Surprise as Maggie Lake

We will get an update out soon about Christmas, but wanted to share some current happenings. Today we woke up early and headed up to Maggie Lake for New Years. We thought there would be a chance for some snow on the ground since the Hood Canal area tends to get a bit more snow....plus last year provided some snow. Well, we had a big surprise when we pulled up...nearly 12in of snow on the ground. That would not have been so bad, but they had just plowed the roads, so there was about 3ft of ice/snow blocking the driveway. So, we ended up spending the first hour digging out some tracks so that we could get the cars in. From there we hit the hill by the cabin with the sleds. Below are some pictures, as well as two videos of the sledding runs...including Haas with Ryan!

Misc Pictures


Maddie, Hass, Ryan, and Kenzie Sledding


Haas and Ryan Sledding

Santa Visit

Today we braved the constant snow to head downtown to visit Santa. This is a 35 year tradition for Steph's family and with Ryan making it into town this AM, we headed down. The wait was only about 45 minutes or so, and it marked the 1st year where we did not have one of the girls crying!!! Haas on the other hand didnt care for it. Here are a couple pics.





Here is a video of the girls telling Santa what they want for Christmas.

Jingle Bell Rap

As most of you know, Seattle got slammed with some more snow yesterday and overnight. And of course we headed right out into it. Ethan was now in town so he came over and we walked/sleded up to the junction and when asked where they wanted to go, the girls said "Talaricos." We will post some more snow and pizza picture later, but we had to share this video with everyone. Kenzie was with Nana J a week or so ago and when she came home that evening, Nana said "Have Kenzie do her Jingle Bell rap" Rap? Are they watching "Yo MTV Raps" over there? Anyway, pretty funny little video.

Snow Day Recap

Well, what a day. We got the word early that school was closed after waking up to a bit of snow. That "bit" turned into nearly 7 inches throughout the day. It just wouldnt stop. Here is Makenzie, with Maddie in the background talking about the early snow.



We then headed out into the white stuff to a great little coffee shop just a block or two away. We snapped a few photos of that adventure, and here are a few others from the day that show ALL the snow we got.



Later on, after a nap, a long conference call for work, and just hanging out, we ventured out to a small hill just a block away to do some sleding. Here are a couple videos of Maddie and Kenzie enjoying their sled ride.

Maddie's Ride


Kenzie's Ride

SNOW!!!!!!

Well, after a ton of speculation and disappointment from weather
forecasts, the snow finally hit today. Thunder snow started about
5:30 and it hasn't stopped. So far we are at 4+ inches! This is a
pic from our short walk over to C&P for coffee....more to come later.

And a few hours later:

Snow Fun, Cookie Fun and Cold

While we wrapped up our Holiday parties on Saturday night, we were greeted by the first snow of the season. Saturday night we got about 2in of the fluffy stuff, and the cold temps kept it around all morning. Maddie was up at the crack of dawn ready to get out and play..so after some hot chocolate and breakfast Maddie and KK bundeled up and headed out. Here is a short video of the fun...with Josie in the mix as well.



Later on Sunday, Steph held her annual Cookie Exchange. This is the second time where the event was impacted by weather. Luckily a good group of people braved the roads and made it to the event. Steph really enjoys this time and I think everyone that came enjoyed it as well. Here are some pics of the cookies as well as Maddie and KK in the Snow.



Finally, we are bracing for more cold and more snow. Today the high was 25, overnight lows are in the teens. Since the roads are frozen, school started 2 hours late today (and tomorrow), so Christmas Vacation came early for KK, while Maddie is coasting into the Holiday break. Forecast is for more snow on Wednesday/Thursday and Saturday...but, this is Seattle, so you never really know.

Lights, Basketball, Meetings, Parties...Oh my!

Well, it is officially that time of year. We are running around like crazy and enjoying every bit of it! This past weekend we got the tree and put up light. Important note, I picked the only hour of the weekend where it was raining to put up light..nice timing. Special little surprise when I got up on the ladder...the gutters were packed with leaves, so had to take care of that as well. Basketball is in full tilt, with these few weeks before the Holiday break busier than ever. Each team has two games a week, some home, some away. Monday the gold team played and won, the blue team played away and lost. Today, gold is home and blue is away again, but we hope both teams come out on top. On top of all that there were Council meeting, Board Meetings, and Task Force meetings. However, in looking forward to Friday and Saturday it gets way easier...only 4 parties in two days! Yikes!!! Oh well, it wouldnt be December, and it wouldnt be Christmas if we werent busy. I do appreciate Steph for her patience and support with Bball and all these meetings. Also, for grandparents that love hanging out with their grand daughters. Maddie and KK are all set for a sleep over and cookie baking with Nana J on Friday while we go to a 2 of the 4 parties. Thanks!

We hope everyone else is having a Crazy time of year...because this means you are having fun :-)

Menashe Christmas Lights

Thought we would share a picture of the annual Menashe Christmas light
display...they have a done a great job again!

Top Floor, Shopping, Gingerbread Display and the Marathon

This past weekend we had the chance to continue our Holiday tradition of spending a weekend downtown. This year's trip was a bit sooner than previous years, but that turned out to be great for a number of reasons. First, it was the only weekend available :-). Second, it was a bit warmer than later in December..in fact we rarely wore our coats this weekend. Third, we had the opportunity to see some things that we don't normally see.

We arrived downtown around Noon and checked in to the Sheraton. First question was "Do you want a lower floor or a higher floor?" Without hesitation, Maddie burst out "Higher Higher". So we got a high floor...in fact the highest floor...in the new tower! Great view looking North. After dropping our stuff off, we headed out (and would not return until after 9pm.) We worked our way though downtown, a number of shops, the Market, etc. Had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, got mini-donuts at the market, and watched the tree lighting at Pike Place. We headed back toward Westlake for a ride on the Carousel before going for a carriage ride. These two are the kids favorite part of the weekend, hands down. After watching it snow in Pacific Place, we headed to Nordstrom's cafe for dinner. Finally made it back to the hotel around 9 and we were tired. The kids a little bit more energy, but not much.

