Established 2001
We decided to celebrate Grandma Keene’s birthday at Point Ruston, and the weather was phenomenal for an evening dinner on the waterfront!
We had dinner at a great burger and whiskey place and then walked around for a bit.
We ended the evening at Ice Cream Social, the best ice cream shop in Tacoma with a line out the door and around the corner on a sunny Sunday evening!
We look forward to the Buddy Walk every year (especially when it’s a gorgeous Seattle day). We go to support our nephew Russell, who has Down’s Syndrome. It is a really fun event. We were lucky to have amazing weather this year!
Russell and Grandpa Keene… somehow I did not get a single picture of Russell’s face that I can post!
My friend Toni threw a Fall Favorite Things party… and it was so fun! We each brought six items that we loved about fall, like candles, coffee cups, nail polish, scarves, etc. Then we snacked and ate dinner and drank Moscow Mules and laughed and got to take home six new things from everyone else’s favorite things. It was fun to connect with these seven ladies over the weekend.
That’s right – in eight days, I traveled 18,000 miles for work! It was a whirlwind of trips to Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale to visit school leaders in each system. I help them with their strategic plans to implement professional learning experiences for their teachers for the school year. Then I assign our company’s trainers to the events and make sure they are delivered with excellence – meeting the objectives of the district and helping drive awareness of the Microsoft in Education tools and services that they already have.
It was very rewarding to meet with these customers and plan for over 50 days of training this coming year!
Baltimore was first. I haven’t been there in over 25 years and I’d forgotten how colonial everything is.
Then I flew to LA (by way of Seattle, which was odd) and enjoyed a two days of sunshine!
I also got to meet my nieces for dinner in Studio City (surprising Ali, arranged with Madi). That was sooo fun! We ate dinner at Granville and got dessert at Salt & Straw. Yummmmmm. It was the best chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream I’ve ever had. Period.
I came home Friday night and left less than twelve hours later for our weekend at Pacific Beach (next post). We got home from there Monday night and about 15 hours later I left for Florida! I had dinner at this great seafood place called Coconuts right on the water. It was a lovely night for a quiet sunset meal.
In the morning, I had a four hour meeting with the STEM team of Broward County, which is the sixth largest school system in the US. It was super productive!
I had some time before my flight home so I walked the Riverwalk, ate sushi and gelato for lunch, and did some work from the hotel lobby.
We flew west home, so the sunset lasted almost three hours. I was on the window and the view was amazing. We also flew over lightning!
I’ve wanted to get my nose pierced for…. maybe twenty years. Seriously. This past Mother’s Day, Jim gave me a gift certificate to get it done and even booked me an appointment at a nice place in Bellevue (Deep Roots). Then we found out that I wasn’t supposed to swim for 4-6 weeks after piercing… and it was the middle of triathlon season. So I put it off until the day after my last tri of the summer!
On September 10, Jim and I had a date day while the kids were at school. We went to Deep Roots and then went to Tat’s Deli in Seattle for lunch – somewhere Jim has been wanting to take me for the Tatstrami sandwich, which was just as amazing as he had promised.
It was super fun to do this together and I’m thrilled with how my nose piercing looks. I love it!
Who bought the kids mirror markers? Aunt Gena, of course! 🙂 They are loving writing messages to each other on the mirror. They are really sweet… things like, “Good morning,” “I love you,” and “Have a great day.” We clean it off every week or so and then start all over. So much fun!
It’s that time of year! The kids are back in school, pumpkins are at the stores, and the smell of fall is in the air. We went out for ice cream the day before school started, just to put the final nail in summer.
And then the lunch packing begins! 180 times a year…
Both kids were ready on time for our annual photos before the first day of school. They were so excited for their teachers and their friends!
We are excited to start a new year with these two – fourth grade for JT and second grade for Haley!
We missed going to Spirit Lake last year, and we wanted to make sure to get our trip worked into the fall schedule this year. When Labor Day weekend opened up, and the cabin was available, we jumped on it!
We left Friday and drove eight hours to get there, which was longer than we thought… and JT got to ride looking like a teenager because he’s finally tall enough to ride safely without a booster… and then we arrived, settled in, and went to sleep!
We paddle boarded, read in the sunshine, watched football, ate, hiked, took boat rides, jumped on the water trampoline, played games, and enjoyed family time all weekend long. Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Sara joined us for dinner Sunday evening, and the ribs and peach pie were amazing.Â
Our drive home on Monday was eight hours long as well, but we finished our summer read aloud (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and our summer audio book (The Lightning Thief). So it was time well spent!
I was so excited to finish the Lake Meridian triathlon 14 minutes ahead of my finish time from last year! I had a great race overall – even if my timing chip came off in my wetsuit. 😦 Fortunately Jim came with me and did an awesome job timing me during each leg, and he captured a few photos as well. One more for the summer!
The Keene Family