blue manatee

Wow...how long did we live in Cincinnati...and we never knew about the Blue Manatee!? Granted, I assume we never stopped in, seeing that it's a Children's Bookstore and all, but they have an added on Coffee Shop with Organic, Fair Trade, and EXCELLENT coffee...especially when created by Cincinnati's own famous barista...Julia D!
I was so glad we had an hour (or two...or three) to stop by her work and hang out, catching up a little, in between watching her make coffee drinks for those crazy east-siders and their cute little children.
I (Andrea) love good friends. and I love good conversation with those good friends. That's why stopping by the Blue Manatee was a favorite stop for me on our 'drive-four-hours-to-cincinnati-and-visit-everyone-we-know' trip!

Me and my favorite barista, and friend, Julia



Julia, man-handling the espresso machine, making sure it creates the best espresso.
I think Julia is cool. She is passionate about many things, and when we get together, we get to talk about those many things, and that makes me like her more. I guess it's because we agree on a lot. and we disagree on a lot too...so we debate. I don't debate, unless it's with Julia.




Brooke (now sporting the winter beard) is completely impressed with Blue Manatee coffee. Not only do they have a good drink, but their logo is freaking sweet too.



Who knew that Brooke's favorite book, 'Blueberries for Sal' (AKA 'Bo Bo Dow') could be found outside the deep forests of Maine, where he bought his one and only copy, oh, so long ago!? Mom T....I could barely restrain him from reaching up and grabbing that copy that was on display!



I was just so happy to see my friend! Julia!...I can't wait for you to come visit out here...you will love it. Make sure to pack all that you need for your life...(which for you isn't much, I know) because you probably won't want to leave.
Thanks for good times, good laughs, and good coffee.
You're the best!!

cincinnati

i've called cincinnati 'home' for the past 10 years, but seattle is giving it a run for it's money.

the skyline...from covington.

the infamous fountain square statue.

the suspension bridge.

we stopped by ed and theresa's post-christmas party. it was awesome to get to see ed and theresa, justin and renee, darren and emily, mike and jeri, colleen, and many others.

andrea, theresa, and colleen.

after ed and theresa's, we headed down to price hill to see the duebbers and group-up with mike and jeri, tye and andrea, and others. unfortunately, scott abruptly came down with the flu, or food poisoning, and had to excuse himself to go puke multiple times. i hope you're feeling better. we missed chatting with you!

tye, brooke, and mike.

winter on put-in-bay

for those that don't know, my parents live on a little tiny island in the middle of lake erie. it is known mainly for it's bars; boasting forty-two in a half-mile stretch and the longest bar in the world. andrea and i's most favorite time on the island is in fall and winter, when all but one of the bars close down for the season, the majority of the summer residents move back to cleveland and michigan, and the population drops to about four hundred.

the streets, that in the summertime are usually crowded with individuals stumbling from curb-to-curb, empty as an old western ghost town that gave up after a rush to let the tumbleweeds [leaves] swirl around with little to no obstacles.
even a national monument for the war of 1812 closes it's doors when the ferry boats lull to a stop and the little cessna airplanes take to the air to hull groceries and residents back to their winter retreat.

andrea and i love getting out to stroll about the empty harbor that is normally cram-packed with boats and blaring sound systems. now, the sound you hear is ice making it's way into the docks; cracking with the thrill that there might be ice fishing this winter.



from the empty harbor you can see gibraltar island; the building on the left and various swamps is where my mom splits her time in the summer months.

we love walking on the small beaches, where the sight of an old steel soda can that has spent it's tour of duty in the lake seems to turn back time a few decades.

sometimes we drive to the other end of the island to see how the ice is coming along. most of the time the docks are covered with ice from the cold wind and waves.

andrea had fun throwing a few big chunks of frozen water through the fragile ice.

dog knows best; at least this one does! judge, my parents mastiff, wraps all 150 pounds of himself around one of their kerosene heaters. we swear, if he could make himself any smaller, he'd climb into the inferno.

when the mope-ster gets his face warm enough to fry eggs on it, he saunters to the next room to lay with his 'teddy squirrel' a bit.

your heart can't help but to melt when you see him sleeping.

