We bought Kayaks!

Because we needed just one more outdoor activity we bought some beat up kayaks on Craigslist. We got a good deal and they are little 10' kayaks that easily fit into Richard, the truck. On Saturday we finally got to take them out onto Lake Washington.

Now I convinced Joshua to buy these because

1. I swore they would fit strapped to our stairs and wouldn't look that bad.

2. We can walk 1/4 mile to a dock from our place carrying them so he wouldn't have to drive

Somehow my logic worked and he totally let me get them. I convinced him in 3 days, which I'm very proud of.

This weekend in Seattle was stunning. 80 degrees, sunny, warm wind. Glorious. We walked the kayaks down without to much trouble and hit the water. Being that these are about 6' shorter than any other kayaks we've used we spent quite a bit of time spinning in circles and trying to figure out how to steer. We made a little progress. Then we kayaked out under the Ballard and Fremont bridges, to Gasworks park, and took in a view of the city from the water. Overall we kayaked 7 miles! And then carried the kayaks back. Obviously we took naps after that but it was amazing and I can't wait to do it all summer!

Lil Sis Visits

 

My little sister Erika was here last weekend for a visit, we also had pouring down rain due to a typhoon. Of course the coincided, so while our backpacking plans were ousted we still had a very lovely time. She showed up at my office and we matched, many of my coworkers were like what is happening and why do you two match & look alike.

 We hopped around to bars, played quite a bit of pool, brunch and ate out at some of our favorite places. A lot of our friends were around too so we got to show her off to them all.

Satruday we found a putt putt place for a bit of indoor fun, hit up a taco truck, then headed to an arcade. We jumped around to a lot of different places, took the buses, and ignored the rain by all wearing hats all weekend. Wish I had a photo of us all in hats, we were adorable.

 

That night we headed to dinner and brought along some Rummikub. Meandered over to a bar to meet up with some friends. To note - Erika is awful! at pool. But that game that night she sunk over half her teams balls and actually hit the 8 ball where she meant to!

Not to be underestimated were the slow lazy mornings with huckleberry strudels and coffee she kindly brought us from Lousiville, KY. We did manage to sneak in some outdoor time at an apple orchard, up next.

Late Night Float

 

Last week a coworker invited us over to go floating from his houseboat. He's renting a gorgeous wooden houseboat that looks over Gasworks park and downtown. There's a tub, steam room, wood burning stove, and you can hang out on the roof. Basically it is heaven.

 

 

To prepare earlier in the week we got an amazon order together for fun floats and then spent a very long time blowing them up. But, the water was warm, we weren't at the office, and the lighting was magical. We also had a floatie for the cooler.

Ended the night getting pizza and drying off on the roof. Was one of those summer nights you want to hold onto forever.

Biking to the beach

 

After an very large tasty random brunch I requested a chill bike ride. Luckily the 2 guys were up for it. We hopped on and biked over to Alki beach. The sunshine was out in full force, see my very sunburnt back for proof, and the mountains were visible and I don't think we saw a single cloud. I love the ride to Alki. You bike on the Burte Gilman Trail for a bit, then along the water through a train yard, along some more water into the sculpture park, fight some construction and back to water, another bridge and then you're along Alki beach.

 Alki Beach always looks a bit like California. Shiny rims and big bass music in cars, rollerbladers! beach volleyball, and then we partook in the margaritas where we lucked out with a window seat. All in all we biked about 32 miles. Back at home we ate a bunch of tacos and then I'm pretty sure we all passed out early. Minus the sunburn it was a lovely day of slowly biking around while not really doing much.

Visit from Californians

 

Joshua and I have visited San Francisco to see them and they were excellent hosts. This past weekend we got to try to return the favor. Friday was super stormy and dark but we lucked out and it cleared up for the rest of the weekend. So we spent it mostly on bikes, not shockingly with these 2 boys.

 

We toured Ballard and Fremont, stopped at breweries, tried Paseo sandwiches (greasy amazingness) and headed to Capitol Hill that night to wander around. Finished the night at Kings playing lots of skeeball and getting shooed out as the bar closed but just before they unplugged the game Andy got 410! He finished the night off right for us.

Very slowly the next morning we had brunch and wandered the farmer's market. Then we hopped back on our bikes and began eating our way through the day- first at Pike Place, then at the Seattle Food Truck Festival where we listened to music and ate things like fried Indian tacos and fried pb&j, then back to Ballard where we ate totchos (tater tot nachos) and topped it all with some late night gelato.

 Lovely visit and very glad we got to show them around and hopefully repay the amazing job they did hosting us a little.

Oh my Heatstroke

I know Cincinnati, you're hot & humid in the summer, but I thought I escaped you. I ran to the opposite side of the country where humidity in summer is a max of 30% and some summers I don't even have to wear shorts. I enjoy the sunshine and warm weather and don't sweat through a shirt the second I walk out the door, I can even leave my hair down!

Not this summer, Seattle you're killing me. Yes I'm being a giant wimp. Accepted & I'm still going to whine.

2  weekends ago 97!Most places in Seattle and almost all apartments, including ours, don't have air conditioning. We hung out at our place after we dropped off the ladies until we were laying on our floor and had no other solutions to evade the heat. Of course that meant we ended up at a brewery with a cross breeze. It was delicious and much easier to want to have a conversation there. Seattle if you give me cold beers and cross breezes I'll try to stop whining.

But dinner, oh cooking in the summer is the worst. I invited a friend over for dinner Monday and strolling through the store felt hot just looking at things to cook. Then in a moment of genius most people have already had I thought salad bar! Grabbed a bunch of fun veggies and mini head of lettuce, naan, and feta spread and walked home happy to only be chopping for dinner.

It turned out delicious, filling and easy. Again, I'm sure most people already do this but I like to make things harder than they need to be so this felt like a real win for me.

Weekend Happenings

 

This weekend we crafted a bunch of homebrewed beer. We were able to bottle and cap our Oberon clone and then on Sunday we went ahead and brewed the IPA Joshua got from some of my siblings for Christmas. We're love sharing our beer and bringing it along places so it will be fun to have 2 different choices! I never thought I'd enjoy brewing beer but I've really gotten into. Granted I don't understand all the mechanics of why we put in hops when we do but I'm learning. Joshua though he's the pro, I make sure we're not hungry and flip the records.

 

 

 

I have to lay down towels because someone (Joshua!) gets water everywhere

 

 

We've also been rope climbing about twice a week with some friends and we're loving it! I love that it's social, not constantly moving like running, and so satisfying to make it to the top of that wall. We've both definitely improved a lot but also we're a lot more willing to try a route and fail which means sometimes you totally get a move you didn't think you would. Looking forward to hopefully giving outdoor climbing a try this year! And since we were waiting for laundry and already went rock climbing I was able to talk Joshua into not splitting our gelato (me: pistachio and fig, him: tiramisu and fig)

 

Sis & Husband in Seattle Pt. 1

 

My sister and brother in law finally made it out to Seattle this past weekend! We did all the regular stuff like the market, piers, locks, and eating more food than we should admit. It was so nice to share this part of our life with them, to share the place we call home with them. We were beyond thrilled to have them out here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also did some kayaking and then walked the bike trail all the way back home one day chatting and stopping to check out Gasworks park. Ended the night with a fire on the beach, until we were told it was illegal because it wasn't in a fire pit :(

 

The weather was not our BFF but the sun did take turns coming out and showing us some love. We wandered most of Seattle by foot but took a few bus rides like over to capitol hill for dinner one night. Ah felt so good to have these 2 to ourselves!

 

 

Up next our hiking excursion!