D'oh!

Our family, officially Simpsonized:



And yes, I'm bored. Come home safe family.

Tuesday night card game

Since our Austin visitors got us so interested in Euchre, we thought we'd try to find some other people around here to play with. Interesting task in Seattle, since most people we asked had never heard of the game. Trust craigslist though to hook us up. Turns out there's a group of transplanted midwesterners that get together at the Spectator in Queen Anne for a few hours to play every Tuesday night.

Jay and I showed up last night to check it out. Although there's a revolving group of about 50, only 8 people (including us) were there. That's okay, since that let us have 2 games going. About half the people there were also new.....and of course not one person was from Seattle. We were actually some of the "oldest" Seattle transplants there - with 2 years, we handily beat the crime lab toxicologist who's been here 2 months, and the wine delivery guy who's been here 7 months. The group "leader", a freelance marketing and advertising guy, has only been here 5 months.

We wound up playing 3 full games, and lost all three...but we were tough competition, everyone said so :-). We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed meeting the new people, so we plan on going again - next week hopefully if things work out. How cool is that?

It's over

Well played, J.K. Rowling. Not at all how I expected the series to end, but nicely done at that. Kelsey, feel free to call and discuss.

Boy will I sleep well tonight :-)

Delicious

Went to the QFC earlier to get ziploc baggies, and discovered they were selling Harry Potter books at 12:01 am, same price as B&N - 40% discount. Wanting the new book asap, but not wanting to stand in a line for an hour at the bookstore when I have to take Kelsey to the airport at 4:00 am, we took full advantage of this discovery.

We got to the QFC at 11:53 and had paid and left the store with a brand new oh it smells so good copy of the book by 12:07.

Coffee is brewing, dogs are settled, I'm all ready to start. Talk to you in a few days :-)

Seattle's "finest"

Tonight Jay and I were running errands and stopped by the Starbucks before heading home. Shortly after we ordered, some policemen (and woman) came in and got in line. We moved over to the drink waiting area and noticed that these were no ordinary police...these were movie police. There were two young guys and a young woman, all three model-pretty. The policewoman was perky, blonde, and workin' that uniform. The two guys were crisp, clean cut and oh so cute. Then an older police guy came in, and he was movie cop good looking too...tall and authoritative, you could tell he was the captain they all turned to for advice.

I don't know if all Seattle police look like these 4, but if you're around the Roosevelt Square Starbucks around 7 pm, stop by and maybe you too will get to enjoy some eye candy with guns.

Everyone's gone

The Neibert clan headed back to Austin this afternoon, so for the first time in about a month it's just the three of us again. It's so quiet, and we're exhausted. I forgot how much energy it takes to keep up with a 2 year old, and Rip is a whirlwind. We had such a good time, and I will post pictures soon and write more in detail but right now I'm just too tired.

Highlights of the trip included the Fire Truck bed, playing in International Fountain, boating on Lake Union, the Mariner's game, the Zoo, and of course Day Out with Thomas. I don't think we had a single day where we weren't doing something. We won't see Kirk, Kristin, or Ripkin for a while so we tried to soak up as much Neibertness as we could while they were here :-). They'll be traveling for quite a while yet today so I'm sure we won't hear from the Neibert Diaries for a day or two.

Her hair's on FIRE

Kelsey got a new look for the summer. It took two days at the salon, for a total of about 7.5 hours, but we think it looks pretty cool. She's not allowed to wash it for 5 days, so we'll see how it looks after that :-). They were awesome at the salon...gave us tons of free product to keep it looking bright. The girls that worked on Kelsey took lots of pictures of their own to show off their work. When we went to the food court right after to get something to eat, the guy at Kidd Valley asked, "where'd you get your hair done like that? It looks like it's on fire!"





Jay's thinking about going blue next week.

Candy Red Buttons

Happy Fourth of July. Here in Seattle it's a lovely day, sunny and warm. We took Mom and the beagles to Marymoor Park earlier for a picnic. The dogs had a great time and the humans did as well. After we took the dogs home we went to the Uwajimaya Market in the International District to stock up on some Pocky and Japanese soda.

So we all know that the birthday of our nation is the most dangerous holiday of the year. We here in Seattle are doing our part. The Japanese soda that Kelsey likes has this cool opening where you screw off the top, and then use this plunger thing in the top to push a marble down through the opening into the bottle which allows you to then enjoy the tasty sugar beverage.

On the side of the bottle is a warning:

• Ask an adult to open the bottle for you.
• Do not try to remove the marble from the bottle to avoid injury.

CANDY. RED. BUTTON.



Out comes the pocket knife. 2 minutes pass. Out gushes the blood. A trip to the emergency room loomed large, but we settled for a butterfly bandage instead.



The patient is now resting calmly, although is still dreaming of getting the marble. We hope your Independence Day has less bloodshed.

Cruise update

Well, we're all back from vacation :-( The time goes much too fast when we're all together, and it seemed like we had just boarded the ship when it was time to leave everyone again.

We had an absolutely wonderful time. We met Carol (Hugo's sister) and her husband Fred - they were truly lovely people, and great fun. Also met Robert's fiance, Kristen. They make a great couple, and we enjoyed getting to know her.

The weather could not have been better the whole time we were away...calm winds and smooth seas all week. The ports were all very interesting, although my favorites were definitely Newport and Bar Harbor. Newport because of all the beautiful homes, including the two Vanderbilt "cottages" that we toured, and Bar Harbor because it was just so pretty. But we also loved Halifax and the Titanic Connection tour and Kennebunkport (the Bushes, elder and junior, were both in residence. I can't say much about St. John because I did not get off the ship that day. For the life of me I can't remember why though. I'm pretty sure it's because it was a short day, and we had the Pinnacle Grill lunch on the ship as well as the On Deck for the Cure walk that afternoon.

Pictures are up in the gallery. Here's a sample for those that don't feel like wading through all roughly 200 of them.







Beagles are in good shape, Mom came through and spoiled and pampered them. Although the way they carried on when we got home, you would have thought she had them locked in a closet all week. Oh how nice to sleep with a beagle again :-)