The next day we got up early to watch for our friends Leighellen and Sharman run in the Seattle Marathon. Since we were downtown early this year it worked out great to cheer them on. We were at mile marker 1, so early in the race. Everyone was at a great pace and enjoying the mild morning weather. We saw LE first, then Sharman later. It was REALLY cool to see 12,000 people running through the streets. After the race, we grabbed coffee, breakfast, another carousel ride and some more shopping. We wrapped things up about 3pm and headed home. Within about 5 minutes, the girls were fast asleep in the car. I had told Steph that it would only take 10 min.

Thanks to Mom and Dad Jensen for watching Josie over the weekend. I guess she had a little run in with a pack of Raccoons! Kenzie want to know all about it since she is very very very interested/concerned about raccoons. We had a great time. Congrats to LE and Sharman on a great accomplishment. Below is a little slide show of the weekend. Keep an eye out for the Gingerbread creations. This is an annual thing they do at the Sheraton and the creations are always very cool...This year's theme was Superheros. Happy December!

Downtown 2008

This morning we are gearing up for our annual weekend downtown. We started this tradition a number of years ago, and have kept it going with the kids. We stay at the Sheraton where they host the elaborate Gingerbread house displays. The kids (and us) marvel at the cookie/candy creations. The weekend usually involves a carousel ride, a horse and buggy ride, a visit to the market...oh, and some shopping :-) Anyway, we are looking forward to another fun year. Weather is supposed to hold out for us (last year is snowed) which is always a plus. We will post some pics of all the happenings. Have a great post Turkey-day weekend.

Report Cards are in

Today was the day when 1st Quarter report cards came out and Maddie got all A's!!! Yes a 4.0. It was so funny, I was coming home from BBall practice and called home...Maddie answered and said in a sad voice..."Daddy, we need to talk when you get home" I am thinking, Oh boy..did she slap her sister or break something. When I got home, she sat me down in the living room, and showed me her report card. She was grinning from ear to ear. Now, it is just 2nd grade, but this was a great accomplishment for Maddie and we are very proud of her. She has set the bar pretty high now :-)

Recap and Week Ahead

Last week was a crazy week...we had something going on every day in some way shape of form. So, we were looking forward to the weekend. After a crisp morning walk down to Cafe Ladro (Maddie on her bike), we took the kids over to the McAllisters for a play dates. We had Mikalya over on Friday night for a dinner and a movie with Maddie, so Maddie and KK were excited to hang out more with them. While they played, we ran a few errands...just the two of us...and where did we go? You guessed it, Costco :-) We actually got some Christmas shopping done there, so it worked out well. The day wrapped up heading out to U village to try and round out our wardrobe for the family photo shoot on Sunday.

The Sunday photo shoot was a GREAT time. After going back and worth on what to wear and where to go, we headed out to Golden Gardens on a great sunny seattle sunday. For Mother's day this year, I signed us up with a photo shoot with Leighellen. With Christmas around the corner, we thought this would be a great time to do the shoot. Although a bit brisk, it was an awesome time. LE was great with our crazy girls and we are really looking forward to getting the pictures back. When we get them, we will be sure to post a couple here. Thanks LE!!!

Looking ahead, it is a short week with the Thanksgiving Holiday. Just a few days of work and a few days of school. Along with a nummy dinner with Mom and Dad Jensen we are looking forward to spending a little time with friends...maybe playing a little football, etc. Not sure if we will make it out for "Black Friday" shopping...depends if there are any crazy bargains out there.

We hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Safe travels to all of you hitting the air or roads to be with family/friends!!

All done

We can officially call the trip to Cali complete by making it to in-n-
out. It is an absolute must have when coming to ca, az or nv.

Last Soccer Game of the Year

Well, we woke up on Saturday to some patches of blue skies, but by game time we couldnt avoid the rain. Lucky for Team Quicksilver, they play really well in the rain. It was Maddie's last game of the year as we cant make it for the official final game of the year. Maddie gave it her all and after 2 or 3 great shots on goal in the first half, she broke through, off a a great pass from her best friend Mikayla, to score an awesome goal in her last game. No surprises on this one..she drilled it home!!! We are super proud of Maddie and how she, and all the other girls, played this year. They played with good spacing, great passing, and worked well together. Here is a little video of our end of the game tunnel. Special thanks to Coach Erik for helping the girls do so well this year.

Here are a couple pics from today as well.

Before you know it...

We always joke early in the year that "It will be Christmas before you know it"...well guess what, it will be Christmas before you know it. We started going through our calendar, and starting with this weekend we have something going on all the way until Christmas. Not saying that is a bad thing, but is always seems to sneak up on us. In addition to busy weekends, this week marked the start of Bball seasons. First practice was on Wednesday and we have some more practices next week. It is looking like we will have a 7th and 8th grade team again, and all the kids are excited for the season. We will be posting updates throughout the season....go Eagles!

Exceeding Expectations

Well, a year's worth of work is finally over. Last night was the Hope School auction that Steph, Julia and crew have been planning for a long time. It was a year ago when Steph and Julia agreed to co-chair the event and suggested moving to this Fall. With these two in charge, there was not a lot missed. Every detail was accounted for, everything organized, volunteers lined up, etc. It all came to life yesterday. We started out with "car loading" at 9:30 and we finally made it home at 12:30am. It was a BUSY BUSY day...however, one that was an amazing success.

All in all, over $80,000 dollars was raised (gross)!!! Aside from raising a bunch of money for Hope, it was just a GREAT night. Everyone was excited, the venue was buzzing...the auctioneer even had to Shush the crowd 3-4 time because everyone was just enjoying themselves. We have been trying to lay low today and tie up loose ends here and there, but the buzz is out there that this was one of the best (if not the best) event ever for HOPE. We have heard that from a number of people, ran into people at the grocery store, received emails, etc.

Hats off to Steph who put everything she had into this to make it such a great event. It is extremely rewarding to see all the hard work pay off, and for it to be appreciated. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, donations, etc. We appreciate it, Maddie and Kenzie appreciate it, and Hope appreciates it!

