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San Juan Island 2006
We flew to San Juan Island after visiting friends and family in California for a week. This visit to the island was supposed to be all about laying tile, but the house wasn't quite ready, so instead we focused on fixing the stairs to Pingree Rock and eating and drinking. It was delicious.

Liam wanted me to take a picture of him and Charlotte on her first ferry ride (from Anacortes to Friday Harbor), but we left the camera in the car. I snuck down and got it, and then wandered around the ferry until I found them. I had to call out his name to take this shot, which caught the attention of someone we know.

Heidi, a friend of mine from work who just happened to also be visiting San Juan Island that day too!

Normal maybe if you live in Seattle, but we both live in Chicago. Weird.

Heidi was there on a vacation with her fiancé, Keith. She also has family in the area.

We got to the island in time to make dinner and smoke cigars, and then got up early the next day to start working.

These are the stairs about 70 percent done.

Here's a better shot of the house, and below is the stunning view over Hawk's Cove.

The weather was beautiful almost every single day we were there.

I'm sure there is a reason Liam took this shot of this little plane...so I am posting it like a good wifey.

:)

Most nights after work, we started the evening with drinks and apps down by the water. Afterwards, we would go up to the little house and eat a delicious dinner, followed by cigars and brandy, and then maybe chocolates and a movie. Why can't we live like this all of the time?

I was working hard. ;)

One night after dinner, I started bugging suzy because all of the archives for her Website are missing. She said they were there, just needed to be cleaned up and reposted. So we started looking at old postings from 1999 and 2000, and came across some funny stuff.

Here's suzy, laughing really hard, saying "I'm funny!" Apparently, she had no idea how hilarious her commentary is.

Liam finally finished the stairs! And then decided he had to do some more steps on the other side of the property. The second round was far easier because he used fir instead of madrone.

After a long and delicious week that also included a couples massage at Lavendera Day Spa, we finally had to leave.

Liam and I drove down to Seattle on friday and met up with Amanda who is getting her MFA at UW. I always seem to have photos of her in profile.

On the right, she's asking me why, why must i take a photo? she's so cute!

Mt. Rainier was out that day, but I don't think I could have captured a worse picture. Oh well.

We wandered around campus a little, checking out the Art School's open house and all the work Amanda's students are doing (way cool prof. hanlon!).

Then we decided to stop and get a cold beverage. We went to a little coffee shop and got iced chai, iced coffee and after much whining on my part, a smoothie. A smoothie that, as it turned out, was impossible to drink because it was so thick! Grr!!

I was very upset.

Amanda tried to cheer me up, and Liam tried to empathize.

After that, we drove over to Amanda's studio to see what she's been working on, which was also super cool. But booh, we had a schedule to keep so we said goodbye to Amanda.

Then Liam and I drove across town to visit with Haley, Rusty, Taylor and Barrett. They fed us dinner and hung out with us and let us sleep over. They were so sweet to us!

In the morning they made yummy omelets and French toast and then we all went for a walk in their neighborhood before Liam and Charlotte and I dashed to the airport. We got there just in time to catch our flight!

That night in Chicago, we talked suzy and hawky into letting us continue the vacation by treating them to Thai take out, a movie and a ride home to their apartment. It was a fabulous vacation!