Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break for Seattle Public Schools, and that meant a couple of days of rest for me, and then two full-day field trips with my 4th and 5th grade troops. The 5th graders voted to go rock climbing with the money they earned during cookie sales. We rode the city bus to the indoor rock climbing gym, enjoyed a sandwich lunch (also their choice - as long as I brought hot Cheetos - they are obsessed!!), climbed for a couple hours, and then rode the bus back to the school. Everything about the day was great - except the freezing rain....ahhhh!!! The next day I woke up to see snow falling (are you kidding me with this???) as I prepared to take the 4th graders to the Space Needle. None of the 4th graders had ever been to the top of the Space Needle, so it was quite a thrill for them. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the top (complete with more hot Cheetos!!) and the girls did a scavenger hunt finding out facts about Seattle. The next stop was the Seattle Center, which was turned into a giant bounce house. The girls had a blast.

One of the 5h graders making her way to the top of the rock wall


5th grade girls after an afternoon of climbing


4th graders at the top of the Space Needle


Our spectacular (ha) view from the top. It was so foggy and cloudy that day that we couldn't see beyond the city limits. Big bummer!! (See the Pepsi sign? Below it and to the left there's a brown building - that's the Girl Scout office!!)

A Day at the Coast

Our good friends, Jenny and Annie, whom we met at Camp Togowoods, came to visit us for 5 days!! We had a blast showing them around Seattle - we visited the locks, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, hiked the Cascades, and ate delicious food! For our final day, we decided to be ambitious and drive all the way to the Pacific coast. We woke early, enjoyed Top Pot doughnuts (yum!!), and then caught the ferry to the Peninsula. It was a beautiful day to spend traveling through the Olympic Peninsula. We made it to the coast after a couple short hikes and it was totally worth the drive. Marcy and I can't wait to go back again this summer for a longer trip - maybe backpacking along the beach!!

Thanks for coming, Jenny and Annie! We had a blast!!

Our view of the Olympic Mountains from the ferry...


On the ferry.


My standard National Park entrance picture...


Cresent Lake - an awesome glacial lake that is really deep and rocky with very little plant life.


Jenny and Annie at Marymere Falls


Marymere Falls - quite small now, but once the snow melts, I'm sure it will be a raging waterfall!


Ahhh, the Pacific Ocean. We were there during high tide - 12 foot waves!!


Hanging out on some driftwood during high tide...

Update

Well, I said I'd be back when the last case of Samoas left the condo, and that day was today!!! We finally have our craft room back - yay! And that means it's time to start making invitations for my brother's and Leann's rehearsal dinner.

Cookie Booth Sales were exhausting, but really successful and fun!! The troop I volunteer with ended up selling over 2000 boxes of cookies! My work troops each sold around 250 boxes of cookies. It was really cold most of the weekends, but some of the stores let us set up inside which was great!!



My 6th grade girls are entering a "Operation Cookie Drop Box Contest." Each troop had a drop box at their booth sale where customers could donate boxes of cookies to soldiers. Troops could enter their drop box into a contest. The winning troop gets a tour of a local news station and a pizza party. The girls designed a drop box like the one dropped from planes to the troops. It would be so fun if they win!! This weekend we deliver our donated cookies to the council, and apparently it's supposed to be a big production. Last year donations filled two semi-trucks! I can't believe it!! Should be cool.



I'm taking Friday off, and I'm really excited - it'll be my first day off in 28 days! I think Marcy and I are going to go skiing. Next week, our two best friends from Camp Togowoods (where we worked in Alaska) are coming to visit for 5 days!! We've got a lot of fun stuff planned, and we're looking forward to spending time with them.

The time has come...

After weeks and weeks of preparation, Cookie Booth Sales are officially here. I've been bad about keeping up with my blog because I've literally been thinking about, preparing for, and organizing cookies 12 hours a day. We start our booth sales on Saturday, and I'm already exhausted from the prep work...uh-oh... I helped sort cookies last week, got them delivered to the troop I volunteer with, and picked up cookies for my work troops and the 49 cases are sitting in my condo (you, like most people I work with, probably think I'm a little crazy to be volunteering for the same organization I work for - what can I say...I'm obsessed with Girl Scouts!!). I've deposited so many $1 bills from cookie sales that the bank teller probably thought I do some questionable activities at night...

