T&G

Date night

troyh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:39:35 +0000

We haven’t had a date night in a while, so we went out tonight since Elysian’s 2nd beer of their 12 Beers of the Apocalypse release party was also happening. We got to Elysian about 10 minutes before 6pm and there was no line but all the tables were taken. We waited 10 minutes or so and then got a table within view of the festivities, kinda. I had the Rapture Heather Ale and watched Dick Cantwell, dressed as a Pope, give his speech.

We decided to not have dinner at Elysian and instead walk over to Restaurant Zoë, which has just opened again after being closed for their move from Belltown to Capitol Hill. We used to go to Zoë for any special occasion before we moved to Vashon and a few times since. I’m glad to have it open again and much closer to home. The new place’s decor is less “New York” (sophisticated, contemporary) and more “west coast” (casual, rustic) and the prices are a little lower. I liked the old place, but I like the new place too, and it’s more spacious, which I prefer. The old place had a great Ahi Tuna appetizer and a hangar steak that I always ordered, but they don’t have either on the new menu. That’s too bad. We had their “Regrade Manhattan” and I had the burger, both were very good.

East Prospect Remodel

troyh — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:23:55 +0000

Schuchart/Dow featured our project in their company newsletter this month. It’s a nice write-up of the project.

The Way of St. James

troyh — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:43:45 +0000

We happened across the movie The Way tonight on Apple TV and decided to rent it. It was pretty good. I decided that, when the kids are old enough to hike long distances and before they are too old to want to spend a summer with us, we’ll take the kids to Spain and walk at least part of the El Camino de Santiago trail. It seems like a cool way to visit some towns in Spain. Documenting it here as a promise to myself.

26th Annual Progressive Dinner

troyh — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:25:44 +0000

Our street’s 26th Annual Progressive Dinner was tonight. This was our second, we went last year for the first time. This year, we hosted the appetizer course and Gay made a few dishes. People started arriving at 5pm and we all left to the main course down at the Farrell’s house at 7. By 9:30 or so we were at the Zorn’s for dessert and the awarding of the Garden Award, which means we got rid of it from last year! We were among the last to leave and we were home at 10:45pm. We already know most of the people but we met a couple of neighbors we hadn’t yet met. It’s a great street to live on!

GM is #1 again

troyh — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:15:24 +0000

Boy, was I wrong about Obama and GM. I thought giving GM a bailout was going to be a huge mistake. Not only are they surviving, they’ve regained the top position in number of cars sold (Volkswagen is #2?!) and all those auto industry jobs were saved. Impressive, especially considering it’s only been 2 years. We’re all still owners of GM do we still need to be paid back, but it seems possible now. Sometimes government does work.

Sledding

troyh — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:25:16 +0000

We woke up to snow this morning after waiting Monday and Tuesday for snow that never came. There was 2″ of snow already. We had gone to REI yesterday to get Eva some winter clothes and for sleds. After lunch, Gay bundled the kids up while I tied cord to their new sleds, which were bought yesterday. I pulled Havana and Eva on the long sled and Gay pulled Hudson on his own sled to the hill next to St. Joseph’s at 19th & Aloha.

A bunch of people were already there, mostly older kids. After just a few successful trips down the hill from halfway up, I took all three on the long sled. I ran down next to them with the cord to guide them. I fell, they crashed. Eva fell on her face in the snow so she had had enough. Hudson didn’t want to go again either. I took Havana down one last time. Before leaving, I ran into the Tully’s on the corner for coffees and we walked back home.

2012

troyh — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:48:45 +0000

Long ago I was brought into this life, a little lamb
Courageous, stumbling
Fearless was my middle name
But somewhere there I lost my way

Everyone walks the same
Expecting me to step the narrow path they’ve laid
They claim to walk unafraid
I’ll be clumsy instead

— REM “Walk Unafraid”

2011 Year In Review

troyh — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:30:26 +0000

The highlight of the year and a big life change for us in 2011 was moving from Vashon to Seattle and into the house we’d been renovating for a year. Eva was born just a few days before the start of the year so we were back to handling an infant again after having 2010 with toddlers only, no infants. We were so busy with the kids and the house that we didn’t take any vacations or even go anywhere outside of Seattle all year.

In January, the Steelers lost the Super Bowl, which resulted in me drinking way too much and I’ll never forget as it was the first time in my life that I threw up from drinking — I didn’t drink a drop for 2 weeks after that, not because I felt guilty but because the thought made me feel sick. I’m happily back to drinking now, but don’t plan to get even close to that drunk ever again. We continued the make decisions on the house and work with the contractor and interior designers. I finished the rough-in for the low-voltage work that I had started in December, which I really enjoyed.

In February, I picked the speakers for the house that I would install in a few months and dealt with metal in my eye, the first injury I’ve had in years, that I got while sanding the steel beam in the garage.

