Yesterday, I had to be down at the King Street train station in Seattle at 6:45 to drop a few Danes off for their trip to Portland. Afterwords, I stopped by Greenlake and put in a couple laps of early morning rollerblading. Oh! It was so nice to be on my r'blades again and to be at Greenlake! It's a perfect place to get in a workout and at 7:30 in the morning, it wasn't too crowded. Walkers with their espressos in hand, joggers, and even some tai chi or some kind of early morning Asian ritual along the lake side. I could definitely feel I was in Seattle again!

And here is Obie and his bone not long after he received it! The end of the bone is chewed off and there was white stuffing all over the place! Sorry, Kelli! :)

This past Saturday, I went to visit friends Ricky and Kelli to celebrate their dog Obie's 1st birthday. This was the gift I gave him; a purple bone with a gold ribbon. Obie really enjoyed it and he played with it with great joy and managed to tear it to shreads in about an hour. It was nice to see he liked it! A very cute dog!

Maren's collection of rocks, glass and drift wood found on the beach.

Aunt Maren and Roxi on the beach.

Low tide, drift wood, and other houses along the beach side in Tulalip.

My cousin Bryn and her boyfriend Brian on the deck of the beach house.

Looking out over the Puget Sound and low tide, that is Roxi the dauchsund (little black speck) on the left and uncle Ron on the right.

This is the path down to my aunt and uncle's beach house in Tulalip. (11 June 2006)

Here is a view of the rescue helicopter backing away from the ferry after it had finished its drill.

On my way to Copenhagen on June 9th to catch my flight, I was fortunate to experience a rescue drill on the ferry from Aarhus to Sj. Odder. It was quite exciting to see this huge helicopter hover so close to the ferry as it sailed across the water and then maintain its speed along with the ferry. It was awesome to see and a comforting feeling to know that the Danes take that effort to make a rescue a smooth and error-free procedure.

Back in the States

As of the 9th of June, I've been back in Seattle. It's nice to be home and see the family again and it actually feels like I have never been gone! I admit there are some things these Americans do that annoy me, but that just means that I am more aware of the people as a culture and can see the characteristics that make them American, versus what makes the Danes Danish.

The past week has been a busy one and when there is someone to miss back in Denmark, it helps make the time pass a little easier. On the Sunday after I arrived, I spent the afternoon with my Uncle Ron, Aunt Maren, cousin Bryn and her boyfriend Brian...and my mom was there, too. We were up at their beach cabin in Tulalip, which is on the Indian Reservation. It's like entering a whole new culture when you drive on to the reservation. What welcomes you first is the new casinos and then the run down houses and the many old, rusty cars parked in the front lot with grass growing beyond the roofs. It's charming... But the beach house is great! We arrived at low tide so we could look for agates and I took some pictures of an old tree trunk and some rocks. Then, we had a hot dog lunch on the deck and enjoyed the warm sun and the view out towards Camano and Whidbey Island. The main purpose of our trip to the beach was to assist in the process of putting together my sister's wedding invitations. They are great cards designed by Maren, and they use a picture that I took last summer on Fanø! It's quite an honor! So, we worked on those and then headed home in the late afternoon.

Monday morning I was up early, as I hadn't quite recovered from jet lag. I was able to make a latte for my mom a couple days in a row, but once my jet lag wore off, I couldn't wake up that early. I have found time to workout on the Nordic Trek a few times in the morning during the week. Good for me! I went to one of my favorite stores: The Paper Zone and then got some coffee at wonderful Starbucks (hadn't gotten a coffee there since I was in Basel, Switzerland!). I have played 18 holes of golf with my aunt (I pared 2 holes) and I have also housesat at her house for a day and visited some friends in South Newcastle! :) Today I was up early to drop off some Danes at the train station downtown and got 2 rounds around Green Lake in on my rollerblades before heading back home to Mukilteo! It feels good to be busy, but now I have to work on getting a Viking outfit made for Danish Camp next week and 50+ aebleskiver to make for camp as well! This is going to be a busy week as well, but I don't mind! Just as long as I eventually find time to write my thesis and get it done by August 14th...oh...my....goodness.