January & February
The year started out busy! Jeremy’s mom visited Pullman, New years at Joanne’s, last UREC Staff training week, lots of finishing up to do with UREC, lots of classes to teach, lots of planning, and putting together the WELLBEING FAIR on Feb 22! Mom and Jason visited for the Fair. It snowed but was a huge success! The largest fair yet! My last day with UREC was Feb 28th and our first anniversary was Feb 25, 2007!
As a bonus, Steve (Jeremy’s brother-in-law) came to Tri-Cities for work . J&J went down to fish…well the boys fished and Jeanna called Aunt Rose to have tea & lunch at Anthony’s while watching the boys in the rain and cold…….so who do you think got the better deal?
I had a little time to kill waiting for Aunt Rose, so I did a special photo “Tree Piece.” What do you think – the next Ansel Adams? I will keep my day job…oh, wait, no I won’t past February. Hmmmmmm……..
March
Lots of visiting before moving: Jeanna went to see Mary Kate in Boise (what a cutie she has!). I had a lot of fun seeing what all Mary Kate does in a day – wow was I tired! I took so many classes at the Y in addition to the private pilates classes Mary Kate made up for me and even more classes at the studio! We had non-work out fun also – coffee, shopping, dinner at the Melting Pot, dinner at friends and an ALL DAY DANCE JAM (I was in heaven – no, dancing is NOT working out for me).
Jeremy and I went down to Tri-Cities to visit Carla, Asia and Butch. We miss them a lot. It was fun to just hang out without a whole bunch of other people. We will have to do this again (BTW –Carla is getting married in Oct 2008 to Butch! Yeah!). We finished off the month in Detroit looking at homes to live in. I got my heart set on a condo downtown by the water – beautiful! Last - Andrea and Jacob came to Pullman for a Men’s Rowing Alumni Event.
April
More visiting! I went to visit Andrea in Victoria for a week. See the separate blog for this one: "We are Queens! 4.07" – good times and great pictures and that is all I am going to say!
Andrea and I drove from Victoria to our parents for Easter and an awesome going away party! Everyone came over for Easter – Mom made cute place setters and the food was great. Best yet – we had plenty of time to play with Chica the cat. He is so fuzzy and fun to play with. Often we shadow box, or sit and read, or cuddle (this cat is carried around a lot!) or mess with him pretending we are cats! What a character! The going away party was a blast too! A lot of people that we had not seen in a while attended – so we were able to catch up a little before going away – far away!
Andrea came back to visit Pullman one last time and to help with UREC’s Mom’s Tea. It was a success and a lot of fun too! We both really enjoy doing this sort of thing. Mom and daughters would come in, get a foot bath, leg/foot/neck/upper back/arm/hand massage, then have some tea and treats. What pampering while bonding! They even left with a flower and picture! After the event, we met up with Dad (business training) in Spokane for dinner and to drop Andrea off to go home to Seattle. We flew out to Las Vegas the next morning to learn about taxes and corporate structure. (Uneventful - although the service was still lacking - please see "Customer Service! 7.06" blog entry for details on a different Vegas trip last summer).
When we returned Achilles went into the vet and then into surgery to remove tubing in his stomach/intestines. For some strange reason he felt the need to pull down a plastic bag and eat through it in order to get to a bit of surgical tubing. While he was at it, he ate the tubing too! Almost 1.5 feet of the tubing! It is good we love our cat......he is our most expensive kitty!
We finished off the month with a visit to Alicia Jacob and family in Wapato (she has several cuties!). We had a great time chatting, looking around the area, eating great food and playing with her two boys. We also found some time to pack and visit with Pullman friends before leaving!
May
Achilles came home from hospital on the 3rd and we drove to Detroit with stops in Montana, Wisconsin, Roseville, MI and finally into our Warren, MI La Quinta Hotel room. The drive was fun and essentially uneventful. We started at Ben’s at 3am in the morning –packed and ready to go. We took a moment to take a picture. The picture that inspired this whole driving adventure was one of Jeremy's mom many years ago....we attempted to model after.
On the road we went in our 27Ft U-Haul that was packed to the BRIM! Really we barely fit the cleaning supplies in the back. We towed the Ranchero behind the U-Haul and had it stuffed full too (cab). The kitties were not so sure. They knew something was up because we moved into Ben’s. Then getting up and putting them in the cab of the truck. Still not so sure. Then we started to move – oh my! Junior was on my lap meowing to let me know something was happening (Thanks, Junior). Freya had enough and went under the bench seat (I had put blankets, toys and other fun things in every nook and cranny for the kitties – this was good). Achilles was confused and kept looking out the window; eventually deciding the dash was a good spot to lay down (He always did like to ride in cars!). Athena just howled. And yelped, and meowed, and just let us know that this was not up to her standard of living. She climbed up our shoulders, on the dash, down to the floor, behind the seat, over the seat, to the window, and let us know everything she was thinking. Thank goodness that lasted only 2 hours or we might have had a cute fur muff for my hands (just kidding). Eventually everyone settled down into a pattern of getting comfy, playing, and rotating spots so everyone got window time, petting time, lap time, sleeping time, etc. Funny enough- Athena was the best in the end. She slept between Jeremy and I. I couldn’t find her after one stop and though she got out – no she was sleeping under the map book.
The drive was beautiful. You could not ask for more beautiful days (even in the bits of rain). Idaho was breathtaking – and with our load we went very slowly up the mountains so we got good looks (at the mountains!). Wisconsin is our favorite with the variety of trees and vegetation. Overall – when we pulled into the Warren Hotel – we were ready to be done but glad we did it. I suggest a cross country drive to everyone at least once every 5 years – but maybe not with 4 cats.
June
We are still in the hotel but having quite a bit of fun. There is free internet and the staff has become like family. Really, they all know us by name. The cleaning ladies do not like cats, so I clean the room everyday – I take them what I need, and they let me get what I want. We can wash clothes, use the refrigerator and everything. You could not ask for a nicer staff to live with! After the ladies leave for the day, the cats could roam the halls to stretch their legs. We got a lot of petting and playing in! We did get out a bit to work in the park downtown or see the market that was really in our backyard. Here are a few pictures!
We visited Seattle for the annual paintball/spa weekend we talked about last year. Ok - a lot of you expressed interest in going and did not materialize. Let's step up to the plate for 2008! Paintball requires a separate blog entry. Please check it out at: "Paintball Fun 6.07" While there we also celebrated Mom Kiehle's Birthday. We went to the Glass Museum in Tacoma and then out to dinner. The museum was a lot of fun! We watched vases being made and were able to see a lot of really interesting pieces. I suggest a visit the next time you are in town.
July
Mom Kiehle and I took a trip to Vancouver to pick up Andrea; who was just in from Africa. Andrea has a ton of really cool pictures and stories to share. I will try to get her to type something up to put on the blog. The experience really shaped and had an impact on her and other events of the year (little preview here – of a project that I will be working on this year, hopefully to launch next year!). I will post some of the pictures in a separate entry: “Andrea’s Africa 6.07 ”
The girls stayed in Victoria for a week or so and had a blast running around. We went to several street markets and craft fairs, drove all over the coast, ate lunch at a “beautiful waterfall”, had drinks with our movies, went out on the town, saw a safari, expired passports and – ok this is too good – I guess I need to do a separate blog to tell the story. Please see blog “Girls in Victoria: 7.07 ”. I will put one picture to tempt you.
Then mom, Andrea and I were out to Neah Bay. We girls were having a blast! (Dad Kiehle could not come due to a fire that had to be fought. That’s ok – he retires in October, so he will come next year!) We met up with Aunt Rose & Uncle John and had a great week of relaxing, playing on the beach, and taking hot showers. Ok – well there are a few stories and a few pictures!……maybe this needs a blog entry too! Please see “NB:Rain & Shine 7.07 ”. We finished the month off with a Harry Potter movie Marathon before I returned to Detroit.
August
We went to Tom’s Oyster Bar for my Birthday; tried out the YMCA and the Rotary. At the end of the month we were back in Spokane for Eric and Adrianne's Wedding! Sara and I started the day kayaking around the lake her parents live on. So peaceful and relaxing you hardly realize you are doing work until you try to life your arms to dance at a wedding…… What a beautiful wedding! There was a ton of food, drinks around, art projects, dancing, more dancing, fish in bowls, and more! Adrianne was stunning! The day was beautiful too! If anyone has pictures – please send them! We managed to come up with one picture off our phone of Jason running the camera!
September
After the wedding we went to Tacoma and then Jeanna went to Palm Springs with Andrea and Mary Kate for Inner IDEA. This was a blast! Please see the blog entry: “Our INNER Idea 9.07” for this trip – not quite as nichey as last year but still a good story!
We returned to Detroit on the 17th and moved into our new house on the 19th! (The condo fell through.....shadey people, so really it is a good thing (or a God thing). There is a whole story here - but it is not nice, so I will not post it.) It took until October to clean, clean, clean and unpack! Another exciting Sept event - our most successful Discover Detroit pupil Scott completes his course! We went to the Coach Insignia Lounge for Jeremy's birthday. What a view! See.... you must come visit so you can see the view - no picture for you....
October
Tax Auction preparation and execution! My goodness this took a lot of time! We also had Holly and Jared for dinner and carve pumpkins – first people in our house! Achilles also fell off the roof and hurt his back. The following week Athena fell off. Kitties lost all their roof privileges.
Jeanna also worked with Andrea on promoting AIDS awareness and caregiver kits for those in Africa. The event is over now, but the need is still there – check out the event we participated in: www.jb-realestate-solutions.com/world%20vision.html. Andrea and I both feel very drawn to this type of work. We have not figured out how to incorporate it more into our lives (well Andrea has dedicated her Masters research to AIDS in Africa……so I guess she has for the immediate moment – BTW – she graduates May 2008! Yeah!)
November
Jason came to visit for a little over two weeks! What fun – the first one to visit and stay in our house. He was a lot of fun to have around and introduce to everyone. We even had a housewarming party on the 10th so he could meet everyone. He lived and went home safe – see Detroit is not so bad! What is YOUR excuse for not coming to visit?
Two is better than one! Fred visited while Jason was here and we even found him a place to stay in the house. Thanksgiving was quiet with just us, a small turkey, egg nog and movies! The kitties got turkey! Yummy! Jeremy took me day-after shopping! Good man.
December
Dad Kiehle Visits Detroit (the sink still does not leak, the lights still work and Junior still can not get in the cabinets! Yeah!) We had a great time exploring Home Depot – everyday. I know where EVERYTHING is now. Dad took a lot of time to show me how to do repairs around the house. I even got my own set of tools and supplies as part of my Christmas gift! Yeah! A few of the projects we did: Prep the stairs for painting, change the kitchen sink faucet, change two light fixtures (yeah – light in the scary basement bathroom), fixed the basement lights in general (no more washing clothes in the dark!), tried to fix the lights in the yard and side door (the yard light suddenly decided to work after the big snow – go figure), and a bunch more! We were busy but had a good time! We were so busy – we did not take one picture! – so here is a fun one of Dad anyway:
We had our first real snow of over a foot days after dad left. The kitties were divided on how they felt. First, the snow started on Sunday night at 5pm or so. At 7pm, the master fuse blew in the basement. So we were a bit chilly through the night and really cold in the morning. Jeremy was a good man and shoveled out the driveway and the neighbor’s driveway and the sidewalk in between (2 hours)! Then we went to the hardware store for a fuse (and an extra fuse) and salt. They salt the roads here – we had our chains on and were doing fine on the road. Everyone else was slipping, sliding, getting stuck, etc. We could not figure out why NO ONE had chains – silly people. Chains are illegal here as well as studded tires (silly Jeanna & Jeremy). The nice man at the store told us. So we took them off – after we got home! Really – the only roads that are slick are the residential roads. The city does a great job of getting everything off the common roads - as long as it is not Sunday.
Christmas was peaceful and relaxing at home. Jeremy got up at 5am to make me homemade cinnamon rolls (served in bed!). We opened gifts – the kitties got the neatest toys from Aunt Andrea and Grandma Kiehle! I got a beautiful set of pearls from the Burgesses (and my tools/labor from the Kiehles!) and Jeremy really loved his slippers and coffee! We went to “Alien vs Predator R” in the afternoon – GREAT movie no matter what the critics say. It is not supposed to have a plot of human character development. It is based off a comic book! The character development that happens is subtle, over several movies – it is with the Predators! How they act, make decisions, their culture, etc. That (along with the cool action and breaking of every horror movie rule) is what brings people back. We are connected to figuring out more of how the Predators live. This maybe is too deep for the critics or maybe I dug too deep. I like the Predators…….
New Years Eve (tonight) we are meeting up with Jared and Holli to have a movie and popcorn night. It is supposed to snow another foot tonight and a bit more tomorrow – so we are just going to let the drunk party goers have the snowy road without their chains – they can slide and dance together. We will be warm and toasty!
Ok – That is it for this year folks. Really – Next year MUST be more peaceful and boring (most likely not). But at least my reflections will be shorter since I will have individual blog spots for most events. Yeah! As the kitties say:
Meowing it as it is in the “D”! Peace!
Click here to read our Reflection 2007 Christmas letter! (link coming soon)
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