In March, we celebrated Gay’s 41st birthday at home and again out with friends.

In April, we celebrated Havana’s 4th birthday and celebrated at her school.

In May, Osama bin Laden was killed (remember him and his terrorist organization?!), we picked out the hot tub, had a Stone Brewing dinner at one of our new neighborhood restaurants, celebrated Gay’s 4th Mother’s Day, and put the Vashon house on the market.

In June, we stayed at the new house under construction for a few days to do work. That was fun for me to do work for a few days without a long commute back and forth but living in a construction site isn’t fun. I had my 4th Father’s Day. And we finally learned that Eva wouldn’t need surgery, which was a big worry for us all year.

In July, we struggled with the DirecTV installation, which was disappointing because I’ve had nothing but good experiences with DirecTV for over a decade now. We packed up the old house to move and then moved into the new house, had Gay’s dad and aunt to visit, sold the Vashon house and Gay and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. Selling the Vashon house was a big relief. I originally thought we could set the price higher and let it sit and Gay wanted to price it to sell. Gay was right. Looking at the market now, some houses that were comparable to ours and priced too high still haven’t sold. I’d hate to have been maintaining it and paying the mortgage and insurance the last 6 months!

In August, we celebrated Hudson’s 3rd birthday and had a party with his friends. It’s hard to remember that Hudson is 16 months younger than Havana. They do so much together and he keeps up with her so well that we forget that she should have much better communication skills and know here reading, writing and math much more than he does. He still isn’t completely potty-trained — he knows how to do it, but chooses not to — even at the end of the year, even though Havana was potty-trained soon after her 2nd birthday. They say boys just take longer, but at this rate, Eva may be potty-trained before Hudson!

In September, Hudson started preschool at Nanny’s and Havana started preschool at Parkside. Both have loved their schools and are excited to go to school every day. Hudson has come out of his shell and plays, sings (!) and does his chores very well. Havana loves to do art, plays with all the kids and has a good friend, Laura, from preschool and they’ve had several play dates after school together at each other’s houses. Havana’s preschool picked “totem names” while learning about American-Indians, which is a name that identifies you. Kids picked names like “Plays with cars” and “Likes Pizza”. Havana picked “Loves My Family”, which surprised us not because we didn’t think she loves her family but because it seems, well, like we’re those parents who freakishly encourage adult emotions like that in their kids. They even make Indian-like signs for their names and her sign is her mom and dad hugging her, which is very cute. I got reading glasses which I resisted for a long time but really like having them.

In October, we finally went to Elysian’s Pumpkin Beer Festival and, while the beer was great and the crowd was less of the drunk college kid crowd, I was reminded why I tend to avoid beer festivals. Hudson had an unexpected tonsillectomy that turned into a 2-day ordeal. We had a great Halloween and hopefully started an annual tradition.

In November, I celebrated my 42nd birthday. It’s hard to believe I’m in my 40s but I’d rather be getting older than not! We had a great first Thanksgiving in the new house.

In December, Gay and I saw The National, our first show in over a year and only second in 10 years or so. I finished the theater room so we can watch movies on a big screen once again. I love consumer electronics, they get cheaper and better all the time. We went to our first ever parent-teacher conferences for the kids’ schools. We celebrated Eva’s 1st birthday and we had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas.

2011 was a good year. Looking forward to 2012…

Christmas 2011

troyh — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:23:12 +0000

Early Friday morning we took the kids downtown to see Santa. By Saturday, they were excited for Santa to come. This was the first year that they understood the Santa concept, so Havana came into our bedroom at 6am Sunday morning asking to go down to open the presents. Hudson was already in bed with us, so she woke all three of us up. Eva wasn’t even awake yet so Gay got her and we all went downstairs.

Gay had made a coffee cake on Saturday so we had that and coffee to wake us up. Havana and Hudson were excited to see Santa’s presents by the fireplace and in the stockings. They didn’t finish opening presents until noon because they had to stop to play with the ones they’ve already opened. For lunch, Gay made a strada and we had champagne. So we just relaxed the rest of the day.

Christmas Eve 2011

troyh — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 07:32:10 +0000

We had Steve and Renuka and their kids over for Christmas Eve dinner. Steve and I offered to cook the entire dinner. He brought a prime rib over around 2pm and I had most of my dishes prepared and ready to be cooked, as soon as the rib roast was done.

Eric and Sandi stopped by after Eric picked him up at the airport, after flying in from NYC, on their way to Eric’s family in Bellingham. We had drinks and appetizers, oysters and cheese and crackers, and watched the Seahawks game while the meat roasted. We were eating by 6pm and then Steve and I opened the barrel-aged Old Rasputin and had that while the kids watched a movie and Gay and Renuka cleaned up the dishes (ha ha!).