The Funnest of Runs

Today we participated in a Ferndale institution that celebrated it's tenth year running. We are talking about none other than the Ferndale Old Settlers 5k run. We had seen a sign advertising this race in a coffee shop and decided that no matter what, we would be there.

So this morning we headed down to the park, registered (with Heidi's second grade teacher), pinned our bibs, posed for pictures, and ran our hearts out. While waiting to start we sized up every single one of our competitors -- all 143 of them.

At the sound of the gun (aka the voice of none other than the lady that registered us aka Heidi's second grade teacher) we were off. Right away we were passed by eight year old boys. It was not a good way to boost our confidence. After those boys puttered out and walked after about 150 yards, we regained our confidence, we found our stride, and had a wonderful run through the countryside of Whatcom County. Thanks Old Settlers for a great Saturday morning run.

Getting all pinned up. You have got to love a race that you can show up to 20 minutes before it starts and still have time to register.

Away we go!

Post race and feeling good.

The high-tech placing system used at the Old Settlers race.

Heidi was a big winner at the post race raffle. This lucky lady has a DQ combo meal coming her way sometime in the near future.

We really do run for personal satisfaction but it was pretty fun when Adam got 2nd place in his age group and Heidi got 3rd place in her age group.  Nailed it!

Real Food

We love vegetables (as is evident from a few other previous posts on this blog)!  We really enjoy them and make sure to eat enough each day that we feel light, fresh, and ... errr ... should we say .... nope, we will leave it at that. 

One of the many perks about being in Ferndale over the summer is the bounty that the Soper's garden produces.  We are lucky enough to walk out, check out what is in season, and harvest our next meal right from the ground.  It feels a little like Christmas as we walk out to see what will become our breakfast, lunch, and dinner (kohlrabi anyone??).  Ah, the joys of life on a farm!

The raspberries and peas have been going crazy which leads to a lot of creative -- yet delicious -- cooking.

Pretty pansies!

Thank you, hennies, for your abundance of delicious farm-fresh eggs. 

Adam with lunch and dinner ingredients in his hands.  How much better can life get?

If anyone has a good new recipe for kale, please send it our way.

Kohlrabi -- the ultimate cooking challenge.

Our Biggest Fan

Our blog has been uber successful.  By successful we mean that we have a solid 10 followers who eagerly check our blog each day, and yes, 96% of them are family members.  Just last week we had the opportunity to go to dinner with arguably one of our most faithful followers -- Aunt Nancy.  Nancy might have helped our blog "stats" skyrocket over the past year which wether she knows it or not, kept us blogging.  (We had an overall "pageviews" goal we were trying to meet and by-god, we met it)!!

A few nights ago we had the opportunity to go out to dinner with Nancy and the rest of the family.  We had a wonderful dinner with delicious food and even better company.  The bartender was not so bad either!!  (Thanks for the drinks, Karl).

There she is in all her glory -- Aunt Nancy.  She holds the official title of "Life@Latitude10 Biggest Supporter."

We went to Karl's place of employment for dinner -- a bar and pizza restaurant .  It was delicious and the service was impeccable.  Shawn was still smiling despite his car being hit by a garbage truck earlier in the day.  What the What?!

Erica, Alisha, and Heidi were all smiles all night.  The whiskey-sours helped, as well.

Karl can make a darn-solid drink.

Another wonderful night with amazing family.

Gametime

Since even before we left Vietnam we had been talking about how much we wanted to go a Sounders game. We had been looking for tickets and the right day to go but had a hard time coming up with that perfect combination. Enter our old friend Calvin, the man who can get things done. Calvin worked his sports ticket magic and scored us some great seats for the Sounders vs. Chelsea FC from London.

Chelsea calls this their tour of America. This tour is intended to spread the goodwill of soccer and expose top quality European soccer to an American crowd. We decided that Chelsea really just wanted to show off and prove how much better they are then American MLS teams. Chelsea got right to work to prove their point as they scored two goals against the Sounders in the first 10 minutes. The Sounders were able to rally and score a couple of goals to make the game entertaining. In the end the Sounders did lose but we still had a great time enjoying some soccer on a beautiful NW evening.

Century Link Field made for a great backdrop.

Probably the biggest fans there.

Island Living

This last weekend we had the chance to head to beautiful Camano Island to spend some quality time with the Pierce family.  We had high hopes of enjoying the sun, eating good food, and having lots of good conversations.  We are happy to report that we we checked all of our "hopies" off the list.  We also checked some other "unplanned" activities off our list -- activities that sprang up due to less than ideal weather or perhaps a few extra glasses of wine (bowling and dance parties to Carlie Rae Jepsen, anyone??)  All in all, we loved the time spent with family, at the beach, enjoying all that island living has to offer and are hoping that we did not over-drink our welcome so that we can be invited back again soon!

