SeaWorld

Rosie, Andrew and I spent a wonderful day at SeaWorld. Xavier, Emilie and Marguerite had to leave for Paris (they did the SeaWorld tour the day before we arrived) and Stephen and John had to return to NYC. Nevertheless, Emilie got us a VIP tour that included our own guide to the park, an outstanding seafood dinner at a restaurant in a shark aquarium, and special sessions with a sea lion and King penguin. It was another unforgettable day.

Andrew pets a gorgeous and proud King penguin.
Rosie and Brad with the penguins.
A three week old King Penguin joined us.Andrew and Rosie share their fish with the dolphins.
Andrew and Rosie feed the seal lions.Brad, Andrew and Rosie get a great view of Seymour the sea lion through the glass wall of the tank.Seymour jumped out of the water to pose with us and one of the stars from the sea lion and walrus show at SeaWorld.We ended the day with a great killer whale show that helped us appreciate the intelligence, power and majesty of these mammals that can weigh up to 12,000 pounds!

A giant thank you to Emilie for making this trip to Florida one we will always treasure.The only thing that would have made it better is if Rebekah, Paul, Marc, Melanie, Julie, John, Joyce and Grace could have enjoyed it with us.

Discovery Cove

Saturday we had a wonderful adventure at Discovery Cove. We swam the Lazy River, saw tropical birds, Went snorkeling with a multitude of tropical fish including some enormous sting rays. The highlight was swimming with dolphins!

Emilie with Roxie, our guide dolphin.
Rosie gets swimming lessons from Roxie.
Emilie jet skiing behind Roxie.Brad catches a ride.
John and Roxie head for shore.
Stephen rewarding Roxie!
Andrew catching some swimming action.
Brad, Rosie, Stephen, John, Emilie and Andrew with Roxie.
Emilie and Rosie
A beautiful sunset at Discovery Cove at the end of an unforgettable day.

Florida Adventure -- Universal Studios

What a contrast to go from a blizzard in Utah to 83 degrees and sunny in Florida. Emilie invited us on an adventure to Florida, where through her employment at Blackstone she got us VIP treatment at Universal Studios, Discovery Cove and SeaWorld. We had a great time with Emilie, Xavier, Marguerite, Andrew, Stephen and John Derian. We met on Friday and enjoyed a day in Universal Studios. Of course the highlight of this day was the new Harry Potter section of the park.

Brad, Rosie, Stephen, Andrew, Emilie, Xavier and Marguerite wandering off in the background at Universal Studios entrance.
Emilie, Andrew, Rosie and Steve gearing up for the Harry Potter adventure.Andrew and Marguerite in front of Hogwarts school. Note the huge crowd, thanks to Emilie our passes avoided wating in long lines.Andrew in Harry Potter Land
The famous jelly beans from Harry Potter -- would you like an ear wax, or toe jam?
Emilie, Andrew, Xavier and Stephen trekking through the streets of Universal Studios.

Marguerite found a true friend in the Curious George section.

Xavier finds his own true friend!

February Break Utah Trip

We took, what has become, our annual February trip to Utah February 18-24 and had a great time. We had hoped for some good snow for cross country skiing and we were not disappointed as it snowed every day but one while we were there. Saturday and Sunday we had well over a foot of snow at the cabin glorious, "greatest snow on earth", Utah powder over our knees in some places.

This year was special as we celebrated Rosie's Mom and Dad's 70th anniversary with many of her family members. seventy years is a remarkable achievement and they are an inspiration to all of us.

We saw many members of the Miller and Johnson families and had fun times together.

Ivan and Ruth with their 70th anniversary cake.
Dinner at the cabin with Paul, Jill, Rob's family and Lee and Jeannie Holmstead
Rosie and Andrew ski on the cabin road, before the big snowstorm hit.

Brad and Rosie race down a hill by the cabin
Rosie and Brad stop while skiing in the glorious Utah powder.
Paul and Jill join us on the ski trail
Paul, Rosie, Andrew and Caitlyn get ready for a race.
Paul and Caitlyn play a friendly game of California speed
Rosie by the cabin and all the skis after a great day with family in the snow.

Caitlyn and I went on a date with jeremy dow in provo. We went to goodwill and bought each other tasteful outfits, and then proceeded to go out to dinner to show them off. We picked the wrong place though, cause we fit right in at dennys....My long johns that were picked out for me were like a 3 XL. I loved them. I spilled a huge thing of chili on them at dinner, and that added just the touch they needed. I picked out a half of a wet suit for caitlyn, and a very stylish shirt.
I love you all. Have a good week.

Happy Birthday to Joyce

Joyce turned three last Tuesday.

Joyce had abstract ideas about what she wanted her birthday to be, until she got a birthday card from Grandma Miller. The card had party hats, balloons and a round cake. Taking her cue from the card, Joyce knew just what she wanted, "Mom, I want a round cake, balloons and hats for my birthday." So that's what we had.

Rainah came over and we put on hats right away.

She also brought her parents, Heather and Sylvester who joined us for dinner. John made an amazing biriyani.

And Barbara came as well. She and Sylvester had a good time chatting.

Joyce opened up her presents. In this picture she's asking to open the "Santa" one. We still had some from Loretta's generous Christmas bounty that we were saving for her birthday. You can see Rainah's doing some close supervision.

Then she and Rainah had a good time playing with her new presents.

We ended the night with a round cake with active participation from all invited guests.

We had a great time. And we are glad Joyce is in our family. She's a real sweetheart with a big imagination and a lot of sass.

Dress Up

John and Joyce played dress up.



Grace looked on.

Overheard

Julie: We are going to have some older kids over to play today Joyce. Their names are Kate and Brandon. Kate really likes cats.

Joyce: Oh! I really like dogs.

Julie: You do?

Joyce: Yes, I have a dog now. It's Sam. He's black. I got him from Grandma Rosie's house.

John: You did? Where is Sam?

Joyce: He's in the backyard. He likes to play there.

John: What do you feed him?

Joyce: Dogfood. He likes dog food.

So everyone back in Enumclaw, thanks for giving us your dog. I hope you won't miss him too much.