Beach

This morning the alarm went off and it was pouring... not just raining.. I am talking 5 gallon buckets were being dropped full of water... and it was blowing like crazy. Dave had planned on riding the bike to work so we thought we should stay in bed this morning hoping it would at least slow down... did not seem to be in the plans... plus the neighbor showed up and the cat started meowing... rain or not it must be time to get up.

Taking the garbage can to the curb.. very short drive way... but I put on the rain coat and the rain boots.. still ended up soaking wet... figured there was no way I would be heading to the beach today.... even though I do not mind walking the beach in the normal amount of rain... the times where I am sure to be wetter than if I had gone swimming in the surf are just not too much fun.

Then all of a sudden it stopped raining... like a switch was flipped... and then the black sky parted.. and blue was shinning through... I am starting to hope... maybe there will be beach time.. but the tide is high and the beach unwalkable.. so I have to hope that for the next couple of hours the weather holds... and it does.. all of the sky is blue and beautiful and I am headed to the beach :) Had a nice sunny walk and came home about the time the sky started to darken back up.

More of my sea glass photos here

~Michelle

Mt Baker and a Christmas Parade

Saturday we bundled up both the kids ( 17 and 16 year olds, they do not really get "bundled" but I do have to remind them to bring a change of socks and to throw some boots in the back and bring a warm coat) into the jeep and headed out in search of adventure. I had not been tuned in much of the last week to anything local and had no clue that our very own town of Stanwood was going to be having an all day Christmas adventure of its own and it sounds like we missed a really good time. Next year I want to be sure and check that out.

This weekend we headed north.. then some east... and ended up driving to the top of Mt Baker. Lots of snow and it was so sunny that it was just a beautiful drive up the mountain. Everything was covered in snow and shinning, it was so pretty.

We then headed to Lynden, which is a dutch town really close to the Canada border.

Dave had read about a Christmas parade they had with semi trucks and tractors all lite up with Christmas lights. We got there at 5 and the parade was scheduled to start at 6. The roads were all blocked and a few people were sitting in chairs getting ready. It was dry but a bit windy and very cold. Not as many of the shops were opened as I would have liked to have seen.... but there was a bakery... we got some cookies and rum balls and hot cocoa.. wandered around some more.. a place was giving out small cups of soup and there were other places with hot cocoa and cider. by 6 the sidewalks were full and we found a spot to stand and watch the parade while enjoying our treats.

It was very small town feeling with lots of people and lots of floats in the parade. Fire trucks and police cars and semi trucks with big trailers covered in lights. Lots of different kinds of tractors with lots of lights. It was very pretty and well organized. One thing that it was lacking was some interaction with the crowd. Watching all the little kids out there freezing and yet so happy and excited for each of the new floats to drive past, waving and waving with huge smiles on their little faces. Then only one or two of the floats had people that walked along beside them.. a couple of the drivers waved but they were paying attention to driving. I understand that the days of throwing candy from the floats is past... it is just not safe to have kids running around in the road near the floats.. but I was sad to see even the floats with the people on them... not interacting more with the little kids... Grab a couple of local high schoolers and have them walk along with each float... wave to the kids... say hi... smile at them, maybe hand out candy canes.

All in all it was a wonderful time and I look forward to visiting the town again when it is not so crowded.... I wanted to try everything in the bakery and there were a few shops who's windows we could peek in that I think would be great to visit when they are open. Well worth another trip at some point.

On the way home we stopped and did the weekly grocery shopping and picked up pizza for dinner.... came home and watched a little tv with the kids and it was a fun relaxing day.

~Michelle

So Far This Week

This has not been a very busy week... I have spent a lot of time on the beach... Surprise :) Today was so beautiful.. warm and sunny... walked the beach for a couple of hours with a friend and we watched an otter playing in the water and then saw an eagle fly down and try to pick him up.. the otter was able to get away and seemed unhurt.. Eagle was angry and flew away pouting. ( or so it seemed. My friend has a cat that walks with her on the beach... I was worried about the eagle thinking the cat was lunch but the cats have been there for 8 years with no problems.

This has been an amazing week for collecting treasures on the beach.. heart rocks and wish rocks and cool shells and lots of sea glass. I have a bunch of ideas running around in my head... sometimes it gets like this where I have a million ideas, colors, shapes, and a mixture of beads and glass and shells and yarn and wood and wire and things I do not even know... all these projects just mixing around until I sit down and something happens... most often it is not what I think it will be either. It is always fun though.

I did get one new necklace listed... and I have had a couple of request for some items that I am looking forward to making.

The other really cool thing that I did this week is I "launched" a new blog I am working on with the help of a wonderful friend. It is called Coffee Tea and Recipes.. a place to share and talk about recipes. I would love if you would have a peek and follow us there and please leave a comment introducing yourself and share a recipe or two or hundreds. I am hoping this will be a place that my friends and family and people I do not know yet... will come and visit often. I would love if people share their recipes, stories, links, anything they would like to share.

