Arrived in Germany

We arrived in Ingolstadt this morning. We were greeted at the airport by a very nice driver from the Audi company. The car we rode in to Ingolstadt was really amazing! I played with all the buttons and gadgets in the back seat. Our trip to Ingolstadt from the airport was pretty fast....expecially because we went 149 mph (not kidding) on the freeway....so pretty much we flew from Munchen to Ingolstadt.

Tim in front of the Ambassador Hotel

Street in Ingolstadt....I love Europe stone streets!

Our first meal in Germany....Wow!  It was fantastic!!!

This is what was left of the apple strudel.  I think it will be our mission to sample ever apple strudel across Germany and find the very best!  Such a tough job!

Tomorrow we will pick up our car and tour the Audi factory....Yippee!!!

Trip to Salt Lake

My father's sister passed away last week so I went with my parents to Salt Lake for her funeral.

Breakfast at McDonalds

This is McKenzie, my first cousin once removed....she is a cutie!

Mom and Dad at Trolly Square


An extra bonus of our trip was lunch with Chris and Emily (Spofford) Rogers, and McKenzie Spofford.

Eric's visit

I am catching up on my blog tonight.
These are memories of our trip to the Columbia Gorge last week when Abi's boyfriend, Eric Lein, visited Washington....

Columbia River view from Beacon Rock

Multinoma Falls

East Wind drive in Bonniville...great burgers and really big ice cream cones!

Abi and Eric

Abi picked up Eric at the airport this morning and as soon as they got home we whisked them off to downtown Portland for lunch at PF Chang's and browsing at Powell's book store.

Nice to meet you Eric!!!

It snowed one morning this week and it actually stuck to the ground.


The flakes were huge....about 3" in diameter. I have never seen anything like it before.

This weekend

We went to Seattle this weekend to deliver some IKEA shelving units to Tucker and Hattie. Abi came down and joined us for dinner and a few hours of shopping on Sunday.

Highlight photos from the weekend....

Found a store downtown Seattle that sells kilts that are made in the US.....this one was very interesting because it has a beer holder pocket.

Tim and I went to breakfast this morning at a place close to Tucker's office. Portage Bay Cafe has a fruit bar where you can "embellish" your pancakes and french toast....yummy! My pancakes were a piece of art!

Tim's french toast...


Tucker and Hattie took us to the Taphouse for dinner last night. The pub has hundreds of different beers on tap.

Beer samples

See the taps on the wall? Holy Cow!

The shelves constructed and installed.

Work in progress

So this is where all the sewing machines went..... These are all decoration for a clothing store in downtown Seattle. There are hundreds of sewing machines in the windows and in the store.

Sewing machines in the window....

Abi trying on a hat at Nordstroms Rack

Hattie trying on a belt with a huge buckel

Photo Hunt

A group of friends are doing a photo scavenger hunt. We have a list of "things to photograph". On the list....the Oscar Mayer car. And....the day we got back to Vancouver "the car" was parked outside of Fred Meyer Supermarket. Who would have guessed?

My second photo for the hunt.....# 7 on the list......something with a label "made in USA". Today we were in REI looking for a water bottle and I noticed they had "the label"!

Photos from our drive from Bellingham this morning.

Fog in the mountains....beautiful !

Just for fun....this photo was taken in our hotel that last week we were in Shanghai. The red wrapped packages were gifts for Chinese New Year.

Freedom to Blog!!!

Watch out....I am free to blog as much as I want and say anything I wish......Can I handle this freedom after 4 years of censorship? I think I can! I have a lot of catching up to do....

Moving day in Shanghai

They were pretty fast.....8 guys spent the morning boxing and packing our goods....then spent 1.5 hours loading it out of our building. I was pretty impressed because they could only use the small service elevator to take everything down 36 floors. Ask me how impressed I am when our shipment arrives in Vancouver. It is on the "slow boat" literally. We should see it again in 6 - 8 weeks.

Lunch with the gang in Shanghai at our friends bakery. If you get to Shanghai you must visit Nancy's Bakery on Wei Fang Xi Lu. I highly recommend her multi grain bread for breakfast and tomato fondue for lunch or dinner!

The picture on the wall of the girl drinking coffee is Xiao Zhang! She is so talented....can even be a model for photos.

Nancy gave us all a baguette for the road...they were just out of the oven...yummmy!

Spa Hair!!! My friend Paula and I had a spa day last week. My quilting group gave me a gift card to this spa for my birthday. AAAAAHHHHH.....it was heaven....three hours of pampering.

Before we went to the spa we had lunch at the Shanghai Tang Cafe.....look what was in our soup....

What is that you ask.....a chicken foot. The soup was good....I passed on eating the foot.

Saying goodbye to Julia Zhu, my friend at the jewelry market. Look at all those beautiful beads. I loved going to her shop and playing with the beads. If you are in Shanghai you must visit her....she is in the underground market below the Science and Tech center. Booth #B-12....like the vitamin.

Happy Birthday Shelly (to my left) and Karen (to my right). I will miss you guys!

Tim and Tucker at Tucker and Hattie's apartment. Tim is trying our their new chairs. Very Comfy!

Beautiful salad at the Book Bindery.

Happy Birthday Tucker!

Xin Nian Kaui Le

It is good to celebrate Chinese New Year in the US!

We were home for about 48 hours and then drove to Seattle and to Bellingham to see our kids. Both had birthdays recently....and now.....we are no longer parents of teens. Our baby turned 20 on the 1st day of Feb.

We got to see Hattie and Tucker's new apartment. They have a really cute place with an incredible roof top view of the bay. It was clear and sunny the day we were there so we could see the snow capped mountains everywhere we looked. Ahhhhhh......fresh air, blue skies....sooooooo nice!
We went to dinner at the Book Bindery to celebrate Tucker's birthday. A new resturant for all of us....it was really good!

Birthday cake by Paige....Abi's room mate. It was delicious and beautiful too!

Rachel, Abi, and Paige
Happy Birthday Abi

Like sister......like brother

Aren't they just adorable???