April 2010
Long time no update..... The kids and I traveled down to Palo Alto last week to check out the area and get excited about our upcoming move. The weather wasn't great, but we were able to see Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Los Altos, SF, Mountain View, Half Moon Bay, and Santa Cruz. The boys loved the beach - they made a Star Wars hut with driftwood and got to see a lot of surfers catching some pretty big waves. We had tons of good eats down there (In-N-Out and an amazing Lobster Roll were the highlights for me). We are looking forward to moving down, but still sad to be leaving Issaquah.

January 2009
We had a great time seeing both the Schafer and Plambeck families over Christmas and New Year's. We flew to Dallas on Sunday December 21st, very fortunate to get out of Seattle considering the amount of snow that was on the ground. The next day, Chris, Matthew and I went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art while Tommy stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Schafer. My sister Jill and her family flew into Dallas from Boston this day, so all 11 of us were safely in Texas. Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with errand running, shopping, manicures, poker, and much eating and drinking. The 26th was my niece Abby's 9th birthday, and so the girls spent the afternoon going to lunch and browsing the American Girl store at the Galleria Mall. That evening we all went to celebrate at Amazing Jakes, a sort of Chuck E Cheese for adults complete with Go-Karts, Laser Tag, Bumper Cars, and a rock climbing wall.

On the 27th we departed Dallas for Vicksburg, MS by car. We enjoyed the Coca-Cola museum and a park in downtown Vicksburg that evening. The next morning we went to the Vicksburg National Military Park, doing the driving tour and spending time in the visitor center. It was a great park, I highly recommend going if you are ever in that area. That afternoon we drove to Memphis and had another Christmas with the Plambeck family, Al, Ann, Eric, Christine, and Christine's mom Peg. On the 28th we got to see Eric and Chris's new house and enjoy some of the best BBQ I've ever had at Corky's. That evening Chris, Eric, Christine and I went down to the casinos in Tunica, MS. They are the largest group of casinos outside of Vegas and Atlantic City. We ended up gambling at Harrah's, where I proceeded to lose my money playing pitch blackjack. But it was still fun. The next morning we went to the Memphis Zoo, it was a perfect day for walking the zoo and we got to see two Giant Pandas, as well as a crazy giraffe that liked to drink the pee of his fellow giraffe companions. Lunch that day was at Huey's, again delicious. I'm glad I don't live in Memphis, not sure how I'd avoid gaining weight with all that wicked good food. The next morning, New Year's Eve day, we drove back to Dallas, and the boys did suprisingly well for a 7+ hour car ride. That evening we celebrated New Year's with my parents and the Lopresti's, capping of the night by trying to make glass art in my dad's Chimenea. It didn't go as planned and my dad was not very pleased the next morning! Oh well, it was fun ;) My sister's family flew home on the 1st, and we relaxed and packed for our trip home the following day. We got back to Seattle on the 2nd, to the delight of our two cats who seemed quite lonely. Back to the routines, and hoping for a healthy and happy 2009!