Newlywed Weekends

Isn't this just the cutest picture ever!?!?!? Awwww.... Sorry, we're just so not photogenic that there's reason for excitement when we actually have a success! This shot was taken on Memorial Day overlooking the ocean on West Beach in Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island.



We left after church on Sunday, and took Alley on her first big overnight trip. She loves riding in the car and spent a lot of time hanging out the window, sleeping on her seat, and scrunching herself into a ball on the floor when it got too windy!
Alley experienced sand and ocean for the first time! After we took the ferry over to the island we stopped in Langley for gelato, and the puppy began her exploration.
We stayed overnight at a hotel, and Alley took a nap in her crate while we ate an absolutely fantastic meal at The Oystercatcher in Coupeville.

On Monday, we took a two hour long 4-5 mile hike around Deception Pass and then ate lunch on the beach.



The weekend before, Jon graciously helped me babysit for the Stefanski three all day long on Saturday. I have stopped working as their nanny on a regular basis because I have a puppy to attend to now, so it was so nice to see them again!
Kaitlyn was going to town with their new kitchen set.
That's Jenna! She REALLY loves Jon.
Andre offers Jon a piece of cake.
On Mother's Day weekend, we spent Saturday hard at work in our yard. Jon modified his railing planters he made for our deck in West Bloomfield to work on the railing in front of our house here, and I filled them and this big round container with flowers. So far...I think they are looking good! Summer flowers have to stay in the front yard this year to prevent Alley from eating them. :) We also dug out a bunch of dead/overgrown/weedlike plants in our backyard, spread things out and added a few new things. It looks great!

May was full of sunshine and adventures! I'm hoping a rainy June doesn't seek its revenge. Not a lot of excitement for us here on the west coast, just a lot of love!

Ted & Terrie See Seattle!

You read that right, Folks! Mom and Dad finally made their very first trip to see our home on the West Coast! My baby brother, Neal, came from Minnesota for part of the time too. He had made one brief visit on a business trip in December of 2007, but there was a lot more for him to see.

This time around, Neal arrived first on Wednesday night, and I took the day off on Thursday for some sibling quality time. Neal wanted a massage, so we tried out this new franchise, Massage Envy, that has opened up in Renton. My expectations were low, but I have to say, it was awesome! It was a super nice place and one of the best massages I've ever had. I liked it so much, they sold me on a year subscription, but the first massage was only $39. I recommend you try it out too! I took Neal to experience the best Mexican food ever at La Fuente, a favorite local spot of ours, and then we went to Fremont to explore. Neal loved The Troll and all the funky vintage shops. Check out his new duds!
We finished our first fun day together with Jon, Gretchen, Ryan, and Addi at a sushi restaurant for dinner and then had Dairy Queen for dessert. Finally, it was off to the airport to pick up Mom and Dad.

Can you guess where we spent the first day of the Meyer reunion Seattle style? Of course! Pike's Place Market. We introduced the fam to one of our very favorite parts of the city; fish, fruit, flowers, and much more! Mom did some shopping of course, a great new purse for her, a great bottle of wine for Jon, and the most beautiful bouquet of flowers for me!


Friday's weather was almost 70 degrees, sunny, and so clear that the mountains were out in all their glory. A day this beautiful is a bit rare around here, so Jon and I were so happy our visitors were greeted this way! After the market and lunch with an amazing view at Lowell's, it was to the top of the Space Needle. We normally wouldn't rate this attraction as a must do, except when the weather is good...and it sure was! We could see Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, the Olympics, the Cascades and everything in between. Gorgeous!
Mom decided on Saturday that she wanted to check out the Woodland Zoo. This was a first trip for Jon and I too, so we were happy to go and explore. It started out pretty rainy, but in the end we saw the sunshine once again!


