My family and I spent three days preparing to show my condo. Mom scrubbed cabinets while Dad washed the walls. Idamae emptied out the pantry, literally – Idamae threw away so much expired food that there is almost nothing left! We boxed everything I wouldn’t need in the next few months and I hauled it down three flights to my garage. Earlier in the week I had installed shelves to hold everything. The hard work payed off, the condo looks beautiful, and with Sunny’s help, it is perfectly staged to sell. I know it will sell quickly, which means I’ll be soon staying at my parents house…

Sunny and I spent the evening together on July 4th. After dinner we walked along a park on Magnolia Boulevard where we asked tourists who had been bussed to the park by their cruise lines to take our photo. The park is directly across from Alki Point and overlooks the Sound. Sunny took me to one of her favorite places to sit and enjoy the view.

Later we drove to Sunny’s Grandma Minty’s apartment to watch the fireworks. The view from the 10th floor of the building was awesome, the show must have lasted an hour! We are definetely coming back next year!

Sunny and I hiked to Monte Cristo, with our nephews Alex and Erik, on a washed out road. Along the way we traversed hills of snow, washed out bridges, and fallen logs. For lunch we tried to light a campfire, but Sunny and I were distracted when Erik lost both his shows in thick mud, which he referred to as quicksand. We had a great time. Since Erik had never hiked true wilderness trails before I made sure we took it easy. At the end of the hike Erik said he loved it and would come back. Our next planned hike is an overnighter to an alpine lake or river. Alex was enthralled by the scenery and took a lot of great photos. At the end of the trip we visited Alex’s Mom Tiffany and their very large rabbits. See more photos from our hike on my Web Gallery…

There were so many great photos that I had to add another page…

The Summer Solstice Parade in Fremont, Seattle, was an unforgetable experience. Sunny and I jostled for a good viewing position among thousands of others. We found a spot right at the bend in Fremont street, at almost the center of the parade route. There must have been over a hundred floats, this was the largest parade I had ever seen! The famous bicycle riders led the parade. I had to be very selective of the photos I posted to make sure this site remains family friendly…

Sunny and I enjoyed the parade, but it was crowded…

Afterwards we stopped by lake for root beer and shade. We found a quiet spot and escaped…

Sunny and I ate dinner at the Roadhouse Bar & Grill in Everett. The food was good, Sunny ate a chicken salad and I had a roasted chicken with pepperjack cheese. But what made the dinner memorable was that the waitress kept bringing us food! We had clam chowder, honey buttered bread, and strawberry cheesecake! After dinner we loaded two boxes with our leftovers. We also enjoyed throwing the peanut shells on the floor…

Sunny’s sister Jessica graduated from the University of Washington! In honor of Jessica’s hard work, I’ve posted a few pictures from the celebration dinner at Sunny’s Mom’s house…

Early Sunday morning we toured a Father’s Day car show at Northshore Christian church. There were some great cars there, including the 1967 Camero that I’m standing in front of.

For Father’s Day we spent time with both our Dads. We had a Father’s Day brunch at my Dad’s house and a dinner at Sunny’s brother’s house.

Isn’t Sunny cute…

An example of the directions from the church to the reception:

Sunny and I ate brunch with Sunny’s Dad and Julie at Palisade for Sunny’s birthday. It seems amazing to me that I was just meeting the two of them at Palisade one year ago. Now Sunny and I are planning our wedding… The food was amazing. Sunny had Seafood Joe, Gary had Seafood Louie, Julie had the Country Breakfast, and I had a rib eye steak and eggs. We had a great time. I posted a few photos below.

We booked our honeymoon in Maui! We will be staying at the Westin Resort & Spa on the spectacular Ka’anapali Beach. The Westin hotel surrounds five pools, our room is one of the best, with an incredible view. The hotel is right on the beach. Sunny and I are going to lay out by the pool every morning and snorkel the rest of the day. We booked non-stop flights on Alaskan Airlines.

I copied the images below from the hotel’s website. In August we’ll post our own photos. I can’t wait!