Birthday Weekend!

 My birthday this year was great, as usual. You really can't go wrong with a birthday on Valentine's Day:) Brad and Charlotte brought me breakfast in bed with some beautiful tulips and notes written on paper cranes. Brad had class after that, but we left when Brad came back from school for Orcas Island. Charlotte spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Gerhardt. Brad is really the most thoughtful person and recreated a lot of the memories and writing from when we got engaged at Orcas Island four years ago. It was a gorgeous day and we had a long wait at the very full ferry terminal, which we didn't mind.

 Brad made reservations at a beautiful hotel on the Rosario resort on the island. The view was breathtaking. You could see the sound and the islands. It was a very clear day when we got there too, so we could see the stars and the full moon out. There was a little waterfall next to where we stayed too, and we could hear the sound of water from our room. We hiked up a little trail behind the building which went by the waterfall and up to the lake. It was beautiful, but the trail was straight uphill. It was killer! We made it though, and it was flat for a while at the top.

 There was a thin layer of ice on the water from all the cold weather for the last few weeks. Yikes. The first day was much warmer than the second.

 This is the view from the tower at the top of Mt. Constitution on the island. It was overcast, but it was just high enough for us to see the mountains and mainland in the distance. This is where Brad proposed.

 Spring crocuses!

Seattle Ferris Wheel

Brad and Jen went up on the Ferris Wheel downtown after we had an amazing meal of salmon. It was the freshest salmon I had ever had. We even had a table by the window and saw a salmon jump out of the water! These are a few of the pictures from the ferris wheel. We didn't take a picture of the ferris wheel, though, so you can google it or look at our other Seattle posts:)

Chihuly Glass Exhibit

We've been by the Chihuly glass exhibit downtown a number of times, but have never made our way in. When it first went up last year, you could see some of the sculptures through the hedge, but that hedge is really growing this year and blocking my view! So we decided to go in with our friends Marie and Jen. It was so worth it! The sculptures were amazing. Charlotte had just gotten up from a nap and wanted to be held the whole time, so it was great. She would have been all over that glass at any other time... Now for glass sculpture overload (and these are only a few of the pieces. It really was a lot to take in)

Seattle

We had some friends come into town this week. It was fun to show them around Seattle. Charlotte begged to have her shoes off so that she could run through the water dripping down. It looked clean enough:) She had a blast.

Petrified Ginkgos

We have had a very busy couple of weeks around here. After my last day of work, we celebrated Labor Day unemployed and took off for Montana. On our way we found this awesome petrified ginkgo forest. I guess the forest was covered with lava years ago and there are petrified stumps all over. It was really cool. We picked up a piece from the local gem shop and went on our way. Charlotte was definitely grateful for a chance to stop and stretch her legs.