"Explorer Spirit…Servant Heart…"
Sep 17th, 2016 by leigharev2
For our last morning in Seattle, we brought breakfast to my grandpa’s house and spent a while with him. It was opening day for crab season, and there were a lot of boats setting their traps. My cousin Terry came by with his two kids and the cousins got to play for a while. It was too short, but such a nice time with him.
Sep 17th, 2016 by leigharev2
I love the Pacific Science Center’s butterfly exhibit. I have visited many butterfly exhibits in many different locations. This one is my favorite.
These goofballs are recreating the scene above…
This brings a little chuckle to my face…when we all left the Science Center and headed for lunch, I really needed to find a restroom. So, I walked faster and ‘A’ decided to keep up with me. We passed an oyster house, and I spontaneously decided to run in and have a few oysters with him. (We share a love for raw oysters). We told the servers to line them up FAST and they obliged. This photo is of our family passing us, having no idea where we went. We downed our oysters, then hustled out the door. We met up with them at the restaurant just as they had entered the door!
An early dinner at our favorite pizza place, Pagliacci Pizza, then a few rounds of Sequence at home!
Sep 17th, 2016 by leigharev2
Fremont is one of my favorite Seattle neighborhoods. We used to live nearby and spent a lot of time there. It’s a good blend of trendy/funky/artsy/hip/casual.
Chairs in a tree. It just fits in this neighborhood.
Dino topiary…
Theo Chocolate is a fantastic chocolate factory in Fremont. It is certified organic and fair trade. Located in the old Redhook Brewery brick building, they have a fantastic tour that takes your through the process of turning bean to bar. Plenty of tastings kept us all smiling.
After the tour, we needed a little dinner to balance out all the sweet. We went to ZapVerr, a delicious Thai restaurant. It was early and we had the place practically to ourselves. The modern interior was right up ‘R’s alley. He loved it!
Fremont has art all over the neighborhood. This is a painting/small mural on a metal conductor box.
As we were walking back to our car, we passed the Portage Bay Goods gift store. David looked in the window and recognized the greeting card/art display as being the artwork of one of his students so many years ago. David tight second year graphic design students how to make/manage/process their work on the computer. ride We have followed Frida Clement’s growth as an artist and have purchased some of her pieces in the past. I went into the store to buy one of her pieces, and when I left the store with my purchase, David was talking to Frida out front! Coincidentally , she was dropping off some items at the store. It was a sweet re-connect.
Sep 3rd, 2016 by leigharev2
Even though the boys were born in Seattle, they had yet to go up the Space Needle. We decided to fix that this time around. Playing tourist in our own hometown is always fun!
The square blue and peach colored square building is an apartment where David and I used to live…
Sep 3rd, 2016 by leigharev2
We arrived at my inlaws, Fabio and Esperanza, and was treated to this wonderful celebration banner, congratulation the boys on their black belt achievement!
Two cuties cuddling…
We headed to the U district for frozen yogurt. Ryan is crazy for boba teas and they had both stores available. He and I picked up our boba and then we all headed for yogurt for everyone else.
This boba store was a great surprise. WOW Bubble Tea actually has a large poster on the wall of Psalm 1! WOW stands for Wonders of Worship. The covering of the teas had scripture on it too. This is not something I would expect near the college campus of liberal Seattle. The teas were delicious too!
Then, on over to Yeti Yogurt.
Sep 3rd, 2016 by leigharev2
Our annual road trip begins! This year, we brought the puppies. They did a great job with the long hauls.
Quick rest stop while heading north…
Road trips are exhausting!
First stop. Overnight in Eugene, Oregon. We stayed at a delightful property. Great value for what we paid. The decor, service, and food was all top notch. This place is a road trip keeper. The Valley River Inn is ideally located along a riverwalk. It took advantage of it and ran a six mile loop early morning, crossing two foot bridges. Perfect start to along day.
We made it to Olympia to have lunch with my dad and stepmom. They were leaving on a trip of their own the next day and timing was terrific. We enjoyed lunch at the Fish Tale Brew Pub.
The visit was sweet and it was great seeing them and getting caught up. 
