Tuesday cont'd...

And moving on the same day from Cec's school...I spent the afternoon with mine. It was SO wonderful to see the kids. The chaotic rush of hugs and screams actually brought tears to my eyes (which I apologized for later as it was in the middle of lunch)...and i can't even begin to explain how it felt to be able to walk into the building and still be comfortable with my old staff and friends.



after the school day was over a bunch of us sat for drinks at my favorite local cafe/bar to catch up...and this was the fall foliage i caught along the way. SO Seattle....SO pretty...and there was the PERFECT nip in the air. (unfortunately it wasn't cloudy/rainy OR gray on Tuesday...looking out Cec's balcony, it's nice and blue as I write this as well. DRAT!) ;)

Cec's class

got to meet Cec's class a couple days ago, and while we thought it best not to post pictures of her children (who have QUITE the amount of character this year), here's her 1st grade classroom. really nicely set up. i'd want to be in Ms. Yang's class too!

boutique shopping

:) what do i love about seattle?! (oh yeah, aside for being with my sister)

BOUTIQUE SHOPPING!!!!!!

Here's one of my favorites - Lucca's in Old Ballard
























I was also really pleased to find that one of my old favorites Horshoe in Fremont moved next just three doors down from Lucca's!
























And then the day was made perfect with an afternoon, dinner and Princess Monopoly with Monica and Maya (who is now adding, subtracting, playing the piano and writing...a lot changes in 3 months)

a mistake

i'm beginning to think it was a mistake to visit seattle. god i love it here, and walking from cec's school early this morning, under the fall foliage, through the mist, the cold and the gray clouds...before i even saw monica, maya and shopped at my favorite boutiques, i realized how much i've missed it here.

YAY SEATTLE!!!

Having a good time. :)



Fremont Fair...

Really yummy ice-cream

U-Village, a haircut from my favorite (well ONLY) hairdresser, and dinner from Metropolitan Market all in one day.

Check Cec's blog for more details. :)

First Dinner

There's nothing like a hot bubbling pot of Soon-du-bu (hot tofu soup) after a 5 hour plane ride (well that and strawberry sochu, spicy fried chicken, chop chae, seafood pancake, dolsut bimbimbap, beef bolgugi, kalbi-tang). Oh...and good company too! ;)





It's nice being back in Seattle!

Century Ride

So...a little more detail about the Century Ride on Sunday.

We got there EARLY in the morning. Dad dropped us off at about 5:30am...and got in place at the staging area (the parking lot between the Shell and the zoo...boy Cec, you would have LOVED the smell). Went to 'Group C' which were the hundreds of people who rode 6-7 mph and prefered to 'look around and enjoy the scenery', as the description in the registration said. (we were really in between Group B 13-17mph riders and Group C, but we figured we'd just pass people as we went and prefered to not be pressured, which is indeed what happened)

Here's Rye in the staging area. At this is point we looked around and realized that 75% of the people around us were from Japan!!! And LOTS of Japanese families and people who DIDN'T look like they had trained...

So after a lot of fan fare, speaking (over 50% was in Japanese)...

They released us in sets by speed...and at about 6:30 we were off!! Funny, it was so crowded though, we didn't get ON our bikes till after the start point!

The first part of the ride was from Kapiolani park up to Diamond Head, and I'll admit I was concerned with the incline. But with so many families, Japanese tourist and Japanese elderly (well not THAT old, but in their 70s), Rye and I easily got up the hill and past people, where upon we came up to the really nice look out and had a great laugh, because not a quarter mile into the ride all the Japanese riders had gotten off their bikes and were taking pictures of each other, the view, the angle of diamond head...(see them in the background?) Hee hee...it was pretty funny.

Okay, didn't want to write a novel, so will just post a couple more pics of the ride.

Here's Rye coming up to Hawaii Kai drive.

After a restroom break (we strayed off the route to Rye's folks' place) we stopped at the turn around point a little after Sandy beach...(this is Rye coming up to it)...and then headed back towards town.

This was a pretty funny but disconcerting sight. This CUTE little Japanese boy was pushing along on his tiny little bike. He looked like he was 5!! Only, there were NO adults around?! We had no idea who he was with, but he seemed to be doing just fine.

And here's the last mile. That's Diamond Head in the background for those of you who aren't local, it's what the back of it looks like. :) This is where I seriously started to die. And you can't tell, but it's at LEAST a 5% incline there, which after 24 miles and no training seriously feels like a mountain. ;) How that little boy ever made it is beyond me. (wonder if he did?)

At anyrate, we had a GREAT time. We were a lot less sore then we thought we'd be, and I can't wait to get back on my bike and start riding again!!! (if only i had a fan attached to my bike...biking in Hawaii is HOT) :) :D