2009 - The Year of Gratitude

I always thought it was funny how some of our friends would have a theme for the year. They would announce it at their birthday parties, then reminisce about past themes. "Remember '02 is was the year of You" etc. Well this year so far I seem to really be dwelling on Gratitude, so why not make it a year of Gratitude.



What is making me so grateful? Well I realized over Christmas break that we are so "friend-rich". We have great friends. It took awhile to really find our people in Wenatchee. Not that these are new friends, its just seemed to have spend more time with them this year.



We have a very abundant life. We live part of the year here and part of the year on Cape Cod. We seem to have freedom from want, and what we can't get.....well we realize that we don't really need it. It seems that as we try to pair down we recieve more. More of what? Well it is usually the stuff that you can't buy and the stuff that means more. That is to say less stuff, more real life.



We are grateful that we have a happy child who is as funny as we are. She keeps us laughing and amazed daily.



I am grateful for Facebook. It gives me great joy to reconnect with people who have been far from me for so long. Who would have thought that my best friend and fellow Duran Duran lover would find me after all these years.



My husband is grateful for Craiglist. It gives him great joy to reconnect with all those old cars and tools from years past. Who would have thought that those relics would actually end up in our yard. He enjoys nothing better than bringing back to life something that someone threw out as useless.



And I'm sure the list will get longer as we think about it more. So here is to the Year of Gratitude! Cheers!

A Blog Note at the End of 2008

Gone are the rants about politics or anger at those fearful Jeezy people who stole my religion. Gone are the evenings of pundit watching and political blog scouring. Gone are the poll updates and our big ass Obama sign. Soon GDubya will be gone too. Let's hope Sarah stays in Alaska.

Our brains seemed to be completely consumed in politics this year. Zmo's first steps occured the day of the caucus. Every morning started with Morning Edition and the evenings ended with Countdown. My husband shopped on Craigslist to ease the tension of a possible McCain presidency, while I watched the numbers come in on TV. Zmo chanted Obamaobamaobama as if it were a song.

But now that the ultimate game of Survivor is over.....what else is there to watch on TV? I hope... I hope for a year of Hope. I hope that we Americans are not let off the hook. That we are called to sacrifice and that we rise to the challenge. I hope that politicians will say "enough!" and they sit down and create a budget that works. I hope that people will no longer have their medical tragedies told on collection cans at Starbucks and Grocery stores; people should have the right to health care, good health care, just like our European and Canadian friends. I hope that Education will be a budget priority where people will be paid their worth and testing will become a tool instead of an end goal. I hope that people use less of our world resources so that our children will have a green world to live in. I hope for peace, people have seen enough terror in the 20th century alone, to last us thousands of lifetimes.

So let's all hope for a hopeful 2009.

The Old Grey Mare is What She Used to Be

Recently we spent a fun filled weekend in our Old Airstream. She hadn't been out in over a year. We loved introducing Zmo to the Airstream Life. And Jim enjoyed pulling Our Lady of Aluminum with his new/old tow vehicle. It was a beautiful fall day up the Entiat River Valley. Hopefully we will have an early spring so we can take her out again soon.

Happy Anniversary to us!

I can't believe the whole summer went by and I didn't put up any new pictures. We had a wonderful day on our anniversary climbing up to 8 Mile Lake where we got married. Here are a few pics from the day.

Cape Cod Summah!

We flew safely to our summer nest and are enjoying the weather, scenery, and friends. It has only been a week but it seems like we have been here forever. The whole year went by, but when we return, it feels like we never left. No, I haven't seen Teddy Kennedy anywhere. But Jim and I don't make it out to the compound as much as we used to. Below are a few beach shots of Zmo.

Its Summer? Well not officially

Apfelblüte! Apple Blossom, duh!

Here are some great pictures from our week of Apple Blossom festivities. Zmo loved the parades, especially the bands. She rocked out to the cadences and the horns. At one point we thought she was going to take off on her new found legs and jump in line with one of the drill teams. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed some great food and fun with friends. As the Apple Blossom Queen passed by, we couldn't help but think.....Zmo would look good in that crown someday.

Happy Birthday! I'm one!

Its always good to share the fun. Want some cake Papa?

Baby Guantanamo

She doesn't know why she's there and she doesn't know when she's gettin' out.

Yes We Can!

From Barack Obama's truly inspirational speech after the New Hampshire primaries comes a new song.



See and read the speech here.

Good Dental Hygene

What is a nine month old to do with 7 teeth? Brush and floss, of course.

Dining with Dad

 

What do we do on Friday Nights?

We go to the movies! Nothing like a good action-adventure and a little popcorn.

Our Little Star

Well Zmo discovered my scarf and now wants to wear it everywhere she goes. She thinks it makes her look glamorous.

Garden Visitor

While Jim was working hard outside, a little friend decided to join him.

Twice Baked!

Well now that Zmo has began her love affair with solid food, she enjoys the thrill of sinking her 6 teeth into a delicious Zwieback. Here are some shots and a movie of her doing just that.

Baby Z's Alphabet Adventure

Sprech Deutch!

Our trip to Germany was wunderbar! We flew into Frankfurt where we rented our Focus Turbo Diesel wagon and off down the Autobahn we sped. We arrived first in Oberkochen where we stayed with Jim's Tante Eva. We were pleasantly suprised to find his cousins Regina and Deter visiting as well. We hiked around the Schwabische Albe, visited the Roman Kellar, stocked up on Triumph in Aalen, and enjoyed a day in the city of Ulm. Regina understood my need for ice cream, so all of our outings included a stop for my favorite treat

From there we traveled north, taking a few days to explore other parts of Germany. We followed the Romantic Road to Nordlingen. While exploring the city we heard this loud speaker babbling information, then we began to see what the babble was about. European vintage cars and motorcycles began to roll through town. They were a part of a rally called 2000 km of Deutchland. The Opel Blitz was my favorite, talk about cool moho!

Later that afternoon we drove to the Rothenburg; every American and Japanese tourists favorite destination. The shops were full of Christmas wares, American high school students were singing in the town square, and we couldn't get over how we felt that we had flown 3000 miles just to visit Leavenworth. The real reason for stopping here was to walk the Roman walls. According to Rick Steves, this walled city is the best example of Roman walled cities in Germany. We only walked a small portion of the wall, but you could imagine what it must have been like to stand on the wall and defend the city. As you can tell from the picture, the girl found this most interesting.

The next day we visited Goslar which is the gateway to the Harz region. The city is filled with buildings covered in slate: slate roofs, slate siding, slate chimneys. The rain dampened our day a bit, we were completely unprepared for the weather. However we got a kick out of all of the tourists stopping us to tell us how cute the girl was sticking out of Jim's jacket. Here also is the UNESCO site of the Ramelsburg mines. These mines have been in use for over a thousand years. Now you can tour the mines. Unfortunatly a four our hike through damp tunnels didn't seem inviting for the new parents. But this town was so enchanting we vowed to go back to explore it futher. That evening we stopped outside of Bergen in a nice little hotel where we had the most amazing dinner featuring freshly harvested chantrelle mushrooms.

On to Hamburg and the home of Mike and Simone. We were greeted with coffee and cake and much good cheer. We ate well, laughed often, and drank to Oma Erna every evening.

All Packed and Ready to Go!

They said we get a bag for the baby. I assumed it was for her stuff, not her....but Jim insists we check the baby rather than carry her on.

The Faces of Baby Z