Spring has Sprung!

Joe went to Knoxville, TN this weekend to run a half marathon with his highschool buddies Randy and Jason. He ran it in 1 hour and 48 minutes. What a stud! I've spent a lot of time in the yard since the weather was gorgeous. I planted marigolds in the front.
Here's a picture of the slate path that Joe and I put in last summer. Bunker and Pinky were outside with me the entire time and Bunker didn't even try to escape.
Here's a picture of Joe's raised bed garden, he planted squash, peppers, and peanuts this year.

Here's a picture of my butterfly garden... I planted some annuals but we will have to wait a month or so for it to be pretty (it was spectacular last year).

Another view of the pathway and Jane Magnolia tree. We are experimenting with a topsy turvey tomato planter.

This is how the back patio turned out. I planted some Zinnias in the brick planter.

I have to show everyone Bunker's appreciation for all the boxes you've been sending Jessica.

Working in the yard can sure fuel an appetite...

Thanks for the cute outfit Aunt Megan!

Something else besides spring has sprung... my belly!

We are 26 wks and 3 days now. Jessica is kicking, bumping and squirming almost constantly. Joe coined a new term for when she's really being a spitfire and makes my whole belly shake: a JessiQuake. Next Weekend we will have some real 3D pictures of Jessica so stay tuned.

New Crib & Surprise Packages

We have to show off our new crib, we put it together ourselves. It matches our bedroom furniture perfectly.

Here's a side view. Lady sent us a surprise package with some very special goodies. This pink Vols blanket was in the package (it's really soft).Lady and Paw Paw got Jessica her very own baby book.Lady went shopping and found some really cute outfits:

Joe likes this Tshirt because it is the real school colors, so he and Jess will match while they watch football together.I love this little outfit because it has "Smokey" the team mascot.
There are little adorable Panda bears on this outfit.
Cousin Kathryn sent us some outfits she has outgrown.

The rainbow outfit has butt ruffles :)

Joe got Jessica her first toy. It plays 18 different songs and the wings light up. We had fun playing with it.

Bunker is inspecting the travel changing pad that Aunt Ruth and Uncle Larry got us.

Megan also sent us a bottle warmer, some bottles, and a wipes warmer, thanks Aunt Megan!

Oh, Say Can You Seattle

We decided to sneak in one more vacation before the baby arrives and since we couldn't do our favorite thing, a cruise, we decided to check out Seattle. Remarkably, we only had one day of drizzle the whole week and the skies were clear with great visibility. Usually, March is the ugliest, rainiest month in Seattle.

Our first night in town, we took a stroll through the University of Washington campus and happened to come across a quad with tons of cherry trees in bloom. It was quite a nice surprise. The fallen blossoms looked like snowflakes as they swirled around the ground.

The next morning we hopped in our car and headed south to Olympia. Joe wanted to check another state captiol off his list and a sixty mile drive was not gonna stop him. We got a private tour from a very enthusiastic tour guide and the capitol was actually very pretty.

After the capitol we headed back up to Seattle to spend the afternoon walking around.

We visited the conservatory. This picture doesn't really do the flowers justice.Then we headed down to the waterfront and visited Pike Place Market. We walked through the endless maze of shops and food stands. I had a bowl of smoked salmon chowder and Joe had a turkey sandwich.

There was a giant pig, the market's mascot, out front so we figured it must be photoworthy.

I'm sure everyone has heard of the people who throw fish back and forth at this market. We didn't get any pics of them actually throwing them, but we did get to sample some of their smoked salmon. We almost bought some but Joe reassured me he could make some that was equal to or better than what they were selling.

That night we decided to head up to the top of the Space Needle. It is 520 ft tall and has a revolving restaurant and an observation deck at the top.

We got a great view of the city and Mount Rainier...and a decent sunset.

The next morning we headed back downtown for more sightseeing. We visited the Museum of Science Fiction and the Experience Music Project. We also headed back over to Pike Place Market in search of the famous gum wall. There was supposed to be a wall that was covered in people's chewed up bubble gum.

And we found it

Making a contribution to the arts

I had a pregnancy craving and gum sounded really good to me...

That evening we went on an underground downtown tour to learn a little bit about the seedy side of early Seattle. We walked underneath the sidewalks in the old part of town and heard all about Seattle's sinful past... lots of puns thrown around in the tour. My favorite part is when they turned out the lights and told us how dozens of people had been killed down there.

Our final day was a little less hectic. We started off the morning with a nature walk.

We saw Husky Stadium which, according to Joe, is the only other major college stadium in the country that is on the waterfront besides Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

There were ducks that were more than happy to eat our leftover airline snacks.

We then headed over to the Chittenden locks to watch boats move from Lake Washington to Puget Sound.

Our last big adventure involved taking a 35 minute ferry ride to Bainbridge Island. We got some really great views of Seattle and the Olympic Mountains from the ferry. Oddly enough, I had the best clam chowder I've ever eaten in my life on this ferry.

The picture below was taken from someone's driveway on Bainbridge. Literally a million dollar view.

Other pics you might enjoy:

Alexis at The Alexis

Underneath the Space Needle at night
Lexi demonstraing size of the Space Needle Mama to be

We searched forever to find a good location for a skyline view and this spot worked out perfectly for a night shot.
Joe made me go to this spot a total of five times over two days because he said Mount Rainier wasn't showing up very well. Finally, the last time we tried, the sky was blue enough and the mountain really popped out.On our way home, we got an even better view of the mountain but this time we were climbing over it.
Our final childless vacation was awesome and I'm sure we'll miss them but there's no doubt that more adventures are ahead.