Happy Birthday Chris, Merry Christmas Everyone!

Around this household we always make sure to have a birthday "outing". To celebrate Chris' birthday (the big 2-7!) I had planned to take him to the Boeing Tour and Museum in Everett so he could take a gander at how they make those enormous airplanes. Unfortunately when we arrived the fog was SO dense you couldn't see any of the planes on the runway, he was disappointed about that... oh well, can't win them all. We got on the first tour and got to see the 747, 767 and the new 787 assembly lines. I had worked in Everett a bit during my Boeing intern days, so it was a bit different to be on the visitor side of things. Chris enjoyed the tour and was amazed at the entire manufacturing operations. Seeing the new 787 just a few days after it's first flight was pretty cool. Nothing like that new airplane smell :)
After the tour we wandered around the Future of Flight Museum. It was pretty neat and had a replica of the 787 interior. A HUGE improvement from the current airplane interior, way to go Boeing.

Here were are standing next to the vertical stabilizer of a passenger plane - guess you don't realize how big it is when it's ON the plane. 

 Me vs. 747 landing gear -

Chris piloting -

 

In the cockpit of a 767-

 

We had a short week at work - but managed to get a bit more done in the bathroom.

We got the toilet out of the toilet out of the hallway and back into the bathroom - Chris is doing the ceremonial first flush while I crossed my fingers for NO leaks... success!

  

Toilet's in place -

 

New counter, sink, faucet and backsplash!

 

We decided to skip the Christmas gifts this year - but we did do stockings for each other...

The family stockings all lined up -

 As for Christmas  - we spent the weekend in Auburn with Mom and Dad. Chris and I needed the time to relax and be away from the chaos we've created in our own house.

Christmas Eve with the family -  


Christmas pajamas!


 Christmas morning stockings - even for Bear dog:

The day after Christmas we went out with the Burns family for post-Christmas mircobrew tasting. We had a good time, some good drinks and some good food.

Eileen and Ben - celebrating two years of marriage on Tuesday : )


The "mature" adults:

And us!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas weekend, we sure did : )

Next up - a short work week and a long weekend at the Beach!

A bit overdue...

Things have been BUSY around the Walker household.

First we can start with our WONDERFUL Thanksgiving. Everyone got together this year, kind of rare these days now that we're all grown up. Plenty of laughing, catching up and love was shared by all. After dinner we took off and headed out to the ocean for the long weekend. The weather was terrific and the dog got plenty of long beach walks. Eileen's parents came down to visit for the night and brought their dog.

He borrowed Bear's bone - I think it's a bit large.

Ours thinks he is still a lap dog.

No lap is too good for this dog.

Not to be confused with our lap cat.

The next weekend we enjoyed a wonderful choir concert from Chelsea's Whitworth choir. So beautiful and hard to believe they're college students, not professionals. The next day was Chris' annual Christmas concert.

Great as usual - and now for our annual post-concert Christmas photo. This time our first married Christmas - yay!

Last week poor Bear dog was horribly ill. He had a dangerously high doggie fever that resulted in a trip to the emergency vet. Poor dog looked miserable but his drugs are kicking in and we're happy to report that our Bear dog is doing well.

 And for what is really keeping us busy... our little home projects. The progress is really coming along.

A new coat of paint for the kitchen.

Bathroom molding - gone...

Bathroom counter - gone...

Hello - new counter!

We couldn't put the sink in until we tiled the backsplash.

And then the sink can go in...

 

And now time for the new floor, but not without first pulling the toilet out. This could be convenient though...

Now time for the new floor!

And for the wainscoting... Chris installed...

I painted and ... tada!

 We barely recognize our own bathroom! The only thing it's missing is a toilet (and a bunch more changes - stay tuned)...

 Other eventful thing:

Annual cookie baking day with Natalie (my freshman year roommate). Together we tackled 8 recipes!

Chris surprised me with an outing to the Port Gamble Tea Room. Neither of us had ever been and it's right under our noses!  It's in one of the old Port Gamble houses and the tea was served in fancy little tea cups and pots! The waitress made Chris wear one of the fancy tea hats. I have a picture, but Chris threatened me ("you won't make it through the night") if I posted it online.

And last but not least - a little Christmas decorating amongst the chaos of our remodeling. The photos look better without the flash, but they were blurry and I was too impatient to get the tripod out - so here they are with the flash.

All the stockings hung with care:

And our tree!

Yes, that is a John Deere tree topper and an Army camouflaged tree skirt, got a problem with it? : )

Drum Roll please....

So we're feeling mighty proud. I'll leave this one up for photos to explain.

First off - on Chris' day off on Veteran's Day he installed the new floor in the laundry room. That is the same floor we'll use in both the bathrooms.

And now for the most recent project...

Before:

 

 

During:

Goodbye back splash

 

Goodbye counters

 

Goodbye sink

Look Mom - no counters!

Measure twice -

 

Cut once!

 

I love it already!

 

We didn't notice the counter was warped when we bought it... and the clamps wouldn't fit.

I was there for a long time...

Switch!

Oh boy... so close!

TA-DA!!!

 

New faucet with the pull out spraying thingy!

And in case playing demolition in the kitchen wasn't enough, I painted the bathroom this weekend too!

It's a blue-grey (goes with the guest room). It's only painted 3/4 of the way down the wall because we're going to put in white wainescotting. No paint around the shower because it is awaiting tiling.

Stay tuned for a new bathroom floor, counter, sink and faucet... Perhaps you won't recognize this place next time you visit :) Good thing we went back to work on Monday so we could get some rest!

See (most of) you guys on Thursday! (And the rest in January :)