Robert & Rachel: Catch up Post

During the months of July and August, Rachel and Rob kept themselves as busy as they could before Jude's blessed arrival. A few weeks ago, our very great friends, Katherine and Jerrod visited from Houston. Even as I write that, it sounds impressive. Thanks, Jerrod and Katherine, for flying across the country just to visit us for the weekend. We really miss you guys! It's always taking visitors around because we get to see all the best parts of Seattle over again. We saw Snoqualmie Falls, the underground tour, the Pink Door, Macrina Bakery and Bakery Nouveau, Pike Place market, and about half a dozen coffee shops.

The next weekend, Rob's sister Angela came to stay with us for a week. Again, we saw Pike Place market, drove around the area, she went to work with Rachel, and she spent a day at work with Rob (me). That Saturday, the Steele's came down from N. Seattle for a BBQ.

The next weekend, Rob and Rachel drove from Tacoma to Portland, picked up Chris and Jeanne, and drove down to Sunriver, Oregon. All on Friday afternoon! It was a long trip. Actually it reminded me how old I'm getting, and that in the future such a trip should be reserved for a 3-day weekend! But once we arrived at Sunriver (around 1am-ish ... thanks for driving Chris), we visited with about 30 relatives on Rachel's side, hung out in the hot tub, rode bikes, and breethed in fresh pine mountain air. I love that area of Oregon. I could definitely spend a couple of weeks rafting, hiking, and biking. As soon as Little Jude gets bigger, he and I shall do extreme sports together... oh yes, we shall...

Special props to Josh B. - the man of the day for two reasons. Most importantly, for bringing Rock Band, where I could karaoke and jam on a fake guitar, fake bass, or a semi-fake trap set. The whole time I jammed, I couldn't help but think of that one Guitar Hero episode of South Park. The other reason Josh was the man of the hour was because he left from Sunriver for Sacramento. Yes, we lost another Bellamy to a distant land. First Andy and Joanne to Tampa, and now Josh to Sacramento. Hopefully Josh will find his way back up to Portland in the next couple of years. But in the meantime, flights between PDX, SEA, and SAC are pretty cheap.

Angela came up from California to spend a week with us. Also shown is cousin Andrea