Benziger babes

Seth, Theo, Katie, JoAnn and John overlooking the Cascade Mountains from Mount Constitution on Orcas Island. Orcas Island, San Juan Islands Orcas Island is in the San Juan Islands and is one of our favorite places to visit in the greater Seattle area. We spent Labor Day weekend with the new grandparents - John and JoAnn - at a little cottage at Leiber Haven Resort. We spent most of the weekend relaxing: we watched the sail boats and ferries go by and made s'mores by our beachside campfire. We also managed to hike a few miles around Obstruction Pass State Park, go to the top of Mount Constitution on a perfectly clear day, kayak around Obstruction Island and see a few seals and Mount Baker, watch the L pod (a resident Orca pod that lives in the area) fish for salmon off San Juan Island, and see the beautiful wooden boats in the Deer Harbor Marina. Theo loved the motion of the ocean and slept the whole time in his "infant" life vest. Washington State Ferry f...

The Benziger Family - Theo, Katie, Kim, Bob and Seth Grandma and Grandpa Benziger came to visit last week and Grandma and Grandpa Pastorius are arriving tomorrow. This is the fourth grandchild in the Benziger family but it's been a few years since Bob and Kim were able to spend time with such a little one so they were very excited to come visit us!  The weather was perfect again last week so we wandered around the city a little and ate lots of great food. Kim cooked up some wonderful meals and Bob made me breakfast everyday. We visited the Ballard locks and salmon ladder (Theo and my third trip in a week but each time just as fascinating as the time before); we ate seven dozen $0.75 oysters at Elliott's Oyster House on Pier 56, visited the Canlis glass studio and Olympic Sculpture garden , took a tour of the Wing Luke Museum in the International District, ate dim sum and sushi, and visited the very cool LeMay car museum . I read that the spices in foods you eat get...

Seth went to Minnesota for the weekend to celebrate Art Errickson and Kate Bronson's wedding and so Theo and I had lots of quality time with various friends and family who came to help out! First, my Macalester friends and soccer teammates Annie Borton and Cara Goff came to visit for a few days from Portland and NYC, respectively. The last time we were together was in at my wedding in Costa Rica and before that was in the Peruvian Amazon (recall our blog entries: "Vamos a la selva" and "Four Blonds Take Peru" ). We had a great time visiting Ballard's Chittenden Locks and watching the King Salmon running in the fish ladder. They were also tagging some of the fish for research and watching these men with these HUGE 20+ pound fish was very entertaining!. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the Puget Sound admiring the Olympic Mountains at Golden Gardens. Then my sister Anne and my mom flew into town as they knew that Seth would be away and I woul...