Did I mention that the four days my family spent with us were jam-packed?  This was inevitable, really, due to two combining factors- a) the fact that my dad and I are both chronic fidgeters and neither of us can ever stand still, and b) our house is way too small for 5 people to just chill out for very long.  So while the weekend was a bit exhausted, at least we got a lot of pictures out of it.

Saturday was July 4th.  Maybe it’s a result of having grown up so close to Disneyland that their nightly fireworks shows were not only visible from our front yard but annoyingly loud when we were trying to watch TV, but nobody in my family gets particularly excited by the idea of fireworks.  And Mike only likes fireworks when he’s the one lighting them, so instead of braving the crowds at GasWorks park, we decided to take a day trip to Whidbey Island instead.

Whidbey Island is a one hour drive and a 20 minute ferry ride from Seattle.  This really isn’t a long trip, but it felt a little long for me because I got to sit in the back seat the entire time, along with my mom and brother.  This was made extra uncomfortable by the fact that both of our cars only seat 4 people, so we made a makeshift middle seat in the back for my mom, who spent the whole trip sitting on a pillow on the center panel.

At least it made her taller than Michael and I for the first time in forever.

Our first stop on the island was for lunch in Coupeville, where I ate a gigantic bowl of mussels and we did some wandering.

We even made our way to the Coupeville Farmer’s Market, which I had high hopes for.  Quaint island town in Washington State in July?  I expected to see berries and cherries galore.  Unfortunately, even I’ll admit it was more like a flea market in the middle of somebody’s poorly maintained backyard than an actual farmer’s market.  The boys were not impressed:

Sans produce, we piled back into the car and made our way to Deception Pass.

Deception Pass is beautiful.  Not much else needs to be said.

We explored some of the shorter trails below the bridge.

Mike, my mom and I headed down to the beach below:

The water was cold:

By about 4:00 we were ready to head home.  It had been a long day:

Is that a giant insulated 96 oz Diet Coke in front of our house?  Well, that can only mean one thing- my parents are in town!

After living in Seattle for almost a full year, my family FINALLY made it up here for a visit!  Poor Mike had to suffer through 3 full days of all of us squished inside our tiny little house and almost as much time squished inside our cars- both of which, we discovered once we packed into either one, only comfortably seat 4 people.

So what did we do to keep the folks entertained?  Typical stuff really.  Some good eats, some tourist attractions, a long-ass drive to see a bridge, a trip to the beach (because my parents, who live in California, definitely don’t get to see the beach often enough) and a secret wedding.

For dinner Thursday night, we decided to eat at Pike Brewery in the market.  While we were figuring out how to get down there, I jokingly said that we could all take the bus downtown.  My mom was instantly thrilled by the idea of riding a bus for the first time in 35 years and thought it would be “fun.”

Yeah, that’s my mom video taping her bus ride.  At this point I was starting to regret the fact that we ever introduced her to the wonder that is the flip cam.

And then she stood up to get a better shot of one of us.  It was at this point that I instantly turned into a 14 year old again and kind of wanted to die.

My favorite thing about the Pike Brewery are their freaking amazing dinner rolls, which are made from spent grain used in beer making.  (It would have been awesome if I took a picture of said dinner rolls, but I was too hungry and ate them before I thought of that.)  The rolls are 50% of the reason I picked this place for dinner.  The other 50% was because I knew they didn’t serve Michelob Ultra Light, and I am on a personal crusade to expand my mom’s palate.  She was forced to drink their house-made light beer, Naughty Nelly, which she bravely chugged down, even if she thought it was a little too strong.  Evidently the change in flavor inspired her to branch out her culinary choices as well, and she ordered a Ceasar Salad with Dungeness Crab instead of her usual Ceasar Salad with Grilled Chicken.  I felt like I was watching my kid take their first step.

The next day we hit the market.  My mom got to see some fish get thrown and my dad got to stare at people.  I think they were both happy.

I was especially excited when I found what is obviously a secret room in the market where they keep rabid plastic pigs.

I was SO excited that I had to call somebody about it.

Ok, not really, I think I was on the phone with our new landlord.  But it would make a better story.

After lunch at the market (Three Sisters Bakery and Pike Place Chowder- yum!) my parents came with us to pick up the keys to our new place!  Then they took the requisite prom-style photos of us in front of it.

Finally, we capped off the day by dropping my family off at the Locks so that Mike and I could attend the secret kind-of elopement of one of my knitting friends.  Because it was a super small ceremony, she asked that nobody post public photos of the bridge and groom, but these detail shots (and a few of some guests) are too cute to not post.  I can’t wait until I get permission to post pics of the bridge and groom.

