I was the coach in the “coach pitch” part of Alex’s baseball game yesterday. Berne (the head coach) was traveling, and asked me to pitch the game. Never having done anything like that, of course I said yes.

I only hit 2 kids.

I also managed to “strike out” 3 or 4 kids, including Alex. I say “strike out” since the rules in Alex’s Pony league (North Seattle Baseball League) is that each kid gets 6 pitches to hit, and that’s it (they can keep alive on a foul ball for #6). This puts a little pressure on the pitcher, since I’ve only got 6 chances to make a good pitch to the kid.

Bottom line is that I don’t think we won, but I did get better as the game went on, our team didn’t need to go to the bullpen in relief, and that all of our kids got hits. Plus, it was a wonderfully sunny day, Anne and Leah came over to watch, and we all had a great time. I sure am proud of Alex.

Categories: Family, Sports
No Comments »

Got a flyer in the mail inviting me to a meeting about a new “Ballard Park“. When we looked at where the location was, Anne and I noticed that the address seemed like it was right around the corner from us. When I pulled it up on the map, it definately will be close enough to walk (kinda on the way to Salmon Bay Park). Now with the 6th Ave Pocket Park right up the street, we are going to have some great park options!

Categories: Family
No Comments »

Just got back from a great week in Whistler. We had a blast, got some great skiing/boarding in, and it snowed pretty much every day we were there. Alex and Leah (and Gabby and Andrew) had a fantastic time in ski camp and learned a ton — Leah has overcome any reservations she had about skiing and is now beating us all down the mountain (she just needs to learn how to stop), and Alex is looking for the next jump and black diamond.  Sharon came up for a couple of days and enjoyed the powder too!

Kris and Anna were great to travel/hang out with, and Doug and Julie were up there as well. We all enjoyed ourselves, and are looking forward to the next trip (just as soon as we recover from this one…)

Pictures are here — http://anvl.org/blog/v/Whistler2008/slideshow.html

Categories: Family
1 Comment »

So, what else is going on? We’ve said goodbye to Tilly got a new puppy (hi Zillah!), ripped off the deck on the back of the house (it was pretty rotted out), tore a big hole in the side of the house (and put a new door in), flew back and forth to DC, had a great Thanksgiving, and now it’s December already, and we only have a couple of weeks before Bob and Judy come out to visit for the holidays. Good times…good times.

Pictures are here.

Categories: Family
No Comments »

We’re in DC this week, spending Thanksgiving with the Goodwin’s. We got a bit crazy this morning and participated in a 5K run/walk (I ran [25mins] and Anne and the kids walked). Lot’s of people, a lot of fun, and we had great weather (it’s 70 degrees here - same as yesterday). Tonight it’s turkey dinner at Aunt Pat’s, and then off to Ice Mountain this weekend. Back to Seattle on Tuesday, when we can see all the work that John has done on the deck and the back room.

ANNNDDD — we’re back. We made it back on Tuesday (with not one, but two airplane trips that started out with missing pilots and almost ended with us stuck in Denver for the night). However, we made it, and it’s great to be home. Now that I have 2 seconds, I wanted to post the pictures that we took on the trip. Here you go!

Categories: Family
No Comments »

We lost Tilly on Wednesday. She woke up really out of sorts, and when Anne took her into the emergency room they found a cancerous lump on her heart. It had been there for a while, and must have recently ruptured. That put a lot of pressure on her heart, and there was nothing we could do. Anne and I were with her when she died. She was a very good dog.

Anyway, we will raise a glass to Tilly, and would love it if you would do the same. Anne is hanging in there, but it’s been tough. The kids (not surprisingly I guess) adapted and accepted the news
quite well. Circle of Life - they can relate to that concept (thanks Lion King…)
(Tilly is the one on the right)

Categories: Family
1 Comment »

Yes, it’s been a while, and lot’s has happened.  The sand in the camera from the Kalaloch accident never got fixed, so a new camera was procured (prices really are going down — I found a great deal here).  We managed to spend a week at Rehoboth Beach without damaging the new camera, so that was an accomplishment.  Pictures from the trip are here.

