One of the things that has been keeping me busy the past couple of weekends is the house I still own in Sequim. I had rented it out for the past couple of years, but have decided that I need to sell it and just take the loss that I've been expecting. I have had so much help from my family getting it ready to list. Leslie, Leah, dad, Jared, Colin and Paul all helped me out. Thanks so much, guys! We were able to get it all staged and looking pretty good, I'll have to admit (thanks Katrina, Rose Marie and Tracy for letting me borrow stuff). Of course, I don't have a dining room table, mattress or decorations at my Seattle house, but those are minor details. But seriously, if you know anyone that's moving to Sequim, let me know! And please pray for it to sell.Eating mexican in Sequim on the way home from a full day worth of work...

august catch-up

I visited with Corinne, Nathan and Kylee a few weeks ago. Corinne is a softball superstar. She had a double-header the night I got down there. They won the second one, which was good, since it was the one I saw. Nathan and I enjoyed watching the game for most of it. Until at the end, there was a little tiff with a couple of the players and the ref left the game because everyone cleared the dug-outs and came out on the field for a fight. Luckily, there wasn't any actual fighting, but it was lame they even did anything. Poor Corinne, has to play with these other players.

The next morning, we went to breakfast and to keep Kylee entertained, I took a bunch of pictures while we were waiting to leave. She is so cute.

As you can see in this photo, she only has a few teeth, she has been a little slow in that development. She was teething a little over the weekend and was so sad a few times, like when she was in her car seat. Poor girl. Plus, it was a 100 degrees this day. We went to a couple of lakes to keep cool and of course had slurpees. We found out how much Kylee likes them, I was barely able to drink any of mine.

The following weekend, a bunch of the family gathered together because Benjamin had a birthday and because Leslie, Bart, Corinne and Nathan were dropping their kids off at grandma and grandpa's while they went to Vegas. My mom volunteered to watch Sean's kids, too, but they (the kids) decided they were not up for it at the last minute. I talked to my mom during that week to see how she was holding up, since she's not used to having so many little ones around anymore. The boys did pretty well, but it was Kylee and Indiana who ended up fighting the most. Kylee isn't used to having to share anything and both of them were pretty possessive of everything, from the potty to grandpa.

I took a bunch of photos of the nieces and nephews. Sean and Jenifer's baby, Natalie is such a cute little chunk. She's just as big as Indiana and Kylee, but she is a year younger. I used to have fat rolls like her when I was her age. I couldn't stop laughing at her rolls on her arms and legs, though. Indiana

SamanthaCorinne and Kylee look so nice in this one!
All the grandkids were gathered this day. Wyatt, Beren, Kylee, Asher, Samantha, Indiana, Jackson and Benjamin Yes, Natalie's head is as large as her big sister's. :)