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We had a great time while my family was here over the holiday weekend. Of course we didn’t have time to do half of the things we planned, but we had a lot of fun and had some good times just hanging out at home together.

We made it to the farmer’s market and shopped for seafood, watched a Sounder’s playoff game, did a little wine tasting on the Eastside, watched Hot Fuzz (which my family loves), and watched the trick-or-treaters (my favorite was a boy dressed as a robot). We also ate way too much, thanks to Tim’s masterful cooking. We had so much fun we forgot to take pictures. And the dogs were happiest of all, because they had multiple people to pet them and play with them, nearly 24/7. Owen went from one person to the next.

We looked at some newborn and toddler Halloween costumes while shopping—a pumpkin, witch, Batman, princess, a chili. They’re all so cute it will be hard to choose when the time comes next year. We just may have to get them all :^)

We've been having a gorgeous Indian Summer here lately, with crisp, sunny days. I hope the weather holds until my family visits at the end of the month. I recently found out they are all coming out over Halloween. We're planning a ton of stuff to do--corn maze, farmer's market, maybe a trip to the San Juan Islands, and the favorite--dressing up in costume and watching the kids come to the front door. This will be the first time we've all been in costume on Halloween together in years. I can't wait!

We had some neighbor friends over for dinner tonight. They're moving to Eastern Washington (Walla Walla) this weekend and we are sad to see them go. On the other hand, we now have some sunny wine country to visit. We did our annual camping trip in this area last year and it's beautiful. Can't wait to go for our first visit. Maybe in the spring?

We got another dog! He is a retriever mix and his name is Owen. He was found as a stray and brought into the county shelter. It's clear he grew up with a family, though, because he is completely socialized to people, including kids, and loves to be petted.

He was very thin when we first visited him and we don't know how he managed to survive as a stray because he is blind. He gets along as well as any dog at home, however. We've made a few minor adjustments around the house, like moving some furniture around to give him a larger space to walk. He learned the general layout of the house and yard in about one day! He is totally amazing and brave, not scared to go anywhere. And he is the sweetest dog. He sticks close and will let you pet him for hours.

The biggest adjustment has been for Cheyenne, but after a couple of days they are getting along well and play tug-of-war every day. They're becoming fast friends. He fits in well with the family and we're glad to have a new playmate for Cheyenne.

I was just reading an interview with Captain Greg Johnson, the astronaut who piloted the recent Hubble Telescope mission, and it turned out to be very relevant to our thoughts on parenting and being a child in Seattle. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: Tell me about growing up — your hometown is Seattle. What was it like growing up there in [the] ’60s and ‘70s?

A: It was a great place to live. We were always outside, did skiing. It was a, a wonderful childhood. Lots of land, lots of trees, lots of water, lots of mountains, camping. It was just a great place as a kid to grow up.

Q: Do you have a good sense of how that place and the people that were there contributed to making you the person you are today?

A: My parents were really, really great about saying you could do whatever you wanted to do. You know, "You can do it." And they were very big on doing the best at whatever you did. Whatever you decided to do, just do the best. That was sort of their overarching advice. So I always tried to do my best. Then I just naturally gravitated to kind of the scientific area as my interest. So from there it was flying. I ended up being an aeronautical engineer because I was interested in flying.

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Reading this made me happy. First, I know our child will grow up in a beautiful environment that, unfortunately, few people get to experience. Having the mountains, the sea, the rain forest, lakes, and desert so close together will give him or her the chance to enjoy the outdoors in every way possible: hiking, camping, kayaking, skiing. Some of my favorite childhood memories included trips to the mountains and the beach, and we'll be able to keep these memories and family traditions alive.

Second, his parent's philosophy is just like our's. Nearly every time I read about a person who is happy and successful, it seems their parents took this approach--support them in whatever they want to do, and encourage them to do their best.

We picked blackberries this weekend, another family tradition and something we do 3 or 4 times every August. Those that don't get eaten on the way home end up in a very yummy blackberry crisp. Friends know of this tradition and coincidentally we get more requests to get together with people this time of year ; )

So we had a friend over for Sunday dinner. Tim made an excellent Greek meal: oregano chicken, butter beans with the best tomato sauce ever, and some perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes (from the neighborhood farmer's market), sliced up and served with olive oil, feta cheese, and Kalamata olives. I ate way too much, but it was totally worth it.

We are happy to finally have our profile finished and made live!

We thought it would be helpful for you to get an idea of what we're really like by journaling about our lives. We won't write daily, but we'll write as often as we can, and we'll add other bits as well--maybe more pictures, announcements, more thoughts on adoption. We'll see what happens.

This week we've been busy playing catch-up because we took a short vacation over a long weekend. We went on our annual camping trip to Eastern Washington (or other places in the Pacific Northwest). We go some place new every year. This year we went to Osoyoos Lake, which spans the Canadian/U.S. border, about 5 hours NE of Seattle. The terrain is completely different on that side of the mountains--very arid, almost a desert. The air is sweet with the smell of sage and the mountains take on a reddish hue in the sunset. It's truly stunning. And Cheyenne was in doggie heaven--waking up with a lake outside of the tent literally made her wag when she looked at it. She played fetch in the lake 2-3 times a day, and never got tired.

It was a fun adventure in a place we've never been to before. We'll definitely go back there some day.