Life in Washington!: Super Seattle Summer

Hi there everyone! Summer is in full swing here in the Pacific Northwest. I am not supposed to tell anyone this, but the summer's in Seattle are unbelievably nice. 70-80 degrees. Sunny. Everyday from the start of July to end of September. This year we even had a few really dry weeks in June, which is not typical, but we welcome the sun when we get it.
Enough about the weather.
A major cause for applause: The residency is OVER! Jenny and Rachel (as well and me and Luke) survived!!! (see: THIS )
That residency took everyone on a crazy, year long ride, but the beast has been slayed and we are all better off for having endured it. Of course, no hard work goes unrewarded. Jenny made a smooth transition from working 60+ hour weeks to daily yoga, bike rides, beach trips, and sleeping in. Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of a summer break. Actually, quite the opposite. A major project hit the area and the radio engineers around here have been spinning like hamsters on wheels for a few months. The end of the major to-do's are almost done, so the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter by the day. Again, no hard work should go unrewarded..... so I've been sneaking in some vacations :-)
To name a few, I attended a several bachelor parties this summer thus far. The first was Cory's where we camped out up in Leavenworth, WA and then I took the party whitewater rafting down the Wenatchee River. (Click here for a timelapse of the trip- pics taken every 30 seconds). We zipped back to Seattle for a night of partying downtown to complete the bachelor weekend.
The next party was for Mason and the event was held in Orange County, California so I flew down there and met up with a bunch of friends. We had a great time camping on the beach, surfing, fishing, volleyballin', getting sunburned, and generally being idiots. It was grand.
Mason's bachelor party was quickly followed by the wedding in Iowa City, Iowa, which I had the honor of standing in. I didn't even recognize myself in the mirror with a tux on! It was great to spend some time in my old stomping grounds- even got to see some friends which I hadn't seen in years. Jenny even made it to the ceremony and reception, which only added to the great group of people that made it to the event. Great party, great people.
Last trip (so far!) of the summer was a great trip up to the San Juan Islands in Washington. Jenny and I were able to get away for 4 days of sea kayaking in the islands. We did a whale watching sea kayaking tour the first day. We didn't see whales close up, but we had a really fun group of people and a great guide so it was still fun. We spent the next three days on a self guided sea kayaking trip. We paddled to our kayak accessible only campsite and set up camp for a few days. We couldn't have asked for a better set up- we had the whole place to ourselves with Mount Baker towering in full view to the east. We paddled among bald eagles, harbor seals, hummingbirds, and lots of fish. We had a layover day there so we got to take our sweet time doing everything and nothing at all (such luxury not afforded living and working in The City). There are few things I love more than taking an extraordinarily long time drinking coffee and looking at mountains. I would encourage anyone and everyone to visit the San Juans Islands. We met people from all over the country and world who had to travel a long ways to get there and all we had to do was a 2 hour drive and one hour ferry ride. We are pretty spoiled here in Seattle.
The last bit of news I have for everyone is exciting! We are moving! To the mountains! Jenny landed a job in Wenatchee, WA so we are moving to Leavenworth, WA !! It's a little ski town tucked on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. I am beyond excited to move back to the mountains. It's been fun living in the city, but I'll trade traffic for scenery any day. I got approval to work from home full time so I'm going to set up shop at our new place. I have a pretty sweet deal.
So yea. It's been a great summer so far and all signs are pointing for the fun to continue. Thanks for
reading and enjoy the pics!
Oh, one last thing: click here for a timelapse video of me making a MacPac- pics every 30 seconds.

A float during the Solstice Festival in Freemont. Not pictured: the army of painted naked people riding bikes. Freemont is known for being "weird".

A fantastic family band during the Solstice Festival. The fiddler sang! They played this (which is a raft guide favorite). Excellent parenting, Sir!

Artisan market at Solstice Fest.

Just 3 nebraskans and some weird Australian guy. If I knew anything about hashtags I'd probably think of something funny to put here. #hashtag.

Dinner done right. (Leavenworth, WA)

Trying to figure out this long exposure stuff on the camera.

Bachelor Party campfire vision

Start montage of Mason's bachelor party- Kevin and I were the first to arrive.

Now to Mason's bachelor party (in Orange County)

Mason's b-party crew with our keepers (and dinner!)

This is an accurate summary of our day spent surfing. I'm on the left and Rees is on the right- those are his legs. (Hold shift and click picture to zoom in and laugh). Surfing is hard.