Painting the fence

 

Lounging in the backyard

Memorial Day was spent in the backyard -- sawing a wine barrel in two, spreading mulch, playing on the swings, trimming, deweeding, and painting the fence with water. (By the way, these two poor looking kids do have a nice new outdoor wood furniture set. But they were cooperative enough to pose briefly in route to the nearest watering bucket.)

San Gregorio State Beach

On Sunday we packed the sand toys and lunch before heading to San Gregorio State Beach just south of Half Moon Bay. The crowds were out, of course, but we found a secluded section of beach surrounded by driftwood and proceeded to bury each other waist high in sand. Nate proudly learned how to jump off logs by himself and Julie kept standing on perches before pointing to the camera (future fashion model?) Heading back home, we opened the sun roof and found a one lane mountain road that took us from the beach to the top of Skyline Boulevard.

On Caltrain Saturday

While Gina had a Saturday respite (haircut and lunch w/her mom), I took the kids on a much-anticipated Caltrains ride down to San Jose. Nate's reaction: "This is the fastest train I've even been on. It's super strong." Thanks to Google Maps I located a nice park a few blocks away from the San Jose train station. We found the slides and rode a carousel, Nate's first time sitting alone. After a walk along the riverfront where we found some neat sculpture seats, we headed back. There wasn't great signage and I made the kids walk back & forth the tracks, and after 15 minutes Nate turned to me and said "Dad, you're wiping me out." Luckily we were in our seats and headed back a few minutes later. 

Spring 2006 Trip - Snohomish / Seattle

Our first all-Dawson family group photo.

Gina and I packed the kids and headed up to the northwest for a little week-long vacation and quality time with the family. We ended up pretty exhausted each day, but we wouldn't have traded the time for anything. Link to photo album below. Here's an abbreviated list of where we were:

• Nate eagerly waiting the plane ride
• Alaska flight to SeaTac
• Snohomish stay with Grandpa and Grandma
• Picnic at Chateau Ste Michelle
• Relaxing in Snohomish
• Ferry ride to Bainbridge Island & great kids park
  
• Fremont neighborhood in Seattle
• Greenlake
• Pike Place Market
• West Seattle
• Hotel room in Alexis
  
• Snohomish family get together (most pictures)
• Uwajimaya
• Woodland Park Zoo
• New Seattle library (not pictured, ran out of battery. But wow!)
  

Here's the Photo Album

(thanks Patty, for use of your FTP server!)