2. annual post... or is it already the 3rd?

The sunken gardens

Japanese gardens Italian Gardens
Family pictures at Bonnie's
Ferry ride to Vancouver Island Sam's Birthday Museum , Victoria by night

Alysia said she wanted a new post and that people really read it. I seriously doubt that. But I will humor her anyways. Sam and I haven't been up to too much lately, just the usual travelling. The weather is definitely getting a bit more brisk, esp. at night. I will get really unhappy if my tomatoes freeze. I bought 5 plants at $3.95 a piece and so far I have harvested 5 tomatoes... that makes them a bit pricey. Zucchinis are doing great, as well as cucumbers and beans.

I have been exercising most days for the past 4 months, and it finally seems to be paying off, I don't get winded anymore when I walk up from the basement. After hearing that 84 year old Carlo runs after a bus and catches it.... I thought it was time I was less of a couch potato.

Last month Emily and I had a very enjoyable time at Education Week in Provo. Of course we had to deal with one major interruption on Thursday..... but little Grace and her new heart were well worth missing a day of classes! We even talked Dacia into joining us on Friday in the evening and it was even more fun with the 3 of us. Got to do that again and see if we can't recruit a few more to come, like Buggy and Jen next time.

Sam and I took off for a week to celebrate everybody's birthday, or so it seemed. We went to see Bonnie and family and celebrated Sam's birthday, then on to Linda's house to celebrate Matt's birthday, only he wasn't there, so we partied with Megan and kids and had a good time anyways. Then at the end of the week we went to Sheila's to wish Pat a happy birthday. In between we made it to Vancouver Island to see Victoria by night very romantic, Butchard Gardens still my very favorite, I got to see it twice, the 2nd time Sam read his book and I went alone and all the annoying people were gone! Sidney by the sea they have the most awesome art galleries and of course the Museum of British Columbia and the Parlament building which is lit up really cool at night and the very fancy Empress Hotel built for Queen Victoria's visit. I was always so impressed by Emily and Dacia's small print in their blogs... but see, I figured it out, I am awesome too now!

Sam and I like to just get into the car and go when we travel. Rarely do we make long range arrangements other than calling diverse relatives and announcing our imminent arrival. So we had a leisurely breakfast with Megan, and then mosied on to catch the ferry to Canada. We had some idea where, no idea when... someone said they sailed every two hours. Just for the heck of it, I gave them a call.... not every 2 hours, 2 sailings a day, and the last one was at 2 pm, we would need to be there at noon to get on.... considering that we were still about 4 hours away and it was already 11:30, I would say our chances here were slim to none... ups. Well now, there are other fairies but those would not take us to Canada, only ferries would. So I contacted choice # 2, leaving from Port Angeles... yes, there was one leaving at 5pm, and with reservations we needed to be there by 4:15.... no problem, we'd have time to stop for lunch! We almost missed that one too, the roads are a lot longer than they look! Thank goodness my blindness was temporarily interrupted to suddenly locate a freeway that went the way we wanted to go I had totally not seen it before and we were only about 1 exit away from it. So we charged ahead and skidded into the terminal at 4:18... without a stop for lunch, gas or even potty! But the beauty of a reservation is, you still get into the first lane and are one of the first to get on! The ferry ride over was perfect. The water totally smooth and the weather warm, so I hung out at the front of the boat "Bug" heisst das auf deutsch.... and watched for seals and enjoyed the wind in my hair. We had a lovely hotel room and even enjoyed the benefit of a fridge and microwave occasionally it does pay to plan ahead.

Getting back home was less fun. Peaches were ripe, pears were ripe and I was the only one to do something about it. Well, it's all canned and bottled and frozen now, and after a nice massage this afternoon, life looks good again. I'll throw in some pictures now, who knows where they'll end up, I am sure you can figure out what they are. Well, as you might have noticed, it did not turn out exactly as planned. All the pictures are at the beginning again, and in a totally jumbeled fashion, to top it off, I had several more pictures I wanted to add, but somehow the program won't let me, so you'll have to peruse our photo albums when you come to visit.