Sick of winter weather!!!

This is the worst winter I can remember here in many years, the absolute worst. Besides the normal windy, rainy, cloudy and cool we've had a big flood, lots of episodes of snowfall and a week of overnight temps in the teens with daytime highs only in the 30s and 40s. Makes us long for the warmth and sunshine of Mexico for sure. We have so many friends in Mexico or Arizona now too...oh, to be toasty warm!! Not to be this winter for sure!!



I know I shouldn't whine about this, but man, just a little tiny bit of snow here can make things so difficult. We had less than two inches sticking the other night and they closed down all the schools in the county!!! Crazy. And having so many snowy mornings has made it a real trick to get out of this subdivision. Either way we go we've got a hill. One way we have to either go a short way the wrong way down a one way road or else go to the top of the one way, flip around and go down the right way on the one way and then out and around. The other way is a long downhill "S" curve, and I did a complete free fall down that one last week in my car. Completely out of control from top to bottom. Thankfully I didn't hit anyone or anything!



The one way street downhill...the best way to go!



Looks pretty, but I want it to go away and stay away!!

Finally seeing Cabela's new store

Cabela's opened a new store here in November, but we decided to wait to go see it until well after the grand opening/Christmas rush subsided. Scheduled the visit for today, and wouldn't you know it, they are having their "real" grand opening this weekend and the whole next week, so it was jamming anyway. Best laid plans.

Greg, Darane' and the kids were coming down to meet us, but as they were going out the door Nick puked and so he and mom stayed home and just Greg and Savannah came. Here are some pictures from our three plus hour outing at the big store:

When you first walk in, there is a big mountain landscape in the middle of the store with all kinds of critters on it and an aquarium inside, plus a bush plane hanging from the ceiling.



The "winter" side of the mountain:



And impressive Polar bear:



The beaver pond on the "summer" side of the mountain:



Savannah, Grandpa Ralph and Greg inside the mountain



Savannah was fascinated with the giant catfish in the aquarium in the mountain:



And she loved this big cat that was hiding out under the log:



She had to try out a couple of the hunting blinds:









The African section was pretty neat, Nick would have loved all these guys:










Then there were a couple of different things. A gas powered, pull to start blender. This is for the hardcore tailgater!!



And Savannah's favorite, the Cruisen Cooler, just drive it where you want it!



All that shopping and looking left us hungry, and the restaurant was a negative experience, so skip that if you visit! Savannah liked her dog, and Greg's burger was okay, but after waiting in a long line to order, they built Ralph's burger right away, then left it on the open counter top getting cold while they assembled my grilled chicken. After about five minutes of standing there I asked the clerk how long on the grilled chicken, "just a couple of minutes", so as Ralph's burger continued to cool we waited a couple of minutes more and asked again and now he said it was going to be 10 minutes more for the chicken. So we bagged the wait and the lunch and I made chicken over biscuits when we got home!!



By the end of our visit the crowds were getting huge and Ralph's claustrophobia set in, so we took off. A good spot to bring interested out of towners, just feed them before or after!

The agony of defeat

Okay, I think I've at least partially recovered now. My Packers lost their playoff game on Sunday and I've been bummed about it because I really thought it was their year to go all the way to the Super Bowl and win that one again. Not this year. At least I can still root for the Giants and be happy for Eli, who will now maybe get out of the shadow of his dad and brother and finally get the respect of the fans in NY. Yeah, right, they are NY fans after all, but you can always hope!! Also gotta be happy for Michael who came out of retirement and is now going to the Super Bowl. Kinda made it all worthwhile for him.

To add to a kind of downer week the weather has been extremely cold for here, mid-teens overnight and mid-30s to low 40s for highs during the day. Brrrrrrr!!! The only good thing has been that the sun has been out. We get that only when the clouds disappear and it gets really cold, I guess it's an okay trade off. And then there is the threat of snow, snow showers, snow and rain mixed and just generally nasty and cold weather predicted for this whole next week. Not looking forward to that too much either. Just not a winter girl, can't wait for spring!!

Also on the good news/bad news front, I was summoned for jury duty this week, and so far haven't had to go, which is good because it's not a particularly good time to be from work. Plus I've already been called four times before and served on three juries already. I've been whining that it can't be random choices as they always say it is if I get called this much and most folks I know have never, ever been called.

Okay, enough whining for a while.

El Nopal is BACK!!!!

Our favorite Mexican restaurant here in town is El Nopal, the food is fabulous, the price is right and the family that owns and runs it are the best!! They had our prayer card up on the wall next to the cash register while we were in Mexico.

They were one of our first dinners out in Oly upon our return too. Just love them!! But, it's been a long drought without them as they've been renovating and expanding the restaurant, forcing them to close for two months. Bummer.

While Ralph was out and about yesterday he saw Rosalinda in the parking lot, swung in to say hi and check on the progress of the remodel and guess what, they were planning on opening today! So tonight we ate at El Nopal and it was the absolute best. The place is all shiny and new and 2/3 larger then before and it was full of happy customers! Gotta love this place.

A Cheesehead in Seahawk land

This has been a tough week to be a Packer fan here in the land of the Hawks. Every news and sports report has been focused on today's game and it's been all about the Seahawks. Okay, there were a few reports about the Pack and Lambeau, but they tended to poke fun at all the Packer traditions. Not too nice.

Even at work on Friday it was Seahawks Day and most everyone was in the team colors. The morning e-mail contained a nice photo of Qwest Field and the words Go Seahawks. So, I responded with an even nicer photo of Lambeau and Go Pack!!! The word began to spread that there was an enemy in the camp, that the new kid was a Packer fan. The good natured ribbing began. It was kinda fun.

I was pretty confident that my boys in Green Bay would have no trouble with Seattle's team, and I will admit my heart sank a bit with Ryan's two fumbles early on, but MAN!!!! Was that a great game or what????? Loved it!!



Now I get to root for another team I like, the Giants. Not only because I like them, but because a win for them will be better for Brett and Company and I LOVE them! So, go Giants!!

Ralph found a car!!

Ralph has been looking for a car for about 8 weeks now and today he finally found one he liked well enough to buy! He got a 1992 Toyota Camry. It's a nice car, and now my little Hyundai won't be lonely in the garage anymore! It's a windy rain/snow mix kind of a day, so an outside photo is out of the question for me right now!! But The new car is on the right. Didn't realize how small my car was until the Camry was parked beside it!!

New Year Breakfast

Years ago we used to do a big breakfast gathering New Years morning, loads of family and friends just getting together to visit and celebrate. It started out with a bunch of folks who used to live in the same apartment building in Tacoma (G Street) and have stayed friends, or at least in touch, over the years. It was always fun to see who would show up and just start the new year out right with a great visit over a great meal. Over a number of years the group dwindled until they weren't getting together at all.

After Butch's death this fall it was suggested that we might give this a try again. Gordon and Bruce took it upon themselves to organize for breakfast 2008 and located a lot of folks. Not everyone could come, but at least we know where pretty much everyone is again!! They ended up with nearly 20 reservations!! Sadly though, only four of the couples showed up! But it was still a nice time to visit with one another and to share a meal. Hopefully, they will try to do it again next winter and hope to up the actual crowd a bit!!

Here were the couples that attended (in addition to us, of course!)

Bruce and Cherita:



Gordon and Mary:



Steve and Patty (Steve and Ralph have known each other since the first grade!)