Birthday Weekend in Seattle

The morning after the Brandi Carlile concert David and I packed up our car and headed north to visit John and Nancy for the weekend to celebrate John's birthday. This was our first time to visit them so I was excited to see where they lived. We got a little lost trying to find their home, but eventually we met up with Nancy and followed her the way there. :) John was still at work so we met up with Nancy's sister, Erika, and decided to get the tour of the area. They live right along a walking trail through the wetlands.

In a little less then a mile the end of trail leads you to the the Town Center (think Bridgeport Mall but as a strip). It was very very cute. After walking around the Center we headed back when heard this odd hacking sound. We looked around a discovered where the noise was coming from...

Yup, it was probably the largest frog I've ever seen in the wild. Crazy.

John and Nancy live in complex known as The Reserve (a.k.a. "The Res" :D) , so when we got back she took us on a tour of the cabana clubhouse with theater, pool and BBQ area. We went over to Nancy's parents house and met her mother and two little dogs. A little while later John came home and David convinced him that they needed to go for a swim.

We went out for pizza and decided to rent Jurassic Park to watch in the clubhouse theater. The next morning we met up with Dave Hammerstrom (he came up for John's birthday too) for breakfast. I don't remember the name of restaurant that we went to, but they had cinnamon rolls the size of dinner plates there and that's what I'll remember from there. :) We then headed into Seattle to rent some kayaks to burn off our breakfast.

I've never gone kayaking before, but had always wanted to so this was a very exciting first for me. :)

Whew! We made it under the freeway bridge!

We were looking for a turtle since Nancy's vegetarian sister had purposely whacked one with her oar last time she went out.

Yeah, group shot! We made it back!

We headed over to the store and bought some supplies for the BBQ we were planning on having at the park by the beach. Again, I don't remember the name of these places, but it's place where you actually have to hike down a mile to even get to the park. We met up with more of John and Nancy's friends and set out to get get everything set up. After a little setback of getting things down to the area we got the BBQ started.

While waiting for the food to cook a volleyball game ensued.

Then it was time for food!

Relaxing in the sun.

We decided to stay around to watch the sunset on the beach.

It looks lovely but it was cooling down rapidly. John dared Jim, one of his guests, to dive into the ocean and without hesitation ran into 40 degree water.

John was only a moment behind him.

Brrrr!!!!

After the sunset we headed back to the John and Nancy's for cake and a dip in the hot tub.

Note the two preggy ladies with only their feet in their water. :)

The next morning we went to Mars Hill for church service and then decided to drive around to some of the sights of Seattle.

Thanks John and Nancy for a great weekend! We had a great time. :)

Tomorrow David and I headed off to Family Camp which is already in progress. (*Phew* this month is just filled with events!).