Puerto Rico

Our time spent with our friend Alric and his family and friends was absolutely amazing. Everyone was so nice and hospitable, the waters are warm enough to swim for hours, and all the food is so delicious. Our advice, have a local order for you and try everything, you'll like it :)
...and find as many beaches as you can, there are all shapes and sizes, black sand and white...and just enjoy, you're on island time!








the local beach
















El Yunque National Forest































After our hike through the rainforest, we found a little place with Medalla
on tap!! (It is a popular Puerto Rican beer that we usually got in slushy form in a can, finding it on tap is rare)




This is Coco, he tries to bite everyone but Alric.




washington's face




Many horses roam the neighborhoods like dogs,
although they appear wild, they do have owners.




A sugar cane press which produces a delicious drink that gives you quite the sugar high! (Not for children)




Rio Camuy Cave Park is the third greatest cave system in the world.
We had fun exploring it.




Cueva Clara, the main entrance to the cave is over 170ft. high.
Can you see the Indian face?




The cave formations make for cool abstract designs.




A beautiful sunset on our roadtrip in Rincon, enjoyed with a coconut booze concoction.
















This is flan, it is delicious...made by a friend's mum on our last night. Thank you all so much, the trip would not have been the same without you. We hope to make it back one day and see you all again
on your beautiful island!

departing mainland...

We are truly blessed to have been able to spend all the time with family and friends that we have in the past year or so.  We don't always know where our path will take us, but we do know everything is unfolding as it should...and we are very thankful for our path thus far.  We've been calling this next year "phase 2" as we depart the mainland of our home country to embark on a journey that will take us abroad to experience others.  So for now, we must prepare to leave the places and faces that keep calling us back.  

Until next time...

we love you

  

The Remodel

What started as a kitchen remodel soon blossomed into a 1500 sq. ft. remodel. For the last 6 months we've been diligently working away in Bothell. Offering suggestions on design, tearing down walls, putting up walls, building custom cabinets and rolling out miles of paint. We've put every detail under the microscope...several times, and I think in the end everyone's proud and happy. While the universe is moving us to our next destination before the preverbial cherry is placed on top, we'll soon have pictures to enjoy and share. For now heres a few before, during and kind of after pics...

"The Costco Room"

shortly after before

we were occasionally rewarded with marbles and had fun finding them new homes

"Lord John" the plummer

new laundry room / pantry

open shelf concept makes it easy to find what your looking for

 

fold down ironing board and the new freezer tucked away

white melamine with cherry accents

"The Kitchen"

before...

the old oak cabinets, were given a second chance at life and split up between a couple different homes

with the cabinets gone, it's time to blow up the wall

the doorway shiftedd to the left makes room for the new pantry and the new window opens up the kitchen to the family room

in the thick of it, it felt like the whole house was torn down to the studs...pretty close anyways

big brother dan helping out on the job

still waiting on granite and a few other details

"The Niche"

we decided to take out a closet, making room for the new central heat air return and widening the main hallway to the kitchen by 8"

we weren't sure what to do with the space but after a little creative pow wow...

"the niche" soon became a family favorite

I spent a lot of long days and nights working in the shop up in skagit valley. One too many I guess as my hands started going numb.

"The Entryway"

the old tongue and groove cedar was torn down and burned

"The Dining Room"

the old dining room was used on thanksgiving, christmas and....that's about it

we opened up the wall into the kitchen, making the two rooms flow into each other

new dining cabinets going in

i wanted to put a "furniture base" on all the dining cabinets so they felt less like a cabinet and more like a piece of furniture

hand blown "restoration glass" to match the styling of the shaker cabinets

"The Nook"

in another room that was rarely used, we put in a warm and inviting area dubbed "the nook"

with the sliding glass door out, dan and I are pushed the wall out 14" 

starting to take shape

"dans fireplace"

their fireplace foundation

our fireplace foundation

almost there

a celebration beer on our last day soon followed by a nap in the nook