Peterka

One of the highlights of my trip home was being able to see an old friend, Andrew Peterka. We met in Japan where we had the exact same job in the Navy, and more importantly, where we were part of the same Christian community, the Hospitality House. Drew had a small wedding on June 8th and then on July 21st in Atlanta they had a celebration time with a larger group at his new in-laws. It was great catching up and reminiscing and meeting his bride. She seems wonderful and I am so happy for Drew. Also, he scored in the in-law department. Good people.

1110 W Howe

So we did get the condo. YEAH! We're what you call first-time-home-buyers. It was a time consuming, learning process. I can't wait till we're settled in. Anyway, it is 2 bedroom, 1.75 bath, 1007 s/f, 1st floor of a 13 unit building, and in West Queen Anne. I'll tell you more if you ask, but describing it any more seems like it would be a bore. I'll post pictures once we're moved in...

Offerings

So we decided to buy a condo. We can get our payment to be as much as rent would probably be so why not invest! So our first attempt: condo on market two days - we offer asking price with seller paying closing cost - we don't get accepted because someone else offered $10,000 over asking, paid cash, and did not require an inspection. The second one we wanted didn't work out either, but I'll spare the details. And, as of this moment we are waiting to hear back on an offer for a condo in Queen Anne (a neighborhood directly north of downtown Seattle). I'll tell you all about it if we get it. It's been on the market a whole week so hopefully we have a better chance.

In a related story...

This morning I took Roxy to daycare at 9 a.m. At about 10:30 I searched the whole house for a folder that had a bunch of house buying paperwork. Well, I finally realized I probably left it on top of the minivan last night. Sure enough, I get to the five-lane road in front of our complex and see a few pages. Forty-five minutes later after walking about a three block radius, an intersecting street, and both sides of the busy streets, I recovered individually 30 of 32 pages. Not exactly an enjoyable experience!

So I am leaving tomorrow for Florida with Roxy for twelve days. Trish can't go since she has a new job. I'll post all about it when I can. Of note, I am going to Andrew Peterka's "marriage celebration" in Atlanta. He got married June 8th and since it was a small wedding they are having this celebration for others to "celebrate."

Translator please?

Roxy is quite the talker. Click video. Do you think she is trying to communicate something, enjoys hearing her own voice, imitating, or what?

Just relaxing

We had an enjoyable 4th of July. We had some friends over for swimming and lunch and then went to some other friends for some good potluck eatin'. After putting Roxy to bed, we watched fireworks from our balcony. It was a different firework experience, but interesting. Our apartment is on a hill so we have a good view of the surrounding suburbs. We didn't get the close up effect, but we watched three big shows and dozens of individual's firework pretty much simultaneously. They last well over an hour so we actually got bored.

Laughable

Here is a video clip for your viewing pleasure. And another one.

Ketchup

I think this is the longest I've gone without a blog. I am feeling withdraws. I am going to give a quick update. We have big news so read on...
Canada Day
We just got back from Vancouver, Canada where we celebrated Canada Day with some friends. We visited the big festivities at the convention center and stayed over night. Honestly, it wasn't a worthwhile trip. Although, we had an excellent authentic Chinese lunch. Crossing the border took about an hour each way. Trish lost her purse. Roxy had a lot of crabby spells and didn't sleep well. We wished we would have stayed home and relaxed because we are just finishing up a busy spell.
Alki Beach
Friday night needs a mention. We celebrated a friend's, Mark Closson, birthday with surprise at Alki Beach. A beautiful spot across the water from downtown. Mark and his wife Mary have become a good friends. For those who know the magnitude, Mark was my Practicum II partner.

Last week I finished up with classes for the summer. Three more papers to do this month though.

Roxy is still developing so quickly (in my eyes). She seems so smart sometimes. She does about 25 signs now (including poop). She is fun to just watch sometimes. Like last night she was spinning around in her pac-n-play while flailing her arms and babbling loudly. She likes talking on the phone, loves bath time, and LOVES shoes.

Okay, for the big news... Trish got a job at Starbucks Corporate! She is going to be an Admin Assistant for the VP in charge of the benefits. Starbucks is a great company to work for and has lots of perks: lb of coffee a week, 30% store discount, 15% discount on stock, and free drinks while at work.
O' Canada

Happy

When I picked Roxy up after class today at our friends house, she saw me and ran about 15 feet into my arms with a big smile on her face. Melted my heart! She can make us so happy. We have been quite proud of her and showing her sign language ability off to our friends. I think she is up to 17 signs.

Gap

In case you were wondering what Roxy's teeth look like...
Taken by Jenn Clark
Doesn't she look old here? Well, today she is 15 months!

Paul Log

June 2: school, Thai lunch with Trish, all-you-can-eat sushi dinner with Clark/Sinclair families, evening at Closson's house with friends, turn 28

June 3: school, fly to St. Louis

June 4: Cardinals vs. Cubs with Trish (free tickets), meet-up with JM and Jim

June 5: dinner with Don and Jessi

June 6: zoo


June 7: accompany Trish to Lasik surgery, watch Poiseden with Jason

June 8: breakfast with Mark Lanker, lunch with Kim, back to Seattle

Spent lots of time with Trish's family the rest of the time. The Long family was there from Springfield so it was great for everybody seeing Michael and Roxy together.

June

I did not get the job. I am a little disappointed. I am not used to rejection so maybe a little humbling is in order.

