Nikki + Dave

New Deck

2010-09-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last year we regraded everything and replaced a sad, unusable, awkward sort of cheap, half-assed ornamental garden with our patio, plants and grass - as you probably saw (pictures in the archives). That was a big improvement, but not quite there. After many attempts to keep that grass alive, and 3 replants, we are moving forward! No more grass.

With a couple how-to books from the library and a week's worth of cedar dust... we can now enjoy our beers and hot dogs about 14 inches higher than before. And it's really nice to have all the additional usable room to spread out.

Van Kamping

2010-08-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

Late summer camping in Leavenworth. The van was reliable on the road and cozy at night. The dog was happy to get in the river and we all enjoyed some campfire time, hot dogs and beer.

Snowshoeing!

2010-01-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

Dave and I went snowshoeing up by Stevens Pass to a beautiful frozen lake. It was an amazing hike and Kaia had a GREAT time! Here are some pics:

Random Memory - Kayaking in Puerto Rico Lightning

2009-09-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

Must have been just about exactly five years ago that Nikki and I were kayaking in Laguna Grande, a tea-colored, brackish lagoon east of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was dark out, and we were navigating through a bioluminescent mangrove swamp by feel, pushing off the branches overhead to propel ourselves slowly with our hands, ducking our heads in the tree tunnel, spying on huge iguanas that were sleeping in the branches - when a lightning storm that had been looming suddenly came to life directly over us. The flashes were was so intense and all-consuming that you couldn't say it was coming from one direction or another. It was either directly upon us, or all around us or both. The thunder was instantaneous, and each clap knocked a deluge of fat rain drops off the branches. The storm left as quickly as it formed. Afterward we enjoyed some swimming and watching little fishes dart around in the dark water beneath our boats, each leaving a glowing a blue/green wake behind, like little sub-aquatic shooting stars.

Morning project: Bee House.

2009-05-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hopefully we'll have some little polinators taking up residence soon. If you know any bees that need a place to stay, send them our way. There are 13 units still available.

The Official Before and After

2009-05-18T13:14:00.001-07:00

This weekend we finally got the gigantic pile of dirt out of our yard and replaced it with sweet glorious grass!!! Our big spring project is finally done and now we have a nice big yard to hang out in this summer. We can't wait for everyone to join us for some BBQ's and drinks!

BEFORE: (muddy, unusable, sad yard)

AFTER: (huge, grassy, summer haven)

Onward...

2009-05-10T19:56:00.001-07:00

Still no grass down below, but things are coming together.

Progress!!!

2009-04-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had both of our families over to help with the garden and they were SUCH an amazingly huge help. We planted all new plants along the driveway, stained the fence AND got all of the posts in for the retaining wall. There's a lot more to do, but we can actually see the framework of our future margarita-drinking-friendly backyard! Here are some pics:

The driveway...

View of the fence from the driveway...

The Great Garden Project of '09

2009-04-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

We've started our very big Spring project of re-doing our yard and here are some pics of the progress... Right now it's looking like a crazy big dirt pile but hopefully over the next few weeks it'll transform into a great place to hang out all summer... I think Kaia would be happiest if we just left it a big dirt pile!

Before...

Removing the old patio...

Movin' dirt...

Taking out the retaining wall...

This is a preliminary design, shape of the patio has changed, but the spirit is the same.

Final structural plans, fully-rendered in 3D, board by board. Building begins in about 2 hours! This is just eh infrastructure... plants, pots, steps and all kinds of goodness to be added...

Mountain bike racing is back!

2009-04-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Warming up, a couple practice laps before the start...

Winter Wonderland in Seattle

2009-01-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

We were really lucky to enjoy a white Christmas in Seattle this year! For those of you who didn't hear - we got a record snowfall in the city and at one point we had 9 inches of wonderful powdery snow. While most people tend get sick of it, Dave, Kaia and I couldn't get enough of it! Here are some pics of us playing...

Dave's experimenting again.

2009-01-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

Made this little plant table out of scrap wood (pine) from the mess heap in the garage. Painted it flat black with house paint, then rubbed on an oil/beeswax blend. Carved/painted a little design in the top, whittled and banged it around a bit to make it look fancy. Too bad you can't see it when there's a plant on top. Oh well. Thanks mom and dad for the Christmas drill jig!

Gate - Found the missing piece!

2008-11-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

Done and done. We found a great piece of ornamental ironwork on Saturday, which was exactly what we needed to complete the gate once and for all.... Here's the process, start to finish. Finally done!

Before...

Pouring cement foundations...

Kaia was a big help...

Funky old-fashioned latch...

Done!

Summer 2008 Recap

2008-11-10T11:17:00.001-08:00

Since this little blog is new, you may have missed some of the action from this past summer, so we'd better catch you up on just a few of the highlights.

We caught some crabs and put them in our bellies.

Nikki got a new mountain bike and became a singletrack ninja. We went to Whistler for our fourth anniversary and rode some of the best, sickest, bad-assesest mountain biking terrain you have ever seen.

We also made and promptly ate some pickles, with Kaia's help.

I began what promises to be an illustrious albeit painful career mountain bike racing (this could also be seen as a form of self-inflicted torture).

And I created a large illustrated map (fixture and all), for my favorite mountain bike park.

Nikki and I rode together on the 45-mile course at this summer's Flying Wheels group ride.

And I completed my second Seattle-to-Portland, 200-mile ride in 2 days, fueled mostly by the knowledge that Nikki was waiting at the finish line with cold beer and a hamburger.

Hmmm... a lot of bike stuff. Let's finish with a shot of the kids.

Baby Meyer is here!!!!

2008-10-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

It's official, I'm an Aunt!! Little Liam Richard Meyer arrived early Saturday morning. Dave and I met him yesterday and he's ADORABLE!!! Ashley and Tyson are quite the cute, proud parents and it was great to see them as a little family...

5th Annual Pumpkin Extravaganza

2008-10-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Christian & Sarah came over for our annual pumpkin carving party which is always a good time!

2008 Yakima Cider Fest

2008-10-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

This year's Cider Fest was a blast and cider was flowing like water! Kaia especially enjoyed the abundance of apples and she was pretty sure all the apples in the orchard belonged to her...

The New Cole Residence!

2008-10-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well the new house is starting to feel like a home now. Here are some pics of the progress...