Team Thompson does the Gilroy Garlic Festival

To celebrate our first year, Justin and I went to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy. It probably doesn't sound very exciting or romantic -- garlic does make one stink, after all...I know for sure Uncle Don would NOT be happy about hanging out with someone who'd been to the Garlic Festival! :) -- but I've been looking forward to this festival since we got a packet of visitor information/attractions our first day at the RV park. For a foodie like me, the idea of celebrating a much-loved and practically necessary ingredient is the ideal day. This day (well, series of days) just happened to fall on our anniversary weekend. It was too hot to eat most of the food (like calamari, potato skins, shrimp, pastas, etc) but we did stand in line for about 20 mins to get a scoop of the famous garlic ice cream. I got vanilla-garlic and Justin opted for the non-garlic infused black cherry (what a party pooper - jk). I shoveled in about 3 spoonfuls before I stopped to take a breath - it was cold and refreshing - but also disgusting! Everyone stands in line to try it, and everyone throws it away before it's gone. That taste stays with you, let me tell ya. Thank goodness for the UP booth from Target...they were promoting their line of mouthwashes. Now that was refreshing. So was the extra-large cup of ice cold Pepsi for me and Mountain Dew for Justin., but only for about 1/3 of the way gone though...then we got the upset tummy syndrome from trying to drink too much soda.
After the festival we worked our way back up to good ol' Morgan Hill where we decided on El Toro (named after El Toro Summit - the peak towering over Morgan Hill) for our favorite burger and a brew. We had a fun 1 year celebration and look forward to many many more!

Team Thompson turns 1

Happy 1st anniversary to us! Today we celebrate one year as Team Thompson - we can hardly believe how quickly the year has flown by, especially with all that's happened. thank you to all our friends and family for sending along congratulatory messages, love and support!

First trip back

The last two weeks have absolutely flown by! While we're happy that the last week (work week) went quickly, it's sad to think that our week in WA flew by so quickly, even though we had a fabulous time -- it's just hard to be back. Justin was a groomsman in our friends' wedding on July 18th so we took advantage of that time and spent the week in WA. It was a whirlwind trip with plenty of highlights. You should probably take a bathroom break or grab a snack now...this is a long post:

Friday, July 10: We left Mountain View only 15 minutes later than expected. Yea, us! We only had to turn around once to grab something we forgot: the roadside emergency kit. Thankfully, we didn't need it going or coming. Traffic was backed up all the way to Sacramento so we got to Medford, OR - our half-way point destination - about 2 a.m., but not without excitement...I-5 through Medford is under construction and exits have been relocated or removed completely...including the exit our GPS was certain was there, but in reality, it wasn't. Eventually we got to the hotel, dragged in our luggage and crashed for about 5 hours.

Saturday, July 11: It's 7 a.m. and we're up! We grab brekkie in the lobby with 39 like so super excited junior high softball players and hit the road. Around 12:30 p.m. we arrive in Portland and stop in for a long-awaited lunch with our friends Sara and Eric at a cute neighborhood bakery. We unfortunately had to eat and run, but it was great to see them and catch up! About 4:45 p.m. we met the Thompsons in the parking lot of Applebee's in Olympia so Justin could continue on to Aberdeen for Ryan's bachelor party and I could continue up I-5 to Seattle for dinner with my friends! Bachelor party details are limited, but I had a great time with the ladies (and baby Eli) at Dad Watson's in Fremont.

Sunday, July 12: We met the Gould family (and my dear Linsley) for brunch at IHOP in Issaquah before making the trek to Grandview. The Gould's son Nathaniel is growing so fast and has a few favorite (and hilarious) phrases he keeps in his back pocket and uses at just the right time. It was great to see them and we're excited for the arrival of their new little one...due any time now! Once in Grandview - home sweet home - we chilaxed a bit with mom and dad on the patio and before we popped over to the Rohdes because Erin and Mike were in town!! It just so happened to be their 1 year wedding anniversary too! Afterward, we had a nice family dinner at my parents house, Joe and all!

