March 2013 ~ Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Here it is six months after we took the cruise and I'm finally settling down and writing about it.

We left on March 7, aboard the Emerald Princess. It was a 10 day cruise through the Eastern Caribbean. I loved being in the sun and on the ocean. I am a water girl, and it rejuvenates me to be near bodies of water.

We traveled with friends--isn't that the best way? Friends who know how to have fun, and how to relax. And relax we did. We discovered The Sanctuary aboard ship. It was a quiet area at the top of the ship in the bow for adults only. We each had our own reserved deck chair, and servers at our beck and call. Tea every day at 3:30, and anything else we wanted any other time of day. In the future we would all sign up for that every day, I think. I know I would.

For me, the best part of a cruise is being on the ship out at sea. The next best part is on shore at a beach. This cruise had a nice amount of both of those.

Ray, Mareen Cook, Dan Cook

Dave Badger, Tamara Badger, Karen Perry, Scott Perry

Tea Time!

Ray, Scott Perry

Karen Perry, Diane

Tamara and Dave Badger

Karen and Scott Perry

Diane and Ray

Diane and Ray

Dan had a birthday.

Dave and Tamara

Dan and Mareen

Karen and Scott

Seattle in April

I love Seattle in the spring time. Dogwoods blooming. So many shades of green--I never knew there were so many until I lived there.

I had a plane ticket that was going to expire, so what else could I do? I went to see my daughter Debra and her family for the weekend. It was a whirlwind trip, and I loved every minute of it. 

I forget how many Starbucks there are in the Seattle area. And every one of them with a long line of cars waiting to pick up their coffee of choice. It reminded me of the long line of cars at McDonald's here--everyone waiting to pick up their diet coke for the road. 

Friday night Debra, Randy and I went to dinner at Din Tai Fung - all dumplings all the time. When we were in China we had a special dumpling dinner in Xi'an and it was my favorite meal of the trip. This brought back fond memories of that meal. 

Friday night while we were waiting for our dinner table to be ready we stopped in at the Bellevue Nordstrom. Sigh. Such a wonderful shoe department. Oh, how I miss it. I bought two pairs of sandals to celebrate just being in the store again.

Randy left Saturday morning for San Francisco. Debby and I met my friends Tamara, Karen, and Marsha for lunch at Molbak's in Woodinville. We had a delicious salmon sandwich. No one does salmon like the northwest.

Debra and I and the kids had a great time just hanging out together. My sister Cheryl came over every day and spent time with us. I loved it.

The two Dianes

Saturday evening we headed out to King Charley's. I just love their cheeseburgers. And their chocolate shakes. I do believe I indulged in one of each.

 I played a lot of Sequence for Kids with these two. Can you imagine anything more fun? I can't.

Monday morning I went home, and Randy flew in.  One drive to the airport to accomplish both. What a terrific weekend!

Memorial Day 2013

After our sisters weekend, the husbands and children all came and joined us for Memorial Day. Audrey cut Madeleine and Diane's hair, and the kids played games inside and out. We took a very casual family picture--warts and all (not one to show off, except that as proof that we were altogether on that day).

Here are a bunch of pictures from the day:

Madeleine

Audrey and Madeleine

Diane

Diane, Rachel, Elizabeth, Matthew, Madeleine

Madeleine

Rachel and Elizabeth

Jonathan

Jonathan and Ray

Matthew

Austin

Madeleine

Diane

Rachel

Elizabeth

Jonathan

Andrew

Matthew and Madeleine

Austin and Diane

Austin

Diane

Jonathan

Jonathan and Diane

Sisters 2 ~ 2013

Oh, how we love our Sisters weekend! My girls and I had a wonderful time in May spending the weekend just basking in our time together.

We: talked, played cards, ate, talked, played more cards, talked, ate, spent time together, talked, played cards, ate. You get the idea. It was wonderful. 

Debra brought Jonathan. He took a couple of days to warm up to all of us, then he was the life of the party. Here he is, turned front-facing in his car seat for the very first time.

Beth, Audrey, Jonathan, Debra (Cafe Rio - some of our good eats)

Audrey, Diane, Debra, Beth