Happy Birthday Mom!

My husband tells me I'm a Mommas boy - and to that I say, yes I am and good for me! I still call my Mom once a week and today when I call I get to wish her a happy 71st birthday! She has always been accepting of me and encouraged me to be who I am and to reach for the stars! She is awesome!


My Mom once jokingly said I was the apple of her eye. I like thinking I'm the apple of my Mom's eye. This picture was taken in an apple orchard a couple years ago when we all gathered in the eastern part of Washington state for my nephews wedding.

So here's to you Mom! Happy, Happy Birthday! I love you! Oh and I'll call you later!

Love,

Jim

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Key West

Although we are back to the cool and wet weather of the pacific northwest our hearts and minds are still in Florida!



I wanted to share a few pictures of the trip. The picture above was taken while we were having dinner at Latitude, a Caribbean restaurant on a little island off Key West appropriately called Sunset Key.

We stayed at Big Ruby's Guest House and had a great time and meet some wonderful people.















We loved Big Ruby's and met some really nice guys. Two of our favorites were Jonathan and Paul, two friends from the Boston area. Both really sweet nice guys!


This is a picture of the two of them on our last morning in Key West and Kent and I that morning as well.



We went out three nights in a row to a club called The Bourbon Pub. It was a fun club with a pool in the back. My first clothing optional bar/pool experience!














We took a floatplane out to the Dry Torgugas which was a lot of fun.














I got to sit up front with the Pilot in the cockpit on the trip back which was amazing! The pilot was pretty cute so that helped too!

Rented mopeds which were a blast!


I'll post a few more pictures in a separate post. Great trip!

Later - Jim

Miami

Made it to Miami and can I just say - it's freaking nice here! It's in the low 80's with a nice breeze, a far cry from the wet cloudy weather of Seattle - especially this spring!

Met up with a couple of colleagues at the Atlanta airport and flew into Miami together and shared a cab to the hotel.

We are staying at the Epic Miami. It's very nice and a great location.






I'm here for a Reclaiming Futures National Conference which is always a great experience. I've known many of the folks and been involved for nearly 10 years now. I always learn something new and enjoy meeting with colleagues from across the country. I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity as a part of my professional career. Kent will be joining me on Thursday and we will drive down to Key West for a few days - I am really looking forward to his arrival and our time in Key West.

Of course the first thing I did was change into running clothes and go for a run!


It was a bit warm but I managed to cover 10.5 miles. I was not planning on taking any pictures along the way but I could not help myself! So thought I'd share a few.


Beautiful sunset.



I noticed that when I was running that the sun was going down in front of me and that the moon was full behind me. Amazing evening!




Then had a quick dinner and took a few more shots on the way back and around the hotel.












Headed to bed now - big day tomorrow!

Later - Jim


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Sylvia's 80th Birthday Party

When Kent wrote "Happy 80th Birthday" on the card we gave his mother it really hit me! Our parents are getting up there in age! This past weekend we went over to Wenatchee where Kent grew up and had a party to celebrate 80 years on this earth. It was great fun and filled with family and friends.

I had a 20 mile training run to do on Saturday so I got up and did some hill work by running 4.5 miles up Badger Mt. Rd. And then did the usual route on the Apple Blossom Trail along the Columbia River.



We decided to have the party at Sylvia's house. This is before the party guests arrived.


Just in time for a little relaxation time before everyone arrived!



Kay (Kent's sister) is going through some pictures for the picture boards that he and his sister put together.



They put together three boards of various pictures covering the past 80 years! It was a lot of fun listening to them laugh talk about family memories.


I love this picture of Kent! What a ham! And he is so cute! I would have been all over him! He was 21 years old in this picture - this was taken at the rehearsal dinner for his sisters wedding.


Picture of the Birthday girl!


Kent and his Mom - brother-in-law Tony in the background.



Happy 80th Sylvia!


Cheers to the birthday girl!



Our niece Kara and her cousin Whitney.


Guests listening as Sylvia reads birthday cards.


And finally no party would be complete without a few of my famous self portraits! Kara and me.


Me with Kay and Tony.


Finally Harriett and I and at the last second Kent popped his head in the shot!



A great time was had by all! Have a great week. I'm headed to Miami for a few days for work and Kent will fly down on Thursday so we can get some rest, relaxation and most importantly some sunshine in Key West! Looking forward to it!

Later - Jim

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Happy Mother's Day

First - Happy Mother's Day to our Moms! We hope you both had a great day and know that we appreciate you everyday and that you are loved!

It was a very busy weekend - we went to Wenatchee for the Apple Blossom Festival and Mothers Day. While there we took in the parade and the festival in the park and ran in the 10k Apple Blossom run. I ran my fastest 10k to date in under a 7 minute mile! Although I've not seen the official results I came in about 15th place and for the first time I actually placed 2nd in my division. It was a lot of fun and although I enjoy running marathons it was really nice to be done with a race after 6.2 miles as opposed to 26.2! What a difference 20 miles makes!

I had an 18 mile run to complete on Sunday. It's so nice to run in Wenatchee - there's a nice paved loop trail along the river.

Here is a map of the run that I'm able to copy from the Nike Plus App.



I took the following pictures while out on the run this morning and thought I'd share a few.

























I hope you enjoy!

Have a great week!

Jim

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