Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Five already?!

It's impossible to fathom, but today marks our fifth year of auntie and uncle-hood. Happy, happy birthday to our dearest Little D. You brighten our whole family and we love you!

Just a few our favorites from the Derek chronicles, of which there are scads:















Thursday, September 17, 2009

Why, yes, we do rub elbows with Derek Pearson

Our very own bro has pulled into 1st place in the photographer category of King 5's Best of Western Washington Poll! We're super proud of him - if you've ever taken a gander at his work, you'll know there's no one more deserving. A big, big thank you to everyone who's voted; if you haven't, get a move on, people! It's going to be a fight to the finish, and voting is open until October 11th, so let's make this a done deal!

VOTE HERE!
CURRENT STANDINGS

Monday, September 14, 2009

Cousins!

I sometimes wonder if anyone reading here grows tired of our endless gushing about all of the fantastic days we're able to enjoy. If that's the case, allow me to apologize in advance, because here we go again with the gushing:

On Friday we took the ferry to the penisula and spent the weekend with our cousins Loren, Jeanne, Lauren Kate, Langdon and Leia. Jan Michael and Jeanne spent loads of time together growing up, and their families even lived together for a little while, so there was lots of good reminiscing about special childhood memories. There was also nonstop entertainment by some of the sweetest, most adventuresome, fearless kiddos we know - tree climbing and fence scaling and tumbling all around the yard.

And besides that, we picked bunches of flowers at a dahlia farm, hiked around and splashed in Lake Crescent, oohed at the views on Hurricane Ridge, and stuffed ourselves silly with Jeanne's delicious cooking.

Jan Michael and I both loved every minute of it and can't wait for the trip we'll take with the five of them to Victoria. What a family we have!





















Saturday, September 05, 2009

Melakwa Lake

One serious hike up and one serious hike down + breath-taking scenery on every side + the hills ringing with the sound of our side-splitting laughter + a brother-in-law splash contest + palatial sleeping accomodations = one of the best camping trips ever.

Jan Michael is working on one of his famous slide shows to show-case the whole shebang, and most of the pictures are being held under lock and key until it's finished. Until then, here's a glimpse: