5 months later ...

January 23rd, 2014 -- it's been 5 full months since Sarah left Seattle and returned home to Wiener Neustadt, Austria.  To me it still feels like yesterday and I'm missing the fun adventures with Sarah.  All the good luck spotting wildlife has gone with her and I haven't seen much exciting anaimals along the road or on hikes, so unlike Sarah who spotted her first eagle just hours after landing in Seattle.  Forgotten are the arguments about taking a shower (at least once in a while), only the fun memories prevail.

Looking forward having you back again, hopefully soon.

~Peter

Good bye Seattle

After almost 2 months in Seattle, Sarah is heading back to Austria. I'm missing her already.

Loading the plane and boarding passengers.

Pushing the plane off the gate. 17 hours of travel ahead.

16.5 hours later at Vienna International Airport, united with Sandy and on the phone with Peter in Seattle.  Only a short 45 minutes drive home left to go.

Last evening in Seattle

Can't leave Seattle without a famous burger at the RAM.  Cheers!

Audobon Teen Trekker Nature Camp

I was from August the 5th to August the 9th on a Nature camp. We were four boys and four girls. Here are the names of the other children: Tristan, Trenton, Sten, Mason, Emily, Desivie and Gwen. 

Monday, 5th 2013

Today I met the other children. First we had to make a little book by our self. It was really fun because nobody told us, how to do it. When Sara was there, we played a little game. Everyone could get four different snacks. A fruit snack, carrots, nuts and Annie's brunch. You could take one of each or four from one of the snacks. For each of this snacks you have to say something about your self.

• Fruit snack:  ( I can't remember)
• Annie's Brunch: Something crazy that happend to you
• Carrots; about your family/pets
• Nuts:  favorite hobbies

Outside we played a game on wooden planks. One of us was blind and we had to tell him, what he should do.  The goal was to go on the other side of the place were we started.  In the beginning it was a bit hard but in the end there were no problems. 

We also met Sara's snake Draco. It is a small snake and it is three years old. In a park we ate our Lunch. Later, we walked to a place, were we sat at the water.  After that, we walked back and played games.

Tuesday, 6th 2013

Today we made a list, where we can write our names next to a job for the camping trip ahead of us.  We also looked for things, what we need for the trip to the North Cascades NP.  It was a lot of work to find the right things.

We also went on a hike with the other children. I think, we drove 45 minutes to the place were we went on the hike. There we played a game about knowing the names of the other children.  Then we set up the tents. Sara asked us who was born in January, February or March and these people had to set up a tent. Then people from April, May or June had to set up another tent and so on.  After that we ate our Lunch. When we were ready, we took down the tents.  It didn't take us too long, so we went on a hike. We had to answer questions about nature on a paper, too.  It was very interesting.

Wednesday, 7th 2013

Today we drove to North Cascades National Park with a big car. It took us two hours.  When we arrived there we had to set up the tents. (The boys were faster then the girls - of course!)  Then we ate our Lunch. Sara asked us if someone wants to go for a little hike.  Gwen, Mason, Tristan and I said "Yes".  The other children and Ambar stayed at the camp site.  Before we returned from our hike the others began to cook Dinner.  We had Burgers and Veggie Burgers.  At night we played "BS", a fun game of cards.

Thursday, 8th 2013

Emily and Desivie woke us up in the morning.  For Breakfast we had chicken links, hashed browns and scrambled eggs. (Yummy :D)  After that we went for another hike of two hours.  It was amazing!  On the way back, I played with Sara and Sten "Two trues and one lie".  You had to tell three stories from you.  One of them should be lie but the others had to guess which one is the lie.

For Lunch we made Grilled Cheese and Quesadillas.  I helped Gwen because she was the only one who had signed up for "cooking Lunch" and for me this was not fair if she would have had to cook alone.  When we were done we walked with Sara and Amber to a place where we were allowed to go into the water.  It was cold but comfortable :D.  Sten and Tristan were very wet!

Sara had to buy fire wood and Gwen, Mason and Desivie went with her. Emily and I began to cook Dinner. We made Spaghetti with Alfredo sauce and fly :).  Fly because Emily mixed the Alfredo sauce and after a while she said: "Oh, a fly!" She stopped for a second.  Then she said: "Oh well" and mixed the fly in the Alfredo sauce. The name of the fly was Gilbert. It was really fun. :D

At night we looked for stars. There were lots of stars. It was also cold but we weren't too long there.

Friday, 9th 2013

Gwen and I had to wake up the others. Sara said the night before that we can make the hot cocoa before we wake up the others. Gwen had a good idea. She took a cup with hot cocoa without water and showed the cup to the boys.  She said: "Hey Guys, we have hot cocoa."  Tristan and Trenton jumped out of the tent and wanted the hot cocoa, despite Tristan telling us the early in the week that it is very hard to get him out of bed.  Once everybody was out of bed, we had cereal with almond milk and coconut milk.  Then we had to take down the tents (This time, the girls were faster then the boys) and load our stuff into the car. Sara wanted to go for another hike with us but most children wanted to go to the water instead. We spent only five minutes at the water.

When driving home, we took a little break  There Tristan found a dead finch on a car from Texas. He dug a whole for the bird and all children helped him. Then we took pictures of the grave and after that we drove home.  We arrived back home one and a half hours late because of the traffic. When we arrived, we helped Sara and Amber to put all stuff out of the car. 

It was really great!!!!

Update on my state quarter collection

Thanks to many friends helping me find state quarters, I have a full set of 50 state quarters, DC, and 5 territories. 

Thanks everyone!!!

Cloud Cult on stage

Live Music and painting in West Seattle 

Good bye to an old friend