Happy Birthday Camron!

We've had a VERY busy week. Camron turned 7 last weekend - Wow! It's hard to believe.

We spent last Saturday at Northwest Trak - what an awesome place. The animals are huge, the tram ride is an hour long and takes you to some of the neatest animals you will ever see. Elk, moose, deer, bison, there's a ton of animals. There's a separate area to see wolves, lynx, coyotes, bears, etc. We had a great time and can't wait to go back. I'm posting pictures of some of the animals.

The kids had their first "authentic" Japanese meal at a restaurant. It was very good and both kids loved it. The restaurant was impressed the kids know some Japanese words, at least enough to say "thank you" and "delicious" - thanks to Tony's Japanese skills.

The kids started some of their activities last week. Madison is taking hip-hop and lyrical with a dance studio and both kids are taking rock climbing lessons, which they love. Camron's also signed up for basketball which starts in a few weeks. Madison's new studio is very neat and she's excited about her new dance lessons. the hip-hop class is a little, how would I say it, extreme?? If she pulls some of these moves I may have to lock her in a closet!

Tony has had a couple of big weeks at work - he was able to meet all of the plant managers for Milgard from around the country and learned a lot about the new company last week and has spent part of this week in Sacramento.

We are still unpacking the house - finally have pictures on the walls and are putting curtains up. The kids are enjoying the yard - at least when I let them go outside. After last week's experience with the wolf / coyote / half wolf-half coyote in our yard I am a little nervous about them being outside.

We've had some nice weather this week. Our landlord said we brought the warmer weather with us because it's typically much colder this time of year. We've had two days of NO rain - ahhhh....loving it. We were able to go down to our neighborhood beach this week. There is a pod of killer whales that live near the beach so we are trying to see them.

This weekend my plan is to take some pictures of our downtown area to share - have a great weekend!

Happy 2010

Hi Everyone!
Happy New Year and here's to a great 2010!

We want to keep in touch with everyone and decided to start the new year with a new blog! We are getting settled into our new town of Gig Harbor, WA and are starting to really enjoy it! It's been a long few months but we are excited about our new adventure!

The kids started school this past week at Purdy Elementary. We love the hours - they start at 9am (except Wednesdays when they start at 10am) and they are done at 3:30pm. It's been a MUCH easier adjustment than we were expecting. They both have great teachers and have made friends already. Everything is so different than our old school in Aiken, which we definitely miss, but we are looking forward to experiencing new things at Purdy as well.

We signed up for the local YMCA as soon as we arrived and the kids are signed up for rock climbing lessons. They have an indoor pool which I'm sure we'll enjoy immensely during these rainy months. Madison is also starting dance next week and is looking forward to it.

We kicked off the New Year with a quick trip to Portland, Oregon and loved the town. We toured downtown, found an awesome bookstore, went to the Children's Museum and drove around the town. Portland apparently has the most breweries in the world, even more than Munich, so we'll definitely be going back! We are planning a trip back in the spring when we can do some hiking and see more scenery.

Us adults are busy. Tony is working a lot and getting settled in. Alicia started her EST hours on PST and is busy as well. (Exhausted is a better word!). I really do like having the afternoons free with the kids once they are home from school.

Our furniture arrived this week so we'll be getting the house in somewhat of an order this weekend. Next time we move I've decided that we just move - the stuff stays with the house!

It's been very rainy here, although warmer than back in Aiken! We had an amazing day yesterday with the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. We may be East Coasters but the scenery on the West Coast is amazing! I'll post pictures as soon as I can find the wires to the computer!

Until next time -