Wooden Boat Festival

This post is dedicated to Dennis, a future sailboat skipper

We've had 11 straight days of sunshine (yes, a Washington record for May) and we took advantage of the weather to head downtown to the Port of Olympia to the wooden boat festival.


The Port, at low tide, with the wooden boats along the way. They were pretty nice and the owners had great pride in them.

Just some of the local spice out here at the festival. This older gent was just out pandhandling and he was pretty good. Note the other gent sacked out next to the shopping cart. Just another day downtown.

The capitol, park, and tents....

I can't resist a good corndog with mustard! Perfect crunch too.

Schaef likewise cannot resist some good kettlecorn.

That is the Boy Scouts of America Puget Sound sailboat! It was really cool. I only wish we could've seen it full sail.

The Capella. I liked this one because Capella means 'chapel' in Romanian :)

When Schaefer is wearing a dress you know the weather is good! You can't tell but the wood is emaculately polished and prepared.

There is just something cool about being at the helm. Notice the Garmin. I'm guessing a ship out on the ocean is the best scenario to have GPS.

Aboard the Boy Scout ship. This is the captains quarters. Possibly slightly larger than a closet. Pretty tight spaces underneath the deck.

A wood sailboat.

Full 360 views with this one.

My personally sponsored boat

The most beautiful first mate.... er, Captain anyone could have.

Our favorite boat, Winifred. The picture doesn't show you the details well, but this was a beautiful and roomy boat.

The Winifred from above (the further boat). Makes me want to go on a boat adventure!

If you look closely you can see Dennis and Stephanie on their boat ready to sail the world.

I made Schaefer post this one because this is a real live moment from "School of Rock." We watched a high school jazz band perform and they were quite good. The funny part of course is the older dude playing guitar. The kids are playing this nice song, then out of nowhere this teacher shreds a 2 minute solo on his electric guitar! Just like the movie...

No, the best part of this picture is the lady's dog on the walker!

We're ready to sail the Puget Sound! What a great weekend of sunshine we had out here!

Easter and the park

Easter! I must say that Easter is just not the same without family. I guess that goes for just about any holiday, but the last few years I've been spoiled by having Easter in Hendersonville, NC with Papa Wadewitz and co. It is always a great weekend as Papa supplies a dozen eggs (each) for one to color and all the supplies to boot! Complete with an Easter egg hunt, and not too mention a whole lot of great food. That being said, we surely miss both our families! Here are some pictures from our first married Easter. (side note- We started a new tradition this year as we were invited to an adult Easter egg hunt by friends from church. It was at night with flashlights and headlamps and it was over in about 30 secs. It was crazy! We came away with a few candybars and suckers, OK... I came away with the most. I love anything like an Easter egg hunt!)



Learned from Dad early in life that flowers can make your wife pretty darn happy :)

Us in our Easter outfits ready for church. We had some great sunshine Easter Sunday. Fitting for new life!

Sunday best. Slick new tie and Mama's cuffs.

The egg prepping station... Amatuers compared to Papa's spread.

Finished Product of our egg decorating eggstravaganza. Schaefer has been a professional egg decorator for many years. Her's are pretty awesome!

 We had Easter dinner at our good friends, the Bennion's. These are Schaefers' works of art! Amazing salad and dessert that didn't last more than about 2 mins.

One random Monday a few weeks later we took a small walk from a nearby park down to the beach along Puget Sound.

The Sound at sunset

Looking back toward Olympia. You can (almost) see the Capitol.

This small cave was stuffed tree trunks and driftwood to keep people out... Strange

Driftwood tribute for Mama Abercrobmie.

The Olympic mountains in the background. We love the clear skies!!!

Wildflower rose bush. Don't smell the roses though. Schaefer woke up with a strange rash on her hand and nose the next morning. Thankfully, it is now gone.

This guy lives around the corner from us. For some reason his yard and all the colors make me hungry. One of the best yards around here. Right now the whole city is in bloom and it looks like Spring!

Out for a BBQ (for those in the west) or grilling-out (for those in the South) with our friends the Bennions. Taking advantage of this fantastic weather we are having as of late!

Aaron (the youngest) and I working on some hot dogs.

Kevin and Geoffrey making use of the coals for some smores. These two were pretty good marshmallow roasters!

I love this face! Aaron is full of funny and cute faces. Here he is devouring a smore. We love spending time with these guys. They took us right in the minute we moved here and have been our Olympia family. They are a great family with boys who have endless energy. We love it! Thanks Bennions for being such great friends and giving us a family here in Olympia.

 

 

Mom and Papa's Visit Part II

The next day of our adventures we headed 10 mins from our home to Nisqually Wildlife Preserve in hopes to see some birds for our visiting bird aficionados. We had some luck too, we saw a family of barn owls, bald eagles, and the bald eagles nest! Thanks to Mama A who was the one who spotted two elusive eagles!


The Refuge looking out to the Puget Sound

Eagle hunters. Like I said, Mama A was the one who spotted the eagle when we were at the very end of the trail. Thank goodness or it would have been a long walk without seeing them.

Another beautiful day for us! We were really grateful for the weather while Mom and Papa were here.

Mother and Daughter.
The eagles nest is in the background in the tops of these trees. With binoculars you could really see how massive the nest is.

One of the best weather days of the year so far. Clear and calm.

This is the boardwalk winding out a way into the Refuge. More attempts to be artistic :)

This was taken by Papa with his fantastic zoom. We spotted this guy on our way up the Olympic Peninsula. In fact, that day we saw 5 eagles on that drive. There is something about them that makes them so cool to see. Majestic or something... Thanks again Papa for the rights to post this picture.

This is a bald eagle we saw at the wildlife refuge. He was perched in the highest tree standing guard over his territory.

And this was the nearby territory! Right at the perfect moment, Mama A spotted something flying in the distance and we followed it right the the nest. Otherwise, we would have completely missed seeing it. This is a zoom shot obviously,  and if you look really close at the nest you can see a curious little eagle poking its head out the top. That was fun to see!

In the end we got to see much more than we expected for the weekend, and we wiped Mom and Papa out with our long days of driving, hiking, shopping, eating, and Spade-playing. (Rob and Steph ultimate champions). We were so grateful to have them with us and to spend time with loved ones that we surely miss. We miss them already and we miss you all as well. We can't wait to see you all sometime soon.