Nothing says a Washington beach like these photos. Cold, grey, zero visibility and fun! Forrest and I spent a weekend of clamming at Pacific Beach in January with our good friends, Eika & Darrell and Megan & Brian and kids. While we had no luck with clamming, we had a fun relaxing time on a wintry beach.
Hanging out with Ingrid, Peyton, Deaven & Morgan. That day they played, lets run away from the very intimidating 15 lb. 2-year old Morgan.
Our lovely but look-but-don't-touch or don't-breathe too hard DRY tree. Seriously, I thought this thing was going to internally combust. After the gifts were opened on Christmas day, I had to keep myself from tearing it down right then and there. I didn't though. Isn't there a law again't that? Our favorite gifts: Forrest: Wii & DS games, Lit: waffle maker, Rachelle: custom-made tote for choir rehearsals, Buckley: the laser flashlight-pointer thing that he completely ignores. We spent Christmas evening with Eika & Darrell. Our great friends. They made a yummy meal of ham, squash, rice. For dessert Eika made a bread pudding that was to die for. We drank lots of wine and talked about everything.
On the way home this afternoon, Forrest and his friends, Deaven and Payton, made a snow ball. They had to abandon it 1/2 block from our house as it got too big. Later in the day, Forrest begged me to go get the snow ball with him. So begrudgingly, I put on my boots, coat, gloves, and hat to go pick up this darn snow ball so he would stop bugging me. Low and behold, I cannot just "pick it up." You can guess what happened next...what a mother will do for her child! So Forrest and I begin rolling this thing to our house. Meanwhile, every foot or so, this ball is rapidly increasing in size. By the time we get it to the corner, we are really working hard. Out of the blue, two kind people from the neighborhood on yonder, offer to help. For 10 minutes, 3 adults and 1 child maneuver this thing out into the street, huffing and puffing, now rolling it up a slight incline to our driveway. We don't know these folks, but we do have a giant snow ball in our yard thanks to them!
Service Learning project at Thurston County Food Bank. They packed 180 "weekend" bags to go to hungry children!
Forrest builds a birdhouse with Grandpa.
Completing one of his Achievements on tools.
Retired Lt. Colonel Dudley & Forrest
Assembly with reporter from The Olympian
Oops, Dad forgets part of his uniform, he
borrows from another Lt. Col. and friend,
Brian pins it on and gets a boo boo on his finger
Worth noting... at the end of summer Forrest completed Book 1 of violin school and is now well into Book 2! This is the result of 3 years of a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Forrest loves his violin now and is very proud of his hardwork and progress. An 8 year old playing J.S. Bach, Handel, and C.M. v. Weber. How cool is that?
Korbin, Deaven & Forrest
Forrest & Deaven opening pack meeting with flag ceremony.
Forrest receiving Bobcat badge.
Yikes! It's been since April that I posted anything...
Life is a swirling mass of hot air. Sometimes it sweeps you up and hangs onto you for quite sometime. In May, our Snohomish condominium sold after being on the market for 6 months. Yes, we got caught in this slow buyer's market. The good news: we were able to turn around and purchase in this crazy time. So, for the last few months of spring, we were consumed the with sale, rental search and purchase of property. After a long and futile search in Olympia, with the clock ticking on our 1031 Exchange, we settled on a 104 year old house in Tacoma. It is 4 blocks away from the University of Puget Sound and in the bustling and hip 6th Avenue District. A great area.
Forrest and I spent the summer painting, scraping, laying tile, painting, scraping, doing yard work, painting, and scraping. It wasn't until the second week of September until I came up for air. I've never seen a kid so happy to return to school. During the first week of school, Forrest was assigned a summer memory book. Guess what made it in there? If I remember correctly, I think his drawing was of a house and a skull and cross bones. Who says summer is all about fun?
Within 2 weeks of closing, we found a renter. Even though we were NOT going to rent to an undergraduate, guess what the Dudley's did? You got it. Meet Garrett, 24 years old, single, honors student and all around nice guy. That was until he let a nice and cozy gathering of his frat friends explode into a out-of-control party. Yup, the Dudley's hit the jackpot!
In June, Grammie, 87 years old (Lit's mom) broke her hip. She was found 6 hours after falling in her upstairs hallway. It broke our hearts. Reluctantly she succumbed to surgery and emerged healthy but very frail. She recovered just fine but did not make progress in physical therapy. Right now she is in a convalescent home, thankfully in her own private room. Anne (Lit's sister) had a decorator come in and bring some special items from her house to make it feel homey. She will not be returning to her beloved home of 20+ years. Needless to say, this is a difficult time for the Virginia, Colorado and Washington Dudley's. We have felt blessed that Lit was able to coordinate some business trips on the East Coast so that he has visited her 3+ times since her accident and will leave again mid-November and December.
So, you might see why we sequestered ourselves. To end on a high note, Forrest started his 3rd year at Faith Lutheran School. He is in the 2nd grade. His teacher is Mrs. Klumb, a loving teacher of 25+ years of teaching experience. He is thriving academically, socially and spiritually. We are thankful that we found a small family-oriented and faith-based school for him.
Saturday, Forrest performed at our annual Suzuki Concert. Sadly, I wasn't able to be there as I had rehearsal for my own concert that night. Big brother Lucas came from Seattle and good friends Sara and Robby attended too. I heard that Forrest was very poised and confident performing. Yeah! Three years of lessons and recitals are paying off. Way to go Forrest!
Spring break has come and gone. Forrest's cousins, Carlos and Lorenzo, spent break with us. They enjoyed days filled with bowling, swimming, video games, Legos and pajama runs to Dairy Queen. We had a hard time convincing Lorenzo, 4 years old, that the Dudley pajama run was not going over to the track and running in pajamas. He insisted it was and that Forrest and Carlos were too old to participate. Aah, the mind of a 4 year old. Ain't it grand?
How this came about...a few month's ago, my girlfriend posted her family's guiding principles on her blog. I became inspired and have been waiting for Lucas to join us from Seattle so we could sit down and write ours. Here it is. We all contributed ideas and think these principles represent our family well.
Dr. Fatima is an EF Language student from Brazil. She is here to improve here English, but we think she speaks very well already. Fatima is an endocronologist. She has 2 daughters; 13 years old and 15 years old (who is Lucas's new pen-pal). Her husband is a mining engineer.We are really enjoying her visit and are learning a lot about Brazil. For instance, Brazilians speak Porteguese, not Spanish. Similar to Australia, the Porteguese sent all their criminals to colonize the "new land." Did you know that Brazilian women usaually keep their maidens names when they get married? Do you know the name of the animal in the photo? It is called a cabivara. They inhabit the lake near her house. Did you know that they do not have such things as foreclosures in Brazil? The government or banks can never take your house? 12 oranges cost less than 50 cents. And ladies - a pedicure and manicure can be had for only $7.00 US. Check out the Brazilian recipe below.
It's Friday night, sitt'n back with bestfriend Deaven, eating pizza, watching Avatar. Can life get any better?