Trish is going to St. Louis tomorrow for her cousin's wedding and getting a touch-up on her Lasik surgery. They didn't get it right the first time, but they're (her eyes) are still under warranty. She is taking Roxy and then I am going to fly there Saturday night after class. I am taking Old Testament Genre all day today thru Saturday. We're flying back together on Thursday.

Ghost

I had a load of clean laundry on the floor. In the mix Roxy found what she must have thought was a magic sheet. She put the crib sheet over her head and proceeded to walk fifteen feet straight toward the door. Bonk, her head discovered the sheet wasn't magic after all.

This is the very same sheet Roxy barfed on last night (I washed it first). She threw-up four times Friday night. In case you want a play-by-play, once in a friend's (Jocie) pac-n-play, once in the foyer (thanks for cleaning it up Sam and Tucker), and then twice at home on the bathroom counter. She has been acting okay since except for a lack of appetite. Then last night (Monday) she threw-up at 3 am. As you can tell from the above story she is acting okay though.

In other Roxy news, she is signing more. She does flower, thank you, please, water, bath, and ball. She is also combining sometimes, "more please." I think "uh-oh" is the only word she has added to her vocab (my first word). She babbles a lot though like she is saying multiple sentences and expects a response. It is too cute, especially when she sticks her little tongue in and out while she is "talking." I haven't really been around too many babies so all this is very interesting to me. It feels like she is developing so fast and does the smartest baby things. Like she points to her nose when asked and signs milk when I say it in Korean.

Videos

Check out this video clip for hopefully a good chuckle.

And this viedo clip to be amazed.

Job posting

I applied for a job today. Click on "job" to see the posting. Sounds exciting to me and seems to fit well with my life right now. I was taking a break from school writing and browsed through part-time, non-profit jobs on craigslist. Kind of random, but I came across this posting. So I'll let you know what happens.

Monday Tradition

I have a new tradition. Roxy still goes to day care on Mondays and we are both enjoying this time apart. I found an awesome place to run after I drop Roxy off. After the half-marathon in Nov I have hardly exercised at all and put on about seven pounds. Of course, I am not worried about putting on weight, in fact, I welcome it, but I don't like what it is a symptom of. Anyway, I've started running regularly again and found a beach to make the experience a lot more enjoyable. Let me describe...

Three miles from our home is Picnic Point, my starting point. There are few access points to the shoreline in this area so there are few other people around. It is 60 degrees and the sky is clear. I run on the hard packed sand enmeshed with river rock that absorbs my pounding. On one side I see the Puget Sound. From here it looks like a bay. The water and one-foot waves are comparable to a lake. In the background is a snow capped mountain range. I see a crane at the waters edge and seagulls swooping in the shallow water. On the other side, large rocks ramp up to a railroad track, and beyond that a few million-dollar homes and a reserve lush with tall firs and inhabited by chirping birds. To keep it interesting, I high step over the occasional driftwood and rocks scattered on the shore. I pass by a series of ancient posts in the water that must have held up a dock decades ago. Around a bend a train zooms by and I come to a no trespassing sign protecting a grounded barge that looks as old as the posts I passed and a home that is accessible only by crossing the tracks. I run on the nuetral tracks to skirt by the private property and get a closer look at the mysterious old 150 foot ship. It has vegetation on the top and looks like a monstrous plant pot. I want to press on, but I've been running 25 minutes already. Just to the next bend. I turn around then get to a point where the tide has come up to the railroad rocks. I had to scale the rocks to run on the tracks. Inevitably, a train comes and whistles at me from behind. I rush to the side and in 15 seconds watch the engine fly by up close and personal. Another hundred yards and back to the beach I finish off a beautiful Pacific Northwest run.

Opposites do Attract!

This past Thu-Sat I had my first class this summer, all of which are "intensive" format, Spirituality of Leadership in Org I. It's hard to summarize a course, but I will say I feel it was impacting as well as enjoyable (if you're okay with entering the pain of leadership). Our professor, Ron Carucci, started us off with an interesting definition for leadership, "the ability to disappoint people at a rate they can absorb."

As for the title of this entry, we took the DiSC Classic, a behavioral personality profile test that has been around 41 years. I have an Objective Thinker Pattern. Anyway, Trish took the test at home and without seeing my answers didn't choose a single one the same as me out of 56 possibilities. Needless to say, we were opposites in every category. Her pattern is called Inspirational.

So what does all this mean? I don't know, do you?

I like this story...

Roxy says mama a lot now, and it sounds a lot cuter than dada for some reason. This morning after her daily breakfast of a whole banana and three strawberries, I got her out of her high-chair and she starts pointing and walking towards the bedroom and passionately repeating "mama." After reaching the side of the bed where yesterday morning she found mama sleeping, I told her mama was at work. Apparently she didn't believe me because she kept saying "mama" and looking up at the bed. So I put her up on the bed to quell her disbelief. She still didn't believe me so she lifted up the covers and finally realized mama wasn't there.

Our Mother's Day

We ate lunch with the families of Trish's Mars Hill spouse's group. Also my friends. Eleven adults, four infants (mothers ate free). Then we went to the park on Greenlake for a beautiful, sunny time.

Sam and Carol and Jocelyn: Hooligans

See Roxy at Sam and Carol and Jocelyn: Hooligans.

Moody

Caught on tape: Roxy demonstrates her moodiness. From happy to whiney in no time... Here is the video clip.