Monday, August 20, 2007

Whidby Island


For our first anniversary, we decided to stay at a bed and breakfast on Whidby Island (about an hour driving time to the south of us). We stayed at a quaint little guest cottage , enjoyed the views of the water and even saw some sea lions playing around just offshore from us.


Heliotrope Ridge


On Saturday, we went on a hike called the Heliotrope. It is on the north side of Mount Baker, and was an incredibly beautiful hike. It was about a 4 hour hike up and back with several stream crossings, colorful wildflowers and a magnificent view of the glacier at the top.




Heliotrope Ridge continued

More Pictures of our hike up Heliotrope Ridge






Sunday, August 12, 2007

summer reflections

As the summer is beginning to wind down we are anticipating the next year. We have also been reflecting on the last couple of months here in Bellingham. We were truly blessed to have all three of our families visit us this summer. Emily's mom came to visit in June, Johnny's parents came to visit in July, and Emily's Dad, step-mom and Ariana came to visit in August. It was a lot of fun having everyone here and showing them around Bellingham. Thank your for coming to visit!!!!!

We are both still loving Bellingham and continuing to explore and find new trails. We will be celebrating our 1st year anniversary this next Saturday (Aug. 18th). We are planning on going on a long hike around Mt. Baker which is just a short drive east of Bellingham. Then on Sunday we will overnight at a Bed and Breakfast on Whidby Island. We are really looking forward to spending a long three day weekend together. It is crazy to us that a year has passed already. But then when we think about it we've lived in Colorado, Portland, and Bellingham all in one year.

This next year brings exciting adventures as well. Emily will be starting nursing school in September at Bellingham Technical College (only a mile and half from our house) while continuing working at the Hospital on the Cardiovascular Unit as a CNA. And Johnny is getting energized as he dives into his internship with Sustainable Connections ( sconnect.org ). He has had several city meetings and has met some influential city planners in the area. He is doing lots of research and self education on the side as well. Johnny will continue working maintenance until he develops more connections. But for now we're paying the bills and enjoying life.

We'll post more recent pictures after our adventures next weekend!