This weekend I won't get to be with my volunteer troop because my work troop is having their booth sale on the same day. The following two weekends they are on opposite days so I'll get to go to both. Oh, and did I mention that it's unbelievably cold and it snowed here last night. That should make for some happy 5th graders on Saturday morning at 10am!! :)

I'm really proud of my volunteer troop because they sold 1600 boxes of cookies in pre-sale!! I was really impressed and I can't wait to see how they do this weekend!

My volunteer troop's 144 cases of cookies before we loaded them up:


Have a nice weekend! I'll be back when the last case of Samoas leaves my condo...

Valentines Day 2009

For Valentine's Day this year, Marcy and I decided to keep it low key and go out for a nice dinner on Friday to avoid Saturday's crowds. We both had a super busy week, so dinner out was a nice way to end it. I drive past this little restaurant in Queen Anne (a super cool neighborhood in Seattle) every week. It's called the 5 Spot, and every month or so they change their theme and cuisine to represent a different region of the country. The current theme is "Keep Austin Weird." YAY, Texas!! I really wanted to try it, and Marcy thought it sounded fun, so off we went. The food was very "Texas," with large plates, barbeque sauce, and awesome sweet treats!! It was delicious, and we came home with enough food for dinner and dessert the next night! YUM!!

The sign outside the 5 Spot that always changes to announce the current theme:


Me, enjoying dinner and a delicious bottle of wine

Our placemats had cool, random facts about Austin on them:

A GIANT Armadillo greets you as you walk into the restaurant:

Giant paintings hung around the restaurant display all things Texas. There was a painting of the Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Farrah Fawcett, and Keep Austin Weird:


Marcy enjoying chili-cheese fries (very Texas) and wine:

World Thinking Day

Wednesday night I celebrated an annual Girl Scout celebration, World Thinking Day. It's a chance for Girl Scouts all over the world to honor the cultures and traditions of others. I was in charge of organizing the event for my troops at work. It was so much fun to plan and host!! Here's some pictures from the event....

My troop presenting about Jamaica


With the Emcees while another group performs


Some of the troop members at our Jamaica table


(PS - Did you buy your Girl Scout cookies yet? Support your local council, and buy a box or two!! If you can't find any in your area, I'll be happy to send some your way - $4 a box)

Bad Puppy

As I was driving home from work on Friday, I called Marcy to find out about her day. She was at home and had some bad news. Apparently, while we were both gone, Billy decided that he wanted to be a black lab. He found a black ink pen and chewed on it until it burst. Did I mention he was on the mustard-colored couch?? Needless to say, I was a little upset. I got home to find that it wasn't as terrible as I had predicted, but it's still an impossible ink stain nonetheless.

The ink stain (after Marcy worked on it for a while)


The wannabe Black Lab (and this is after a scrubbing by Marcy)


And another shot...


On another note, this week and next are going to be crazy busy for me. With Cookie Time here, it makes for busy weekends of Cookie Booth Sales and sorting and delivering cookies!! Crazy, but super fun!! The Girl Scout troop that Marcy and I are volunteer leaders for has a meeting tomorrow night. We're celebrating World Thinking Day. It's a celebration every February in Girl Scouts when Girl Scouts from all over the world celebrate the cultures of others. Each of our girls picked a country and is bringing a poster to present on her country. It should be lots of fun. Then, Wednesday nights, one of my troops from work is hosting a Thinking Day Celebration for ten other troops. The country they chose to research was Jamaica. It's been fun learning right along with the girls, and of course, I love being an event planner, so that's been great, too. We're serving banana coconut bread and pineapple juice on Wednesday (very Jamaican!!)...The timer just beaped on the oven...My banana bread is done.

Have a great week!!