The New Classroom(s)

This morning we had the chance to be there for the "dedication" of the new classrooms up at Hope. It was almost like an Extreme Makeover moment, as Lisa and staff "got the key" on Thursday and spent all weekend getting moved in. Kenzie's preschool class moved from the church basement into their own room...while Kindergarten moved right across the hall. The 8th graders moved to a new room upstairs (they had been on table in the fellowship hall), and the 1st graders moved back to their room. So, as you can tell, a lot of moving and shakin' the last few days. I was able to snap some photos of the new Preschool and Kindergarten rooms as well as some of the activities. This was a HUGE milestone in the Church/School building projects...next step is to finish off the new driveway and playground while also finishing off the connection between Church and School.

She shoots...she scores!

This weekend marked a milestone for Maddie....after weeks of hard shots, missed shots, hitting the post, Maddie finally broke through and knocked one in. She has been SOOO CLOSE the last few weeks, and as it goes, this goal was probably from one of the harder angles than any other shot she has taken. But she took her time, sized it up, and hit it through. She actually surprised herself! Not sure if this will open the flood gates to become a scoring machine...probably not....but it was great to see her hard work pay off. Way to go Maddie!

The Final Countdown

No, I am not talking about the popular 80's song, or the movie...Rather, the home stretch to the Hope Auction. The Jensen house is all a-buzz with Auction activity. Steph is doing an AMAZING job with this. She is clearly putting her talents to use and doing something tremendous for the school.

Today is the unofficial/official deadline for donations, but between you and me, more great stuff will come in. If you have it in your heart to donate something, just let us know. Maybe there are some Hawks or Dawg fans out there that want a little tax write off by donating some tickets..while also saving themselves some more agony! Reservations are still flowing in as well, with a number of table captains (people who commit to filling a table of 10) still out there.

This has been an amazing experience to see it all come together, the tremendous generosity from families and the community, and all the support of parents/family. It will be a great event..for sure.

Hard Fall

No, I am not talking about the sudden wind and rain storm that hit Seattle this weekend. Unfortunately, it was a scary fall that Maddie had today after Church. This weekend we were watching 2 of the 3 Doerr kids so that Cary and Julia could celebrate their Anniversary and her Birthday...and after morning waffles we headed to church. With the construction at Hope we have been up at SLHS gym. After Church, the kids do their thing, running around and playing. While we were talking I glance over to see Maddie tumble off of a 6ft high ledge. Her arm/shoulder/side braced her fall...but it didnt look good. After a few minute of thinking we were heading to the ER, we (I) calmed down and everything looked to be A-OK. She escaped with a scrape on her chin and cheek, and a big scrape on her arm. VERY VERY Lucky.

Ironically the message today about Faith, talked about Faith in the good times...the fact that she escaped with no injury I would categorize as "in the good times"...a little bit more of a drop, or different angle, and she could have been really hurt. The key is that in the good times, we need to take the gifts were are given and share them with others. So, as we digested all that happened today we talked with Maddie about how she is going to share with others after receiving her gift...and us as well.

The Week(end) in Review

Last week wrapped up the first full week of school for both Maddie and Kenzie. By Friday, Maddie was drained, and Kenzie couldn't wait to go back on Monday. The weekend was GREAT..mainly because we didn't do much. There was no Husky game to watch and be depressed about :-), plus it was a cold/rainy day on Saturday. The only thing on the plate was an afternoon soccer game for Maddie. She played the entire 1st half as Goalie and she really enjoyed it. Of course, like her dad, when asked why she replied "Because I dont have to run back and forth all the time!" To her credit, at this age it is constant back and forth, almost like a good tennis rally. Although we arent supposed to keep score, they did win! Mikayla led the team with a hat trick in the 1st half. They are starting to play really well together and might be on a roll!! Sunday was another laid back day with Church in the morning, Seahawks in the afternoon (I predicted 35-13, so I was close!), and then some friends over for dinner. All in all a great weekend. Now we just have to hope that Fall doesn't come on too quick and we can squeeze some more sun out!

Weekly Plug: Remember it is Hope Auction time. Hope Lutheran, the School that Maddie and Kenzie attend, and the school that Mike, Steph, Jeff and Stacey attended, is having their auction on November 1st. We still have room if anyone wants to attend, and we can ALWAYS use more donations. If we want to contribute just drop us an email at mjandsj@comcast.net and we will gladly talk more. If you are reading this...think about it, as we are trying to do everything we can to make the event a success, and you can help!!!

1st Day of Pre-School

Last week, Maddie had her day, today was Kenzie's day. She officially started pre-school. We started the morning with breakfast and pictures on the front porch (look familiar?) Then headed out to school with backpack loaded and a big grin on our face. KK was a little timid at first as there was A LOT going on...new place, new faces, lost of comotion, etc. In just a few minutes she warmed up with all the activities in the classroom. We snapped up a bunch of pictures of her class that you can see in the slideshow. As you can imagine she is excited to go back tomorrow!!!

Pre-School

Today is the day before the first day of pre-school for Kenzie. She is READY!!! Last night she gave a performance that we thought we would share with everyone. Check back tomorrow for 1st day of pre-school pictures.

First Day of School

Yesterday was the official first day of school for Maddie. After the back to school BBQ the night before (featured here on WSB), she was ready! With the long summer we had to be deliberate about wake up times, eating breakfast, etc. Day 1 went off well...Day 2 was a bit more of struggle, but she will be fine. Today is the first FULL day, so we will see how it went. Here is a slide show of pictures from the 1st day. As you will see KK was ready as well...here official first day is on Monday, so we will have another round of pictures then.