My family's visit wasn't all about the tourist traps. Our friends Gretchen, Ryan, & Baby Addi joined us for a couple home cooked meals ala Chef Nicole. On Monday night, Addi came over all by herself, while her parents had band rehearsal. My Mom also made a special guest appearance at my church Moms' Group with me on Tuesday morning, so when it was all said and done, she had chalked up HOURS of blissful baby holding time. I'm hoping this helps my case for persuading the grandparents to be (no not yet, eventually!) to move a little closer!
Neal had to head back to Minnesota Sunday afternoon, so we said good bye to him after a yummy steak dinner at The Melrose Grill on Saturday night and a visit to St. Matthew's Lutheran Church on Sunday morning to see what my job is all about.

Mom and Dad spent lots of time getting to know the grandpets, spoiling Alley and Oscar with tons of attention even when Jon and I had to work. They said they enjoyed just lounging around our house, which we hope was true. I snuck out of the office a few afternoons for some more fun. On Monday afternoon, Mom, Dad, and I did the Underground Tour and had lattes at the cafe in the basement of the Elliot Bay Book Company. Did you know that Seattle streets and sidewalks were built up around the buildings leaving lots of crazy history in its dust?

On Tuesday night, the rain stopped just in time for a trip to Bainbridge Island on the ferry. You HAVE to ride a ferry when you visit Washington! I love them SO much! Here's a few shots from the trip over. Then, we had dinner at the The Harbour Public House and then saw the beautiful lights of the Seattle skyline on the boat ride back.


The grand finale and most important part of this adventure to note is the Euchre game that occurred after an amazing dinner of fabulous wine and crock pot pork tenderloin when Jon and I WALLOPED my parents two games straight. Woohoo! Go team VanderMeulen.

Mom and Dad and Neal...thanks for an amazing week together in our world here in Seattle. We love you so much, and we hope you'll come back much more often, or stay permanently. It's ok if you want to decide this is the best place in the world too!

Alley's Adventures

Yell0oo! It's Alley here. We had a little situation yesterday and my Mama and Papa are still a bit upset, so I'm here to tell you the story. This is the downstairs laundry room/bathroom at our house where I stay at night or when Mom and Dad are away. See my big bed? It's pretty nice. They leave me lots of toys and bones too.
I miss Mama and Papa so much when they are gone. I sit at the door to the garage and wait. Sometimes when I get too lonely, I just chew a little bit on the door frame.I've also chewed a bit on the cabinets. YUM! Rental houses are extra tasty.

Saturday I woke up at 4am. I really had to go potty and I was feeling really lonely again. My Papa was nice enough to let me outside, but when he put me back into my room because he wanted to go back to sleep, I was not happy. I wanted to play with them! I was sad, so I chewed a huge hole in the wall, and then I pawed at the doorknob until I had locked myself into the bathroom. Mom had to use a butter knife to get the door open and was mad when she found me.

This is my new crate. My new doggy babysitter gave it to me. Theresa is a lifesaver! Mom took me to meet her yesterday. She runs a dog sitting company out of her home. http://www.lepetconcierge.com/ She has an awesome backyard and was so much fun to play with! I can't wait to visit her again. I get to stay with her when Mama and Papa go on vacation and maybe some other times too. I'm not sure why Mama and Papa didn't buy this crate for me sooner. I like it so much that I go in there and sleep even when they are home! I also get to sleep in my crate in their bedroom at night now and I am MUCH happier.Last night, we all watched the movie Marley & Me together. I was really well behaved and took a long nap on the floor. Mama and Papa cried a lot at the end. I think they have forgiven me for now.

Until next time...woof! Woof!

Long Time No Type!

Five weeks since my last post! That's embarrassing. My apologies everyone! It's been a busy month, and I've spent most of it fighting off one illness or another, so that's my excuse. What have we been up to? Here are the highlights...

The end of April brought the beginning of our onslaught of visitors. My dear friend Annie made Seattle a stop on her cross country road trip in celebration of kicking cancer's ass! We spent five fun days exploring, chatting, shopping, eating, and drinking. It was so wonderful to be together! Two more college buddies, Abby and Broghan, also ended up bunking with us the very same weekend. They were very busy meeting with chiropractors as part of Broghan's job search, house hunting, and looking at grad schools for Abby. They will be getting married in June and we are very excited to see where their next adventure leads them. We'd love to have them here with us in the northwest!

