From snow to rain...

Last month, we got 20 inches of snow, this month we are being flooded out... much of the flooding is due to the massive amount of snow that is melting coupled with torrential downpours and "tropical rains." Ok, seriously, they said tropical on the news. Maybe it is warmer than normal but in my book 45 degrees is not tropical.

Here are some pictures of the pacific northwest under water for your viewing pleasure. It just struck me that the only way out of Seattle right now is by plane. Freeways/roads are all closed going north, south, east and west. Yikes. Fortunately for us, we aren't getting any of the severe flooding... all of the below are about 5-10 miles away from us.

Snoqualmie river...just a little bit above its banks, to say the least.

We have taken many visitors to see the Snoqualmie falls. If the road weren't closed, it would be pretty nuts to see it like this!

Close to one of our hikes we do quite frequently... we might have to put that one on hold for a while unless we bring a boat.

An aeriel shot. Wow. There really are no words. That is so much water.

December 2008 in pictures...sort of

December 2008 was a great month. And I am, for the most part, horrible at taking pictures. We did a ton of stuff like everyone seems to during this time of year but my picture documentation seems to be lacking. The funny part about this is that I always, without fail have my camera with me. I just don't snap the shots.

The first part of the month was marked by holiday parties... I do have printed pictures from my holiday party but I didn't take any on my camera. The chances of getting those pictures to this blog are pretty slim to none. Oh well.

The second week of the month I was in Alaska. I have a picture that was taken by a restaurant up there when we took my coworker out for his birthday. Again, probably will not get that picture onto this website.

But then, at the middle of the month, I started to take more pictures!

Tim's birthday, December 15 and the cake I got for him. Yum!

For one of his presents, I blind folded him and drove him to it. Awesome. The blindfold was the first present he opened. Notice in the background the beginnings of the snow...

Birthday boy! With his stack of presents minus the one we had driven to earlier in the day and after a dinner out at Purple, a cool wine bar in Seattle.

And on his birthday night, the snow started to fall....

Ok, so one of his birthday presents also benefited me. That's ok, right? I bought us all stockings from pottery barn and had them embroidered. And yes, there are stockings for the cats. This might seem retarded but cats live for 20 years, people! I would hope that I will replace my stockings by then... It seemed so much more complete having stockings for our whole family rather than just Tim and I. Plus, the cats got gifts, too!

Later in the week, the snow continues to pile up. We have about 4 inches here.

I think this was on one of our many snow days (where we couldn't even leave the house unless it was by foot or sled). At this point, the wind had knocked off the previous 4 inches off the bushes, caused drifts, and then it snowed another 6 inches!

We decided to see if the cats like snow since they kept batting at it through the windows. Tyson ran the hell right back in and looked at us like we completely betrayed him. Calvin on the other hand appeared to be quite the little snow kitty.

Exploring in the snow, trying not to sink in.

Oops, he sank in. And then just kinda stayed there. Then ran as fast as he could into the house... once he got out of the sink hole.

Here are the tracks from him and us. This is relevant.

Because that night, they are completely covered. We got another 6 inches! Unbelievable.

Another shot of the massive snow. At this point, the airport is a mess, the city is a mess, and we are just crossing our fingers that we will be able to get to Kansas City in the next couple of days!

But, alas, we made it with only an hour delay in our flight! Not too bad considering people were stranded at the airport for 5 days! Here is Tim on Christmas day at my parents house... with a pile of presents and his new driver from Santa. And, lucky for us, the weather in the midwest is so quirky that while we were there we had several 60 degree days so it was perfect golfing weather for my dad and Tim. Where was I? Oh, my body just has great timing... I got the flu on the 28th. This was also the day that my parents had a reception for us to celebrate our wedding with all of our friends/their friends in Kansas City. Going to that on that day was not fun. I basically just sat there trying to be social but not breathing on anyone and getting up every two minutes to go to the bathroom. I literally lost 10 pounds in 24 hours. I know this because I weighed myself just to find out.

Tim and I on Christmas morning.

My brother and I on Christmas morning.