Monday, July 13: I worked from home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (because I have limited vaca days) so there is nothing exciting to share about the day time...6 p.m. was the time I was waiting for and had been looking forward to since January. We had a family & friends BBQ!!!!!!!!!! It felt soooo good to see everyone and only wish I had had more time to spend with each and every one of you. I miss you all every day and it warmed my heart to be with everyone again.
Tuesday, July 14: Justin napped, answered work calls and tinked around in the yard with my dad while I worked in the dining room/kitchen - I did take a break though to get my hair did. That evening we went to dinner at the Whitstran Brewing Company in Prosser where we met up with friends Tyler and Jared, too! After dinner we went to Joe's new pad on the outskirts of Prosser. He lives in a house on land he and our cousin Donnie are lease and farm - it was neat to see Joe living on his own, mowing the lawn and doing his own thing. His quaint house is right on the Yakima River so he has an awesome view!Wednesday, July 15: Working day again, but I took a break in the a.m. to sit outside near Matt's Grotto for morning coffee and memories. Mom and dad spent the day prepping the RV (our old home) as they left on Thursday for a Gold Star Family gathering in Monroe, and Justin and I got packed up too as we had to hit the road in late afternoon to get back to the westside to dive into wedding festivities. I cried as we left home. I knew I would. We're not sure when I'll be back again. Back in Federal Way we met up with the bride & groom (Ryan and Selena) and Cory at Time Out Ale House for some darts and pool and then headed to Aberdeen for the night.

Thursday, July 16: Ahhh, no working. Finally! When we're in Aberdeen, Karen sneaks out every morning to go get a latte and always brings me one too - it's so sweet - and definitely a nice way to kick off official vacation. Justin and his bro packed up the bikes in the afternoon to go mountain biking and I kicked it on the porch with a pile of magazines. We grilled steaks for dinner and spent the evening relaxing in the living room and chatting with JT's parents. Aberdeen is very calming.

Friday, July 17: Justin had to be in Olympia for groomsman golf at noon so we packed up to head out. On our way out of town we stopped to visit the family of fallen PFC Aaron Fairbairn. Fairbairn, who grew up in Aberdeen, died on July 4th in Afganhistan and his family lives in the same neighborhood as the Thompsons. I had gathered flowers early in the morning to take to them. I didn't know them, they didn't know me, and i wasn't sure what'd happen when I got out of the car. I wasn't able to get words out as I handed over the flowers...and as soon as I opened my mouth I was crying and trying to, between sobs, to explain why - other than the obvious - why I was there. Our stay was brief, but I gained control of my emotions and wished them peace through this time.

Once in Olympia we realized we'd forgotten JT's tux so I had to go back to Aberdeen...it wasn't bad though, I hadn't spent the better part of the afternoon in a car for about 48 hours and I was starting to miss it ;) Back in Olympia we went to rehearsal and then to dinner at Ramblin' Jacks. As we made it back to the hotel for the night, our dear friend Cory discovered he didn't have a two-night reservation, just one night, so he bunked with us.

Saturday, July 18: Wedding day! I took the boys to the wedding site, Indian Summer Golf & Country Club, in the morning and helped with wedding errands in the afternoon. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Olympia - warmer than usual, bright and sunny - perfect for a wedding! The wedding started at 4 p.m. and then we moved inside for the reception. We met some new friends, the McFaddens from Tri-Cities (who coincidently know a lot of the same people I know), saw a lot of good ol' buddies from college and had a fun (maybe too much fun...?) time celebrating the newlyweds.Sunday, July 19: we had to get up early to to make a mad dash for California because we both had to work on Monday. We chatted a while around the breakfast table with the Thompsons before we hit the road. It was hard to leave them...we don't know when we'll see them again either :( Needless to say we were exhausted and spent most of our drive through WA and OR in silence, taking turns driving and sleeping. It was a toasty 111 degrees through the Siskiyous in CA, but a crappy 64 degrees back in Mountain View. If there is one thing I'm disappointed about in CA is the crappy weather on the peninsula. I would have paid a lot of money to stay in the 111 degree weather. Yes, that's hot, but it's much better than a crappy 64 degrees in the middle of JULY!

