Instant Gratification

On Wednesday morning I was cleaning our apartment and listening to one of my favorite records from last year, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. When I was finished I thought to myself, I wonder if Josh Ritter is coming to town anytime soon? I went online and found out that not only was he in town but he was also playing that night! To make the situation better he was playing at the zoo which is two blocks from our new place. Unfortunately tickets were sold out. I decided to walk down to the zoo and see if anyone was selling tickets. I scoured the grounds but could not find any scalpers. Instead I took a stroll through the zoo. As I got closer to the back of the stage I found that I could hear the concert perfectly, I just couldn't see. I sat down on a bench right next to the sloth bear and listened to Josh Ritter start is set. During his third song a couple approached me and asked me if I wanted a ticket to the concert. They offered it for free but I paid them for it because I was so excited. I walked in and (being alone) I was able to work my way to the front of the stage and have a seat on the lawn. The weather was great, my seat was great, and of course the music was perfect. After the show I walked around back stage and saw him there talking with some fans. I went over and joined them and talked to him for about 15 min. I have met my fair share of musicians in my day and most of the time I like them less after talking with them but it was not the case with Josh Ritter. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say and very grateful that anyone is interested in his music. After our visit I found a seat and enjoyed the rest of Andrew Bird's set and then walked home. I was so happy that things worked out the way that it did and that I got the instant gratification of wanting to go to a show and then going that night.

For those of you that don't know about Zoo Tunes you should check it out. Kids under twelve get in free with a paying adult and there is free parking, and the thing gets over by 8:30PM so you can even go on a work/school night and not regret it the next day. Check out this link for more information about ZooTunes.

http://www.zoo.org/zootunes/

If anyone is curious about what he sounds like here is a video from David Letterman last year.

Mandy's Birthday!

We were able to celebrate my 26th birthday with my family and Ben's family this year! (The timing of their trip was just perfect!) Colin (my brother in-law) beautifully recreated a coconut cake my Great Aunt Edna used to make when I was little. It was absolutely wonderful, just ask Lydia!
Later that week we had another celebration with our best friends Tom, Shannon, and Andrew. I had to include these photo's because Andrew insisted eating his cake with goggles on!

Ben got me another coconut cake (coconut is my favorite) from a cute bakery in the area.

Kayak Adventure

Our kayaking trip on Lake Union and Lake Washington was the highlight of the week! As we set off on our adventure I don't think any of us expected to see a bald eagle, a sea plane take off from the water, two bridges open, turtles, a great blue heron, and Mt. Rainier in all it's glory. Making it through the Montlake Cut.Unbelievable! Right?Dennis & Julie gliding through the lily padsGreat Blue HeronMae-Mae, Lydia (Mandy's niece), and Opa (Mandy's dad) in a boat.Sea plane just after taking off from the water.

Lydia and Opa paddling under the Montlake Bridge.

Lydia: "The cars are dwiving over us Mae-Mae!"

University Bridge straight ahead opening for a big boat to come through.

Hostess' with the Mostess'

Ben's family visited us for a week over the 4th of July holiday. We were excited to host them in our *new* 2 BEDROOM apartment! Ben and I intended to have a nice relaxing, lazy visit this time with his parents, but when I start to list all the things we did within a week it looks like we did the complete opposite! We managed to hit up Pike's Place, (can't go to Seattle without seeing Pike's!) Whidbey Island, Deception Pass, Kerry Park, Cinerama to see "Wall-E", lots and lots of thrift and antique stores for me and Ben's mom, kayaking on Lake Union & Lake Washington, and many fun restaurants! Since Deception Pass is becoming one of our favorite spots in Washington we really wanted to show it off to our company! Thankfully the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful walk across the bridge. Here we are! Matthew, Dennis, Ben, Mandy, & JulieSPIDER-MATT!
Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill. We have so many photo's of our kayaking trip, I think I will give them their own post! Mom, Dad, and Matt we had so much fun during your last visit, here's to many more! Dad I demand a rematch in Clue next time we see you!

Whidbey on a Whim

When I've taken a personality test in the past and come across a question that asks...

"Would you say you are a spontaneous or premeditated person?"

I always answer premeditated. I am a planner by nature and don't like things to just spring up on me. Some people might call me controlling, I prefer well prepared. No matter how "exotic" and "fun" spontaneous sounds I never can quite bring myself to be just that.

So when my sister & brother in-law called us with one days notice and asked if we'd join them for a night on Whidbey Island I felt like a rebel saying yes and going for it! Even with only 24 hours to prepare I had enough time look at a friends blog who had just visited the island and get a map to learn all the roads and towns we would try and visit that weekend. (See that's not controlling, just well prepared! :)

Our day started at the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal, Ben was very excited to ride the ferry.

We met up with Carrie & Colin (my sister and brother in-law) and headed up to Fort Casey State Park. My mom travels to Fort Casey every spring with the 5th Grade Class from her school for outdoor education. She has done this since I was a littler girl, so Carrie and I have spent a few summers exploring Fort Casey. It is a great place to play hide n' seek because there are lots of dark rooms where ammunition used to be store and little "containers" you can hide in. We had a fun game boys against girls. Notes for next time, pink pants are a dead give away in a game of hide n' seek!
Here we are in the ammunition rooms I mentioned above, we literally couldn't see ANYTHING. Carrie was legitimately scared, glad the flash on our camera could capture that! Next we drove all the way up to the top of the island to see Deception Pass. The walk across the bridge at Deception Pass is spectacular on a nice day. We also made our way down to a beach called Rosario Point and saw lots of sea life. Cool Seaweed! Then it was back down the island to Coupeville for lunch and finally to the beach house where we were staying. We finished off the evening with a little kayaking and a BBQ by sunset!