Shawn, Erica, and Heidi enjoying the calm before the storm ... thunder storm, that is.

We headed out to a hike one morning but there were not enough seats in the car.  Adam channeled Baker and eagerly rode in the back.

The first leg of our hike was down to the beach to check out cabin rentals.

Shawn and Adam got distracted on this leg of the hike.  Somehow wheelbarrow races seemed more exciting.

Waiting to start our "hike" around the nature trail.

The storms stopped which meant one thing:  cocktails and monkey ball competitions.

Shawn and Erica talking out their strategy.  They decided the Kanye Pandora station was key to winning.

These two clean up well!!  They headed out to dinner and left the "kids" to themselves.  (Insert wicked sounding music here).

Game night.  Apples to Apples made an appearance before ...

... impromptu dance party began.  As Erica pointed out (all weekend), "You just gotta live your life, ya' know!"

Sunday morning was grey and stormy so, always the Mom, Sandy took us all bowling.

After bowling, beer and nachos seemed to be the appropriate next activity.

Thanks for hosting such a large group, you guys.  You always make us feel right at home!!

After the Storm

Summer finally arrived in the PNW. That is until about 2:30 in the morning yesterday when severe rain and thunderstorms shook the state. What an appropriate time to head to the beach for a relaxing weekend. Grilling, drinking chilled white wine, and playing horse shoes doesn't sound so appetizing in uggs, raincoats, and as scarf.

This morning we woke to a beautiful sight ... Sun and some blu(ish) skies. "And then you go and totally redeem yourself."

Vacation Squared

Late last night, we returned home from our vacation within vacation.  That's right.  Despite being home for 2 months with nothing better to do then run, drink coffee, and read a lot of books, we began to feel a little antsy.  So, we decided to plan a little vacation to ... you know ... just get away from it all and relax a little.

We went to Atlanta to visit Heidi's brother, sister in law, and adorable niece.  While in the dirty south we were able to run a race, eat too much food, visit some new sites, and most importantly, connect with family who we love much and miss often.  We are already excited for our next trip to the great state of Georgia for summer of 2013!

It was not love at first sight for these two.  Rather, Penny burst into tears when she first spotted Adam.  He quickly won her over, though (as he does all the ladies)!!

Fredo was not too sure to make of the company either.

After running Peachtree 2012, we got to hit up our favorite ATL hotspot for a healthy breakfast of banana pancakes and coffee.

On the 4th of July we celebrated America with beer and burgers (veggie burgers, that is).  Here P was learning early about the importance of variety and ice!

Proud dad and lovely daughter.

Jake (Big Brother) and Heidi outside of Turner field where, with a beer in hand, the A's battled on to victory.

Adam and Heidi were happy to battle the 95 degree heat with hot dogs and beer.  Okay, maybe the dogs were more to appease Heidi and get her to stop asking for hot dogs.

Jake and Adam (Crackers!!).

We also were able to go on a "brewery tour" -- (translated to drinking copious amounts of beer and listening to bad music and not doing anything that remotely resembles said "tour").

Jake went to purchase some doughnuts for a treat one morning.  Somehow he ended up coming home with 2.5 doughnuts PER PERSON.  Don't worry ... we did our duty and finished them ALL.

Penny Pants proving she is a Soper not just by name but also by the amount of food she can consume at one sitting.  Doing us proud, Pants!  Doing us proud.

We went to visit the MLK Jr. historic sites which included an amazing mural depicting MLK's life.  Amazing and inspiring.

The birth home of MLK Jr.

Visiting GATech and their new roof-top garden space.

The Sweetest of Water

Today was hot in Atlanta. We tried our best to find various ways to beat the heat.

Attempt #1: We started our day off by sleeping in and not going for a run. As lovely as Atlanta is to run through, it is still hot. There is always tomorrow. Results of attempt at beating heat: Successful.

Attempt #2: We headed down to a fantastic local pool in Piedmont Park. There were tons of families with kids but the poll took care of the old folks with a designated "adult swim" every 45 minutes. Results of attempt at beating heat: Successful.

Attempt #3: After the pool we headed to local brewery Sweetwater Brewery for their "tour". We did not think that a tour would cool us down too much but we were convinced that the six tastings that are offered to you might be do the trick. And being that this is the South our tastings actually turned out to be full size pint glasses. Results of attempt at beating heat: Successful. 

This pool is pretty much right in the middle of the city. Well done Atalanta Parks.

Before our tour and tasting started we had to wait outside in the 97 degree heat for about a half hour. They just wanted up to work up a thirst.

Seriously tasty beer.