Our New Car!

With Jess headed off to college next month we needed a new car so that she could take the Sentra with her. We have been looking all summer and finally found a really good deal on the car that Aaron ideally wanted. We got a tricked out 2007 Mazda3 hatchback. Perfect.

 

Mailbox Peak

We finally got a few nice days of weather around here, and I amazingly didn't have to work today, so Aaron and I took off on a hike. We wanted to try a new place that a friend was telling us about - Mailbox Peak: and yes, there is a mailbox at the top........

This was hands down the hardest hike I have EVER done in my life!!! It was an unrelenting 2.5 miles straight up the mountain side and took us two hours to get up - yes, you heard me right - two hours to go 2.5 miles!!!! Ouch.

It is a very densely wooded trail as well, so if you are not really paying attention to what you are doing you can get lost very easily. As a matter of fact, there is a huge sign at the trail head telling you to watch for the trail markers, as there have been 9 search and rescue teams out thus far this year. They have white diamonds on the trees all throughout so you know where you are going. It's kind of funny, because as you get further and further up the trail, people start writing messages on them....

Once you get to the top though, it is a very beautiful view, and we had a great lunch sitting in the sunshine. We did have to take our shirts off for a while and lay them in the sun to dry out though. We were so sweaty our entire shirts were saturated. Gross!!

First Fire of The Year

We are finally getting a big of a summer around here. Not near what everyone else in the country is getting, but good enough for me: sun and about 75 degrees - did I mention sun? We finally felt like it was nice enough to have a fire in the pit, so we sat out and had a great conversation and some raspberry shortcake with raspberries from Alex's garden. YUM!

 

Alki

Our friend, Jay, was playing with his band at the Alki Art Festival Sunday evening. Since we were having such an amazing day, with even more amazing weather, we decided to head on over. It was such a great evening being together! We had the most delicious ice cream cones sitting on the beach and enjoyed some good music together. Who could ask for more?

 This little girl was SO cute watching the band!!

Jay's number one fan ;o)

Poo-Poo Point

Yes, we have to do this hike at least once a year. It's just so easy to do because it's close and doesn't take a ton of time. Plus, you get a great view at the top and it's always fun to watch the hang gliders jump. This was also the first time in A LONG TIME that the four of us went out to do something together: it was nice.

Chrome Molly at The Bite Of Seattle

True to Seattle form as of late, Aaron got to perform in the rain at The Bite of Seattle. Fortunately the stage is cover, so the band and gear was fine, it just meant that numbers in the audience were way down. There were more people in attendance at The Taste of Tacoma: The Bite is suppose to be huge. Oh well, what ya gonna do. You get the same pay whether people are watching you or not, it's just a lot more fun for the band in people are watching and having fun.

Warrior Dash

We just had a blast this morning getting down and REALLY muddy: we did the Warrior Dash, held for the first time here in Seattle. It was so fun and are definitely going to do it again next year! We'll have to have to get more elaborate with our costumes though as this year we just did "warrior paint" on our faces. Half the fun was watching all of the costumes (or lack there of ;o) that people were sporting.

Before the race - nice and clean

 

 

Gettin' our warrior faces on

 

 

The race was run in heats, every half an hour, all day long. for two days. (tha's a lot of peeps!) The start line was complete with pyrotechnics. Fun stuff!

 

 

So, the Warrior Dash is a three mile race with obstacles all along the way. We had 11 obstacles we had to do including climbing walls, hopping tires, balancing across planks, leaping fire and climbing through mud.

 

Jess lost a shoe in the last mud pit. Fortunately she was able to find it and finish the race with a shoe on one foot and the other in hand. Thank goodness neither of us lost our rings!

Eating like a warrior