The Weatherman

We’ve had a beautiful weekend up here in Seattle. We took Zach to the zoo yesterday and I got some nice shots of a wolf in the Northwest Trail exhibit. This morning I went down Alki Point and snap some shots of the Olympics and stitched them together in the panorama below. Click the image below if you want a selection for different sizes.

Lin came up this weekend so Steph and I actually had a date night. We saw the movie ‘The Departed‘ last night in downtown. Very good movie - we highly recommend it. We then stopped at Von’s Grand City Cafe for dinner. Our review agrees with the reviews on Citysearch…basically, don’t waste your time. The service was poor and the food was below average, plus they were out of prime rib.

On Friday night, we went to our favorite place anywhere - Elliott Bay Brewing Company. That was excellent as usual.

Wolf at zoo.

View from Ray’s Boathouse on Saturday afternoon.

This is about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen

Snow, Ice, and Cars in Portland, OR.

We got another 2 inches this morning.  Steph took the truck to work and is still driving to work.  I took the car to work…not too bad.  The last steep hill in West Seattle was a bloody mess - two buses stuck halfway up the hill, one pickup was spun out on the side, another pickup was driving down the sidewalk…I went down the hill at about 1 MPH and made it safely.

This should be the end of it as it’s supposed to warm up a bit.

Went up for a few hours of skiing.  It was a bit cold (10F at the base and 8F at the top) - if you stayed in the sun it wasn’t too bad.  Here are some photos.

Looking south - Mt Rainier is in the background.

Looking north.  My last run of the day was down this.

I had some photos I wanted to upload.

First, a quick update on the weather.  It’s only gotten up to 28 today and it’s currently snowing very lightly.  The side roads are hellish - solid ice.  I’m even starting to have problems in 4 wheel drive on the steeper streets - guess that’s why those streets were closed off - maybe I should obey the signs.

The morning after the snow - from our front door.

Looking down 36th on the morning after the snow storm.  All that slush froze and good portion is still there.

Icicles at the park (mom knows the park)

Driftwood at the park.

The park pictures were taken today so that’s why you don’t see snow at the water’s edge.

Zach had his surgery today to fix his undescended testicle - and it went very well. The worst part was during the morning prior to surgery since he couldn’t eat or drink - a tough task for a growing 20 month old. Since we’ve been home he’s been eating and drinking normally, plus he hasn’t missed a beat playing with toys. He’s even watched the movie Cars…of course.

On the weather front, it was cold today - the high was 31.9 and it’s 26 outside now. All side streets are solid ice - impassable in two wheel drive (mainly caused by the fact that it is very hilly here).

Inches of snow that is. Just when it looked quiet (only a 1/2 inch this morning) and we picked up 3 inches in about 3 hours. Heck, the plows were even out. Here are some picts.

Update 9:15pm: latest measurement is 3.75″

Update 9:30pm: this is the first street I’ve ever lived on where I saw a cross country skier. She was walking…err…skiing with her dog.

Update 8:00am (next morning): let’s make it 5 inches…wowsa!

2006 was a good year. Here are some the highlights for our family.

• We entered the year with Zach at 7 months old and he was a big kid.
• We flew to Michigan so Steph’s grandparents could meet Zach. We arrived the temperature was 1 degree F. That would be the coldest weather I have ever been in. Zach was an awesome baby on the plane.
• Things at Paul’s work (Yahoo) were not living up to expectations so he started putting out feelers for jobs. He got a call from Amazon.com in March and Steph gave the go ahead to look at this job in Seattle.
• The whole family flew up to Seattle in mid-April for Paul’s interview. We spent a few days checking out Seattle and visiting with John and Kim. Paul got a job offer with a start date of May 29th. We had just over a month to get our lives organized for a move to Seattle.
• Paul closed out work at Yahoo and had one last guy night out with Mike and Eric at the Prince of Whales pub on 25th in San Mateo - Paul walked home and barely made it.
• Steph closed out her work a week later.
• Right before we left Zach had his 1st birthday party which turned into a going away party. Lots of alcohol was consumed.
• During our final week in San Mateo we were very busy getting little things set aside we needed dropped off at our temporary housing, getting setup with a PO Box, Steph signed up to take the WA BAR exam, and we said our good byes.
• Amazon hired movers to come in and ship our cars to Seattle and pack our belongings. We flew to Seattle on May 24th - Paul, Steph, Zach, Grandma, 2 cats, and a dog….never again. Although for all the craziness things went pretty smooth.
• Paul started work on May 29th and Steph started BarBri one week later.
• After one failed offer, we sold our San Miguel house on July 5th. Our new West Seattle home closed on July 12th.
• Steph took the Bar at the end of July and we moved into our new home on July 28th.
• Zach started walking on August 10th (one day after dad’s birthday).
• The craziness seemed over - now we enjoyed the rest of our year in our new home.
• We met some new neighbors with a son the same age as Zach - and we have become good friends. They even invited us to join their PEPS (parent) group.
• We flew down to the Bay Area for a visit in late September. It was good seeing everyone.
• We had crazy weather this autumn…Most rain in a single month for Seattle in November - over 15 inches. We had snow at the end of November. We had extremely heavy rainfall for about an hour in one night in December that caused major flooding and deaths. That rain was followed by a record windstorm that night with gusts of 70MPH. Power was out for us for 12 hours…we were very lucky. Our neighbors behind us lost power for 40 hours and we have friends that had a large fir tree crash into their bedroom.
• We ended the year with family - inlaws were here from the 21st to th 30th, Jan and Mike were here from the 22nd to the 26th and my parents were here from the 26th to the 30th. It was great having everyone here for the holidays.

Now we look forward to 2007. Who knows what this year will bring, however, it is starting off well in the employment department. Steph starts her new job as Chief Prosecutor for the city of Federal Way on January 3rd.

On January 11th, Zach will have minor surgery - but it should be much more painful for the parents than him.

We wish all of our friends and family a safe and happy 2007.

And please visit us in Seattle.