(I am wildly flapping my arms because I’m in the midst of defending my skirt, which our friend Shaun- the bizarrely tall person in the picture- likened to a “potato sack.”  I tried to explain to him that it was “deconstructed,” but Shaun is obviously a little slow when it comes to fashion and likes to chide me for wearing “silly outfits.”  It’s a good thing that I love his wife, Brooke, and his barbeque, because otherwise we’d have a problem.  Anyway, back to adorable wedding details:)

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Brooke noticed that a strange woman was hiding in the bushes video taping the entire thing.  When she alerted the group, I turned back to realize that it was my mom, who had obviously had enough of looking for salmon, and had not only found the secret wedding, but decided to capture it on video with her damn flip cam.  Priceless.

More recap of the rest of the trip, which included a mini-roadtrip, a really tall bridge, the overconsumption of cherries and a beach pilgrimage coming soon.

I love my parents.  I really do.  But whenever I spend more than 7 minutes with them, I am immediately reminded that they are crazy.  Usually I laugh.  Then I remember that this is probably a sign that one day I’ll be crazy too.  I mean, come on, I’m pretty sure that most people who know me will tell you I’m already halfway there.

First off, I’m always telling my dad that he needs a hobby.  The good news is that it seems like he’s found one and is taking it pretty seriously.  The bad news is that it consists of hording toiletries.

Now don’t go and get all worried that my dad is wasting his retirement on toothpaste and razors.  The whole point of this hobby is that everything you see here was completely free.  You see, he recently discovered this site and has been making the rounds at local CVS drugstores, combining coupons and collecting script he receives for certain purchases and amassing this half of a walk-in closet full of stuff.

The scariest thing is that he only started this 7 weeks ago.  Every Sunday morning he prints out a shopping list, clips coupons out of the newspaper and then makes the rounds to 4 different stores to collect his booty.

::sigh::

My mom, on the other hand, is just as crazy in her own right.  On Saturday afternoon she joined me for a hike in one of my favorite places in Southern California- Peter’s Canyon.

Peters Canyon is a great place for an easy hike if you live in Orange County.  It’s never crowded and has a couple of different trails ranging from three to seven miles.  It’s hiker and mountain bike friendly.  And it’s really pretty.  On a gorgeous day like Saturday, it made me really happy.

See the little dog at the bottom of the picture?  That’s Lucy, my parents’ Maltepoo, and definitely their favorite child.  We couldn’t go hiking without bringing Lucy, but bringing her out into the wilderness (which butts up to a fair share of McMansions) definitely showcases the fact that my mom may be a little TOO worried about her dog.

Not only is my mom carrying Lucy in this picture, she was also strategically positioning her hat to make sure that she didn’t get sunburnt.  Huh?  My mom carried her about 2 miles of our 4 mile hike because she was worried she might be tired.

The other weird thing about Lucy is that even though she’s a girl, she went through a phase where she would pee like a male dog- leg up style.  This concerned my mother so much that she tried to “train” Lucy to pee like a girl.  It didn’t quite work, but it definitely changed something:

Yeah, now she pees like she is doing an Eagle pose in yoga or something.  It’s bizarre.  Almost as bizarre as the fact that my mom tried to teach her the right way to pee.

I shouldn’t really judge weird peeing habits though.  This is a picture my mom took right after I went to pop a squat behind a storage building while we were hiking.  Hey, when you gotta go you gotta go.

If nothing else, I’m a lady.  A lady who one day will hoard freebies and worry about my dog getting sunburnt.  The upside of this scenario is that by then I will have a dog.

We just got back from a whirlwind tour of our friends and family back home in Southern California.  It was quick, but it was actually one of the least stressful trips back that I could imagine.  The weather, for the most part, was glorious.  GLORIOUS.  Friday and Saturday were both warm- high seventies to low eighties- and sunny.  After months of living in the arctic tundra up here in Seattle, I cannot tell you how good the warm sun felt on my skin.  And this coming from an honorary albino.  I’m not dumb- I loaded up on sunscreen- but I most certainly appreciated the warmth more than ever.

The first day back basically consisted of me being reminded of how incredibly random our lives our.  For starters, what started out as my typical morning run turned into a dog rescue.

Poor thing!  Just a few blocks from my parents house, I found this pathetic little dog running around in the middle of the street, almost getting run over by multiple cars.  He had a leash but no tags.  I didn’t know what to do really, so I grabbed his leash and rang the doorbells of some houses near me to see if they recognized him.  Sadly, nobody knew who he belonged to, so I took him home and found a no-kill shelter who would come take him.

After that little adventure, my mom took Mike and I down to city hall to take care of some paperwork on our house.  My dad got all excited when he saw Tom Daly, the Couny Recorder, in the office, so he came up with some excuse to go make smalltalk.

Yeah, my dad is a major dork.  Who knows what their county recorder looks like?  Who thinks it’s exciting to talk to them?  Who tells their daughter to post a picture of them talking to the county recorder on their blog?