New School Year - Hope Auction

After an extra long summer, the School year is almost ready to start. As you might have heard, Hope is undergoing a bit of remodel, so we ended early and are starting late to accommodate the construction schedule. Maddie's first official day of school is Wednesday. She will be in 2nd grade. Meanwhile, Kenzie's first day will be on the 15th. She will be in P3. Both are super excited to start up school! Tomorrow we have the "Back to School BBQ" at SLHS, followed by orientation back at the school. We will be extra busy tomorrow as I get to give the "Welcome" message, and Steph will be talking about the Auction

So, speaking of Auction. Time to give the plug:

Steph has been hard at work with this year's auction. With our experience helping put on the SLHS auctions in 2005 and 2007, she decided to help make it happen in 2008 with Hope. This is a perfect job for her with her amazing organization skills. It is going to rock! Anyway, the event....It will be on Saturday, November 1st at the Hall at Fauntleroy. Her, Julia and the slew of great volunteers met today to get all the invitations stuffed and ready to be mailed. So, be on the lookout. However, if you dont get one, and are interested in attending, just give us a call, email, etc. Tickets are $50 and it is shaping up to be the best Hope Auction ever.

If attending wont work out, we are also looking for donations. From physical items, certificates, tickets, experiences, services, etc....anything will be accepted. Give us a call, or drop us an email and we will be happy to coordinate pickup of whatever you willing to donate.

Steph and I feel very blessed to have attended Hope and that is why we are passionate about giving back and helping out....and to make it be that special place for our kids. So, we welcome any help you might be willing to offer. Hope is on the verge of some great things and we appreciate all your support.

Birthday Weekend Eve

The Big 3-5 for Mike is tomorrow, so we spent the labor day weekend over at the Maggie Lake Cabin. We headed over on Saturday AM..we were the last car on the ferry after picking up Cafe Ladro and Original Bakery. We decided to take the scenic drive into Belfair and go the Cabin around Noon. The weather wasnt the greatest, but we made do. Josie immediately headed for the lake, while Maddie and KK got on their bikes. On Sunday, Nana and Papa J headed over. Weather was kind of iffy, but not before we got a lemonade stand all setup. By the end of the Day, the girls racked in 9.50 from passers by. Kinda cool, they had the Maggie Lake Tri-athalon...a swim across the lake, a bike ride, and a walk twice around the lake...Ironically we were just thinking about something like this a couple weeks ago...when it was 90 and we were in the lake all day!



So, I thought it would be cool to get my Dad up to Trophy Lake for his birthday (9/5) so that he could catch some of those nice trout. He, Bruce and I headed up and go there about noon. We fished for about 3 hours through sun, rain, thunder and very picky fish!! Finally, as we were about to pack it in, Dad finally got into a lunker...actually we had a double. I had just hooked a fish and it was stripping line off my reel like crazy, when he yelled "I got one too!" Unfortunately, right when he got the fish in and was ready for the picture, the fish flopped out of his hands, and flopped another time right back into the lake. I was able to keep the grip on mine and we got this picture of the two of us together. Anyway, good times!




oh...here is another one that I caught as well :-)


Thanks to Steph, the Girls, Bruce, Sheryl, Mom and Dad for a great birthday weekend!!!

Josie's New Friend

Thought we would post a few pictures of Josie's new friend, Luna. The Landskov's picked up their new family member last night and we stopped over for a quick visit. When we got home, Josie was sniffing us like crazy...It will be fun to get her and Luna together.

Wild Times

Yesterday was the Daptiv Summer Picnic and for the 2nd year in a row we went to Wild Waves. It isnt your typical company picnic, but it works out pretty well as they provide a BBQ lunch on the top part of the park, and then just let us go for the rest of the time. As we were getting ready to head out, we got a call from the McAllisters wanted to see if Maddie could play....Maddie and Makalya are best buds, so we know Maddie would miss out...so we said, hey why dont you come on down to Wild Waves. They (and many others) still had tickets from the end of School when the Wild Waves trip got rained out. That sounded like a good plan so they decided to come. Then we were thinking...hey the Doerrs have tickets too, wonder if they want to come. After a couple calls, they were in too. So, we had a full day in front of us now. The crew all hooked up around 2:30, then Rob came down about 4:45. We went on rides, water slides, wave pool, etc. The weather was perfect, around 75, and it was a blast. Here are some pics from the fun. Nothing like those last minute events...good times!

More Trophies

Had to share another picture from the adventures of Trophy Lake. This time it was strictly a fishing expedition, as we stopped there for lunch on the way to the Cabin a couple weeks ago. It was like 95 out and the girls rode out on carts and watched me fish....and also helped net a few that I was able to catch....like this one.

Diving Board

Well, summer finally is here. Seattle is soaking in high 80's low 90s for the next few days. This weekend we are heading out to the Cabin for a few days which will be a lot of fun with the hot weather. This will probably be the first hot weekend out there, so we will be doing lots of swimming.

Tonight we also did some swimming thanks to the invite from the Doerrs to go to the pool. It was a great night hanging out, staying cool and watching Maddie do her first jumps off the diving boards!! Here are a couple videos of the action. You can also see how she has come aloing with her swimming. She did great! Of course, little sister now wants to go off the diving board too :-)

Maddie off the High Diving Board

Maddie off the Low Diving Board

XXX Rootbeer experience

Ok, now that I have your attention :-)

Seriously, we hit the xxx rootbeer drive in issaquah last night. Here
is a pic of giant root beer float we shared. They also had a huge
gumball machine that the girls loved. We also got to sit through the
heaviest rainstorm we have had in a long long time. Probably about 20
min of pounding rain.

Comings and Goings

First off, hard to believe that June and July are past us. It seems like just other day Maddie was getting out of school at the end of May and we were looking forward to a really long summer. Time flies when your having fun.

Last updates were around the parade, but it has been a busy few weeks since parade weekend. We have had visits from Great Grandma Cattau and Stacey and Haas (will post pictures later) where we spent some time at the cabin.

Our inconsistent weather still lingers....It has been pretty average, but we occasionally get up into the high 80's or even 90. That temp around here just doesn't work well with no AC. Luckily we have a built in AC unit called "The Basement" last night we all slept in the basement to keep cool.

We did the school supply run last night. Maddie is getting ready for 2nd grade and Kenzie into PreSchool-3. KK is excited, asking daily if she is going to school. Speaking of school, the construction is coming along, maybe a bit slower then we would all like, but it will be ready....it will be ready...everyone say it....it will be ready!!

