Gobble, Gobble!

Laura & Keith and Jess & Brian hosted their first west coast Thanksgiving this year! We started the day with a traditional Cervino hike at a park in West Seattle.



The variety of ferns and vegetation throughout our hike was pretty amazing.


Keith's J-Crew shot!


The Puget Sound with a clear view of the Olympic Mountains.


Chesh welcomed all of our guests (Tom, Nicolai, and Liz in addition to ourselves) with a holiday message.




The annual toast (they are drinkin' Maker's Mark) kicked of our festivities!


A sneak peak at the birds!


Keith carves the "turkey."


Thanksgiving flowers (compliments of my mom) and Apple Cake (baked by Jess!).


Half of our table.


The lone, remaining slice of pumpkin pie..


Cheers to a successful, tasty, and fun West Coast Thanksgiving!!

Snapshots from the Week

Enjoying a home-cooked meal.


Laura, Jess, Mom, & Dad enjoy the Arboretum (while Keith & Brian work, hah!)



The Rhododendrum's still have flowers!



A lone pair of Groucho Marx glasses on a park bench set us up for the obvious photo opportunity!



We met up with Brian in the University District on Wednesday night for a yummy dinner at Araya's Vegetarian Place, a vegan thai restaurant. We then of course had to sample the local brews!

a dose of culture..

Sunday we got an early start and headed back downtown to check out the acclaimed Seattle "Central" Public Library. In 1998, the city decided to double the size of the existing library. Award-winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas was selected to design the structure. The 11-floor building contains an innovative "Books Spiral," which allows patrons unprecedented access to the Library collection. The crystalline steel-and-glass structure contains five platforms — each devoted to a specific program cluster. Four open spaces are housed among the platforms.







After visiting the library, we checked out the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). Keith had been anticipating the Japan envisions the West exhibit.





Finally, while downtown we had to check out another Seattle brewery!

Mom & Dad C. come to visit!

On Saturday the 17th, mom & dad flew into SeaTac airport at noon. They were greeted with the typical Seattle rain.. although this was to be their only rainy afternoon, as the weather for the rest of the week was unseasonably beautiful and clear! By the time Keith packed them into his Fit and had them settled back at the apartment, the rain was already clearing and we (laura, keith, brian, jess) took them down to Pike St. Market. After checking out downtown, we went to a delicious dinner at the Elysian Brewery which offers Field Roast Veggie products AND great micro-brews all in one place!

Keith bottles his Amber!

Empty bottles


Filling the bottles


The sanitized caps


Capping the bottles


The Proud Brewer!!



Keith's beer should be carbonated and ready to drink around Thanksgiving, so stay tuned for some reviews.

A night with...

...our state's capitol, Olympia.



The port that has been at the root of recent anti-war protests.


Though Olympia resembles a cute town more than a city, it still had a lot to offer. Considering that our last capitol was Trenton, we knew it could only be better.

A park by the port:


The usual dome:


We were happy to find some nice parks both inside and right outside of the city.








A Temperate Rainforest & Mud Flats along the Inlet




The Local Brewery


The Olympia Film Society was holding their annual film festival during our visit. We popped into the nice, old theater see 'Amongst White Clouds,' a film about Chinese Buddhist monks living/practicing alone in the Zhongnan mountains.


We ended our night in Olympia at a yummy Thai restaurant, and with some drinks at a fun bar. The next morning we checked at the local coffee scene and recommended thrift stores before heading back to Seattle.

Sunday, Sunday

Sunday morning we took a trip downtown to check out the...



Some of the Sculptures









Stopping to take a look at the Puget Sound, which marked the end of the park.



And finally, on our walk back to Capitol Hill we checked out the rummage/craft sale that is hosted by the Crocodile Cafe every 1st Sunday.

Keith's friend Tim..

..came up from Portland to visit on Saturday night! We took him out to our new friend Ally's birthday party, which was at a bar called Silo in Queen Anne.

We were all psyched to see they had Wii set up!


We also have to thank Ally for the delicious cupcakes,


and free drink tickets!

Local Venues

Friday night we checked out another popular music venue in Seattle called Nectar's, which is located in the Fremont neighborhood. We were excited to see in the Seattle Weekly that UK-based band Tunng was having a free "happy hour" show, and decided to check it out.





Our review: We were impressed with both the venue and the band. Tunng had some awesome four-part vocals while the venue had good sound in an intimate space. Also, if you can find a table, they serve tasty looking food (pizza, calzones, sandwiches, etc.) at a cheap price.