Jamie and His Girls

It was cold, snowing and slushy in Bellingham when we headed down to Bothell. At the county border the snow magically disappeared, but the rain continued. No worries though as we got to see Jamie and Ryan.

Jamie and his girls!

Ryan is growing so much. Here she is doing pushups. Quite the change from last month!

After getting instructions from Jamie on how to feed a baby, Kirsty and I proceeded to do the best we could. Ryan mostly gummed the spoon, but we received no complaints.

Peace my friends!

New Year's Day 2014

I Spent New Year's Day watching football and eating cheese dip with Jamie, Greta and Ryan (Kirsty, unfortunately, had to work and keep capitalism marching ever onward!).

I was trying to sneak Ryan some of the famous Sullivan cheese dip, but her Dad was on to me.


Peace my friends!

Merry Christmas

And a very special Happy Birthday to Francis, who inspires me more than he knows!

Peace!

Giving Thanks

I am truly a blessed man to have in my life great friends, loving family and a wonderful, beautiful missus!

Ryan Elizabeth is the latest addition to what matters most in my world. She has very caring, loving, (and tired), parents who are starting early with their collection of photographs with which to embarrass her with when she starts dating. Go Broncos!

Happy Thanksgiving and Peace my friends!

Maple Leafs

We went for a walk in the arboretum. A bit foggy, the leaves are falling, and the cold, damp air is here. Finally. A few pics to brighten your day:

The colors are striking!

Huge maple leaves abound.

Sun was trying to break through the fog, but wasn't able to complete the job.

Peace my friends!

Mt. Baker Walkabout

We drove up the Mt. Baker highway to see how far up the road we could get. We heard that the road was closed for the season close to Artist Point (the terminus of the road). After Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker is the most heavily glaciated of the Cascade Range volcanoes. The volume of snow and ice on Mt. Baker is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mt. Baker Ski Area set the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—95 feet!
We were able to drive until about 2.5 miles from Artist Point (5,100 feet), so we took a stroll the rest of the way. Some snow farther up the trail, but a still bit early in the season.

 Heading up to Artist point, not much snow here.

Looking down into an alpine meadow.

 View of Mt. Baker (10,781 feet), from Artist point.

Looking northeast from Artist Point to Mt. Shuksan (9,131 feet).

 Coming back down. We were expecting colder temperatures, but it was about 73 up here! 20 degrees cooler about a mile further down.

 Cool rock formation.

Stream running down into the Nooksack River (starts on Mt. Shuksan).

Peace my friends!

Kirsty and Ryan

A smile as wide as the Mississippi. Ryan does not like her arms swaddled inside the blanket!

Peace my friends!