Finally, we had a little shake up in the family car situation. Last week we traded in the "SS Jensen" - as my co-workers call it, for a new Chrysler Pacifica. The SS was getting up there and with every repair is was getting more expensive....not to mention the $100+ to fill up the tank with gas. This is a bit smaller for us, but we bought a Thule Topper (or a Rocket Box like some friends call it) that will hold all our "stuff" when we go on a trip.

That's all for now...

Parade Recap

Well, we had a great day yesterday as 1st time participants in the WS parade. A couple weeks ago, I was meeting with a consultant for the school and we were talking about marketing, our under utilized buses, etc, and the light bulb went off....Lets roll the buses in the parade with the Church float. Fill a bus with kids and show our school spirit. We rushed to get a couple banners made up and recruited about 12 kids to ride the bus. All in all it was a great success, we showed our school pride, and for those that were on the parade route that attend Hope, were also proud. Nana J was a spectator and was able to get these pics and the video below. Special thanks to Steph who walked the parade route and made sure I didnt run over any kids!

Needless to say I think we have established a new tradition!

In line for the parade

Our first time in the parade....more pics to come!

Vacation Recap: Part 2

Sorry for the delay in our part 2 recap. After a great time at the Oregon coast, we headed back to Seattle for the night and then headed out to Maggie Lake for the 4th of July weekend. Ryan, Stacey and Haas were in town so we had a great time hanging out, fishing, golfing and swimming. When we got there in the afternoon, the kids immediately headed for the lake with uncle. We also headed out in the boat and caught a couple trout during the evening bite. In fact Ryan caught the first trout on powerbait...everything else has been on the fly. On day 2, Ryan and I headed out to Trophy Lake for golf. The crew met us for lunch and then we "had" to squeeze in some fishing :-) I think I mentioned before that I really really like this Golf/Fishing experience. Here is the picture (thanks to Maddie - who also netted it for me) of the Hog that I landed. For you fly-fisherman, this was on a 4wt rod, with a dry fly!!!



Friday was also the 4th and we enjoyed an awesome fireworks show on the lake. The "show" went on for probably 2 hours with some pretty sizable fireworks. It was almost like being at the Space Needle...ok, maybe not.

On Saturday, the Jensen crew headed up for the day. Upon arrival Ben and Lauren were all over the fishing. We caught probably 40 perch...it was a blast. We then battled the rain, yes, Rain on the 4th, and headed to Tahuya Days parade. After Burgers, Hot Dogs, Ice Cream bars and a cool little parade we headed back to the lake. Luckily the rain had stopped and the kids wanted to go swimming again. The cousins really enjoyed playing together.

Sunday we just kinda hung out...we head back later to avoid the ferry lines. This concluded our vacation. We did a lot and had a ton of fun. Now, we are ready for summer to start!!

Back to the routine

Quick "mobile" post before the part 2 vacation recap. Heading back to
the routine today. Here is a pic of the view from the water taxi
heading over to downtown.

Maddie starts cheer camp today and Kk has swiming lessons. The end of
our vacation and the 4th were a lot of fun at the cabin. Lots of
pictures to share.

Vacation Recap: Part 1

Vacation started out on Friday with a visit to Arbor Heights pool with the Doerrs. We had nummy BBQ burger, salad, etc. Swimming was great....KK is getting pretty brave at jumping right in and Maddie is getting better and better on her swimming. Sunday we then headed down to Portland to visit the "Portland crew." Lunch with Caroling and Lisa, followed by a visit to Janet's house to see Charlotte, Christopher, Katie, Roland, Paul and Brett....Oh by the way, we picked up Stacey and Haas at the airport in Portland....The Perry clan is heading up for the 4th of July...More on that visit in part 2. We had a great visit, and it was great to see Brett and the rest of the crew.

We stayed the night in downtown Portland at the Benson Hotel. Cool hotel with confy beds. On Monday we did a little shopping, grabbed lunch then headed out to the Oregon coast. We stayed at the "Wood House"...the house we stay at every Easter. We were meeting Nana and Papa J as well as Jeff, Amy, Ben and Lauren there to celebrate some milestones for Mike's Parents. June was there 40th wedding anniversary, August is Nana J's 60th birthday, and September is Papa J's 60th birthday. Since Jeff and family were going to be in town we figured this would be a great way to celebrate. The weather worked out great. It was warm (for the beach - 70ish), and hardly any wind. The kids had a BLAST playing together...at the beach, baseball in the yard, riding bikes, you name it. Took lots of pics, and I will post the slideshows later. Here was our final group picture.

Happy Anniversary and Birthday(s) Mom and Dad!

The Heat is on!

Well, summer has finally arrived. Technically, it just started a week ago, but with our wet/gray spring, everyone here in the NW was looking forward to some Sun. Thursday and Friday hit 80, and this weekend we are looking at around 90. Next week, the 4th of July week, it should be close to 80 as well. It is a welcome dose of Vitamin D that us pale folk need.

This week we are going to hit the Oregon coast with Family as well as the Cabin for the 4th. Check back for pictures of all the fun. Happy Summer!

The Impromptu Weekend

With all that is going on, we actually had nothing planned this weekend. The only things we had on the agenda were; remove the root balls (more on that later) and Church/Church meeting on Sunday. However, our weekend was as busy as ever, and a ton of fun!

Friday was a the first day of summer and the weather finally cooperated for us. We actually hit the 80 degree mark. So, while in line for the water taxi to come home Steph calls to tell me that we are heading to Arbor Heights pool with the Doerrs. The Doerrs became members last year and they have asked us to go a few time and we really enjoy it...Thanks Doerrs! We grabbed some sandwiches, chips, "beverages" and enjoyed the 1st night of summer at the pool.

