6.29.2006

Heading out for the weekend

We had such a good time down in Oregon and the Columbia River over Memorial Day weekend that we are going to head down there again for a few days, now that we are somewhat familiar with the area. I am taking Friday off (although I expect to work from the car and hotel), and we plan to spend a couple days hiking the Columbia River. Maybe a trip to the ocean will be in store as well, given the poor weather the last time we were there.

6.22.2006

Testing RightCart

Let's see how this works...

6.18.2006

Catching up on a busy couple of weeks

Seems like we have a few things to blog about...

The Seattle Mariners hosted a Little League Day at Safeco Field back on June 4th, where kids and their parents had a parade around the field. Spencer really enjoyed it. I stayed in the stands with Garrett. It was also our first game where they closed the roof.





Speaking of Little League, Spencer's last game was a couple weeks ago. He had fun this season, and he really got the hang of teamwork and teammates in the end. While he certainly isn't the next Shoeless Joe Jackson, we were proud of the way he eventually waited in the dugout area while his team batted rather than horsing around with the other kids. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of parents focus more on their kids' skills than their teamwork and discipline. Spencer is already looking forward to baseball... but he has two more years of T-Ball before that :)



I got to participate in my first "Take-your-kids-to-work" Day a week ago, as Spencer is now 5 and eligible. Spencer was really looking forward to it, as was I, and Amazon set up a number of activities in their main building. Was very glad they went through the effort, but I also sensed the message was pretty clear - get the kids out of the offices and into a quarantined area. I took Spencer to my office anyway and let him ask questions, play around (he thought our white board walls were cool), and when his patience wore thin we headed off to the activities. We had a nice lunch, and unfortunately I had a big meeting so I had to have Amy pick him up. I would have liked to kept him longer, but we had a good time nonetheless. When asked what his favorite part was, Spencer said "going to work with dad!"



Finally, yesterday we undertook an ambitious hike (for us)... tackling Little Si (sorry, no good sites about Little Si, you'll have to Google it). Named for being a little mountain next to its big brother, Mount Si, it's a 5 mile round trip hike with an elevation change of 1500 feet. Spencer was able to hike both up and down. We had a nice lunch at the summit, I found a cache, and the views were absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera :(

6.04.2006

A hike up Rattlesnake Mountain

At least part of the way. And Rattlesnake Mountain is more of a ridge than a mountain. Nonetheless, we spent the morning hiking a couple miles up Rattlesnake Mountain, stopping at the first lookout point. Not sure how high up it was, but the views of the valley were amazing. I really like this hike, and someday without the kids Amy and I will have to try the entire 11 mile trail.

By the way, I've decided to put my hikes on a separate blog, as I've noticed people are finding these posts through Google and might want some info on other hikes in the Snoqualmie Valley/Pass. You can view them at Hiking Snoqualmie.


The boys on the trail on the way up.





Looking north from the lookout. Mount Si would be just to the right; North Bend is due east of this point, and that's Snoqualmie in down below.