Seattle Trip

Last Sunday Sean and I drove to Seattle.  We had two objectives: to have fun and to find some veggiemeat.  We’ve been kind of struggling without Stripples, Big Franks, and FriChik, specifically.  How do people find such food if they don’t live in Walla Walla or Loma Linda?

So for our first objective, we went to the Seattle Center to go to a museum with exhibits on music, sci-fi films, and Jim Henson’s Muppets.  On the way there we saw a big festival complete with amusement-park rides, cotton candy, balloons, and music.  It looked like fun so we wandered over innocently.  As we were walking, I vaguely heard something about “pride,” but kept walking.  All of a sudden we saw a group of about 6 guys wearing nothing but spray paint and tennis shoes and dancing in a fountain.  That moment of shock awoke us to the unusual outfits, behavior, rainbow theme, and lots of public indecency all around us.  We turned to go back the way we’d come, and saw a rather frantic woman trying to lead a group of elementary kids on a tour to the museum – apparently she failed to check the calendar to see what was planned for the day! 

After that we went into the museum, walked downtown, did some shopping, watched the fish-throwers, all the normal things you do in Seattle.  After a long but fun day our feet were sore from the miles we walked.  We decided to head home and grab some FriChik on the way.  We were certain that Fred Meyer would definitely have it, so typed that into our GPS.  The first building we went to looked like a bank, so we decided that wasn’t promising.  The next one was further out of the way, but bigger and normal-looking.  Turns out they don’t carry any food or grocery items.  I’d never heard of a Fred Meyer without food.  Disappointed, we drove on.  I called ahead to the third Fred Meyer and confirmed that they did indeed carry veggiemeat before we stopped.  When we finally found it, there was some Morningstar stuff, but the rest looked very strange.  It was then that I realized how gross veggiemeat looks, especially veggie bacon strips.  We took what we recognized and one new thing to try, and left for home.  And so ended another eventful and exciting day in our lives.

Our House

For anyone that was wondering, I thought I’d put up some pictures of what our house looks like. It’s college-owned, so it’s less than a block from school, which is awesome. We get to walk everywhere! This is the attic/game room/den/my sewing & music room. This is our semi-creepy basement, which I avoid except to do laundry.

More rooms, you can guess what they are. Now to the outside: Door to the outside world, complete with rain boots just in case! The yard and my row of lilac bushes, blooming right now :). Just to give you an idea of how close we live, our house is on the left and the college is the white building on the right. This is the perfect house for us, we just love it.

Victoria Adventure

The weekend of Valentine’s Day was a long weekend for WWU, so just for fun Sean and I headed off to Victoria, BC, for a weekend adventure. The border took forever to cross, so we missed the ferry we’d been planning on and ended up at our hotel at 2:30 am! Luckily we had no plans so slept in that day to catch up on sleep. We spent plenty of time just wandering in Victoria taking in the sights. Among the highlights were a ballet performance, a 70’s-diner-esque gelato shop, a store run by a tiny Chinese man selling, among other things, cassette tapes to listen to when suffering from constipation, stroke, and diarrhea. We didn’t buy any. All in all, it was a perfect weekend. I’m excited for many more such adventures. We’re thinking maybe Yellowstone next time... This is us, excited to get out of the fog for a quick break. Darth Vader playing the violin! We really saw him! How much cooler does it get? This is a garden gnome bigger than either of us! We would have bought it, if they would have agreed to accept about $1000 less than the asking price :) This is me right after something changed about me. Bonus points if you can figure it out. Where’s the Hayes? Victoria, BC, in all it’s glory.

Human Shampoo Dispenser

 

So I was washing my hair in the shower this morning when I tilted my head back to rinse shampoo off my face and I got shampoo up the nose. Lots of shampoo up the nose. Head and Shoulders that Tingles when You Put it on Your Scalp shampoo. Up the nose. It hurt so incredibly bad. I couldn’t figure out what to do until Heidi poured water down my nose. It worked really well, and I spat out bubbles.

Not cool. Except actually it was kind of cool.

Graduation Robes

It seems strange that my first blog post should be about clothing, but that’s what I’m thinking about.

Heidi and I have been talking about shooting to go to Oxford someday to get our PhD’s after we’ve gotten our Masters’ here. It’s far away, it’s prestigious, and they have SUCH COOL ROBES. Look at this thing:

For the record, I don’t usually get this excited about clothing. You can’t really tell in the picture, but apparently that lighter color is either yellow or gold, depending on if you’re colorblind or not. I just wish the robe included that hair, the mustache, and those eyebrows.

That robe was for the PhD. This next one is the coolest robe ever. Lord Patten of Barnes gets to wear it. He’s the chancellor of Oxford, and the coolest-dressed person in the world.

I feel inspired to study more.

Rosario, Summer 2008

We were lucky enough to spend our summer in what has become one of my favorite places on earth – Rosario Beach Marine Station. While there, Sean studied seagull behavior and dissected a cadaver for Human Anatomy class. I didn’t do a whole lot, and I loved it. I needed a break from the hectic business of school and work, and Rosario was perfect.

The Rosario Beach Marine Station labs and classrooms Sean’s new favorite book! Playing games for the Fourth of July with other students

Our little cabin by the beach. Home sweet home.

And now for a little taste of the gorgeous Rosario scenery. To really experience it, you should come visit us. We’ll be back at Rosario this next summer so Sean can do more research. I for one don’t mind at all.

My own road less traveled and where it leads

What a perfect life! We are so blessed. How could I ask for more?

Graduation

Yet one more step in the year of craziness and change was our college graduation. I still can’t believe we’ve finished college and are now graduate students, but I guess we are. Graduation was a bit hot and stressful, since we had to move out that day and the weather was not cooperative. It was still great to be done and celebrate that with family and friends.

Early morning – ready to rock.

Me, getting tired of smiling, and us, with Dr. Craig of Biochemistry fame.

With Dr. McVay – the college president himself.

It’s definitely nice to be done, but it hasn’t quite registered because we are still in classes. Sean’s working on an MS in Biology, specifically focusing on animal behavior and sociobiology, while I’m working on an MAT in Secondary Education and a teacher certificate to teach chemistry and English. We have a cute little house on the college campus and keep ourselves busy, but we love it and the end is in sight. We’ll graduate for good (for now) in about a year and a half. After that, who knows? The world is waiting to be conquered.

The Honeymoon

We went to Mexico for a perfectly relaxing and enjoyable honeymoon. We needed it after getting married the day after Final Exams. We spent a lot of time lounging by the pool, exploring the local town, and watching parasailors and even a dolphin from under our beach umbrellas.

The relaxing, peaceful pool.

The enchanting town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

All in all, a perfect start to a wonderful life together.