Gasworks Picnic

Good company? Check.
Picnic fixins? Check.
Kites filling the sky? Check. 
Funny faces? Check.
Beautiful views? Check and check.

Perfect Saturday afternoon, if you ask me.

A Mother's Day Picnic

Nothing quite beats a picnic on a sunny Sunday, especially with family. For Mother's Day, Joe (III), my Mom and Dad, and Joe (II) and Lilian all met up at Green Lake for a little picnicking, relaxing and good (great!) people watching.We saw a pet tortoise (it was huge), a woman with a paper bag as a hat and later in the evening, I hear there was a pet kangaroo! We missed the latter, but believe me - I'll be keeping my eyes open for it in future runs and walks around the lake.

Mom, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day - you deserve the very best. I love you!

Fancy Park Picnic

What better way to end the weekend than a picnic? You all know how much I love my picnics! We met up with Erik, Johan and Shelly for a picnic at Medina Park on Sunday, where we enjoyed bagel sandwiches, fruits, veggies and limonata. Before we could digest lunch, we were out playing with the stomp rocket, building gravel castles (turned mountain turned volcano and back to a castle) and playing a rousing game of soccer. Team Johan (with Shelly and me) won with flying colors - that little bugger can certainly dribble a soccer ball!

For a little cool down, we decided to walk down to the water in search of Bill Gates and look at the pretty homes. Joe and I are really torn between this home and this home - what do you think? I guess it all comes down to who would we rather have as our next door neighbor, Bill or Jeff? :)

Suzie Blue

Dear Suze,

It's funny to think that almost one year ago, Stephanie and I sent you off to school. Who would have thought that our little girl would one day head off, on her very own, to Stanford? I can't deny the tear that ran down my cheek that warm August evening. We always knew you were an adventurous soul who seemed unusually lured by California - first Santa Cruz, then L.A., then Palo Alto. But the question still stands: what about the beautiful, amazingly spectacular Seattle?

We know you want to call Washington your home again, but I should warn you - things have changed around here. It's crazy, it magically changed climates since you left and now is perfectly sunny and 75 degrees EVERY DAY. Plus, every single restaurant has a bajillion vegetarian options, but they also sell bacon. AND, they have coincidentally outlawed the sale of your least favorite food: bananas. AND, there is a huge demand for people in education policy and screenwriting - so even Rob can come! What are the odds, eh? But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Washington is a utopia of awesomeness. Do you think you can even handle it here?

But alas, your journey back doesn't seem as soon as I had hoped. In the meantime, I will anxiously await your next visit so we can find another place to picnic. (Unless you want to switch it up and go to Cowgirls downtown?)

For now, just know that I love you very, very much. Even if you choose to live in (stinky) L.A.

Love,
Petes

P.S. See Suze? You make us laugh. A lot. And we're totally laughing with you, not at you. Right Steph?

Summer BBQ Picnic

I've told you time and time again, how much I love me some picnics! So when there was talk about a Friday evening picnic last week, I was all over that. Bring on the grilling, sun, fun people and Straube's amazing peach cobbler shortbread bars! Of course, we also had a special guest appearance from Zeke, who could not get enough of the local wildlife (read: squirrels). It was a delightful picnic that lasted until dark because we didn't want it to end. Let's do this more often, kapish?

Let the picnics begin!

Last night marked the first picnic of the summer season. It is one of my favorite summer activities - good food, good people watching, warm sun and most of all, good company. Last night we threw in some soccer with our newly purchased soccer ball, but sometimes Frisbee is fun and other times Yahtzee is the activity of choice. There is no doubt there will be more to follow because picnics are high on my summer to-do list (which I plan to post soon!). Also, Holden and Stephanie have both told me they are working on their Yahtzee dance - a public display of celebration when you roll a Yahtzee. Needless to say, we get a few looks after our dances.

Back to last night. We had a few friendly faces stop by during their runs - both Stephanie and James. Yes, that's right - believe it or not, Stephanie was running. (Maybe one day I'll convince her to go on a run with me?) That's what I love about Green Lake; you almost always see someone you know.

Where's your favorite place to picnic?

(P.S. The picnic basket up top is the one I snazzied up!)

See you later, alligator

Our picnic at Golden Gardens to see off Karen was perfect, well except for the whole "seeing her off" part. We'd all like her to stay, but duty calls and she's been given a great opportunity to shine! Other than that, the weather, the sunset, the meteor shower and the company were all just lovely.

The guest of honor and me.

James and Mads.

RyRy manning the grill.

The ladies

Not sure what's going on in this picture - between Maddie discovering something and me apparently eyeing the chips and salsa, it's funny.

Reason #692 of why I love Seattle.

Found: Cool park and cooler sign

Remember when I discovered Discovery Park?

I now have another one to add to my list of parks in Seattle that I am just now getting around to visiting - Carkeek Park.

We hit it up last night for a little sandwich, beach, Yahtzee, watching awkward thug-like teenagers make out, skipping rock fun! It was a perfect night for it all, especially the thug part. I didn't know it was physically possible to keep pants on SO low.

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

On our way out of Carkeek, we came across this sign, desparately seeking Nicole. Nicole, if you're reading this, please think about your decision. Do you really want to be with a "freight train conductor" who lives with his mom, owns 12 cats, has an unpleasant skin condition that creates a funky odor and professionally boffs/sword fights on the side?

Eric, my apologies if you do not fit the description above. This is what we concluded based on your AWESOME email address. If you in fact look like this, please give me a call at 555-1234. Joe would understand.

DIY: Picnic Basket

It's no lie that I love me some picnics. For the past several summers, I've taken part in countless picnics at Green Lake or Golden Gardens. And while reusable grocery bags do effectively get picnic items from Point A to Point B, I love the idea of getting a cute little picnic basket.

So I've been on the search for a cheap option, but no one seems to be getting it right. Actually, those that do, are like a zillion dollars, which I'm not willing to spend. Last year, I looked at JoAnns and Target, but nothing won me over. This year has been just as fruitless.

What's a girl to do? Well, this girl asked her mom if she had a basket that I could snag. She did, but it looked like this (this is the bigger version, same design of the actual basket that I spruced up, but I forgot to take a before shot):


Needless to say, we're not in 1993 anymore when grape vines were cool. Today, well, it looks dated. That's when this DIY project came to light.

First idea, paint the top. So I sanded it down and painted it blue. It looked ok, but it wasn't as I had envisioned. Then my mom had the brilliant idea of gluing fabric on it. So we riffled through her collection and found some scratch fabric from an apron she made me for Christmas. Perfect.

Next update, the handle. Conveniently, it broke off which got me thinking of how to remedy that situation. Ah-ha - an old belt! So I cut up an old belt that was on its way to the Goodwill. I think I like it better than the original handle!

Meet my new picnic basket. This, my friends, calls for some major picnicking.