Simpsons in Seattle

This year marked what will hopefully be a new holiday tradition — crabbing and fishing for our thanksgiving feast! Scott took Edmond and Kathy through the Ballard locks and out into Puget Sound to fish for flounder and denginous crab.  After waiting a few hours at the locks for a some big tugs to get through we got our turn. Out on the sound it was very calm, but very cold. Bundled up we baited crab traps and threw out a few squid baited fishing lines next to our crab traps off of Magnolia point in about 25 feet of water.  Scott caught a tiny sculpin and a few decent sized flounder fish (if you aren’t familiar they look like a small halibut ) while Kathy and Edmond pulled up 21 crab. We spent the night on the boat at the local marina but were snuggly warm with the boat heater plugged into shore power. After fishing for a couple hours in the fog we headed back and prepped dinner for a few additional friends who drove up to see the Wongs. We lucked out with good weather, hopefully next y

Wow, we've neglected this blog quite a bit! So much to catch up on including Thanksgiving but since Scott will post about that, I'll just catch you all up on everything else!  A few weeks back we did a Seattle day where we explored around some old places we haven't been to in a while and also explored a few new ones that have been on our list. First, we took a stroll around Greenlake and it was super chilly and brisk but also nice! That neighborhood has changed so much since we left! Then we went up the hill and had brunch at Pete's Eggnest, which was a local brunch place that we used to walk to from our old house in Phinney. Then we drove over to Ballard and ducked into the shops and perused around. So many fun things to look at including a shop that my old co-worker opened recently! Then we headed to Wheelie Pop Brewing for an afternoon snack and to try their beer before heading back home. It was a nice day out exploring Seattle! Greenlake selfie hot chocolate at Pete

Last weekend we were down in the Tacoma/Olympia area and decided to do a quick drop in to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. This has been on my list of places to check out for a while and I'm so glad we went! It was a really nice stroll (about a mile and we didn't go the whole way out) on a sunny day and we saw some birds and an river otter. Next time, we'll bring binoculars so that we can take our time doing some birding.  

It's been a minute since we last posted an update, probably because we've been pre-occupied with our new furry family members! And yes, you read that right - members with an "s" because we got not one, but TWO, cats!  Little Charlie is a great cat that loves hanging with us, but was so talkative (read: meows a whole bunch) and playful (read: always wanting attention) that we figured he needed a pal! That lead us to getting Penny Pancake!  Penny (formerly known as Mary Ann) is a torty shell cat that we adopted from a shelter when she was about 2.5 months old. It took a while for her and Charlie to acclimate to one another but now things are going great! She's shy at first but after she gets to know you, she's both so cuddly but also feisty and fearless and super curious about everything. She is quite the instigator and will bop Charlie on the head to play.  Here's some more pictures of our new furry kids! First cuddles with Mary Ann at the shelter! Little g

 After many many months of waiting, doing a ton of cat research and saving money to pay for cat gear, the girls finally got to pick up their new pet: Charlie Chip Simpson!  The trip to get him was quite the trek - it took me 1.5 hrs to drive down to Tacoma to pick him up from the foster family who was taking care of him. He immediately took a liking to the girls and actually was super curious and crawled right into the cat carrier too. He was very vocal and meowed a lot in the car but was basically a really good boy. In fact, he's been a really great cat so far - he's very talkative and very needy. He wants to play and be scratched all day long. It can get very tiresome during the day when he wants to hang out on my keyboard or scramble around the desk and my chair while I'm on calls! The girls love loving him and chase him around or pick him up all the time, and considering how much that must be a nuisance, he's super patient with them.  So far, everything is good! So

Last weekend I had a chance to do a long-awaited girls trip with my tribe of HS friends! It was such a fun weekend to reconnect with them since the last time we got together was pre-pandemic when we had a lovely time enjoying Palm Springs . This time, we chose to explore Santa Fe mainly because it was a destination that was a short flight away and not a place that any of had been to before! I flew out late late Thursday night and met Way at the airport in Albuquerque. We stayed at a hotel nearby, and then spent Friday exploring ABQ. We walked around the lovely little square in old town Albuquerque, drove around and checked out the city a bit, including the Rio Grande, and went to the Albuquerque Museum. After that, we picked up Becca from the airport and since Sayo's flight was delayed, we stopped to grab a drink at the upscale food hall Sawmill Market. We finally grabbed Sayo around 6pm and then boogied over to Santa Fe (about an hour's drive) to make it in time for our dinner