Aug 29th, 2016 by leigharev2
I had been told that our hotel was right on a fantastic river trail that connected the town of Campbell with the town of Los Gatos. I decided to get an early start and get a long run in before heading to see the boys testing later that morning. This was a gorgeous run (I did 10 miles) that was along a river the whole way, with protected paved paths, and two small lakes as well. I ran to a park in Los Gatos that had a merry go round and a lake with people paddle boating. It was lovely.
Aug 29th, 2016 by leigharev2
This is it! This has finally happened! After six months of training hard as candidates in the black belt boot camp, the boys were invited to test for their black belt. They were to join candidates from 27 other schools along the west coast to show their stuff.
Testing took place in Campbell and San Jose, CA. over a period of three days, Thursday – Saturday. First session was Thursday, from 5-10pm. Friday, from 9am to 11pm. Saturday, 9am – 11pm.
We checked into our hotel Thursday. About an hour before the boys were to begin their testing, we had them read a bunch of letters and emails that we collected for them from family and friends. It was a really sweet moment.
Thursday night testing took place in Campbell, at the main school/headquarters of Ernie Reyes West Coast Martial Arts (he actually has schools all over the US). Both boys did very well testing here. There was a lot of sitting and waiting, and they had to stay alert and well formed the whole time. After testing around 10pm, we headed to Denny’s for late night dinner #1…
This is a poster at the school. The owner of the schools, Ernie Reyes, is on the poster, along with other black belt masters. He has quite a resume; one that includes movies!
The remaining two days were at a college in San Jose. It was hard to get decent action shots, but here’s a little sample.
‘A’ kicking a board.
Post board testing. He had to re-test board breaking back at his home school, where he nailed them.
‘R’ at attention and in the zone…
This is the written part of the test. They had to memorize a bunch of things.
Ernie Reyes speaking. He actually tested himself for 9th degree of 10 degrees possible. They brought in a master from Okinawa, Japan (around 80 years old) to test him. This master showed his sills as well. It was very inspirational to watch. Friday night wrapped up at 11pm and we headed to Denny’s again for late night dinner #2…
After a morning of final testing, the boys spent the rest of the day practicing for the grand finale event that night. This took place at another college stadium. It was a huge event, and loooonnnnggggg, event. We left at 11pm, and headed for Denny’s late night dinner #3!
We received the test scores back at the home school. The boys both did fabulous on everything, and all they needed to do was break the boards they did not break at testing. ‘R’ had one board to break; he did. ‘A’ still had issues. The instructors took a look at the boards and realized they were either the wrong wood or too thick. They swapped his board out for the standard ones and he broke them all one after the other.
We are so proud of them! They were pretty burned out around Christmastime. They wanted to quit. We told them we weren’t going to make them stay, but if they left, they would regret it. They had come so far. So, they pushed through, and after they got their black belt, we gave them the option to stop and try something different. Both decided they wanted to stick with martial arts.
Aug 29th, 2016 by leigharev2
We occasionally like to take little date night with each of our boys. This time, Ryan and I went out. We started with dinner/movie at Studio Movie Grill, then a trip through ‘Outdoor World’, a fun store that focuses on camping, waterspouts, hunting, fishing, etc. The displays are fabulous!
A quick trip to Jamba Juice, then while on the way home, we saw a magnificent huge moon. We decided to pull over in a church parking lot to do a little moon gazing.
With the empty parking lot, I decided to give him a little driving lesson. He had a blast!
Aug 29th, 2016 by leigharev2
Jenkinson Lake Trail is a terrific campground about one hour from us. Some of my sole sister joined me for what was supposed to be a 10 mile run, then a brunch picnic. But, a wrong turn added a couple more mile for a total of 12. Just made the brunch after (with mimosas) all the better!
Starting out. Around mile one…the trail skirts the lake the whole way around. One side is all flat and runs through some campgrounds. The second half was much more rugged, with some decent inclines/declines. We earned our brunch!
Gorgeous view around mile six…
Oh, look, a waterfall!!
A nice, flat beach around mile nine…
Mimosa potluck brunch to celebrate after! Smoked salmon, lox, bagels, cream cheese, fruit, etc.
