Last weekend Alicia's parents came to town for Thanksgiving. They planned a trip to Vancouver, B.C. that Alicia and I joined them on. It was great fun. We ate amazing sushi and NW seafood. We saw the Olympic First Nations statue and the Granville market. We visited Stanley Park and the totem poles there - along with a great view across the bay to downtown. We also drove up to Whistler to see the Olympic preparations. It was a beautiful drive, especially the way home when the rain cleared a bit. Here is a picture of Alicia with the Olympic mascots Sumi, Miga Quatchi, and their sidekick Mukmuk. We also stayed in a cool condo in Yaletown with awesome views of the nearby city. Great weekend. I took the Cascade train home Sun. night.

Last week Alicia and I were both feeling under the weather. And the weather has been dark, gray, rainy and cold. So to brighten the soggy early winter in Seattle we lit our fire for the first time. I was super fun and warm. There's nothing like hanging out by the fire and enjoying life. Although in our new house Alicia was not as brave about shoving huge amounts of wood into the fire to make it giant (like in Aspen and other fire locations). It was a great time and the first of many warm fires during the dark winter. ps - sorry my photos are blurry, but it is a great picture of Alicia.

Oct. 11, 2009 - We had an awesome time reclaiming our side yard tree. It is probably a giant bush actually, but once we were finished it looked very tree-like. At first I thought it would be a chore, but it turns out sawing huge branches off a giant tree is quite satisfying. After two weeks we've nearly gotten rid of all the "yard waste" in our weekly city pick up.

By the way, the lettuce garden that Alicia planted is still going strong, no frost in Seattle - just rain. Oh wait, its protected by our warm house Alicia says. But I'm still pretty sure it hasn't been in the 30s here.

In other news, we ran a fun 10k, the 24th annual Dawg Dash. Tons of fun on a beautiful fall day running through the UW campus, ending/beginning on the Husky stadium field.

We also had a fun house warming party this last weekend. All our friends came over and many delicious pizzas were made. We got lots of fun ideas on our brainstorming poster. Alicia put together a beautiful craft project to make a welcome sign for our house. It is a series of tiles and lots of people at the party painted one. Photos to come when it is finished.

The chimney people come on Fri. Then we can have fires!

Well, I survived my wisdom teeth removal. Alicia took very good care of me with tasty foods and driving me home when I was silly and loopy after surgery. I watched a lot of tv and slept.

And yesterday we went to a few yard sales and picked up a push mower and cordless electric weed wacker. Alicia loves the weed wacker and has gone on two dandelion attack missions. Here is a cute photo of her trimming with our new power tool. I also mowed the lawn, though it is hard to tell.

We also went to the final Mariners game of the year, which was beautiful. It was a great game, they won and the weather was amazing - super sunny and warm. Here's to a good fall!

It's Emily. I've hijacked the SuperHenry blog because it hasn't been updated in a really long time. Aunt Susan this post is for you!

Catch up time: since the last posting Alicia + Brian have been on vacation, gotten a Costco membership, enjoyed the PacNorthwest by hiking and camping, inherited 35 pounds of free range beef, Dragonboat festivals, planted a veggie garden, triathlons (yeah Alicia kicked major ass!) and who knows what else. I'm here for the weekend - a much needed break from work. The new house is amazing, super cute and just perfect. A lot of space, open rooms and lots of light. Alicia and I did a bike tour of Seattle on Saturday while Brian brought home the beef. It was so fun and such a cool new way to see the city and discover new places. We hit all the best bakeries, book fairs, Space Needle and of course Anthropologie - you know what a shopaholic Alicia is! I had to tear her away from the stores. We've eaten a dozen cupcakes (I know they are going to be scarce in Brussels), played with Alicia's hair, taken mass transit, drank 16 cups of coffee (we're wired!) and sat on the back porch a whole lot. And yes Brian's beermaking ability continues to improve while his dancing still needs a little help. Here are some pics from our weekend. Fun times. Love you guys!!

The Garden

We have plenty of space for a garden.

Here's our progress so far:

• Megan H gave me pumpkin starts. They're in the back yard, near the garage. I dug up a previous old garden. The soil quality isn't very good. But the pumpkins are growing! Well, no pumpkins yet, but the leaves are healthy.
• I created a little garden in the front. I dug up the mulch and black weed tarp underneath for a small section. Lettuce and kale are starting to sprout.
• Behind the porch, a small retaining wall, built with old cedar logs, was falling apart. I built a new wall with untreated spruce. It'll be my herb garden (on top are my starts).

Any other advice for a PNW garden?

We bought a house! It's in the neighborhood of Maple Leaf- north of Green Lake (505 NE 94th for the google savvy).

We moved this weekend and had a few people over to celebrate

Here are a few photos. More to come as we clear the boxes...