Our 28th Anniversary

Paul surprised me by taking me to Coeur d'lane, Idaho for our 28th anniversary. Here is a picture of the beautiful resort and marina that is on the water there. We didn't stay here, but we took a little walk through it.

They had a beautiful public beach for people to enjoy.

The shops downtown were fun to visit.

We decided to take an hour boat tour around part of the lake. Here I am on the lower deck getting sprayed once in awhile by some big waves.

You could sit up on the top deck outside and take in the view from there also.

Here is a picture of the boat we took. It was a beautiful day.

We took a walk around the marina at sunset.

The sunset had some beautiful colors in it.

Here is a good looking guy I picked up on at the dock.

That night we went to the "Hot Rod Cafe" where Paul says they have great ice cream desserts.

We are still learning how to take pictures of ourselves by holding out the camera (our kids are much better at this then us.) This dessert had a warm chocolate chip cookie on the bottom with fudge and ice cream and cool whip on top.

As if that wasn't enough, the next morning we went to a European breakfast place and had these Swedish strawberry crepes and...

blueberry Danish Aebelskivers that are ball-like pancakes. Yummy.

It was a very memorable anniversary trip. Thanks Paul for being so thoughtful.

How does your garden grow...?

Paul helped me put in our vegetable garden this year and it has done very well. He takes care of the corn (just like his father) and enjoys playing in it as well. We just ate our first ears of corn for dinner last night. Um-um-good!

Molly, our cat, enjoying the corn patch too.

Here is an example of my zuchinni. I only have 2 plants, but they produce plenty of zuchinni for us (actually me, since I am the only one that eats them in the family). I like to pick them when they are small and tender like this.

I finally got cucumbers this year, after a dismal failure last year. Yeah! I pick them when they are small too.

My spaghetti squash always grows like crazy. I can't seem to do anything wrong with them. (Thank goodness.) We are still eating spaghetti squash from last year!

My carrots were HUGE by July. We have found that the longer we leave them in the ground, the sweeter they get.

I actually had success with green peppers. I was just kind of ignoring them and then happened to look under their leaves and was surprised to see some huge green peppers and many more beginning to grow. Unfortunately, after this picture was taken, the deer ate the tops off the plants, so this will be all I will probably get, but it is enough for us. (The guys prefer the red peppers. I will have to try my luck with them next year.).

Molly loves to keep us company outside in the garden.

My healthy size Walla Walla sweet onions!

My peas are just finishing up, so I am planting a fall crop. Ryan actually ate them raw out of the pod this year, so I wasn't the only one eating them.

My cherry tomatoes have ripened up since this picture. I have red cherry tomatoes, orange cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, and roma tomatoes. It has been a good year for the garden. Robert Willard, I wish you were here to cook up all the veggies like you did for us last year. You are such a great chef. I wish I could work magic with these vegetables the way you can. Come visit my garden any time!

A Visit from Denice

My sister Denice came up from Phoenix to visit my Dad for a week. On Monday we had them up to our house for dinner. Then we took these pictures outside. We finished off the evening with a lively game of Mexican Train, which was dominated by Denice winning the most rounds.

Dad & Denice.

The whole group of us.

I had to get my Daddy-Daughter picture too.

Sisters, sisters...

On Tuesday we spent the day in Silverdale. We had lunch at Famous Bob's Bar B Q. Everyone liked their food. And of course we had to get our picture taken with the bear.

Then we went to the park on Tracyton Blvd. that has this lovely garden.

Denice did a better job taking a picture of us than I did of them. Sorry about that Denice.

Tuesday we went to Port Gamble for High Tea at their lovely Tea House. Dad was happy with the scones, chocolate fruit fondue, hot chocolate and their chocolate truffle. Denice and I had some lovely herbal teas and enjoyed their sandwiches too. We boxed up the delicious left overs to continue to enjoy for awhile.

This is a picture of the home that I use to visiting teach at in the early 1990's. They have perserved a lot of the beautiful buildings from this milling town founded in the 1850's. The lumber was shipped to San Francisco from here.

Thanks for coming up Denice, we enjoyed your company. Come back anytime!

Vote for your favorite lighthouse picture

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Last weekend Paul and I went on a date to Port Townsend and had fun looking at the shops and eating at the Nifty Fifty's diner. We shared a salmon sandwich and a carmel fudge sundae. Then we headed out to Fort Warden so Paul could take some pictures of the light house at sunset. He wants to get other people's input as to which of these pictures they like the best. He would like to enlarge one and put it on our wall. So please help him out by leaving a comment on which one is your favorite. Thanks!