She's the one in front of the tall blond girl. I think her form is just amazing! And that back bend!

This year was a blast. Aidan, as I said was Harry Potter. Gillian on the other hand, was all about the Vampire this year. Not some pretty vampire either. The girl wanted to do it more Goth style. I think she looked rather amazing! You gotta love a kid that just goes for it!

On Saturday night, we were invited to Steve and Lisa's for a Hallowe'en/birthday party. It was a fun night as well. All were dressed in interesting costumes. Our amazing hosts are pictured below as Axl Rose and Slash!!! Awesome.

Aidan lost his first tooth the Eve of his birthday. If that wasn't exciting enough, two days later he lost his second! A third tooth is now loose as well!

I still can't really believe it. I mean he's in 1st grade and everything. Yes I'm sure I had him only yesterday!
This summer I started reading the kids the Harry Potter books. Aidan was hooked immediately. Imagining himself in every part of the book as though he was Harry. No surprise that for his birthday (and Halloween), it had to Harry Potter related. I have a great friend Deb who is more fanatical than anyone I know! She was a huge help with pulling his party together. I was also lucky enough to have the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center open on the day of his party so as luck would have it, I hosted his party at the Pacific Science Center. The kids arrived in robes for their Hogwarts Classes. Everything from Defense Against the Dark Arts, to Transfiguration, to Potions and Herbology (hosted by none other than Professor Snape) and Divination (hosted by Trelawney of course!). Aidan and all the kids had a blast. His cake turned out great (the Nimbus 2000 broom I made out of fondant!)

The "family photo" includes myself (Deputy Head Mistress for the day, Aidan as Harry, Gillian as a Hogwarts student, Jeff as Professor Snape -dig the wig, and Deb as Trelawney). After the party, we all headed to the exhibit which was amazing. I actually will head back with Deb to do the audio tour since it's hard to look at everything when you're counting 11 little heads every 5 minutes out of shear terror of losing one!

And as you can see, Snape dad made an appearance as well :)

Okay so the last set were pictures of Mt Rainer and the view on the Paradise side. You basically get to hike up Mt Rainier. On the Sunrise Side, you get to appreciate the mountain from afar (or close however you look at it). One of my best friends from medical school came out for a visit in October and we stole a day away to venture to Mt Rainier. It was a perfect day! The first pic is of John at the beginning of our hike. You gotta love being up in the clouds.
The second pic was a lake we passed and managed to walk the circumference. It was so peaceful. The third picture was from the look out point looking down in the valley between our location and the base of Mt Rainier. Unbelievable. I think it's hard to appreciate how high up you really are. John on the other hand could....I didn't realize he has a thing about heights...oops!

In the fourth picture, you can get a sense of the vastness if you look closely to the left side of the picture, yes that's John walking the trail...again I swear I didn't know he had issues with heights. He was pretty quiet on that part of the hike. I think he's forgiven me though, right John?!

While Jeff's parents were here for a visit in September, we took a drive to Mt Rainier National Park to go on a hike. It was a little cloudy that day so some of the views were not as spectacular as I've seen them in the past but it was still worth it. We were happy to see a deer just off our train upon descent. Wasn't too worried we were so close. Was too busy eating all the berries.

Okay so clearly that was quite the hiatus from blogging! Needless to say life has been a little busy. I'm sure you don't need all the boring details :)

I originally started the blog to document a 1 year commitment to exercising 6 days a week for a year...so I got off track for short period, not long, but am back and enjoying a mix of running, cycling and hot yoga! Ya Baby! My new addiction.
Anyway, in the spirit of updating people I thought I'd spend some time posting some pics of what I have been up to.
This first set is thanks to a great gift from my in-laws for my 40th birthday (yes 40!). Not older, just better :)
I was given tickets to the Dave Matthews Concert at the Gorge in Eastern Washington. It was amazing. The weather was beautiful and the views on the trip home were beautiful. Driving my Mini Cooper S along those windy roads!