Annie and Alley

Broghan and Abby

Unfortunately, I experienced a sudden, horrific bout of the stomach flu in the middle of our guests' visit, causing me to vomit repeatedly for two days, spike a fever of 101, and be stuck in bed missing out on work at church Sunday morning and a lot of the fun. I think the highlight was when I puked in the trash can on the ferry.

As if house guests and the stomach flu wasn't enough, this weekend was also the first of two baby showers I helped to organized for Gretchen, Ryan, and Baby Addi. I helped their friend Colleen host a private shower at her home, and the last weekend in April we celebrated at church with over 80 guests and a mountain of gifts.

The Private Shower at Colleen's House

The Church Shower

The mountain of gifts. This might have been half...maybe...

After I recovered from 48 hours of hell, it was back to work. Lent is a super busy time for me at church. I spent six weeks of it coordinating the Flat Friends and Big Buddies Program at St. Matthew. I was inspired by the Flat Stanley book to spice up our annual pen pal program a bit, and it was a huge success. We had 34 child/adult pairs participate, and ended with an awesome party complete with pizza, ice cream, pictures, crafts, and a slide show. I'd love to email all my plans and documents to anyone who thinks they might have a group of kids at church or elsewhere that could would enjoy doing this too!

Each child made themself into a "Flat Friend" which I gave to their secret adult "Big Buddy". The Big Buddy took pictures of their Flat Friend in all sorts of places and sent them along with letters back and forth to the child for six weeks. Here's Annika at the space needle!

Baby Addi is growing so fast and Jon and I are really enjoying the opportunity to be part of her village! We had the great privilege of hosting her birth mother Cassandra and her daughter Chelsea who came from Portland for Addi's baptism at the Holy Saturday service on April 11. Cassandra is one amazing woman, and her presence made the service all the more powerful. Of course Gretchen and Ryan rocked the music too!

Addi and her beautiful birth mother, Cassandra; look at that tongue!

Cassandra and her oldest daughter Chelsea at our house before the baptism.

The stomach flu was just the beginning of my spring sickness and two weeks later I was blessed with a virus that included a horrible sore throat that morphed into ear pain, a cough, congestion, exhaustion, and pink eye that spread into not just one, but both of my eyes. Easter was right in the middle of this debacle, and I led hundreds of children in Sunday's festivities with no voice at all!

Easter Sunday. Do I look deathly ill? I was!

After a miserable two weeks, I'm almost better. My right ear continues to be a bit plugged, and my eyes are better, but still red. Jon bought me a new pair of glasses out of the deal, so at least I'm enjoying sporting my new specs! Oh there's more...

Last weekend, Jon's good friend Andy and his wife and two children stayed with us for three nights of their Spring Break trip to the Northwest. They are hardcore tourists and kept us busy hiking at the waterfall, visiting the Olympic sculpture park, traveling to the top of the Space Needle, spending hours in Pike Place Market, and playing in the arboretum at the University of Washington. The kids also spent lots of time playing with Alley in our backyard.

The Christensen Family: Andy, AJ, Jen, & Shelby at Snoqualmie Falls

Jon with the kids after our lunch at the Crab Pot. He's holding AJ and Shelby's cousin Ania, who came with her family from Bellingham to explore Pike Place Market with us last Friday.

Speaking of Alley...she's doing well! Look how big she is! Over 40 lbs now! I really hated her for awhile, but the I believe the worst is over and I really have fallen in love with our adorable dog. She graduated from puppy kindergarten a few weeks ago, and we just made her first trip to the off leash dog park, where she did remarkably well. She's also learned to jump over her baby gate that holds her in our laundry room at night and when we are away. Alley really seems to listen and respond to Jon and I most of the time...now we are just working on getting her to get along with Oscar Meyer and not pounce every guest who comes to our home.I think I can leave you at that for now. I promise to make an effort to avoid epic updates in the near future and post much more frequently. Our love to you from Seattle always!!!