So here we are, back in Mountain View, in a whopping 68 degrees on a Saturday morning. We had a wondefrul, wonderful, wonderful time in WA and can't wait to be back (or for you to come visit us!!)

Found it!

The MJ cover was right where I thought it'd be. The tape, though, wasn't in the sleeve.

"Washington, my Washington"

We're coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will you be there?

As today is his funeral, I felt I should share my most vivid Michael Jackson memory. I'm sure some of you can relate to this...it has to to with the movie Free Willy.

I was in 2md or 3rd grade I think when the movie came out. I remember watching it in the theater and then over and over and over again after we bought the movie on VHS. I was obsessed with the Michael Jackson song on the soundtrack called, "Will you be there." I would hover over my alarm clock/radio/tape recorder (yes, I still have it and use it) with a blank tape at the ready to capture the song when it would play on the oh-so-great and hip 107.3. I had at least 8 tracks recorded back to back that I would play, rewind and replay on my walkman for hours and hours.

I'm laughing at myself now too, ok? :)

During the same summer as my obsession I had the opportunity to stay overnight with my cousin Carrie and her roommate Kim at their apartment in Tri-Cities. Carrie was a new WSU grad, had her own place, her own car, didn't have a bed time or parents telling her to get some chores done before she could play. It was pretty awesome to me that I got to go spend the night there. We watched Ground Hog's Day, ate cereal for dinner and stayed up "late." The next day she took me to the mall and while in the music store, she asked me if I wanted to get a tape.

I knew exactly which one I wanted...the single of "Will you be there."

I still remember finding it in the rack of cassettes. I remember the red-colored sleeve it was in and how Michael was positioned or looking sideways on the cover. If I were in Grandview, I'd have a pretty sweet picture of me with the tape to post in this blog. It's probably still in my nightstand at my parents house, along with my tape soundtrack of Ghostbusters, Amy Grant (you can't get any better "Heart in Motion") and GT and the Halo Express.

Good times. Free Willy forever.

A bang up 4th weekend

Sooo, we had a rather uneventful 4th, complete with a 7 minute firework show that we waited 3 hours for, and that some people even paid for! The day started off with the Redwood City parade and festival (www.parade.org), followed by a nap for me and some Xbox for Justin, and then the trip out to Shoreline Lake to watch the fireworks.

This morning we got up to enjoy coffee and blueberry pancakes before our pre-planned hike at Monte Bello preserve, but before we got to the kitchen, I tripped on a shoe hiding in a pile of laundry near the hamper. Not that tripping is any surprise for those of you who know how graceful and well-balanced I am, and I've had my share of stubbed toes, but when I heard the pop, tears popped out of my eyes at the same time, I knew this was a little worse than a stubbed extremity.

I iced it as we ate and we decided to wait a few hours for our outdoor excursion to see what the toe felt and looked like later. I can't say I was pain free, but it wasn't too bad after nice ice bath, so we decided to see what a hike would feel like.

Knowing that there isn't much you can do for a broken toe but tape it to its neighbor, I did just that with a bandaid because we were fresh out of athletic tape.

The hike was fun, longer than our normal route, and the weather was a nice 70 degrees. Justin has a fancy sunburn on his arms from the lack of sleeves on his awesome Iron Maiden shirt, and though the toe was a bit tender, I thought, "Hey! this thing isn't feeling so bad!"

We got home, finally made our 4th of July dinner (burgers, grilled corn on the cob and potato salad!), and settled in for the night on the couch and some Pirates of the Caribbean when I decided to take off my shoe for a looksie.

What Justin mistook for a the bandaid was actually the steller bruise and swollen second toe on my left foot.

I swear my left leg/foot is cursed. Either that or it just hates me. I believe that if I weren't blessed with a second toe that dangles longer than the rest, including Mr. Big toe, this wouldn't have happened :) Oh well. Here's hoping though it heals up in 2 weeks so I can wear my fun new heels to the wedding!