Quick update of the last month

It's been a while since Jim and I have updated. Sadly, I misplaced our camera. I'm sure it's in our apartment some place, but I haven't gotten around to finding it! So without pictures, I'll give you all a quick update of what we've been up to for the past month! Or at least what I can remember of it!

We haven't been doing much camping, but that doesn't mean we've been being lazy either!

July 2: We took a bike ride the first Saturday of July with Mike and Marcie. I had bought a new, comfy saddle and new clip-in pedals since our last bike trip. The new pedals are the kind that attach to your shoes. To get your feet un-attached, you have to do a fancy little foot twist. Because I was just starting out with these new pedals, we decided to take try an easy 10 mile loop through Mackworth Forest...or so we thought. This easy trail was wide, but no other part was easy. There were pot holes and gravel and the trail was straight up for the entire trail....or at least the entire trail that was still a trail! We continued climbing, up and up and up, and were just waiting for the trail to start down again. On one of our many breaks, Mike was trying to get the perfect picture of himself doing a wheely. But in getting this perfect picture, he flipped over and landed on his butt! Luckily, he escaped with just a few scrapes and bruises. And then we continued up some more! So after what seemed like hours of trying to get over the up parts of the trail, we hit a dead end!! It seems that the trail hadn't been maintained all that well, and after mile 8, there was no way we could continue on! We were out of water and food!! We decided to turn around, and headed back to the car the same way that we had come. So much for the loop! Luckily, what had taken us hours to climb, took us under an hour to get back down! It was great....all downhill! And that was a good thing because I was starting to not feel so great and in need of food! On the way home, we stopped by to get some Garlic Jim's Pizza. Yum!!

July 4: Jim and I spent the morning cleaning our apartment because in the evening, we had Mike and Marcie, and Mike's mom, and Matt, his sister, Krista, and mom over for dinner and to watch fireworks! Jim grilled up some burgers, hot dogs and chicken-apple brats. Yummy! And after dinner, everyone,including Rufus, wandered up to roof of our apartment building to watch fireworks! The show was right on Elliot Bay, and we had a perfect view! Overall, it was a great night! And even though it wasn't my family here, it was great to be able to mooch off Matt and Mike and borrow their families for a night :-)

July 8-9: This weekend was spent being a little more lazy. Jim and I bummed around the apartment quite a bit and took Rufus to the dog park, and went to pick up our wedding bands from the jeweler on Saturday. On Sunday, we bummed around on the piers, and met up with Mike, Marcie, and Mike's mom at Pike Place for drinks (yay sangria!) before we went to see the new Superman movie at the imax theater. When we got there, we found out that there were actually parts of the movie in 3D!! We all felt very cool wearing the nifty 3D glasses. Jim and I even got the big ones that fit over our glasses! While the movie was a bit cheesy, we had a blast!

July 15-16: After sleeping in a lot longer than I had planned, Jim and I got up, got ready, and met Mike and Marcie for kayaking on Lake Union! We kayaked for about 2 hours along the lake. Sadly, Jim and I both have very little upper body strength and were pretty slow. Poor Mike and Marcie kept having to wait for us! It was a beautiful day for kayaking, with little wind, not too many boats (at least at first) and not a cloud in the sky. The only problem with such beautiful weather is the inevitable sunburns! Luckily, I think everyone else did alright on that end other than me.... After our 2 hours of kayaking, Jim and I went back to our apartment to take care of Rufus, and Mike and Marcie went home to nap. After wearing out Rufus, Jim and I went to pick raspberries at the South 47 Farm, and then over to Mike and Marcie's for dinner! We ate yummy brats, salad, and ice cream with raspberries for dessert!

On Sunday, Mike and Marcie came with us to take Rufus to the dog park. While Rufus had a blast, I think M&M were a little overwhelmed by all of the dogs, and by how crazy Rufus got! After that, we headed out to Alki beach for smoothies! We didn't realize how crowded Alki would be, so we didn't stay for too long. Instead, we headed back to our apartment. Everyone else went to the park across the street for a rousing game of wiffle ball, where the ball was quickly lost. I stayed inside to pretty myself up for some engagement pictures! We grilled some delicious hot dogs before heading to the top of Queen Anne so that Mike could take some fabulous pictures of us. It's a good thing we have friends who like to take pictures so much or Jim and I would end up with no engagement pictures...or at least not any that we liked..... Stay tuned for a post with those pictures!