Clair at Thanksgiving

She is so much fun.

I am back

Summer of 2011 my cell phone was stolen along with my Prius car. My car was recovered the next day, but alas my cell phone was gone. A lot has happened in two years. I facilitated the sale of controlling interest in Whitfield's Insurance to the Leavitt Group. That certainly changed things, since I am no longer responsible for the success of the company. It has been an interesting emotional transition. However, it is nice not to have the financial pressure. However, the biggest change has been the arrival of my granddaughter Claire. She is so much fun and is approaching 2 years old. So I am thinking a lot about retirement---what exactly do I want to do with the next 20 years and how do we pay for it.

Unbroken by Laura Hilldenbrand July 19th

I read this book on our recent trip to Hawaii. When I picked up the book at Costco, I had no idea that another World War Two story could be so fresh and engaging. A gripping story about courage under very long odds.

July 7th to 13th Trip to the Big Island for Kaleb's wedding.

We had a great trip to the big island of Hawaii. We stayed on the Kona side about 18 miles north of the airport in a condo complex. The big island is really different. Lots of volcanic rock and old lava flows. Parts of it felt like California or eastern Washington. The sunset wedding at the Hilton was very nice. We had a good time, but I have to admit I was glad I was not picking up the bill. We got to spend some time with son John and the other groomsmen,Joel and Cato. We had time to do some site seeing, going up the north coast (more tropical)to see a big waterfall. Then on our last day we drove south to see the volcano. The volcano is actually located in a National Park, so the whole thing is very well organized. On the way back we stopped to see a famous black beach where there are lots of turtles.

July 4th Crab feed at the Trivetts

We enjoyed the 4th at the Trivett beach home. The Trivett boys went crabbing in the morning. They caught a bunch of good sized crab. Nothing better than fresh crab dipped in butter.

36,222 Sounders Fans June 26th

Kieran was out of town on a business trip to Washington DC, so Sarah invited me to the Sounders game. It was a beautiful 75 degrees with no clouds. She drove her new car, so that was a bonus.Sarah said Casey Keller is retiring after this season, so was it was a chance to see him play one more time. He certainly has contributed a great deal to building up soccer in the NW.

Rock and Roll Marathon Saturday June 25th

Sarah and her friend Nathan ran the 13.5 mile half marathon this morning.They did very well, finishing in about two hours,9 minutes. If they would have placed themselves further up in the starting groups, they probably would have finished quite a bit sooner, since they had to work to pass a lot of slower folks. Kieran, Jamia, Debbie and I waited for about an hour at the finish line to see them come running past. Afterwards we all went to breakfast in the Queen Ann area.
Was a fun morning. The event was really a well done production, with 26,000 runners. While we waited for Sarah, we did see the first place finisher of the full marathon come sprinting in with world class speed.