Our Trip to Washington iin Pictures

Now that we are home and have good bandwidth, i can post more pictures and a couple of movies from our trip to WA. Enjoy...

Chara and I in Santa Barbara at the beginning of the trip. We stopped there for breakfast and stayed for the farmers market and to walk around. its so beautiful up there.
Ben and Chara in San Francisco where we stopped for Dinner at the Fishermand Warf. (good clam chowder)

The Warf


A building in SF where the furniture is trying to escape.

And now cut straight to Camping in WA. Didn't really take pictures of anything else on the way up. its all boring up the I-5 for a thousand miles.

Here is Jerry gathering some firewood

and Chara helping

Chara and Rhett by the fire


all was peaceful by the fire... and then the kids arrived
Gretchen and Jerry by the fire
Tim and Rhett by the fire
Who is cuter? Logan or Katelyn

Spencer and Bodi sitting by the fire
This time Bodi is wearing a hat

Breakfast over the fire the next day
And there was no shortage of hugs that camping trip
After breakfast we went for a hike down the river. the kids went swimmng. That water is so darn cold.







Here is a video of Spencer tring to surf on a log







There was no lack of hugs on the hike

even from Bodi



After the hike down river we went back to camp where the boys decided to Bonzai down a nearby hill



Here was the aftermath

Once that fun was over, we went for a hike to a peak where we could see the mountain

Sir Gandalf the green?



Throwing rocks down the cliff...because those rocks shouldn't be up there in the first place.


the view from hiking down... absolutly gorgeous
and back at camp

Ok, now back at home. My niece Sophie finally started to like me this trip.
we went over to Daves house for a meal and bonfire. Dave is teaching Chara to swim

Katelyn kissing the frog at Daves house

Later on we had a game night at Brandons house (I won...twice)Chara was helping Spencer master the game

On our way home from WA we stopped off in OR to visit Scott and Rebekah. We took a stroll around Eugene and it was beautiful
we fed the ducks. Chara's strategy was to thow all the bread and run.
they still chased her

Then we picked some blackberries. nothing better than fresh blackberries ripe in the summer sun.Then we introduced Scott and Rebekah to BJ's and brought home some Pazookies for desert while we watched I Heart Huckabees.
Well that was the trip. The next day we drove straight home to San Diego and we are happy to be sleeping in our own bed.

Let us tell you about our friend Lisa...

Lisa is the greatest, and that pretty much sums it up

today she ran the San Diego half marathon and she did great

 

We biked around the race to get pictures of her. Chara tested our her new clippy shoes.

 

Then we all when to phil's BBQ for lunch. sooooo good. 

We are home...safe and sound

After a long day of driving from Eugene OR, we are home with our puppies who are very happy to see us.

now we get to sleep and unpack tomorrow

Ben....

Real camping in WA

Chara went on her first real camping trip this weekend. We went up with some freinds to Greenwater and camped on Viola creek. Chara has never done any real camping that didn't involve paying a ranger to park and having boomboxes on either side of you playing loud music. we both had a blast.



We went camping with Jerry, Tim and Gretchen and thier kids, Spencer, Katelyn and Logan. Within 5 minutes of being there, the kids were kissing and hugging Chara.





even the dog wanted some attention




we hiked around the river and up to a peak to see the mountain. it was absolutly beautiful out.



it was a great trip

Ben...

We are safe in WA

A pretty uneventful but fun trip up to WA

stopped in Santa Barbara for Breakfast, in SF for dinner, and Chara got ate by mosquitos in Williams.

but we made it safe, and the weathers nice and were hanging out with the family.

Ben..

Officing from Disneyland

one of the nice things about my job is the flexibility of where i can work. Often i will work from home if traffic is bad. Today i have a recording session in Orange County. I came up early to have the car checked out as after i tuned it up the check engine light came on (nice huh?). Turns out it was just a hose i knocked loose when replacing the fuel filter, no big deal. so that was fixed in two seconds and i have the rest of the afternoon to work before my meeting. Have laptop will travel i just need to find a place with some wifi. Well i happen to be close to Disneyland so...



Today i'm officing out of the Grand Californian Hotel. they have this great little alcove off of the lobby with a fireplace and rocking chairs. Very comfy, great disney music being played on the piano nearby, great food at Downtown Disney. The only drawback is the screaming kids that come in every once in a while to remind me that i'm never having children.

debbie downer..

what a day..

two of my patients found out they have terminal cancer..

one of my patients is this cute little older lady.. she has been married for 50 years.. her husband has end stage alzheimer's.. so the only person who might come in to visit her wont even know who she is..

today i just feel like i can't make anything any better..