The day after Christmas, Tim and I made the two hour drive south to see one of my best friends from college (who was also my roomie for 4 years) and who is also 6 months preggo! It was so awesome to see her and to hang out with her for the day.

And Tim with us squatting because he is so freakin tall. That night all of my dad's side of the family came into town so we drove back and hung out with them which entailed games, games, and more games. The day after was the 27th and was my dad's family's Christmas (and also my dad's 65th birthday- happy birthday dad!) It was a great day until I didn't sleep at all that night because I had come down with the flu. At first I just thought I had food poisoning or something of the sort until my body felt like it had placed itself directly under two buses and let them run over me repeatedly. Like I said, the 28th was the reception. I spent the morning sleeping since I hadn't slept at all the night before while I was busy shedding the majority of my 10 pounds and then I had to drag myself to take a 2.5 minute shower, get dressed, and sit at the reception. Then I passed out again. But on the morning of the 29th, I felt like a champ! It was a really lousy day to get the flu and I was really disappointed because I didn't get to visit as much with everyone that came to see us. And, I wasn't much in picture mood. There were a few taken but not by my camera. Anyone that has pictures, pass them along!

BUT on the 29th, one of my great friends from high school came over and spent the morning with us. She is such a great girl and I was so happy to see her and spend time with her. Here we are sitting down taking a picture... since I was still practically dying from dehydration, standing up was still not much fun. That day was one of the days Tim went golfing with my dad.

The next day, the 30th, we saw Miss Jilly Marie and her guy Kyle for the majority of the morning. Jill is one of my other best friends... I have known her from high school but we really became inseparable during college. We have been through a lot together... it is so neat to see where she is now in her life, to catch up and to feel as though no time has really passed. The best thing about seeing her this time was meeting Kyle and seeing how genuinely happy Jill is now. Of course, I don't have pictures. I guess I had reached my max by this point.

The 31st we flew back into town. We had a couple hour delay. We ran in the door, then right back out again to the Rich and Stacie new year's eve party, where we spent the bulk of our night. It was a great time although we were both kinda jet lagged and I was still feeling a bit gross from the flu. But regardless, we got to see a bunch of friends that night and we stuck it out to bring in 2009 in style! But, guess what? Even though I had my camera, I didn't take any pictures. Maybe that should be my new years resolution... take more pictures!

And, one of the first major events of 2009- putting on Winston's new Washington plates!

Kauai Day 3, October 24, 2008: A journey through the middle

Our third day on Kauai was relatively uneventful. We decided to drive northwest to kind of the middle of the island. We didn't really know exactly where we were going, just thought we would explore some more.

Our first stop was this waterfall... beautiful! And the rainbow even shows in the picture.

When you are driving around the middle section of Hawaii, this is pretty much what it looks like. Green lushness and tons of green mountains. It definitely lives up to its name of the garden isle.

After stopping at a couple of waterfalls (a couple we really couldn't get that close to so the pictures aren't that great), we decided that we probably wouldn't make it to the northernmost end of the island (Princeville) and would just save that for another day when we could get up early and go straight there without any stops. So we decided instead to do a hike in the middle of the island. It was very green. Not the best hike we've ever been on... it was about 3 miles and VERY humid. I guess that is why everything is so freaking green! This picture was close to the top of the hike. Very pretty.

One of the shots towards the top of the hike.

Towards the end of the hike by a cool banyan tree.

Walking back to our car, we found a little friend.

After the hike, we decided that we needed to go lay at the ocean or the pool. So we went back to the Hyatt and hung out by the pool all afternoon. That night we went to dinner in town at Ray's...another great seafood restaurant. We ended the night laying in hammocks listening to the ocean. Low key but perfect.

Kauai Day 2, October 23, 2008: Our lesson on the beauty of nature

Back to Hawaii posting! I know I did not get all of this posting/documentation of the trip done in the year it actually happened but whatever.


The second day of Kauai, we were ready to explore! We started out the day at the spouting horn blowhole. It's just a little natural blowhole that is pretty neat to watch for a few minutes... and then to move on. It was right by the Hyatt so we figured we would make a stop there on our drive to west Kauai.

