Another Parade in the books

Well, we are finally home. Another parade in the books. This years seemed to go on a bit longer than others...it didnt help when the fire station had some activity that held up the hydro semis for a bit. Anyway, everyone had a great time. The kids did great. Maddie did kind of freak out when the Pirates came by. She was crawling under our chairs to avoid contact with the crazy guys. Kenzie on the other hand got 3-4 handouts from them. Oh well, Steph and I did the same thing when we were 6.

Oh by the way, Steph made the news. While on her "shift" she was interviewed by KIRO TV. It was the iWitness grouop off the website. When we got home we found the clip. Here is the link:

http://www.kirotv.com/video/13776233/index.html

If that doesnt work, go to iWitness Video then click on the "Excited Spectators Light Up Torchlight Parade" link. They only used a few seconds of a longer interview.

Thats all for now. Happy Torchlight!

Mobile torchlight parade post 1

We successfully scoped out our spot at 8:30am at the corner of 4th and
wall. Steph did first shift from 12 to 3. Nana J and nana C took
second shift from 3 to 5. All of us arrived at 5pm with dinner and
ready for the show. Biggest thing we have seen so far is a marriage
proposal in front of the pirates. We think she said yes, but she got
taken away on the ship :-)

More later.....

Sent from my iPhone

Where have we been?

Hard to believe that it has been 3 weeks since our last post. Unfortunately we have been going going going, and go figure...no time. Here is a recap of whats been keeping us on our toes:

- Over the 4th of July we were lucky to have Jeff, Amy, Ben and Lauren in town. It was great to see them and hang out. One night while the grandparents watched the kids, Jeff, Amy, Steph and I headed out to Matador in the junction.

- The next weekend Steph and I had a great opportunity to attend the PAO Coach's Time Out conference in Redmond. We almost didnt get there as the SS Jensen (aka our Suburban) started having some transmission issues. We had to turn around on Mercer Island and get our other car. We finally made it out to the conference, and really enjoyed the weekend. The conference is very motivational and helps put a lot of things in perspective...both in life, as well as in coaching. We will definately try to make this an annual event.

- During this same weekend, after a week on the market, I broke down and got the iPhone...


Everyone that knows me, knows that I love gadgets and this is the ultimate Gadget. Before the iPhone I was a blackberry guy....I liked that a lot, but as Steph woudl say, I was pretty much addicted to my email. This phone isnt a "Push email" device, so it has curbed my addition a bit :-) It is pretty darn cool!!!

- Last week we were lucky to have Ryan, Stacey and Haas in town. They flew up for Haas' first Seattle visit...and Ryan and I went to Wentachee with 6 other guys for a Guy Golfing Weekend. We played Desert Canyon on Friday afternoon, then Highlander on Saturday morning, followed by Bear Mountain Ranch Saturday afternoon. The final round was at Leavenworth on Sunday before heading home. Of course we had quality "guy time" on both Friday and Saturday night. The topper was walking through the Taco Bell drive through at 1am. Thats about all I can share :-)

So, that is what has been going on. Coming up, Maddie is in swimming class next week. After that, Maddie has VBS the following week. This year Steph is going to be the "Craft Leader" and she is excited about that...so is Maddie!

4th of July Recap

"Wow...That's all I can say about that is Wow!"



Our day started out early, with a 7:30am wake up call. After getting our stuff together, we headed down to Krispy Kreme for Red/White/Blue sprinkled donuts. From there we headed to the Doerrs to decorate our scooter/bikes for the annual Admiral 4th of July Kids parade. Our "vehicles" were decorated with ribbon, cords, etc. Thanks to the moms for all the great decorations. The parade was bigger and better than ever. Rumor had it that there were over 800 kids there with their bikes. As you can see from the picture below, that might be about right.



After the parade, we walked "all the way" back to the Doerr's house (it is like 200 yards from the end of the parade) for Popsicles, pool time and lunch. We played a little hoops and just hung out. The weather was awesome...sunny and over 80 degrees.




After lunch we headed home to prepare for the 2nd part of our day. The kids went down for a nap while we made brownies and some secret baked beans. We headed over to Nana and Papa J's house for a BBQ. All the great grandparents were there as well. It was quite the feast with Red/White/Blue Jello, chips, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, etc. The kids had a great time playing as well....almost too good of a time :-) But it was great to get them together...they really enjoy their time.



After things settled down at 9:15, we thought about going home, but then Maddie asked about watching fireworks...So, we made our last stop at the Landskov's 4th of July bash. We got there just in time for the impromptu fireworks show. Technically fireworks are illegal in the city, but from the sound of things on 49th street, that must not be the case. It was great to see everyone there and the kids loved their 4th of July Finale!

Thanks to the Doerrs, Mom and Dad and the Landskov's for hosting all the festivities!!!

BUSY Summer....

Wow....It has been a long time. Since the first week in June it has been..ummm...CRAZY! Between business trips, end of school year parties, vacations, etc. there has been almost no time to sit down and post some updates. Not sure I can really do all the event justice, so here are few highlights:

- In early June, I had two business trips...One to KC and the other to Phoenix. With the visit to Phoenix, I was able to see cousin Ethan and played a round of golf.

- Maddie officially graduated from Kindergarten and is moving on to 1st grade. She passed all her classes with high marks. She will be in Mrs. Gruenhagen's class at Hope next year...The same teacher that Steph and I had...

- The day after graduation we went on a visit to San Jose to see Baby Haas. We had a great time hanging out with the new parents and the new addition to the extended family. Mom and Dad Perry are adjusting great.

- The day we got back from San Jose, Maddie wrapped up the T-ball season. We finished 0-0-12 :-) The kids were great and I really enjoyed coaching them. We will see what next year brings. Maddie might move on to Softball with other girls....we'll see.

- We spend the last weekend in June on a Family camping trip. The Doerrs, McAllisters, Meyers and Jensens headed up to Denny Creek for a fun filled camping weekend. Friday was tough with a big rain storm that forced us under the tarp, but the weather cleared for Saturday and Sunday.

- Finally, this week, Jeff, Amy, Ben and Lauren are in town from Long Beach for a the 4th of July Holiday. They leave on Friday, so we have a few days for some quality Cousin time. Today we made the traditional visit to Spuds, followed by a quick stop at Whale Tail park, then off to Husky Deli for some Ice Cream.


So, that is the long/short of it. We will try to keep up on the blogs more often. Happy 4th of July to everyone!