Now I am heading to my kitchen to make some peanut butter cookies and finish up the chili that is in the crock pot for dinner :)

~Michelle

Road Trip to Leavenworth

The day After Thanksgiving and we headed over the mountains to play in the snow. Stevens pass was beautiful... not as much snow as we had hoped for... but just enough that was it so pretty and the roads were not bad. One of the best things is that half way up the mountain the cell phone service really starts to get bad... and the daughters attitude starts to get a lot better :) I can and do take her phone away from her.. but then she is mad at me and I get all that.. but when we go on road trips where the phones do not work.. the kids just seem to shift into a lot better moods only a few minutes after their phones die. Yesterday was no exception.... about 10 minutes after we lost service we all really started having some fun.

Headed up icicle road which follows the river... there are lots of camp grounds and a bunch of snow..... not enough that we have to worry about getting stuck or anything.. but just enough to have a lot of fun and to make everything beautiful. I have memories from when I was very little of camping up here with my grandparents.. not really clear ones.. but more feelings :) I do remember that when grandpa would catch fish in the river that they would get frozen in the 1/2 gallon milk cartons. I also think there are some hot springs around here.. but have no clue as to where... going to have to remember to talk to my cousin about this.

Anyway.. we attempted to build a snowman... but the snow was not wet enough for that .. we were lucky to get some handfuls of snow so there could be a little sort of mock snowball fight. I love being the one holding the camera.. they all know snow is not good for a camera so I pretty much was safe. Dave and Missy got into it... wish I was better at taking action shots but with laughing so hard and then the snow being so dry that when it was thrown it ended up looking like a cloud... I did not get too many good pictures of that. We did find a couple of big parking lot areas and we had some fun with the jeep in the snow.. doing doughnuts... round and round we went...the older I get the less my tummy likes those... but they were fun.. again.. I tried taking pictures and videos.. lol after the fact I know I should have gotten out of the car to attempt that...no way I could hold anything still while in the car and laughing.

After we were done playing in the snow we headed into the town of Leavenworth... found this great pizza place... Rudloof's I did not take too many pictures because I was really hungry... but the pizza slices were so huge that one would have been plenty. We got the crust with the cheese in it... it was really good.. I will go back there for sure. By now it is dark out and the whole town is lite up with Christmas lights.. there is Christmas music playing from the gazabo in the town center and kids sledding down the hill.... they have tents set up and are having a craft fair... we bundled up and heat out. First thing Missy saw was the Starbucks.. so our first stop... Black and white peppermint mocha with whip.

We then wandered around in the snow under the lights, watched the kids sledding for awhile and checked out the tents... then wandered up and down the streets going in and out of the shops. Before we left we sure to stop in at Rocky Mountain Chocolate for a treat. It was the kind of night were everyone stops and talks to everyone.. where people are paying attention and if you stop to take a photo everyone stops for you.... everyone was friendly and thoughtful and smiling and happy. It was my first experience walking around Leavenworth and I did love it :)

Started home about 8... it was snowing pretty good.. roads were a bit more slippery on the way home but not too horrible... and the best part was that there was really no traffic.. which is the scariest part for me.... some people really should not drive in snow no matter what. Lucky for us..... they all stayed home last night. Was a wonderful day all the way around!

~Michelle

Snow Snow Snow and Cold

It is cold.. and white! Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow :) It seems as if this time of year something weather wise happens often. Looking back over the years there are a lot of Thanksgiving weather issues. Monday it started snowing... and it dumped a couple of inches... now it is wednesday and it is snowing again.. just big drifty white flakes. All day Monday was dark and snowing and windy... not great for going outside... but yesterday.. I woke up and the sky was so clear and the moon was shinning bright. Even though it was low 20's... it was so sunny and I was sitting here looking out the window and wanting more than anything to head to the beach.

I threw on some big thick socks.... some long underwear... my boots a hat some gloves and off I went... The walk to the beach was a bit slippery.. I just stayed on the sides of the road while going downhill... it worked! The beach itself is always amazing in the snow... because the snow stops right at high tide. so if you stand just right.. it does not even look cold... looks like spring

but it is not... it was 20 degrees out there.. plus whatever the wind added to it... now.. as long as I was walking this direction it was not too bad at all.. almost warm.. gloves came off right away

(playing with the glass keeps my fingers warmer than gloves any day) The only part of me that was getting cold was my nose... it was freezing.... but... all good... treasure hunted down the beach a ways... and then turned around... and it was a bit colder...I know I should check the wind direction first.. and this time I even remembered noting it was blowing from the wrong direction.. but... I get treasure hunting in my head and off I go. The walk back to the dock was a bit colder... my nose thought it would freeze off.. and my cheeks were cold.. so I held up my hands and breathed into them.. warmed my cheeks and nose up.. but when it unfroze it became a bit drippy... worked out better to just let it be cold.

I found many treasures... and was not nearly as cold as I had thought I would be.. was a great day... today it is snowing a bit again... have that dark dreary snow sky... and I am just cold and ready for spring... heard there might be even more snow tomorrow before it warms up... I love fall and spring... not too hot.. not too cold... perfect weather!

This photo is a bit tilted... lol I need to take pictures before I am frozen and can't move.

We are still not sure what we will be doing for Thanksgiving.. ordered one of the premade dinners from the local grocery store.. a first for me... but with no oven and not knowing if we will be going to the mountains, the ocean or staying home... figured it was a safe bet. Dave is picking it up tonight on his way home from work.. with a few extras and no matter what we decide to do we will have food! Hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day and get lots of food!

~Michelle