Washington Sightseeing Extravaganza...continued!

Well, Curt and I are back in Cali, and officially both started school today! Wahooo! I was fortunate enough to get a long term sub position with the Westside District, at a school and in grade I love (6th). :) It's definitely the next best thing to a full time job, as the experience has been amazing getting to set up and start a year off. Curt enjoyed his first day too, and was glad that two of his six classes were reduced a few students -- down to 40, instead of 44. Ugh. Crazy huh? Anyway, in a desperate attempt to get caught up with our blog.... I must back-track yet again to this past JUNE. What?!? I am sooo behind.... at any rate, enjoy the third installment of our good times up in Washington with friends Brian and Andrea. :)

After leaving Twisp... it was off to Bellingham, and a beautiful drive through the North Cascades Pass awaited us. Not a cloud in the sky people! Virtually unheard of. We were pumped that B & A got to see Washington like this. Here's Curty and I posing for a picture road-side. (Please ignore Curt's closed eyes):

Playing in the snow....
A quick pic at Ross Lake. Amazingly beautiful!! The silt and other goodies in the glacier water give the water that deep green/blue color... almost unreal looking.

More Ross Lake scenery, and Andrea's "man-hand." The poor thing got taken out by a mosquito!!

Me and Andy with the San Juan Islands in the background.... a gorgeous day to drive up Chuckanut!

Finally in Bellingham with our nieces!! Here's Curt with Maddie, and Kelli and I with Lucy and Madeline... They are precious little pumpkins and I miss them terribly!

Another fun adventure we embarked upon was our ferry ride out to Victoria, B.C. The water was practically like glass the entire way there... and beautifully sunny and warm. We couldn't have asked for a better day to make the trek!

Here's some pics from on the boat as we near Victoria, and then posing by some pretty flowers. I really wanted to drive out to the Butchart Gardens, but we just didn't have time to drive up there and tour it all with only a few hours. It made me feel better to find out later that the entrance fee is 30 bucks a pop -- so I was appeased for the time being. Hehehe... Next time though, as I am sure it would be worth the coin if well planned! :)

Here's a snap shot of the Parliament building we toured... and me looking at it from the outside, upside down, enjoying my jasmine iced tea... Ummmm... I could really use one of those right now, so refreshing! (did I mention that it's 101 here today - ugh). Sweet, cool, merciful Pacific Northwest - we miss you! (although I wouldn't have missed it a week ago when it was almost 100 in the 'ham w/no AC -- for all of you that survived, hats off to you!!).

Chillin' on the boat home... Ahhhhhhhh.

The views were spectacular! Here Mt. Baker looms in the distance:

Here we are enjoying a little relaxation fireside in Curt's parents backyard. Brian got a chance to bond with Molly dog... you can see Andrea was pretty happy about that.

Fourth of July was a blast celebrating at Kelli and Ethan's with family... breaking out the oysters on the BBQ and spending more precious time with Lucy and Madeline.

Here's Lu and Brian about to take oyster shooters. EWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwww.

AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Tasty.

We busted out the fireworks later and had fun lighting up the streets with our hoop-la. (I was mostly scared of all the sparks and the possibility of getting taken out by an errant bottle rocket, but still enjoyed myself never-the-less.)

Happy Fourth! Hi Lisa and Brian... miss you guys sooo much!!

We also toured downtown Seattle, the wharf, and Pike's Place Market -- check out those hanging peppers! They were amazing... all fresh, but dry in a few months to look just as cool. The produce looked yummy too... ummmm.

Curt and I stopping for a quick pic under the public market sign (wait, I'm sure you didn't know that from the picture).

Enjoying one last delicious meal at Anthony's on the pier with B & A before they headed back to Cali...

More updates to come.... For now, happy travels to those of you still on summer break, we are so sad it's over for us!!!! (but seriously, can we complain after having 10 full weeks off. Ummm, probably not).