Aug 2008

We are coming to the end of our first Seattle stay. We spent some quality time with my sister, Sarada, her husband, Krish and my newest niece, Lahari. It was also nice time to visit Seattle. Even though it rained pretty heavy couple of days we were here and got gloomy, just to remind us there are other seasons here. It was glorious when the sun was out and the flowers are in full bloom.

We visited our long time friends Marshalls in Bremerton across the Pueget Sound. The boys were pretty thrilled to go on the ferry across the Sound. We had a great time in Bremerton with all the Marshall clan - their daughters and families; Susan's brother and sister-in-law. One the highlights of this visit was the time we spent on the Kitsap lake.

The kids in the tube ready to be tugged

Out on the lake

Kim gave all boys a ride on the Seedoo

We explored a few parks around the Redmond/Bellevue areas, Picked blueberries in a blueberry farm, went to Seattle downtown, did a hike in the Tiger Mountain park; cooked and ate a lot.

Visit to downtown seattle, Pike's Place Market

Thane was very good in entertaining his little cousin Lahari

Rock climber Thane

Death by Chocolate cake baked by Sharu for Krish's Birthday

Celebrating Krish's Birthday and eagerly awaiting the cake

Lahari posing for Thane

We are heading into Canada tomorrow. And so may be a while before our next entry.

As expected, exercising has been a big hassle on this trip. One of the main problems was - not knowing the area well enough to run. Tomasz bought me a small pepper spray bottle, which I carry around when I go for a run to ward off wild beasts and evil men. So far, thankfully, I didn't have to use it much. So it was a great relief to be in Seattle. My sister lives in a beautiful neighborhood. The trails and roads around her house have been explored during my runs. I also have found a Yoga studio near her house and have been to yoga several times. Now that we are off to Canada in an motor-home, not sure how much work-outs I will get.

This morning Tomasz wanted me to join him on a run in the woods close to my sister's place. This run had all elements of the Mud Run that we signed up to do San Diego in October but will miss it. First of all, to get the trail in the woods, we had to get across the residential complex and get on a path. But since it was pretty early in morning, the fence gate to get on the path was locked. Tomasz, not to be deterred, wanted to jump over the 8ft fence and asked me to go first. Of course that wasn't my idea of exercising, and so I put up a bit of a fuss to climb over, but eventually got over. After me, Tomasz did it in one smooth move. I had to hear about all the fuss I made for the rest of our run.

Next, came a dip and a uphill that rivals Mt. Rainier (of course, I am exaggerating, only a bit). Then we got to the actual woods, which are called Bridle Trails State Park - and as the name implies it is used frequently by horseriders. And you can imagine what all those horses leave behind in their wake. These were the next set of obstacles I had to overcome. In addition, it had rained pretty heavy yesterday and the path was quite muddy at places (that's where it becomes the mud run). To top it off, the woods were pretty dark and one can get disoriented in the inter-connecting trails. And still Tomasz comments how beautiful and romantic it is in the forest, and all I was thinking was how to step over the next horse poop and make a mental note of which trail we just took. We succeeded in running to one end of the forest and found our way back out. And then as we headed back up and down the crazy hill, I prepared myself to do another fence jump, hoping this time would be more graceful. Luckily, the gate was now open.

After all that was said and done, I do have to agree with Tomasz that it was certainly a beautiful run and pretty unusual.

Today was haircut day and it wasn't just the boys ... Gouri practiced on Thane and then turned her shears on me. Overall things went well except for a few deep gouges around my ears. Gouri says that those are grooves designed for my glasses to fit better but I'm not sure anyone will buy that story. In any case, she made me feel better by saying I look like Steve Jobs now.

Project has begun!

Apprehensive?

Almost there

Here's finished product - not too bad!

More photos of our Seattle stay are at http://picasaweb.google.com/sdjohannsens/SeattleStay