Summer Plans | 2018

The joy of summer in Seattle is a real thing. The city bursts with energy with its packed out parks, lakes, and daylight hours. Having booked our major vacations in spring, we're left with a pretty open calendar for July, August, and September, with multiple open weekends in a row! That can be a rarity in general, but especially in the summer where camping trips, weddings, and visitors, can quickly take over. I still value my day trips and planned out weekends, but Mr. Fleece has shown me the art of cherishing days in town where we can take things easy and decide what we want to do the day of. That's definitely more his style :)

With that in mind, I'm looking forward to the following "calendared" things...

* Celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary
* Hosting my sister-in-law
* Hosting my in-laws
* Babymooning in Bellingham for Labor Day weekend

but also made a list of fungible things I'd love to do when we're looking to fill an open afternoon or evening...

* Date in Greenlake neighborhood
* Date in Madison Valley
* Hike Mount Catherine
* Swim in Lake Union
* Take friends sailing
* Puyallup State Fair
* Go fruit picking
* Hammock in a new spot
* Bake something
* Grill with friends
* Enjoy low tide
* See a movie in theaters

Seattle Pops at the Seattle Street Food Fest in SLU!

Here's to an unhurried summer,

-SJW

No Salt No Sharks No Worries

Earlier this summer Mr. Fleece and I ventured east to Minnesota to visit my aunt, uncle, and grandmother - affectionately known as "Framma." When I was young, I couldn't pronounce my "g"s (along with a slew of other letters) and the nickname just stuck.

My parents rented a lake house in Duluth along the shore of Lake Superior as a home base for all of us to gather, hang out, play games, and enjoy homemade dinners. The mid-century-mod house with large lawn, huge deck, and private beach access was dreamy. Mr. Fleece and I had the chance to go paddle-boarding, kayaking, and swimming in the cold waters of Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world! We saw the fury of the lake firsthand, experiencing a quick shift from calm tranquil waters to crazy wind and waves in the matter of minutes - one of the highlights of our stay!

This trip was a great kick-off to summer, complete with lawn games, bananagrams, dominoes, beach-combing, walks through Canal Park, and plenty of lounging.

The boat tour of the 22 Apostle Islands (somewhat similar to the feel of the San Juan Islands) was also really special! Sea caves for the win.

Grateful for time to goof off and explore new places with family,

- SJW

Colorado Vacation | Grand Lake & Rocky Mountain

To round out our trip we met back up with our close friends who recently moved from Seattle to Denver, the same ones who graciously let us borrow their camping gear for the week! We plopped ourselves down in their beautiful family cabin near Grand Lake, just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park for Memorial Day weekend. Having time to simply relax, play, and chat with K, B, O, and M was such a treat - the gorgeous backdrop was an added bonus :)

Day 6-8 | Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park
- Lounging and playing Mastermind, Splendor, and boggle on the deck
- Splurging on a brunch buffet at the Grand Lake Lodge
- Scouting for (and seeing!) moose
- Testing out the four-wheeler and BB gun
- Eating Whole 30 based meals for the weekend :)
- Playing cars and trucks with O
- Walking through Grand Lake and bumping into other family friends who were also vacationing

On Monday we took the long route back to the Denver Airport, through Rocky Mountain National Park. We stopped a few times, but mostly just enjoyed the scenic views and the feeling like we were on top of the world!

 Looking forward to more joint vacations like these!

- SJW

Day 1-3

Day 4

Day 5

Colorado Vacation | Black Canyon of the Gunnison

When planning this road trip, I emailed our vacation timeline to my childhood best friend who lives in Albuquerque, realizing she'd be in driving distance of us with the hopes that she'd want to meet up. She replied back, "God must love our friendship more than we do" because they were already planning to be in Gunnison, Coloardo celebrating their babymoon on the same day that we'd be camping in the park. What a sweet and unexpected surprise to get to meet up! For a National Park that few have heard of, it was pretty great - enjoyed seeing the profile of the deepest, steepest, narrowest canyon.

Day 5 | Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
- Driving along the south rim checking out all the view points
- Finding the perfect picnic table in the shade
- Playing Coup down by the river
- Learning about the adventurous few that first navigated the dangerous Gunnison
- Trying to catch the canyon swifts in the frame of our binocs and camera lens

Having now explored two canyons together, including the Grand Canyon a few years back, we are looking forward to the next canyon trip to take together :) I vote Zion Canyon in Utah or Waimea Canyon in Hawaii!

Canyon friends,

- SJW

Day 1-3

Day 4

Day 6-8