Camping in Washington

We ventured on our first WA. camping trip this last weekend and had an absolute blast! Funny thing is part of the time we felt like we were back in the Colorado mountains but then you see the volcanic mountains around us and realize we are actually someplace VERY different. We missed our camping buddies Haley and Tyler so so so much but paid tribute to them via campfire fajitas and Gin and tonics :) we have a few more trips planned for this summer up by the Olympic Peninsula and looking forward to it.

A few pics from our lakeside campsite and Mt. Raineer below..

The Folks Visit Washington

My parents came out for a long weekend over 4th of July and it was jammed packed with fun! They have a lot of friends from when they lived out here 20+ years ago and they are true blue friends, you know the kind, you don't see them for ten years or more at a time and when you get together it's like no time has passed at all. I personally love that they are all still here because I feel like I have four extra sets of surrogate moms and dads. Since the first week we moved out here I found this restaurant down at pier 52 called Elliotts that has a progressive oyster on the half shell happy hour and I've been awaiting my dad's visit since March so that we could take them there as I had a feeling he would love it......feeling was dead on by the way! We spent about 2 hours sweating in the Seattle sun and I think we ate at least 4 dozen oysters plus some ahi avocado deliciousness and of course lots of wine and I do believe dad was impressed. Headed to Pikes Street Market after that and I think they loved seeing that whole scene again. On the 4th we went out on my uncles boat with about 12 other people for a relaxed sun filled 4th on the water. For all my Finegan family members that read this you all know that we love Ray with all our hearts but if you've ever been on the boat with him you know there always has to be some sort of adventure. We started the day about 45 minutes late which we all knew would happen so really we were right on time, and then came the leaving of the dock...now let me preface this by saying Ray is a top notch captain and if you were in a dangerous situation you would probably actually want him piloting the boat.

Now let me remind you that just backing the huge 30 foot boat out of the marina is a site to see in itself and I've never seen Ray have a problem doing this and he didn't have a problem backing the boat out on the 4th either.....however with that many people on the boat and all the excitement we somehow failed to realize that one of the ropes was tied to a prop underneath the boat. All of a sudden all the engines die and alarms start sounding, we are diagonal between two sailboats headed straight for the dock with a boat that will easily send it crashing into the ocean while the old hagred chain smoking marina manager is yelling for us to watch out for the dock because we are about to hit it. Really? because the alarms and dead engines gave us no clue this was about to happen lady. Anyway we somehow row ourselves over to a sailboat that luckily has no owners on it and while half of us hold on to the sailboat ropes we realize that someone needs to dive in and cut the rope. There is one guy on the boat that dives all the time and says he's willing to go in which I think is a great Idea. Then I turn around to see none other than my dad who has no idea how cold the water is or exactly where the rope is caught stripping down to his swim trunks beating his chest ready to jump in. Now I know my dad is in incredible shape and he's done way more dangerous stuff than this throughout his life but in all the serenity that makes up my personality (yeah right) I start to freak out and worry just a little bit. Either way he's going in and my worrying makes no difference so I just go to the other side of the boat and ignore his gasping for air as he realizes just how cold the water is and try to think good thoughts. Like I said I knew he could do it deep down inside and after 20 minutes of him diving practically blind to the middle of the underneath of the boat with a knife he gets the rope cut and is the HERO of the 4th of July. Anytime he needed any sort of cocktail the rest of the day one of us lovely ladies of leisure was happy to fetch that for him. I am so happy my parents came out and I am so lucky to have such a great relationship with them both. I cried when I picked them up at the airport because I was so happy to see them and cried the whole way home from the airport after dropping them off. I know not everyone truly enjoys days on end with the parents, and even better my husband feels the same way about them, but I can honestly say I can't wait for the next time we all get together!! All in all probably the best 4th I've ever had and definitely the best fireworks show I've ever seen. Although when you have the Seattle skyline behind you and the lake in front of you while grilling lamb chops on a massive boat you would be a giant ass to complain!

Assaulted at Costco

Yep, That's right there was a chick fight in the Costco parking lot. JJ and I had been enjoying a perfectly lovely laid back Sunday and decided to head by Costco on our way home to grab a few items for the week ahead, seems harmless enough right?....WRONG! Costco on Sunday is like the day after Thanksgiving at the mall where we live and we knew parking would be an issue but that was fine we were in no rush. So we pull into the first parking lot (yes that's right there are three parking lots) and start to follow the maze of cars driving around the one idiot that's parked in the middle of the lane with the windows rolled down and obviously not planning on moving. That's fine, like I said lazy, no rush Sunday is the attitude we had. As we are getting ready to leave that parking lot since there is no parking we see a nice Costco employee flagging us down to take the employee of the month parking spot since she was not working that day which happens to be front door parking. Sweet we thought, how nice is this guy and what a convenient spot. We pull in, JJ get's out first and as I'm getting out I see this enraged frizzy half blond half hot pink 40 something year old woman come barrelling at my husband. She starts yelling "what the hell are you doing? we've been waiting for this spot for half an hour" Yep, you guessed it the woman in the car that had been parked 8 spots down in the middle of the lane is screaming at us. JJ as you all know is very calm and laid back by nature and he's looking at her like "what are you talking about?" The nice Costco employee informs her that he flagged us down to take this spot and she was in no way sitting there with blinker on waiting for it. At this point she's telling us "your messed up man, I mean geez" I tell her that we did not see her and that we had every right to take this spot. I'm then informed that she has a dog in the car and they've been waiting for this shady spot.....keep in mind we live in a state covered in trees and there are about 100 shady spots for her to take, maybe not front door but definitely shaded. I then tell her that it's our spot fair and square, that it's not my fault she has a dog with her and maybe in the future she should leave her dog at home in the shaded back yard or house when it's hot outside and she needs to run errands....This comment did not sit well with her. From here the crazy frizzy hair got about twice it's normal size, kind of like a cats tail when they get scared and she starts literally yelling at me about how I'm messed up and my karma will come back to bite me in the ass. I told JJ to let her have the spot as she's obviously a nut job and would probably key my car or slash my tires, she asks me if "I want throw down" right here in the parking lot? I tell her once again she's a crazy dog person and we drive away. In all my vast maturity I may have given her the one finger wave as we pulled away but JJ and I were both literally shaking at this point. The whole thing was so weird and so unexpected.

As far as karma goes we pulled into the next parking lot and got an even better spot...I like to think her "karma" can suck on that for a while :) Now that I look back on it the whole thing is pretty funny but after working in property management my patience for those kind of people is pretty much gone! The only real down side to this whole thing is we were so blown away by what happened that we forgot to get chicken, bread and I accidentally got dark chocolate m&ms instead of regular (by the way why does all the classic candy now have 10 variations on flavor?) and had to make two Costco trips this week...the second one being much less eventful. Anyway I hope none of you can relate to this story although Haley, I feel like you know exactly the kind of person I'm talking about as we shared our property management office. Thanks for letting me vent and remember always look both ways before taking a prime spot at Costco on a Sunday!