It has been over 2 years since my last post and boy did we live it up. Too much has happened since Mark went skiing in January 2009 but to recap we...cruised to Alaska, drank wine in Eastern Washington, camped at Lake Chelan, got an awesome job (Angela), made great friends, toured the Oregon coast, hiked, kayaked, and generally enjoyed Seattle.
I have to say moving to Seattle was a shock - a big, gray, damp, liberal, enviro conscious shock but we LOVED it. Mark would like to point out that I loved it after a year, but I loved it nonetheless. In February 2011 we found out that Mark's career was taking us away from the city we had grown to love. Appleton, WI was to be our new home (Mark's hometown so you know he was excited). We looked at each other, shed a few tears for Seattle, and off we went.
I didn't think about reviving the blog for the move to Appleton because I had Facebook. I have realized rather quickly that not everyone is addicted to FB like I am so to share our stories I am breathing new life into the blog. I did have to re-title the VanGroll's Head West to The VanGroll Adventure Continues.
Please follow along as we make our home in the land of cheese! Pictures to come soon.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Stevens Pass Ski Trip
Mark and his friends, Brian, Al, and Chris, went skiing up at Stevens Pass. This ski area is about 2 hours from our home in Seattle. The guys had a full day of skiing and Mark is a little sore today.
Friday, January 30, 2009
I knew I could sleep through a tornado, but...
Apparently this morning I slept through an earthquake. It happened around 5:45 AM this morning and I never felt a thing. I didn't even know it happened until I logged on to our local news website and saw the article.
Mark is skiing today for the first time this season. He and 3 of his friends went to Stevens Pass to hit the slopes. I've been left at home to paint. Actually, I didn't really want to go hang out in the cold all day. Hopefully Mark will have stories of skiing we can post.
Mark is skiing today for the first time this season. He and 3 of his friends went to Stevens Pass to hit the slopes. I've been left at home to paint. Actually, I didn't really want to go hang out in the cold all day. Hopefully Mark will have stories of skiing we can post.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Showshoeing at Gold Creek
Mark and I capitalized on the nice weekend (remember, "nice" means no rain) and went showshoeing this weekend. A short drive from Seattle into the Cascade mountains led us to Gold Creek near Snoqualmie pass. Mark researched this showshoe opportunity and figured I could do it as it was named "#1 easy snowshoe". I didn't have a problem and actually enjoyed it. We stopped halfway through the hike and had hot chocolate with a little mint Bailey's. Hey, it kept us warm! Enjoy the pictures of our adventure!
We look like we're skiing
Angela's action shot
Mark's action shot
Snow covered the bridge
Scenery shots
Gold creek
We look like we're skiing
Angela's action shot
Mark's action shot
Snow covered the bridge
Scenery shots
Gold creek
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
So much for 2009 being a calm one
My hope for the new year was that it would be calmer than past years. In 2007 Mark and I experienced the whirlwind joy of planning a wedding and getting married. In 2008 we picked up our lives and moved 2,000 miles away to Seattle, WA.
All I wanted was for a little peace in 2009.
Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening. On January 5th I lost my job due to the economic slow down. Not fun, but I can keep my chin up and get back to the job search. Last night, January 12 or it could have been January 13, my car was broken in to and our GPS unit was stolen. I know a part of it is my fault because I had put the TomTom in the center console. Now I'm trying to file a police report, claim this on insurance, and find a new job all at the same time. This certainly hasn't been a calm year so far.
All I wanted was for a little peace in 2009.
Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening. On January 5th I lost my job due to the economic slow down. Not fun, but I can keep my chin up and get back to the job search. Last night, January 12 or it could have been January 13, my car was broken in to and our GPS unit was stolen. I know a part of it is my fault because I had put the TomTom in the center console. Now I'm trying to file a police report, claim this on insurance, and find a new job all at the same time. This certainly hasn't been a calm year so far.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Whale Watching
It was whale season in Hawaii when we visited for Christmas. Each year humpback whales return to Hawaii to give birth and mate. We were able to take a whale watching cruise and had several whale sightings. Here are two short videos of our sightings.
This video is of a competition pod of male whales. They compete to be the nearest to the female whale. There were about 5 males in this pod that we saw on the surface
This video is of a competition pod of male whales. They compete to be the nearest to the female whale. There were about 5 males in this pod that we saw on the surface
This video is of the first whale we saw
As Promised - Pictures of our Hawaiian Christmas
Christmas in Hawaii
The church we attended on Christmas day
A statue of the Virgin Mary outside of the church
We saw so many rainbows
Enjoying happy hour - rough, I know!
Sunset picture from the beach at our hotel
All Mark wanted to do was drink out of a pineapple. He got his wish!
I had to get a pineapple drink too
View of the West Maui Mountains from our dinner cruise
Us on the dinner cruise
Mark and the sunset from our dinner cruise
This view made me happy every day
The grounds at the Sheraton Maui
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