Think of Me

Our first week back in Washington was quite busy, but enjoyable. We got to celebrate the 4th of July with our family, buy new phones, go car shopping and then got on a plane to celebrate our 6th anniversary in Las Vegas.

It made Angela sick to leave Bethel… literally. She was very sick the night after we left and it took her a couple days to really recuperate. We aren’t positive, but we think it might have been something she ate. But Luke got to have dinner with his Brother, Sister, Sister-in-law and niece on Saturday night after arriving in Seattle. It was good to reconnect and catch up a little bit.

On Sunday afternoon we arrived in Poulsbo and got to enjoy an early 3rd of July celebration (I think Poulsbo celebrates the preparation of Independence Day - maybe the writing of the Declaration of Independence or something - but not the actual event) with Angela’s family. It was good to see nieces and nephews and hang out with family all day. There is something about just doing nothing with family that makes you feel a level of comfort that is difficult to find anywhere else.

On Sunday night (yes, still the 3rd of July) we went down to the bay in Poulsbo and watched fireworks. It was our first fireworks display we had seen outside of the New Year’s Eve celebration in Bethel in 4 years. It was about the same as I remember it from 4 years ago. Not too exciting, really. But it was still fun. There were probably more people in the area we were in to watch the fireworks than the whole population in Bethel.

On the actual 4th of July we got to hang out with family again and shoot off some fireworks. It is always exciting to be near teenagers lighting explosives. Then we continued our holiday celebration on the 5th as well when we got to hang out with Luke’s family and play games and catch up some more. They were all excited to see Angela and it was exciting for us to see how much our Nieces and Nephew have grown.

The next day we ran a few errands and bought new phones so we could keep in touch with everyone. We had phones in Bethel, but there is a level of connectivity in the lower 48 that we forgot about I think. We don’t know that we like it, but it is a way of life I guess. Something about having email, texting, video and (of course) phone always in your pocket that makes you feel a little too available (even when you don’t want to be).

On Thursday we went car shopping with the crucial help of Angela’s brother Nicholas. He was indispensable in our search and steered us in the right direction. In the end we didn’t have any definite luck finding a car, but we got a good bite on it and think we will be able to find one early next week. We also got to see our first movie since returning to the lower 48. It was “Super 8” and we really liked it.

Friday morning we headed to the airport to fly to Las Vegas for our 6 year Anniversary. We got a really good deal, thanks to Angela’s diligence and expertise on travel deals, to stay at the Venetian for 3 nights. It was a great trip. The temperature all 3 days was in the triple digits so we got good tans (Luke’s was a tan/burn, but he was still pleased). We had a great Anniversary Dinner and got to see “The Phantom of the Opera” as part of our vacation package. Luke has been listening to the Play since he was in high school (he had a cassette tape he played in his car) and it definitely met his expectations. This was Angela’s second time seeing it, but she enjoyed it again with Luke. We got to relax a bunch and see one more movie before we left: “Kung Fu Panda 2” was a very fun movie and Jack Black is hilarious!

We are heading home (it is weird to think of Seattle as “home” again) on a plane now, looking forward to our next week. We plan on finally buying a car, seeing the last “Harry Potter” movie, doing some Europe Trip Planning and Finalizing and then getting ready to head to California for a couple weeks.