Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Viewy Stuey

Allie was watching Doc McStuffins last weekend and they had a character on named Viewy Stuey. 'He' was a viewfinder. Remember those?

I went downstairs and pulled down a small plastic bucket from the closet shelf. I brought it up and showed it to Allie, "WE have a Viewy Stuey!" I wish I had caught the look on her face! Her eyes got wide and her mouth popped open. Absolute amazement!!

She spent the next 20 minutes or so clicking through the various discs. I showed her how the pictures look better when you look toward a door or window so she kept going to the sliding door to view them. SO fun to share a classic toy with the next generation!


 
 
 
Chuck loves his new job driving a city bus. He's even been interviewed by a local radio station on what it's like to go through the Metro training classes. A couple weekends ago he asked if I wanted to check out his route so we took off in our car and he drove me through city streets showing me all the stops and turns. He also drives through the University of Washington. That is such a gorgeous campus! Then he told me about a bridge he drives over and he's always been curious about what's under it. A street? River? So we parked the car and found out. It's a park! It's pretty big, covering a couple city blocks. There's lots of trees and hiking trails. There was a big playground. But we were interested in the bridge. The bridge itself was beautiful but I never did get any pictures of it. We were able to go under it and in fact, a running trail goes under it. We ended up not following it to the other side, but it was sure peaceful to sit underneath.
 

 
 
Chuck and I are trying to spend more time together, going out and doing things and just being together. I do love that man. After more than 32 years, I'm still in love with him.
 

This is our attempt at a selfie! :)
 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Into The Woods. Not the Movie, We Really Did Go Into The Woods!

Diana wants to go walking or hiking every Monday and she asked me to come with her this week. There is a park near our house that we drive by all the time, but have never gone walking there.

Some good friends of ours nicknamed them The Woods Between the Worlds from Chronicles of Narnia. You drive through a residential area and then all of the sudden, you're right in the middle of the forest! It's truly beautiful, especially in the Spring when all the trees are getting new leaves. So on Monday we parked the car and walked along the trail.

It was so pretty. And quiet.

At one point, a smaller trail veered off the main path so we ended up following it to see if we could get to the river that we could hear. There's a creek or something at the bottom. It seemed SO close but the trail sort of ended. Well, it actually just dropped off and Diana started down but began to slide and we weren't sure where it would take us... and neither of us were really dressed for that kind of hike.

One of Diana's friends told her later that there is a rope swing at the bottom! Now we're determined to go back and make it down that hill!



Saturday, April 18, 2015

What We've Done... Or Haven't Done

I'm trying to remember what we've done since Easter.

Beth is still enjoying her new job. Well, same job, different location.

We bought a second car from some old friends. When I say old, I mean a couple in their 90s. V can't drive anymore and her van has just been sitting in the driveway for over a year. V's husband (also V) knew we were looking for a car (I've been sometimes walking back and forth to work lately - about a mile each way - if I wasn't able to get rides from Diana or co-workers) so Chuck and I bought their van. It's a 1993 and not much to look at but it gets me back and forth to work! I thank the Lord every time I drive it!

So in the last couple months we've gone from a 3 driver / one car family to a 3 driver / 3 car family. It's made a huge difference in our freedoms around here! :)

No new pictures to show you. We haven't really done much in the last couple of weeks. The weather has been gorgeous lately so we're trying to get outside more. Working in the yard, taking walks. I have Allie today so maybe we'll go do something outside... and I'll try to remember to take some pictures!

Friday, April 10, 2015

More Than Just Window Shopping

Beth and I spent a lot of time shopping over Easter. She wanted a new dress and needed new shoes so we went to JC Penny's and Target and Payless...

She found the dress right away. I was looking in one area and turned around to see her holding it up. I told her it was really cute and she said she wanted to try it on.

The first one... and it fit her really well! Too often it's too big in the chest or the sleeves are too long or it drags on the ground... it's really hard to get clothes to fit her. But this fit AND looked so cute on her! She was thrilled! In the dressing room she'll get this look on her face where she scrunches up her shoulders and turns her head and gets a big smile on her face, you know that's when she likes it!

 
 
 

 
 
Sharaya and Allie came over for dinner on Sunday, we played some board games and just hung out together. We really had a great Easter.
 
By the way, Beth is enjoying her new job! She had been at the old place for over two years and was able to work without her job coach C, but because this was a new location, C made sure she was there the entire first night. About 1 hour into Beth's shift, I got a text from C, "Beth is doing amazing and she's ready for me to go home." She really did adjust quickly and was actually home last week at 7:30 PM! Almost 3 hours earlier than normal! Woohoo!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

It's Becoming a Tradition

We went to the tulip fields last weekend. It was cool and very windy in some spots but it wasn't raining and the flowers were beautiful!

I think it was a little early cause the main field was still daffodils and the tulip fields were further back. Sharaya, Diana and Allie took the walk back there, but Chuck, Beth and I stayed in the garden areas where it wasn't so windy.

It's sorta becoming a tradition for us and I love it when we do things together. The whole family doesn't get out very often, but when it do, it's always so much fun!


Sharaya took these two on their walk out to the tulip fields.

 
A re-creation from a couple years ago.
Allie was not liking the wind this year.
 
 
 
 
On their way back from the tulip fields.
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Beth took this one of us. 

 
 
 
 
Happy Spring!