Saturday was our day to get some yard work done. We bought an auction item last year where a family from SLHS will come and re-do an area of your yard/garden. We decided to use this opportunity to take out the 3 big Rhodies. We started on this a few weeks ago by hacking off all the branches....as Steph said, our neighbors were probably laughing at us with our "prune" job. It was my take to pull out the remaining root balls. Easy enough...no big deal...yeah right! 2 hours later I finally got them pulled out. The girls, even Josie, were right there helping. So, after all that we went in search of some nutrition and headed to Jamba Juice. After that, off to trader joes. On the way home we decided to stop in at the Meyer's house to drop off the Video from Lisa's 40th b-day. A short visit, turned into a long visit, and dinner with the Meyers. We had a great time talking about all kinds of things (mainly the Church meeting the next day.)

Sunday we rolled out of bed at 9am...Kenzie actually woke us up....and we headed to 10:30 church. With the construction on the Church/School, church is actually at SLHS. After the service, was the annual congregational meeting to approve budget, etc. As some of you may know, I recently took on the role of Chairman of the School Board at Hope, so I was preparing to talk on a couple topics in front of everyone. I'll admit I was a bit nervous given it was my first meeting, and there were some hot topics to cover. In the end it all worked out great...I didnt fall on my face in front of everyone and we left with the Sun out. From there, on a whim we decided to grab Spuds and head over to the Doerr's house. We hung out, had a couple "beverages" and chatted about the weekend of last minute get together.

It was a great weekend.

Summer at Huksy Deli

Wanted to share a few pics from our visit to Husky Deli. The first one might make you "scratch your head" but this was a funny. As we are sitting at the counter, little Kenzie is looking at the window and whispers "That man doesnt have a lot of hair!" Kids say the darndest things! The last picture is from tonight...we took the McAllister kids out for a couple hours so that they could get ready for their trip to Cancun. Nothing like Husky Deli in the summer...now we just need the weather to catch up!

Groundbreaking

Playing a little catch up here....

Here are a few pics from the Hope Groundbreaking event on June 1st. This is an exciting time for the Church and School as things are getting torn apart with the plan that it will all be back together for the start of school in September.

End of the Softball Season

Well, we started the season with Hail, Wind and Rain, and we ended the season with Wind and Rain and Cold. Yes, it is June 5th. The softball season ended with a final tournament where we played outs, counted runs, etc...a real game. On Wednesday, we won our first game and made it to the championship! Today, we fell behind early and then rallied back to within a few runs, but we fell short. In the end we got 2nd place. It was a great season..Maddie did awesome all season. She has become an great fielder, on top of a great hitter. Today she almost took my head off with a line drive! Here is a slideshow of her during the year, as well as a couple videos that Papa took tonight of two of her at bats. As you can see in the last one, Maddie had a great time too!




Hard Grounder to Shortstop....Safe at first!



Grounder to Second....yer' Out!

Mother's Day Video

Yikes...need to play some catch up again. Here is the Happy Mother's Day Video I mentiond would get postetd....only a couple weeks late :-) Have to give a "shout out" to Little Haas who turned the big numero Uno (that 1 for those of you dont know Spanish) this week! Happy Birtday Haas!

Mother's Day Re-cap

First off, Happy Mother's day to everyone!

Thought we would share some highlights from our Mother's Day 2008. Maddie and I kicked things off by making breakfast for Mommy on Sunday AM. Maddie insisted that Steph stay in bed for breakfast. We then got ready and headed off to Church. Afterwards, we headed down to the Pike Place Market. With our great weather (NOT) we didnt think it would be too busy, but we were wrong. It was packed. Luckily we found a parking spot pretty quick on 1st ave close to the market. We meandered through the market, very impressed by all of the Tulips! With our weather, there was some concern about the tulips, but there seemed to be plenty available. We stocked up on a few bundles, and picked up a few Chocolate Crinkle cookies before heading out. Here are some pics:



Later in the evening, we piled into the Suburban with Mom/Dad Channer/Jensen and headed over to Bellevue for a Mother's Day dinner at Maggiano's. This is a newer Italian place that we have been to in California, but had not been to yet here in Seattle. We were surprised by how much space this place has. It was clearly built with events in mind as there was a massive banquet room that was converted into "large party overflow" for the mother's day crowd. Word from the waiters was that they were going to server over 1700 people that day. The food was great, but it was a bit slow...hey, when you are serving 1700 people, I can only imagine the logistics involved.

All in all, it was a great day. Happy Mother's Day!
NOTE: A special Mother's Day video from Maddie/KK to Steph is coming soon....

Trophy Lake

This weekend I headed out for the Hope Men's Retreat at Miracle Ranch. This was my first Men's retreat, and it was a great experience. There were about 30 guys from the church and we had a great speaker and great program and enjoyed some good times.

One of those "good times" was the pre-retreat golf outing on Friday. Four of us headed over to Trophy Lake Golf and Casting for some golf. This is one of my favorite courses around. First, because it is just a nice course. Second, it is in a quiet setting. And Third, because it integrated Fly Fishing and golf at one location. They have two stocked ponds on the course. In the number of time I have played golf, I have never had the chance to fish it. Well, I had my chance this weekend.

While at the turn, I inquired about fishing....mainly because after passing the 1st stocked pond off of #6, I saw some HUGE fish lurking in the shallow water. I learned that it is only $15 per hour to fish, and 1/2 price if you golf that day.....so for only $7.50 I could try this out for the first time...it was a no brainer. Ironically, I had brought my 4weight fly rod, flies, etc with me in case I had the chance to fish at the lake where the retreat was at. However, I didnt even really need that. For that $7.50 they loaned you a nice Sage Rod and Reel, a net and flies. I wasn't thrilled with the fly selection, so I took my own out with me, but I did use their rod...I hesitates on the net, but then decided to take it as well...just in case. I loaded up the golf cart and headed out to the #6 tee box.

Without rambling too much more, I will let the pictures do the talking. It was AWESOME! The fish were feeding like crazy, and within about 5 minutes I had two hit and finally landed a fish. All in all, I landed 5 fish....all as big or bigger than the one in the picture. I used a small grey parachute adams for a bit and then black wolley bugger. It was a ton of fun. My two buddies who were not as much in to fishing, were spectators while enjoying some cold beverages....Now this is my kind of "19th Hole."