Mesmerized by the blowhole.

The start of our drive west. There is only so far west you can go on Kauai and the farther you go, the more like the desert it gets. It's more warm, sunny, and dry on the western side of Kauai.

We were told to make sure to stop at Jo-Jos because it is supposedly the epitome of Hawaiian shave ice. It was decent, I have to admit but I guess I just don't have a penchant for shave ice. Can't really say that I would ever crave the stuff.

Of course, here I look completely into digging into the shave ice... maybe since the small was so freaking HUGE, I got my shave ice fix for a lifetime.

Tim enjoying his berry shave ice.

Two hours later, we made it to our destination... the Waimea canyon. This is commonly referred to as the grand canyon of the pacific. It was gorgeous, hands down. Not as huge as the actual Grand Canyon but still amazing, nonetheless. We weren't really sure what to expect but like I said that day we were in explore mood so we decided to check it out and figured if nothing else we would get a hike out of the deal (there are more hikes in this area of Kauai than anywhere else on the island). Not only was the hike we went on awesome, just the views were definitely worth it if you are ever in Kauai.

One of our first shots of the day... walking up to a look out.

A closer look at the canyon.

If you look closely at the middle of the picture you will see the a helicopter flying through the middle of the canyon. It kind of gives you some perspective of the magnitude of the canyon.

Whoo hoo!! It was WINDY!!

Surprise, surprise... there were chickens at the canyon too!

Further along up into the canyon, you get a glimpse of the south end of the Napali coast. The Napali coast is indescribable in words. It was just jaw dropping. [We were stunned by it here and later in the week, we got the chance to hike it.] Amazing.

We took a small stroll down to get better looks at the coast. It was still quite a "hill" for just wanting to be able to see the coast better.

More of the view we had of the Napali coast. Looking at this picture almost seems surreal to me... it looks like I just copied a postcard or something, not like I was actually standing there in the midst of this. It really was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

After visiting all of the lookout points, we drove back down and did a short 5 mile hike. It was actually a pretty awesome hike. We hiked down into the canyon and had views of the canyon itself as well as the Kauai coastline (not Napali). We ended at a little waterfall/stream. It was not too challenging but we hike a lot so it could be for some people.

Hiking down further into the canyon. Gorgeous. Not me. The views.

Down in the middle of the canyon at the small waterfall/creek.

Just enjoying the scenery of the little lush middle of the canyon. We are pretty avid hikers and hike pretty much every weekend but I think that both of us would agree that in many ways this hike and the Napali hike we did later in the week were two of the coolest hikes we have ever been on... just due to the broad scenery we experienced.

Climbing back up out of the canyon... from the lushness and into the desert.

We ended the hike towards the end of the day. After that we drove the leisurely drive back to Poipu and the Hyatt, relaxed by the pool and ate dinner at one of the resort restaurants that night. It was a great day that surpased all of our expectations. Just when you think you've seen many things and can't be completely awed in ways that you once were, you see or find something that puts you into that state again. I started off the day thinking it would be a fun day to explore but also thinking that it wouldn't be that big of a deal... I mean, if you've seen the Grand Canyon, how does it really get much better or different?

I was incredibly wrong. The whole day I felt that I was an audience witnessing the true beauty of nature, a beauty that I ignorantly think sometimes will not continue to impress, surprise, and awe me. On this day we were shown the true beauty of the island for which Kauai is so well known and I am so thankful that we gave it the chance to experience it.

Wow... how's that for philosophical?

Notable

Today I FINALLY got my Washington license plates... yes, I am quite aware that I am inching closer and closer to the two year mark up here. In truth, I have been here for a year and eight months. So, it was time. It actually cracks me up how long I waited.

I also got my driver's license name changed after finally getting official paper work from the state of Hawaii.

New year, new name, new plates. It is going to be a great 2009.

More to come on our holiday adventures and the last few posts of the Hawaii trip.

Hope everyone out there had a happy new years!