Today is the first day of school for Alex and Leah - Alex is in 2nd grade and Leah starts Kindergarten!  They will both be together at Thornton Creek, actually across the hall from each other.  Leah is looking forward to class with Todd, and Alex is looking forward to showing Leah around, and playing on the playground with his friends again.  We haven’t found out what this years expedition is yet, but it should be fun/interesting as usual.

On personal notes, Noah is still consulting and just finished a project at Nordstrom IT, and Anne is looking forward to having more of her days available (now that school has started) to focus on the things that she wants/needs to.  Also, we bought a hot tub the other day (our first ever!), and are working with John to design/build a new deck out back to host it.  Should be a fun project…!

Other than that, we still have 2 dogs (sometimes 3 when Zoe Goodwin comes to visit), we got together with Emily and John and Mom VL for a bbq over the weekend, we’re planning on a yard sale soon (to get rid of all of our valuable junk), might squeeze in time for another camping trip this year, are looking forward to seeing the East Coast family over Thanksgiving, etc etc.  I promise to keep this more updated - not really for you, but for us - there’s so much that happens in life that keeping track of it is a fun exercise for the future.  Take care!

Categories: Family, Update
No Comments »

It’s been a busy past couple of weeks.  We’ve been camping twice (South Whidbey and Kalaloch), Kris and I went to a M’s game, and we had the 4th of July in the middle.  It’s been a lot of fun, but it was nice to have a quiet weekend at home this past weekend.  I posted some pictures to the gallery here.  Unfortunately, I got sand into our primary digital camera during some frisbee games on the beach at Kalaloch, so most of these pix are from my phone.  Not too bad, but hopefully getting the sand out of the camera won’t take too long (or cost too much…

Categories: Family, Play
1 Comment »

We’re back from Utah. What a great trip — conditions were great (springtime, but we got 6+ inches of new snow while we were there), the kids all made huge progress in lessons, and it was a lot of fun hanging with the Harnesses. Here are Kris and Anna at lunch on the mountain at Snowbird:

Our travel back to Seattle yesterday took a bit longer than expected (about 10 hours longer), due to a snafu involving Delta and the Salt Lake City airport. Long story, but suffice it to say that if the airline tells you that your flight has been delayed, it’s worthwhile to stay in touch with the gate in case they bring a new plane in and end up leaving on time, while you are waiting around in an airport restaurant killing time… We finally made it back to Seattle late last night — vacation is wonderful, but nothing beats sleeping in your own bed.

Today we took the kids to the Mariners game at Safeco where we saw the M’s win — a great end to a wonderful week. It reminds me of what life is all about — family, friends, and fun. Sounds overly simple? Maybe so - but it works.

All the pictures from our trip are in the gallery here.

Categories: Family, Uncategorized
No Comments »

Hi there.  Been a while since we talked.  Rest assured, I’m not ignoring you, it’s just that life has gotten pretty busy.  I’ll catch you all up later, but how about just the current events.  Right now, we’re at Snowbird in Utah, getting some last snow days in.

Paul has been kind enough to house sit and watch Tilly and Lucas, and we escaped with the Harnesses to The Cliff.  The snow has been pretty good (typical spring skiing conditions - hard in the morning, nice by midday, slushy in the afternoon), but we got a couple of inches last night with more forecasted for tomorrow.  The kids have been having a blast - Alex is the “mad bomber”, and Leah had a GREAT day at her first ski lesson at Alta yesterday (after much trepidation).  We’ve been spending the rest of our time in the pool (yes, outside), the hot tub, and the game room.  Fun stuff.  Pix are in our gallery here.

Categories: Family, Play, Uncategorized
No Comments »