Double Datin'

Jeff got brave and finally asked Tori out. She is pretty much part of our family since her and Jess have been best friends since 3rd grade.

Jeff has been thinking about asking her out for a while, but was worried since she is Jess's best friend. He didn't want to do anything that would make things awkward. But, with Jess's blessing, and encouragement, he asked her out.

They doubled with Jess and Alex and went to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and then went out to lunch afterward. I think they all had a great time.

Aw! Two cute couples!! :o)

Korean Night Out

Our neighbors are from Korea and their daughter, Rebbecca, is one of Jess's best friends. We have had them over to the house a few times but have never gone out with them before. They invited us to go out to a new Korean restaurant with them last night, since we have never really tried Korean food before. Aaron was a little nervous, but I was excited and up for the challenge.

The table we sat at was very interesting. I can say I've never seen anything like it before. In the middle is a gas grill. They serve everything there family style and bring all of your meat out to you uncooked on a huge platter. You cook your own meat as you eat it. We had marinated pork, chicken and beef. There were a lot of other side dished and extras to go with it. Our favorite was the Korean pancake - so yummy! I will have to have Meesun teach me how to make it.

After dinner we went back an visited with them at their house for a long time. We learned a lot about Korean culture and life and really got to know our neighbors better. We really enjoyed ourselves a lot! Now we will have to have them over to our house for my good ol' home-made pizza. I guess Rebbecca has told her mom a lot about it and how much she likes it. Yea! Recipe exchange time.

Bremerton?!

A beautiful sunny Sunday, roller derby all-stars bout in Bremerton, being together with your honey..... who could ask for more? Well, I discovered I could have asked for one more thing. For the bout to be somewhere else. ANYWHERE else.

Bremerton is one of the most boring, dirty places I have ever been! You would think with the navel base there, and tours of the aircraft carriers, they would work harder on cleaning up their beaches and making more things for people to do, since they would have people coming in for that. Not the case.

We also came to another conclusion. Nothing is open in Bremerton on Sunday. I guess on one aspect I admire a town for sticking to it's principles and keeping Sunday a family day for their residents. I didn't mind that so much. All we wanted to do was be in the sunshine. So, we just though we'd hang out at the beaches. Gross! At least the beach we went to was dirty, smelly and very NOT fun. We didn't spend much time there, and mostly just walked on the board walk in town. Got a cute picture of us though.

Finding a place to eat was another HUGE challenge. All they have is commercial chain fast food restaurants. Not our thing. We drove up and down looking for something, and even asked someone, but didn't have much luck. FINALLY we found a little local pancake house to eat at. Food was good, service was just okay, and we didn't really make the age limit of about 80, but what ya gonna do. (yes that's butter :o)

After dinner we just drove by a local baseball game and decided to kill the rest of our time by watching that. Aaron loves to watch baseball.

The roller derby was a blast. It was nothing like the Key Arena. Very small and intimate. I would say there weren't more than a couple hundred people there (over 5,000 at the Key) and we were right on the track.

It was a very brutal and close game. We were tied at the half, and then were loosing the second bout, only to come back and win in the end. Very fun! We are getting to know the rules more and more, but I feel like I need to read up more on the little details before we go again in a couple of weeks.

All in all it was a great day. I have one more place to put on my list of places I NEVER want to end up.... Bremerton, along with Yakima. But, it was sunny, and I was with my man and that's all I needed.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Aaron had his 42nd birthday and it happened to fall on his day off so he didn't even have to go to work. He got to sleep in and have a relaxing morning.

An unusual occurrence in our house! Every one was home... in the afternoon! So, we had a big birthday lunch of pancakes, one of Aaron's favorite foods. We then spent the afternoon playing "Killer Bunnies" and "Carrcazone", two of our favorite games.

Aaron got a load this year. The kids got him a new computer chair, Alex got him the movie "Flushed Away" and I got him the book he made with all of his poems in it, a singing book, Chickenfoot's CD and come clothes. Jeff had to work in the evening, but since he was at work he was able to get us into a movie for free. We went and saw "The Blind Side" since none of us had seen it before. Jeff was able to come in during his break and sit with us. Good movie!

