Lazy Summer Days

It's been 9 days since our last posting and I think we've just been busy relaxing. The week after my tri I think I relaxed a little too much and tonight was my first workout getting back into training and I realized how much I have been slacking. So what's been going on with us? Here are a few pictures to show you.

Eating our own veggies ... finally

Watering plants. These are on the front porch.
Watering and feeding the flowers
Relaxing in the sun like someone else in the family
Eating more veggies from the garden including these yummy snap peas. The only veggie that was grown from a seed this spring.

Wings of Freedom photos

This morning, after breakfast at the 4th Ave Diner, we went down the street to the Museum of Flight to check out the Wings of Freedom WWII Bomber and Fighter event, part of the Collings Foundation's "Wings of Freedom" tour. Got to see a beautiful B-17G, B-24J, P-51, and AT-6 amidst the other great collection of aircraft at the museum. I heard there would be a B-25 too, although I didn't see it around anywhere. Perhaps it was in flight while we were there?

I saw the B-24J flying over the neighborhood on Friday when these guys arrived in town. Very cool sight and sound!

Anywho, check out some of the photos:

B-17G

B-24J:

P-51:

AT-6:

... and, since we were walking past, here's a few more including the W/B-47E and AV-8C:


Check out the rest of the museum's collection from their website.

Five Mile Lake Women's Triathlon

Today I finished my first triathlon. I've been training for over 6 weeks with a group of great dedicated and supportive women. We originally were planning on a working towards the the Trek tri on July 5th, but after that tri got moved to late September we had to come up with plan B. I am still planning on completing the Trek in September, but this was a perfect tri to start the season. It was the 5 mile lake women's triathlon in Federal Way.

Although I am still waiting for the results to get in the total distance was .25 mile swim, 14 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.

After I finished we celebrated a little at the finish line and Rob took me to Portage Bay Cafe! Tonight we'll open out bottle of Styring Wit that we've been keeping for a while.

The triathlon was so much fun. What a great way to start the weekend and the summer.

First Sounders Game

Last night was my first Sounders game. I'm typically a Football, Baseball, Basketball sort of sports fan so I don't really know very much about Soccer, the MLS, or the Sounders. What I can tell you is that they played DC United. I went with a group of friends from work and was also able to invite Rob, so it ended up being a lot of fun! The game ended in a tie, which is weird because games should not end in a tie. It was fun anyway.

Sweet New Tat and Sweet New Netbook

So Rob loves food so much that he actually got a tattoo this weekend. Here is a picture below. It says "Eat or Die" and it's really his mantra in real life too. I do think getting a tattoo on your neck is a little extreme, but he assured me it was really something he wanted to do.

NOTE: Ok that's totally a joke. We were at our friend's, Akiko, birthday party last night themed "Midlife Crisis" and Rob wanted this classy temporary tattoo on his neck. It was actually a really funny themed party. We took shots out of syringes and ate candy Prozac. FUN!

I don't know how I could have had my heart set on a 24 inch imac, which was perfect timing since I found one at a great price, and ended up with the extreme opposite. Today I bought a Netbook. A great little laptop for people who like to be mobile like me (taking laptop to coffee shops or on trips) and don't like the clunkiness of the larger laptops. So today I bought an HP Mini. A really tiny wee little computer that weighs only 2.6 lbs and is less than an inch thick! So far I love it. Yes, I will miss the large display that the imac would have given me, but this little guy has an adapter so I can plug it in to a bigger monitor when I want to. The battery life should also last about 6 hours. Nice!

So I have my own computer again! Stay tuned for more postings!

Is it July already?

Like the title says, it sure seems to me like any given day July-September in Seattle right now. Bright sun 15-16 hours per day, weeks without rain, and the thermometer occasionally in the 80s.

We've been doing more outdoor exercise lately.

With both bikes tuned up for the street, getting around on the roads hasn't been better. Thanks to my friends at Bicycles West, Allison's front derailleur is able again to shift into the large outer chainring. Thanks to my friends at Hello Bicycle (who are very conveniently just around the corner from the house, by the way), I finally got myself a comfortable seat (double thanks for also adjusting my brake pads on the spot). And finally, thanks to my friends at Recycled Cycles for the commuter tires for both bikes at a decent price.

Now that Lake Washington Blvd will be closed on Sundays for summer biking, we'll be sure to rack up many miles along the water.


I ran again this year in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5K race this morning in downtown Seattle.


Not the most competitive pace I've run, but roughly 27min isn't too bad... Actually it was more like 7.5-8K, since my warm up run started at the house all the way down to Quest Field. A good run for a good cause.

In non-weather news, we also went out for dinner Friday night at Pizzutos with our two friends Sarah and Jeff. This weekend they celebrated 25 years serving great, simple, and very tasty Italian food in Seattle's Seward Park neighborhood. To celebrate, they brought back the original 1984 menu, including prices, for Thursday-Saturday. Spaghetti w/ meatballs? $4.75. Gnocchi? $5.75. 1L Chianti? $6 Veal parm? $7.95. Needless to say, the place was PACKED! Great times and excellent food.


One last thing, following up on a previous post. Boeing's P-8A T-2 (flight test aircraft #2) went airborne Friday for its first flight. This time, instead of watching it lift off the ground, I was at my desk like any other usual work day. Never fear, however: I was tuned in to air traffic control at my desk. As soon as I heard tower clearance granted, I walked over to the north windows in my building to watch it lift off from a distance. This one looked even better because the bird is painted.