After the joy that is beaurocracy we went to have lunch with Mike’s mom.  Of course, lunch with Mike’s mom is never your typical lunch.  Mike ended up getting solicitations for business advice regarding her latest idea, which somehow combines a health expo with a bikini contest (don’t ask), while she shared her newest skin cream with me.  Of course, she only told me the secret ingredient AFTER she had me rub it all over my arms and hands.  And the secret ingredient was fish sperm.  Awesome.

After chatting with my old co-workers and saying good-bye to Mike’s mom, Mike and I parted ways so that I could go get my hair done.  A little random, but my old hair girl had an opening and my roots were way out of control.

Hawt.  Too bad I forgot to take an after picture.  But it’s much redder than before.  It’s gloomy in Seattle- I need something bright to combat the grey.

That evening, my parents offered to barbeque for us.  A couple of our friends came over to feast on grilled chicken, carne asada, and lots of sides to make Mike happy.  The ability to cook and eat outside all year is definitely one of SoCal’s greatest virtues.

An recounted stories for us.  Mary was super interested.

Part of the meal included a huge platter of grilled veggies, which prompted Derek to eat zucchini for the first time ever.  After he thought about it for a while, he decided he liked the “burned vegetables.”

There was plenty of delicious food, which the boys dug into.

Mary and I dug into the wine.  (See the red hair?)

As the night wound down, my parents decided to really get the party started and tried to put their karaoke machine to use.  Yeah, my parents have a karaoke machine.  No wonder I married an Asian guy.

Thankfully, they couldn’t get the machine working, so we took the opportunity to take off before any singing started and went to the movies.  We saw I Love You Man.  It was eh.  But Friday was good.

Hi Orange County!!

We are here.  We are busy.  We are trying to get in face time with everybody we can.  Call me!

We got in at 6:30 on Saturday and were picked up by my awesome parents.  We ate dinner next to a bunch of cougars at Mahe in Seal Beach where I drowned in grilled halibut and au grautin potatoes.  Yum.  Then I begged them to stop at Pinkberry* where I indulged in yogurt goodness (I am SO happy they got rid of their nasty coffee flavor in favor of delicious Pomegranate.)  I also realized that I AM turning into my mom, as witnessed in this picture:

Pinkberry was just a warmup to the yogurt goodness that is Southern California- Yogurtland is what it’s really all about.  Oh yeah, and friends and family and Thanksgiving are good too.

* Note: I hope you clicked on the Pinkberry hyperlink and now have the “Pink-berry” song stuck in your head too.

Sometimes Mike (my Mike- I need to be specific in this because there are so many Mikes in my immediate family) gets frustrated with me because I always need to have things planned out in advance.  I like guidelines.  I like instructions.

Today, my dad sent us a bunch of caramels (from HookedonCaramel.com).  He also included instructions on how to eat the candies.

I wonder WHY i’m so neurotic.

Thanks Dad, we love you!

You know sometimes you have a moment where you are forced to realize that you have basically become your parent(s)?  This happened to me yesterday.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I really do have a lot in common with my mom.  We are both outgoing, we both talk wayyyyy too much, we are both a wee bit germaphobic (although my mom somehow combines that with actually being neat, whereas I am a total slob who is only reigned in by Mike’s love of things looking organized), and we both LOVE Splenda.  But I feel like these things are normal.  There are other, more ominous behavior patterns that we share that actually make me shudder.

So yesterday when we were talking and she told me that she hurt herself while WATCHING Michael Phelps win his butterfly event a couple of weeks ago, I laughed.  Then I shuddered.  Who the hell gets so excited watching something on television that they fall off a couch and hurt themself?

Oh yeah, that is totally something I would do.

Thankfully (and here’s another sign that we are the same person), she then took pictures of her injury and sent them to me:

Awesome.

She also sent me this picture, which has nothing to do with anything, but says a lot about my family:

My robotectomy, or “arm removal,” as my bff Mary calls it, was definitely the highlight of my trip back to Orange County this weekend, but I also was lucky enough to be able to see some of my favorite people back home.

On Wednesday, I hung out with my knitters, including Robert, aka Snarky Snark Snark:

I love all the knitters, but for some reason I only got a picture with Robert that night. Maybe it was because he gave me a present. I love presents.

On Friday, Mike and I had lunch with Mike’s Mom and I visited my favorite ex-coworkers.

Nancy (who smiles a lot):

warren (who hates pictures):

and Kris (these are the worst pictures I’ve ever seen of Kris. But I’d have better pictures of him if he’d put down his stupid Sidekick):

I also got to hang out with Mary, Derrick and Josie on Saturday. We had a loser-tastic Saturday night that consisted of watching the John Edwards interview Mary had Tivo-ed, ordering in Chinese rood and watching the Olympics (get it?):

And of course, I spent plenty of time with two of my favorite people ever, my parents:

You can see how happy my dad was to see me again:

I saw a bunch of other people I totally dig too this weekend, but these are the people I got pictures of. The rest of you will just have to come visit me if you want to make the blog