Lisa Heuer

Another little nugget

I’m not sure that I had an ounce of sports blood in me… until I saw this picture.  ; )  Another little nugget from my history of pictures. 

My new eyes

I no longer will need glasses and contacts!  I took the plunge and had LASIK done.  It has been one day and I see 20/15 according to my follow-up today.  I’m so excited!  Anyhow, my darling friend Jenna not only dropped me off (since I have a tendency to not plan around Tim) she cleaned my car (like a serious internal detail) and watched the kids and found other projects around my house (embarrassing but true).  She isn’t even my visiting teacher.  : )  She made this cute display of flowers on my kitchen window sill.   

My eyes will get better from here… things will look sharper and more clear.  Right now this computer screen is too bright for me.  I am looking down the hall as I type this to avoid the bright haze.  I can’t believe I waited this long.  I should have done this when I was 25 yrs old so I could have enjoyed more years with out contacts or glasses!  I am excited to travel without contact solution, contact cases, extra  contacts and my glasses!  I just lightened my load! 

Home Organization

I think organization is one thing that makes me happy!  We found this little beauty at Costco and you would have thought I won the lottery.  It has a place for everything-with labels!  : ) Since we don’t have storage around here, this is now our decor in the laundry room.  I have a place for vacuum parts, light bulbs, extra parts, duct tape, swim goggles, hot glue gun (Lettie, I do have one after all) and much more. 

Farmers Markets

Here is what we get to do every Wednesday- visit the market.  All the local farmers and vendors of all types (bakers, jewelers, but no candlestick maker, butchers, etc.) bring their loot down to the marina park and set up shop for about 4 hours.  On the sidelines, people are swimming and tanning and acting like it is 90 degrees outside.  I never knew I could be so excited about grocery shopping for fresh produce.  On Saturday, there is a bigger market in Redmond that we love to go to.  Over there we can hear a local artist performing their latest hits, shop for fresh pies and toppings, purchase fresh kettle corn and ask the Master Gardner how to create the perfect yard.  It is a lovely place…  Next challege: get Zane excited about fresh produce.

Our first guests

We saw some familiar faces!  The Johnston’s came to visit us.  They have family in Washington so they had plans to camp and visit family and added us to the list.  I’m sure they were exhausted and ready to get to their own homes and beds but we were sure glad to spend time with them.  We decided to be tourists in Seattle.  There are some things that Kristen has not done even though she is from Tacoma. :) We ventured over to Pioneer Square in Seattle and took the Underground Tour.  It was very cool but not so cool for the kids.  The kids could have cared less about the history of Seattle including what was under the street level.  We tried to hit Pike’s Market after the tour BUT it was crowded and again, a little tough on the kids.  Pike’s Place is pretty busy with people, food, performers, shops, etc.  There was so much to see.

So, we hit the roads to come back to Kirkland.  We put on movies, left the kids and took a walk downtown to the marina area and ate at Hunaman Thai Cafe (our favorite Thai place in Kirkland)) and then walked to CeFiore for a treat.  You know me, always about the treats.  It was a great day full of adventure and fun with our friends.  They left and hit the road, on to another family member’s house on Tuesday mid-morning.

Unique flag lots

We feel tucked away back here… we are what they call a flag lot.  Here is how it happens…  People have land here in Kirkland.  People want land here in Kirkland.  Land values go up.  People who own land parcel off some of their lot.  People build on that parcel (which is usually behind the original home).  So, we have a very long driveway that takes you to what you think would be a backyard but it is our house.  We live behind a home.  You can see the home down the driveway, on the left.  I have no idea who owned this land originally since the people who live in front of us are new as of a few months ago.  This is a very common practice here. 

• Pros: we are off the street, the solicitors typically don’t want to walk the long drive, we sit behind a beautiful home, more scenery
• Cons: hard to tell people where we live (maybe this is a pro?), quite close to the neighbors in front who get to hear all of Zane’s screaming and crying when it is time to sit on the toilet.  ; )

Lauren, for you… I will post some pictures of our home when I can figure out how to get a good angle.  We have quite a bit of vegetation in front and on the sides making it difficult to step far enough away to get a full picture.  I suppose I can take several and call it abstract art.  : )

Day out with Thomas

Tim found out that Thomas the train would be visiting Snoqualmie, at the train museum.  So, what does a parent do besides buy tickets for their son who loves Thomas?  Nothing… they buy tickets.  We all went on the outing and the train ride was about 5 miles, from the depot to Snoqualmie falls back to the depot.  It was a beautiful site and I tried to quickly snap a picture.  I couldn’t get anything the whole time because I was sitting on the wrong side and the train was packed.  The lady next to me said, “If you want a picture, right now’s the time.”  I looked over and was WOW’d, picked up the camera and got what I could.  So, if you can imagine this view times a million since this picture i not doing it a bit of justice.

There is beauty all around…

I mentioned our hunt for all the parks.  We were introduced to St. Edwards park.  There is a trail that leads down to the water but we ran out of time.  I love to go to the parks and sit in  my beach chair (since we aren’t visiting the beach, I can certainly pretend…) and read while the kids play.  They could be entertained for HOURS.  We need our nieces and nephews!

Not the ordinary park

I guess you could say that we haven’t seen parks like this.  We are determined to discover all the parks in the area and there are many.  Each one is unique and fun.  The first one we discovered is what we call the castle park.   The weird thing about parks is the bark as the ground.  Zane has had about a million splinters in his feet but thank goodness he now wears shoes.  We sure wish we had Paisley, Brynn, Gage, Jonathan, and Brendon out here to play and imagine with us.  Ok, Jonathan and Brendon might be a little too old but maybe they could be the bridge trolls?  : )

Moving Party

I have talked many-a-times about the amazing people in AZ that I have the privilege of calling friends.  They gave my family (Tim and I) a wonderful farewell party.  All the work they put into it was beautiful and fun.  The food was delicious and the company was perfect.  It was a difficult place to be given that we were hopping on a plane the next morning for Washington.  It was truly a farewell.  Thank you, friends, for doing this for little ‘ol me.  You have made me feel so loved and important to you (so pretend like I am).  The gifts were thoughtful and hilarious all at the same time.  : )  If you were there, you know what I am talking about.  Jill, I had to post this picture of us together because we need to remember that we have twin bodies (sorry about that).  Lettie and Cara, I love that I am the tallest.  Lettie, don’t stoop down-be tall and proud!  I love having pictures with you.  My family-I know we are looking every which way and missing people but thank you for coming (Dan and Deb, I think we missed a picture with you?), I love you.   Kristen… it was temporary good-bye since they had plans to come visit this month but it didn’t stop the tears. The tears were plentiful but look what I was leaving behind!  Wouldn’t you be tearful too?  Thank you to Ben and Kelly Brown for hosting and for opening your home to the people we love.  And Andrew, thank you for being the photographer!