Pay for performance

Since Mason is on his second girlfriend of the year and hasn't been as forthcoming with info on this one, I may have offered a reward for pictures for any middle schooler who provided photos of the two of them in the same frame. $5 per photo, $10 max per person.

Here is just a sample - on the basis that full disclosure may violate whistleblower protectionism.

Colombia

From New York I had a chance to go to Medellin, Colombia. It was a place I had never been, and really never aspired to see. But I learned a ton and found the country to be very beautiful. It was a long trip, however, and a long time to be away from my kiddos when stacked on the backside of the New York trip.

And a zipline...

Sticky situation

Kenzie posing in front of the gum wall in Pioneer Square. (Didn't they just clean this off?)

Location:Gum wall, seattle

Customized weekend

While Cindy and I were in New York, Grammy came up and spent the weekend with Kenzie and Ermias. No pictures, evidently. (Grammy.) They had a great time. Ermi got to go tubing, but Kenzie had committed to a babysitting job, so duty called. Ermi loved the 1:1 time with his grandmother. What could be better?

And, for mason, what could be better than loads of potstickers, laying on Keegan, and private wrestling sessions with Eric? And tubing with the church group? Maybe if you add in fishing? Mason had a great weekend and looks forward to when we will go away again.

That's Keegan under him...

Our bestie is Vegas-bound

Lauren is moving to Vegas, at least for a bit. Which, of course, meant we  had to buy tickets to Vegas. It's so-long for now, but not long.

New York

I had my annual trip to New York and Cindy got to go this year! Our friend Janet joined us and Felix met us there! We had a great four days. I worked a couple of the days, but we had all the evenings. We saw a show, ate lots of great New York food and walked miles and miles.We also watched the Seahawks lose the playoffs.

Wrestling wrap

Mason wrapped up his first year wrestling with a near-perfect season. He lost only one match. This video captures his favorite move.

They had a final tournament and he took first place in his weight class, which happened to be 10 lbs. higher than the prior weigh in. He evidently ate very well while we were in New York. (Diane reported that he ate 22 potstickets at one sitting.) So he found himself with bigger boys near the end. He still went undefeated!

balance boards

One of the perks of my job is getting free swag, such as these balance boards. They have provided hours of entertainment and many near-miss trips to the ER. Stay tuned.

We're starting a cartoon

While Cindy attended our community meeting the boys and I decided to start our own rock band. But then we realized we can't sing or play instruments. So, we decided to start a cartoon.

Rough start

The waters were rough over in Port Townsend to start the new year.

Dawgs

Fun day at the UW women's basketball game.

Happy birthday Grandpa

Grandpa had a birthday and celebrated with lunch at Coho! Grandma recently got her new hip and is feeling much better!

2017

We had a really special New Year's Eve. We had planned a bonfire, but the wind started blowing super hard, followed by hail, that we decided to just play games inside. Then, as the clock got closer to 11 it got very calm, so Mason and Jaime went outside and built a bonfire. We all joined and started lighting fireworks. As we joined around the bonfire to welcome the new year, it started snowing! It was the first time we have seen snow on the beach and it was a magical moment. We toasted a bottle of Dom for the adults and cider for the kids, and said "cheers" in whatever languages we knew.



And, of course, we did the annual Polar Bear Plunge! (Well, some of us sponsored it and some of us froze.)