2008 Wrap Up

Well, Happy New Years everyone!

I have been peer pressured into posting about my 2008- it seems all my blogger friends have done it, so I guess it's my turn. Here goes:

January:
The legislative session started, so I spent most of my waking hours in Olympia. No vacation time during session... but I did manage to visit a place I hadn't been since I was very young: the Museum of Flight in Seattle. I had a great time- I really should go there more frequently. There I saw a Boeing 707-120, known as SAM (Special Air Missions) 970. It may be better known as the first Air Force One, delivered in 1959 as the first jet used by a US President. It carried Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and flew the Vice President and other dignitaries till 1996. You get to walk inside parts of it- and it's not nearly as spacious as it seems on TV. :-)

February:
There was an amazing lunar eclipse in February, which I photographed from the Tacoma Narrows Airport. The photo to the left is a bit photoshopped, I'll admit... but I did take the photo of the moon, and the photo of the Narrows Bridges... but the moon photo I used a 300mm zoom lens... and then copied and pasted. :-) I love technology. Also in February, my family went to a concert at Jazz Alley in Seattle to see Jake Shimabukuro. Jake's a world renowned ukulele player, who has played with Jimmy Buffett. It was my second Jake concert, and my second time meeting him. There I am --> with my sister and Jake.




March:
In March we celebrated my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary at CI Shenanigans, a restaurant in Tacoma. It was great to have everyone together! My mom made a quilted table runner with photos from their wedding, I made a video of wedding photos and other family photos, and lots more. And that night, my dad, sister and I drove across the pass to Eastern Washington for one of Kjersti's fastpitch tournaments. Only one other time in my life have I been as scared as I was on that drive, and I wasn't even driving! The snow and ice was horrendous. We arrived at nearly 4am, slept for about an hour and a half, then had to go to the fields. Brrrr. It was miserable. We had tarps up to try to block the wind. I brought a propane heater- and I seriously think without it we may have gotten frostbite. You can see just how bundled up Kjersti is.

Eastern WA in March? Never again.



May:
Fastpitch season for Kjersti continued, and I saw all but one of her school games (I think). What a great sister, right? :-) Oh yeah, I'm an even better sister for posting a picture of her pitching with that lovely mask. Hehe.

But the really exciting event of May was me flying to Orlando, renting a car, then driving to Cocoa Beach... warm weather, parasailing, kayaking... and, oh yeah, a space shuttle launch!!! It was my second attempt going all that distance to see a launch- the last one was with dad and Kjersti in Dec '07. But this time, it actually launched! It was amazing. And don't worry, I have photos and video. :-) I rented a 500mm lens for my camera, and this is as close as it would get me:







June-August:
My summer was jammed packed. In addition to getting ready for my year abroad, I went on several vacations, and quit my job. The vacations were fun, the quitting the job part wasn't. :-(

Kjersti and I went on a "college visit" trip. At least that's what we told Mom and Dad, our monetary backers. :-) We visited UConn, Boston College, Boston University, Georgetown and UVA. So yes, technically, we did visit colleges. But the exciting parts (in my opinion) were the baseball stadiums and historical sights we managed to fit in. :-) We saw Dave Niehaus (Mariner's broadcaster) get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (hooray for Dave!!! Our favorite Mariner!), we went to a game at Fenway Park where the Sox played the Yankees (by the way, that game was on my sister's 16th b-day- how awesome a sister am I for getting those tickets?). We spent a day in New York City (never, ever, ever again will I drive anywhere near there). We stayed with family in Washington DC. We went to a National's game at their new stadium. I saw old friends, and got to visit my favorite place in the world- Jefferson Memorial.

Then we flew home, were home for one day, then went to a Mariner's game where the hometown fans celebrated Dave's induction into the Hall of Fame and I got this great photo of the Navy's Blue Angels who were performing for Seafair that day. They're between the light standards. :-) From the game we drove to Winthrop, in Eastern WA, for round two of the festivities surrounding my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary- a family reunion-esque vacation. Remember before when I said the drive in March to eastern WA was one of two terrifying drives I'd been on? Yep, this drive to eastern WA is the other terrifying drive I was talking about. Yikes. Dodging deer, winding curves with cliffs and no barriers... no way will I take that road ever again.

Fastpitch continued.... though we went from freezing cold in Eastern Washington to miserably hot north of Seattle...










September:
Here are Kjersti and I at the last Rainiers baseball game of the season... it was sad to leave the stadium knowing that I'd miss all of the 2009 season. Did you know that I have been to every single opening day game at Cheney Stadium for my entire life? That's 24 years in a row for anyone counting. And I've only missed one July 3rd fireworks show- when I was living in Washington DC. And now I'll miss an entire season. So sad. Oh well. At least they broadcast the games online... too bad they start at 3am my time...


What else did I do in September? Oh yeah, I moved to England.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Here's wishing a great new year to you all. If this year is half as exciting as last year was, I'm in for a treat.

-Hannah