Chocolate Pie for dessert after the movie!

Happy Birthday Aaron! We love you!

Rat City Roller Girls

As you know, Aaron and I are always looking for different, fun, cheap things to do now that we really don't have kids around much any more. We came across the Rat City Roller Girls Roller Derby League a while ago and have been wanting to give it a go. We have never been to a roller derby before and thought it sounded like fun.

Corrine and Rob came with us to enjoy in the fun.

Before the bouts started we had a lot of fun just people watching. We have come to the conclusion that part of the fun of attending a roller derby is dressing up. It's a very Punk/Rock-a-billie style and people really get into it.

It really is quite a show beyond just the bouts. There are a lot of people, like the gal in the pic above (and believe it or not, if you really looked at her, she is about 70 years old) who walk around just to get the crowd riled up and keep the fun going.

One of the more fun things for us was all of the creative names that the team members come up with. Before each bout, each team member is introduced. There are some very interesting and hilarious names that they have come up with, and a lot of times their numbers would correlate with their names.....

Slutnick #555-3279
Anya Heels
Crash Gordan
Yoko Onoudi'nt
Carmen Getsome
Bruise Lee
Muffstache
Pink Tattilac #1955
Sara Problem
Sheeza Brickhouse #36-24-36

You get the idea. We were glad that there were two bouts that evening. It took us one bout just to figure out the rules and how derby works, but by the second one we pretty much had it figured out. It was a good thing too, because that second bout was really close and intense. Way fun!

The RCRG logo is so cool Aaron and I bought T's.

On our way out there was a girl dressed as a piece of bacon handing out free Baconnaise. Yup, that's the roller derby for ya! We also got free Tim's Cascade Potato Chips and a flyer for the the tattoo convention coming up.... ya, there was a lot of ink there too. Told you - Rock-a-billie. But, WAY fun. We will definitely be going back! Next bout is May 1st and then the Championship bout is in June. We will probably attend both. I will probably even dress up a bit, make it more fun.

Here is a small little video of one of the Jams just so you can get a little flavor of what it's like. It's kind of confusing unless you watch for a while, but soon we will be seasoned experts, so if you want to check it out you can come with us and we'll explain everything :o).

Kentridge at Safeco Field

One of Jessi's best buddies, Ian Buckles, is a pitcher on the Kentridge Varsity Baseball team. They had the opportunity on Saturday to play a game in the Mariner's Safeco Field. He was super excited to have the opportunity, as he is very passionate about baseball. We had to go and support the team.

Ian is the one standing on the right, #31.

Jeff and Jess with Tori and Becca
Jess took the day off and was excited to be able to hang out with the girls.

Ian is the first team member in white on the left

It was really super cold, but we had a great time watching the game. Ian got to pitch for two innings. Since it was a promo game, and didn't count for the season, the coach gave all the players on varsity a chance to play. Ian usually gets to play anyway, but only did two innings to give others an opportunity.

Kentridge ended up loosing by two points, but it was a very close game and very fun to watch.

Happy Easter

Holiday's have really changed around our house since our kids are not really kids any more. Easter - no more coloring eggs, Easter egg hunts, baskets...... And, both kids had to work.

It just doesn't seem like Easter unless you have a basket with little presents in it though, so we just had to get a little something. We just got the kids each one little thing - Jeff a book, and Jess a movie - and then just stuck it in a basket on the table. It was kind of weird not buying candy and stuff. I was going to go to the store and get some and Aaron asked why.... good question. We don't really eat candy and I had already made some cinnamon twists for breakfast which would have been enough sugar for us.

We had a great morning before the kids left. We got up and put the quiche in the oven and played a game while it cooked. My mom came over for breakfast and we had a good visit.

Holidays have definitely changed, but they are still good. The most important part is spending time with your family, and that's what we did.