Baseball bat meets Kenzie

A quick picture of the aftermath of an incident between a bat and kk
during Maddie's softball game last night! Ouch!!!

Opening Weekend for Fishing

This weekend we headed up to the cabin for Opening Day of fishing season. Rumors around the lake last summer were that this was 'the' weekend for the kids, with a fishing derby dedicated to them. So, over the last two weeks we stocked up on spinning gear and powerbait and headed up after our softball game on Friday. As advertised, the lake was buzzing even on Friday night as everyone anticipated the morning kick off.

I think we woke up around 5:30 to find boats already working the water. I got up and started getting things geared up, and Maddie emerged around 6:30. We talked with the locals who said that they stock the lake with about 1500 7-9in trout and about 150 brut stock (18-22in). The goal was to just catch something by Noon so we could enter in the derby. Needless to say, it was a bit slow for us newbies to this spinning game. Given our experience catching perch last summer, Maddie thought it would be as easy as casting and reeling them in. We did have 2 fish on but we couldnt land them. Papa J finally caught a 9 incher that got us eligible for the derby. When it got to 11:30 and we only had the 1 fish, we had to "borrow" one from the 16yr old neighbor girl for Kenzie. Lucky for Kenzie this was an 11 incher, which ended up getting her 3rd in the 0-5 age group! But, as you can see from the picture, she was more in to her Kit Kat! Check out the slide show for all the pics.

Here are a few individual ones. On Sunday we headed out in the boat and caught 3 fish..even Steph got one. You can see what the size is like. Before you push your nose up, check out the picture of a kid from Maddie's school (total coincidence that he was there), Hunter, who reeled in this 21 incher...Good enough for 1st place overall in the entire derby! Lastly, and the picture doesn't do it justice compared to in person, is a picture of an Osprey who just swooped down to catch a fish out of the lake. It is pretty cool to see this live. Great time had by all....looking forward to more weekends trying to catch the big one.

Birthday Weekend Summary - Part 1

The complete details of the birthday weekend for Miss Maddie will have to be done in a couple installments...just too much to cover. From her kid "flip flop" party, to a night out with the Nanas and Papas, to her Family Party on Sunday...just a lot to cover. One of the many highlights of the weekend was her new bike she got. Her old one is about 2-3 years old and with her just recently learning how to ride, it was clear she needed a new one. If you remember a month or so ago, we did a little video of her 1st bike ride. Well, here is Act II of that, this time with a little help from her little sister, who is not eager to learn to ride as well (after some modifications - aka Training wheels - to Maddie's old bike.)

Happy Birthday Maddie

The first of a few posts planned this weekend for Maddie's Birthday.
THis was her morning party with hot chocolate from cafe ladro and
lemon cake from starbucks!

Spring Break, Wii and MiMi

Per our last post, we ventured to the M's game last night. I walked down from work, while Steph and the Girls found a prime parking spot just 1/2 block from the Stadium. We gobbled down Hot Dog and Kettle Corn and then braved the COLD weather for the game. They finally closed the roof in about the 2nd inning and it helped, but we had to splurge on Hot Chocolate to stay warm. Maddie, on the other hand, opted for Dippin Dots! BTW, they Won 4-1.

Aside from the game, it has been a busy week for Maddie on spring break. We had softball and bible study on Tuesday, then an all day outing with Nana J on Wednesday. Today is lunch with friends, and tomorrow we have a get together. We might try and hit the pass for our annual sledding outing on Saturday. We shall see. In her spare time, she is practicing her Wii skills....yes, we finally found a Nintendo Wii. After weeks of calling and going to Target, Costco, etc, Steph got some inside scoop that Costco at SouthCenter was getting a shipment in. I called first thing on Monday, and they didn't have the shipment yet, but they did have 1 more in stock and they put it on hold. We got it hooked up that night and had our first bowling match!

Finally, big news on the MiMi (that means pacifier) for KK...we are going on 1 week now with no MiMi. We "lost" it one day and she made it through the night. We actually could not find it that night...although we did find a number of spares later....so we were not technically lying. Either way, she has done great without it and in a visit to the Dentist this week (another spring break activity) she got a certificate!

That's all for now. Let hope the sun makes it up to Seattle soon.

Spring Break, Snow and More

Catching up on the updates for this week. Spring rolled into full swing, but instead of the warm sun, Seattle had snow...yes, Snow! Here are some pictures from Friday that Steph took. As of this writing (Saturday night) we are have more snow coming down. Crazy!




The snow is nice, but it is tough having softball practice when it is Snowy and 35! No smart comments from you SoCal people :-) Unfortunately, Maddie's field trip to the Zoo on Friday got cut short as well....they were not planning on snow on March 28th!
This week is Maddie's spring break. We were thinking of maybe going somewhere, but nothing ever came about. We will hopefully have Softball two days, and then we plan to hit the 3rd game of the year for the Mariners on Wednesday. If the weather cooperates we will work in things here and there. We will keep you posted.

Last Chance for Cookie Dough

Tomorrow is your last chance to get cookie dough...We need to have the forms in by Tuesday. If you interested let us know!

Check out the details here

Happy Easter

Quick message to say Happy Easter to everyone. Here is a pic of the
girls and their eggs.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day. No big parties here. However, we did make it out to enjoy our favorite St. Patrick's Day treat...The famous McDonalds Shamrock Shake. If you have never had one, you need to try it. It is the March "Shake of the Month"

Fundraiser for Maddie's School

OK...calling all Sweet Tooth fans, here is your chance. Your chance to have 3lbs of pre-made cookie dough at your fingertips. When that urge is there to bake some cookies, simply scoop, bake and eat. How easy is that!

Maddie's School is having a fundraiser where they are selling Otis Spunkmeyer (I love that name) cookie dough. They also have, pretzels and brownies. There are about a dozen different types and all are $14 each. We have about two weeks to collect as many orders as possible. So we need your help. Here is a link to the "brochure"

(NOTE: You will need Adobe Acrobat to view the brochure). If you have any trouble accessing or viewing the brochure we can send it to you via Email.

Of course we would love everyone to buy multiple tubs, however, there is 1 snag. When the orders come in, they come to us....so as much as we would love to have those of you in California, Arizona, Louisiana, etc. buy a few items, it might be a bit tough getting 3lbs of frozen cookie dough to you. That being said, another idea is that you buy a Tub as a donation, and we will find a local group that could benefit. A WIN WIN WIN situation.

So, that is it. After looking through the brochure if you find your mouth watering for a cookie, simply drop us an email (mjandsj@comcast.net) or give us a call and we will work out the ordering details. Again, we only have a couple weeks, so hurry while supplies last!!!

Happy Birthday Steph

March 7th....Today was Steph's birthday. We started the morning with Cafe Ladro and homemade waffles. Then, after a some morning meetings at work, I met Steph and the girls downtown (Maddie was out of school today.) We walked around the market, hit a few stores, and enjoyed a fun day together. We finished the day off with Steph enjoying some time with friends working on her scrapbook....the girls and I hit the bowling alley with the Doerrs, then headed to Elliott Bay in the Junction for dinner.

Happy Birthday Steph!!!

Maddie's 1st Bike Ride

After getting home from school today, the weather was nice, and Maddie saw her bike in the garage. Once we got air in the tires, Maddie wanted to try and ride her bike w/o training wheels. We had tried this a few time last summer, but couldnt make the breakthrough. However, this time, on the first time, she was riding down the alley on her own. The video below was on our way back to the garage. We are looking forward to Alki bike rides this summer!

Weekend wrap up

In the last post, I mentioned that both SLHS teams headed off to the State tournament in Spokane. Unfortunately, both teams lost two games in a row and were out of the tournament. It was a great accomplishment just getting there again, and was fun to follow the action from a distance. Maybe they have started something...

Last night we had a night out with friends. A group of 10 headed out on the town. The intent was to find a country bar and try some country dancing. For 8 of us, this is a major stretch...but the Doerrs are the Pros, so were looking for some guidance. The one challenge was finding a country bar. The Pros had been to the well known "Riverside" in Tukwila so we decided to head that direction. We grabbed dinner at a restaurant across the street at a small Italian place and had a "Little Italy" experience, then headed over to the Riverside....but there was one small problem....The "Riverside" was now a full-on Casino and there was not even an ounce of country bar there anymore. So, that made us head north to what I learned is the one and only country bar in the Seattle city limits, The Little Red Hen in Greenlake. This was a very interesting experience. It was totally packed, very difficult to get a drink, and no place to sit....sounds fun, eh? Well, it actually was. We waited in the lines, pushed our way around and huddled around the Pool Table. With some encouragement and help from the Pros, a number of us got out on the dance floor and did a little 2-step. We had a great time and cant wait to do it again.

Today we started out heading to Church where Maddie sang as part of Lutheran Schools Sunday. It was really cool to see the church packed with all the school families, kids, etc. After church we headed over to Grandma Cook's to pack them up for another move. A few months ago, they got pushed out of their apartment as they were converted to Condos. They found a small condo just a block away from us, but then recently found a new apartment close to the WS Junction. Here is a picture from their deck.....we were joking that they will be able to watch the Hi-Yu parade from their deck this summer.

SLHS to State

As most of you know, Steph and I (as well as Jeff and Stacey) both attended SLHS. During our 4 years there, the boys bball team was luck enough to go to state twice for basketball. Unfortunately, the boys have only been 1 other time in the last 18 years. Well, this weekend that changed when the boys took 5th at Tri-Districts and qualified for state. Even better, the girls also made it to state....the first time since 1987 that both teams have made it to state.

After learning about their accomplishment, I pinged Jack Menashe and offered to talk to the team about the "State Experience". He took me up on that and I talked with them today for a few minutes. From playing in the 10,000 seat arena, to the quality of the teams you play, to rooter bus...It was fun to encourage them in their next challenge. Of course my biggest highlight was from my Sophomore year where we placed 8th. It was the game that either gave us a shot for 5th or sent us home, and we went into double overtime. I came in for someone that fouled out and ended up making 2 free throws with 20 seconds left to "put the game out of reach." Dad actually put together a DVD for me with the radio audio, so I watched that tonight. If I can get the actual AVI, I might post a clip...although the uniforms from 19 years ago are not pretty :-)

We pinged our favorite West Seattle website and they added a posting to their Blog about the accomplishment.

That posting has links to the Boys and Girls brackets so you can all track how they do.

Go Saints!

Happy Birthday to me...

A little singing for you...

LEST 2008

This past Wed-Sat we were in Portland for the 2008 LEST. This is a gathering of 15-18 Lutheran Schools from the west coast to compete in vairous areas of music, drama, spelling, math and basketball. For us (HOPE), it means the end of our long season. We took two teams, 1 comprised of mainly 7th graders as the blue team, and another all 8th graders as the Gold team. The blue team unfortunately lost two in a row and was out of the tournament. The gold team however, won 2 in a row, and made it to the championship game. It was the first time in about 15 years since a Hope boys team has made it to the championship. The last time a Hope boys team won the championship was my 8th grade year back in 1987! Anyway, the guys did great. We surprise a lot of people and did our very best. As you can see from Maddie's top 4 below we "Won" 2nd place...they played super hard and we were very proud of the team.

Maddie's Top 4 from LEST

1) Drama Performance
2) Boy's Basketball winning 2nd place
3) Cheerleading Night
4) Connecting Hotel Rooms with the Doerrs'

Here are is a slideshow from the weekend.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to Kenzie!!!

Here is a picture from this morning. Big day planned with swimming,
presents, party, etc. We will post updates later.

90th Birthday Party

On Saturday we celebrated Grandpa Jensen's 90th Birthday!




The three kids (and spouses) helped plan a party with about "90" people. It was a great opportunity to see a number of people and to celebrate his 90th birthday. My brother made the trip up for the party, as did my cousins from Louisiana. We dont get a chance to see the complete family a lot, so it was fun to get together. Here is a collection of pictures from the event.