My Boyfriend's Back!

Yep you heard me right, my boyfriend is back!  Jay and I took a 3 day vacation away from the kids (thanks to our awesome friends who helped us out).  He had a speaking opportunity in Orlando at a nice hotel, so I tagged along and we made a weekend of it.  A weekend of sun, fun, relaxing, ice-cream, chocolate croissants, flirting and I got to see Jay in action for work.  

Jay speaking at a conference- I was impressed!  

Lately with his travel schedule we do what we can to throw in some good conversation over the phone or within the 2 days he is home.   Timing has been tricky and hard to get any type of conversation let alone a good one.  I feel like an FBI agent with my strategic conversations with him.  I know it will be short so I give him the latest on the kids, dog, home, work and try to slip in something about me (I don't know why FBI, but I've always wanted that title so...). These 3 days I didn't feel rushed and didn't have to check my list of things to talk with him about.

I highly recommend doing what you can to get away with your spouse.  It makes such a difference.  We were able to talk-without having to be strategic with our wording or using code words (listening 12 year old ears are extra sharp these days), we were able to talk about more than our kids and home stuff, we got to do a lot of other things without having to worry about kids.  I felt like his girlfriend!

It was just the refresh we needed.  For all of you with little kids I know it seems like this time will never come....it does, try to at least do date nights in the meantime (although over night is better : )

Sleepless In Seattle

Last weekend we did a quick trip to Seattle- I say sleepless because we managed to stay on Central time in the mornings (awake by 6 a.m.)  and  Pacific time in the evenings (going to bed at 11 p.m.)... kind of nice because it made the days seem longer, although we might have been a little crabby by the end.  Initially we went to participate in the RockNRoll Half Marathon!  Turns out my back isn't quite ready for me to run 13.1 miles, so I went and cheered Jay, Heidi (my sister) and Jason (brother-in-law) on.  They were rock stars, I was seriously impressed!

It was fun filled weekend of:  

RockNRoll Half Marathon

(btw the National Anthem was played on an electric guitar-very cool)

Team EBRP!

Heidi (love her wings!)  and Jason crossing the finish line!  

Jay had an amazing time of 1 hour 48 minutes especially for his first half!  I think he's addicted. 

EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum
My sister and I took the kids to the EMP museum there in Seattle Center- WOW, very cool museum.  I would highly recommend it.  They have a whole music section which we could have spent all day in (and for those of you who know me, know I am not musical- although secretly wish I was)  I managed to embarrass my children (yes!) at a karaoke part of the museum.  They didn't give me a microphone, so what's a girl got to do... show off her dance moves- a little running man, cabbage patch, sprinkler!  I didn't run the half so I needed the cardio workout : )

Sunday Brunch
Sunday we went to a brunch with Team EBRP- it was really nice getting to know the families and sharing stories.

Good-byes
After that we said good-bye to my sister and her family, they had to drive back to Idaho (aren't they the best for driving 7 hours to spend this time with us??).  Cousin time is always awesome and of course so is sister time!

Peas in a pod!  Cute girls!

Justus is his favorite!

Love these two boys!

Pike's Place and Ferry
Our family decided to go to Pike's Place Market on Sunday and do a ferry boat ride.  I love farmer's markets and oh I love the fruit out here on the west coast.  We bought a nectarine that was so juicy I had juice running down my forearm as I ate it and I didn't care (the fruit in the Midwest isn't juicy and doesn't have that fresh flavor).

The ferry was really cool because not only did we get some awesome views we also learned some interesting facts about Seattle.

Visiting Friends
Monday morning we took Jay to the airport- he was off to Boston for work and since our plane didn't leave until that evening we went to visit one of my roommates/friends from college, Heather.  It was so much fun.  We talked nonstop for 6 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I haven't seen her in over 20 years, and it seemed like yesterday.  She took us to a cute little Norwegian town and we got some very tasty pastries...I won't say how many I bought, but let's just say I got whatever looked good...  I did share of course! It was a great time catching up with Heather and seeing what an amazing person she continues to be

I have to give a plug for military families.  Heather's husband is in the military and it is amazing the things that her husband does for our country, not just him but the sacrifices his family makes as well.  I have a deeper appreciation for that and the sacrifices they all make to keep our country safe! !

We made it home safely and without any tired cries... (I might have almost cried when for about 3 minutes I couldn't find our car in the parking garage in the MN airport).  We  had a great time in Seattle, I love that city- so cool and has a lot of fun things to do.  We will be back, maybe next year I can run the half!    

Throwing it back... house growing up!

This is the only picture I have of our house growing up.  A four bedroom, two bath home on Harwood Road in San Jose California.  Can you imagine 8 people lived in this house for over 20 years, plus the foreign exchange students, the foster kids my parents took in and the babysitting kids my mom watched for years... oh my gosh!  (I sometimes wonder if they were certifiable)   The memories this house holds for the Sabin clan...

• Laughs.
• Sunday dinner with the nice green China.
• Listening to a book on record while sitting on the plaid,scratchy couch.
• Arguments.
• Fighting over cleaning our rooms. 
• Maxi and mini jobs.
• Many pets (dogs, rabbits, fish, turtle). 
• Teasing.
• Friends, relatives coming and going .
• Sock bin (I add this because we had a huge hamper full of socks that were missing their pair).
• The Sunday we got robbed while at church.
• Roller skating down the hill by our house.
• Playing pickle in the backyard.

So much more and probably fairly similar to most homes.

The physical aspects of the house (remember it was built in the 70s)-

• Orange carpet,  (as in burnt orange).
• Avocado green refrigerator 
• Garage that we never once parked cars in (too jammed pack full of stuff) 
• Fruit trees lining our backyard fence (apricot and cherry trees that were fabulous- I still get flash backs when I  eat a juicy apricot) 
• The loose fence board that we could open and sneak into the condo complex behind our house.
• A shed that always smelt moldy and like old camping gear 
• Orange tree and avocado tree that we never ate the fruit of (oranges too sour and the avocados were always rock hard)
• Piano with keys that were written on
• Telephone with the extra long cord (our dad use to yell at us if we let it knot up too bad)
• Our brick fire place with a hearth-aka stage

 Much more but I save the best for last...drum roll please.
A garage door that was painted canary yellow.  Yes I said it, canary yellow and yes ONLY the garage door. Picture our lovely tan and dark brown home, with a ... canary yellow garage door.

I am a visual person and I altered this picture so you could get a feel for the canary yellow

How did this happen?  Well a color blind man picked out the paint and didn't see a need to change it once the mistake was pointed out to him.  My poor mom, although she didn't rush out and have it repainted.  It stayed that way until my sister who was in High School bought the correct color with her own money and painted the garage door herself.  I was only in elementary school, but it did get old having people ask why we had a bright yellow garage door.   

Weird though I have a slight obsession with the color yellow- I love it and have accents of it all throughout my house- wonder if this had anything to do with it...