my dad is famous in our household for party plates. he'll come in from the garage and say, 'would you like me to make a party plate?' of course we all jump at the chance for his special afternoon snack. even the mopester jumps at the sound of the cheese coming out! seriously, any cheese product opening summons him. he loves cream cheese, swiss cheese, vanilla ice cream...heck, he probably would slurp down a tub of cottage cheese!

we had a wonderful visit with the trisler family. it was great to get to see mom and dad, forrest and my 'brother-from-another-mother' walt. although we had an amazing holiday with family on this tiny island, we had to leave a day early. when ferry boats dictate your life, you learn to get while the gettin's good. the day after we left, the ferry line pretty much shut down for the winter.

we'll see you guys in the spring!

Ferry Ride to Mom & Dad Trisler

who knew that getting home to your parents would take a two hour car drive, a four hour plane ride, a three hour car ride, and a 30 minute boat ride?! we wondered if we would get over on christmas day to put-in-bay, where brooke's family lives, or have to wait until the 26th. this is one of the first times in the history of miller ferry boat line to run on christmas day. what a wonderful christmas gift!

you could hear the skim of ice cracking and breaking

up as the ferry got closer.

the william market to save the day. punching

through ice and the near freezing water!

one thing that keeps the ferries on lake erie are

frozen docks. when near freezing water hits the

sub-freezing docks, the water freezes quick. here's

a perfect example of one to two inch thick ice.

the ferry broke through the skim-ice for a third of the way.

frozen ferry ride.

can you find the trisler's car?

brooke's mom made our arrival extra special

by picking us up in their 'island' car:' a 1963

international scout that brooke envies!

Christmas at the Kimble's

Our first stop while back in Ohio was in Maumee at Mom & Dad Kimble's house. It was great that everyone was home at once as we invaded every room of their home! We shared plenty of laughter and fun, and Brooke and Maura were finally able to share in the 'Waterbabies' fun (has anyone else heard of this movie?)

we present... the kimbles:

bryan, steve, mom & dad k, andrea, and brooke.

enjoying the massive christmas tree!

mom k and andrea!

andrea and brother bryan

maura and steve.

what could be in this humongous box?!

uh....thanks. a memory card!

ice road truckers!

nothing says 'michigan' like an engineer in

a hard hat!

mom & dad k, andrea, and brooke.

uncle dan , aunt terri, and cousin munchie stopped by for christmas eve dinner!

munchie and andrea.

da 'burg

While back in Ohio, we made sure to make time with some good friends.

Andrea and Jenna were great friends back in High School.  She and Andy got married this past July in Madison, WI, where they live now.  They are a great couple!  We enjoyed catching up with them over coffee.

The P-burg girls all home over the Holidays: (from the left)

Abby, Jenna, Andrea, Colleen, Melissa.

Abby and I are also really good friends.  We have known each other since grade school, and have built up some crazy memories.  She and her husband, Mike, were high school sweethearts (yes!  sometimes those relationships really do last long!) and were married last year.

Funny how most of us are still our goofy old selves...even now that we're all married and 'old.'

We had a great time visiting with old friends in the bars of the suburbs.  

Thanks all! for a great time!  Come out to visit soon!

behold... the beauty of ohio.

old truck in field.

silo in field.

bellingham airport -> ohio

we woke at 330am to make our way north to bellingham airport. after checking our bags at the skybus [double wide] terminal, which looked more like a small lodge then an airport, we made our way through bellingham's microscopic airport. ohio...here we come!

40 minute delay because there wasn't enough

room on the tarmac for two planes!

sorry mow, kansas still sucks...but you rock!

Apples to Apples

Although we've know Matt and Danelle for a while, we go to church with them, and we're in the same small group, we've never really hung out. So we invited them over for dinner last night and a round of Apples to Apples. Danelle was the first person we met when we got to seattle; she works at the little coffee shop across the street from our building. we chowed down on andrea's amazing manicotti, talked a while, then preceded to play Apples to Apples.

matt and danelle...acting.

conferencing about green cards.

a sample of our rounds.

she is such a priority! my wife!

so i've eaten a lot of oranges this week...they're good!

as in 'my new shoes are so delightful!'

and the winner is...

getting worn out.

peep the digs. small.

even snorman the snowman got in on the action!