Memorial Day Weekend

The kids and Jen had a 4 day weekend. I had a 3 day weekend. On Saturday Jen and I got up and headed out the door kind of early, for a Saturday anyways. I got my hair cut and then we headed over to the Poulsbo farmers market. We bought a couple of tomato plants and a couple of jalapeño plants. We talked about going to Seattle for the afternoon but when we got home the sun was out and I felt like getting the yard work done. While I weeded and trimmed back gangly bushes, Cody planted the vegetables and declared the garden was now his. He wants to tend it. Jen worked at getting the garage more workout friendly. Cami weeded the dandelions from the upper yards while moaning and groaning the entire time. She even asked if I would ground her instead of making her weed. After a couple of hours of this we relaxed on the porch for a little while and then got dressed and went to see the Indiana Jones movie. We all gave it a thumbs up. It was just fun – exactly what we needed after seeing so many dark movies lately.

Sunday the big kids slept in and Jen and I went to church. The service was a bridging ceremony for the seniors. Jen and I were both touched by the speeches they gave about what growing up in the UU church. We definitely want our kids to start going in the Fall. After church, Jen and I went to eat at Anthony’s. It was a beautiful day out and it looked like we were going to have a nice relaxing meal – until the loud drunk came in with his elderly father and sat at the table next to us. It was sad. The guy was so drunk and he was angry they weren’t bringing his drinks quickly enough. In hindsight we should have moved. Next time it happens, we will. Our breakfast was delicious though. On the way home we stopped at Fred Meyers and bought some new patio chairs. We found a great deal. When we got home Jen mowed and I planned the dinner menu for the next day while watching hockey with Cody. We went to pick up Chandler at 6 and he was in a great mood. During our chat in the car on the way home he thanked Jen for joining our family. That’s how he said it. It was so cute. He was so happy and bubbly. We stopped by Taco Time on the way home and then I dropped Jen and Chandler off and headed back to the grocery store. I ended up getting Tofu, lamb, veggie and chicken kabobs. When I got home from the grocery store I found that Cody and Chandler had gathered enough dry wood to fire up the outdoor fireplace and make some smores. They were very proud of themselves for being such great woodsmen….lol. After we tucked Chandler into bed Cody, Jen and I watched Apocalypto and then we all went to bed.

Monday morning we slept in a bit and then Jen started cleaning and I started cooking. I made a macaroni salad, my standard pink salad, a fresh cream cheese cake, baked beans and raspberry chipotle dip. Then Cody and I headed to the store to pick up some ice. We got home and chilled out until our guests arrived. Jen barbecued the kabobs and I finished cooking the corn on the cob. We all sat down to eat and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards, we headed downstairs for some Rock Band and we rocked it until about 10:30 when we came upstairs for some dessert. The fresh cream cheesecake was disappointing. It wasn’t set enough but it tasted pretty good – like cream cheese mousse. It was pretty with the berries ladled on top of it but after the first piece was cut it turned into an almost gooey mess. Oh well, we also had chocolate chip cookies for anyone turned off by the goo. Only the kids ate them. After the guests left we cleaned up a little, I braided Cami’s hair and then we all headed off to bed. It turned out to be a really nice weekend with new memories made.

Hiking The Spruce Railroad Trail

This trail winds around the north shore of beautiful Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula. The trail was built during World War I as a railroad to transport Spruce trees from the wilderness to Port Angeles where they would be shipped to facilities that built aircraft. The railroad was completed 19 days after Armistice Day, and was never used for military purposes. It was sold and used for commercial logging until 1954. In 1981 it was turned into a trail by Olympic National Park rangers.

It was a beautiful day and Cody, Jen and I headed out for the 7 mile hike at around 9AM. We drove to Lake Crescent singing along to a road trip CD that I'd made. It included some Merle Hagard, CCR and Hank Williams Jr.. Cody acted like we were ridiculous but I think he enjoyed it. We arrived at the trailhead around 11AM. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out. We had a picnic lunch packed in the backpack. Cody volunteered to carry it. We called him our pack mule.

About a mile into the trail, we came across a spot called The Devil's Punch Bowl. A bridge seperated it from Lake Crescent. You can look out over the lake, it's 5,000 acres and 9 miles long, to the surrounding Olympic peaks. It is then clear why people might have thought it had no bottom (it's actually about 600 feet deep). Native Americans reportedly refused to canoe or fish in the lake, believing evil spirits lived in its depths. There is a story about the lake that tells about a woman being murdered by her husband. She was thrown into the lake and her body turned up three years later and had turned to soap. It looked very peaceful to me and when we came back to it at 2PM there were people jumping off of the bridge and swimming.

There were two tunnels built during the railroad construction. They have both collapsed so you can't go through them but I did get this picture of Cody standing at the entrance of the longer tunnel. We had to hike about 100 feet up a hill to get to the entrance and when we got there it felt like the air conditioner was on. We could even see our breath.

After the last tunnel entrance we turned around and headed out. We didn't get to have our picnic lunch because the mosquitos were swarming everytime we stopped. We opted to eat a little while we walked and stop at Wendy's on the way home. Everyone was happy with that.

I drove halfway home and then Jen took the wheel. I promptly fell asleep only to be wakened by my cell phone a few minutes later. It was my mom and we had a nice chat.

The H Crew

This blog is meant to celebrate and chronicle the incredibly true story of two girls in love. We live a ferry ride away from Seattle in a small town called Poulsbo. We share our beautiful life with three shining stars. Cami is 13, Cody is 14 and Chandler is 6. The teens keep us busy trying to stay one step ahead of them and Chandler is always the entertaining love bug.

Jen's freestyle essay about herself reads: Mostly interested in seeing my girl happy and smiling. Watching the sunset from the ferry (or anywhere) with my hand in hers is just one of many personal favs..playing some ping pong or frisbee and sharing lovely times with the H crew :) ..hiking, camping, fishing, live music venues, volunteering with human rights orgs., traveling as a tourist and an explorer, playing at the beach, chatting over a great local brew or coffee.. playing my guitar on the front porch for my sweetie (ahhhh, heaven), song writing (even the super silly off the top of my head getting a laugh ones), slam poetry..so much more than I should even attempt to write here..bottom line is I'm into postive activities that broaden the mind and feed the soul :)

Lisa's freestyle essay about herself reads: Smiling, laughing, deep conversations, playing ping-pong, hanging out with my girl doing anything, and Sudoku (I should kill the person who introduced me to this). I love music. When you're in my space you'll usually hear music. I've even made banana pancakes while listening to "Banana Pancakes". How many people can say that? Let's see what else am I interested in? FOOTBALL!! My favorite team is the Seahawks and the team I love to hate (and watch lose) is the Cowboys! I love my kids, love my home and love my girl. I believe I am truly The Luckiest. I'm fairly political and entirely non-religious. I do know how to keep my mouth shut about both when it's appropriate. Most of all I'm interested in finding ways to be happy and healthy and to live every day of my life.

I'll see if I can get the kids to write something about themselves to share here. That should be interesting!