So much!

There has been so much!

First, we got our car!  Oh, 1998 VW Jetta, how we have loved thee...  But we are no longer afraid to drive in the rain now that we have our new car--  which is a good thing, since we live in Seattle.  Our new Subaru is divine, and definitely was worth the wait.

What else?  Well, it was my birthday.  I have been feeling a bit blue lately about feeling so far away from my family in California, and it seems especially hard around birthday time.  But on June 2, as I walked down the hallway, I was met with this fantastic collage of photos of everyone in my family holding up these little Happy Birthday Rachel! signs.  Tyler knows me well--  and giving me my parents-brothers-nephews-nieces-cousins-aunts-uncles-etc. to have on the wall in front of me during breakfast was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.
The rest of the day was lovely too, with a trip to the locks, and a nice lunch.  Violet went to bed and Chris and Vicki came over (thanks guys!) and stayed with her while we tried to go ice skating (the rink had unexpectedly changed their schedule, so we'll have to go another time), and then went to my favorite pub in the whole world:  The Pacific Inn Pub on Stone way, right by our house.  Have you tried their fish and chips?  It's this teensy little dive bar that just so happens to have the BEST fish and chips in the whole universe.  No joke.  We used to go there once a week, before the Violet O. was born.  It's a little slice of heaven in the form of cheap beer and fried goodies.

In other news, Violet is now very into doing these giant floor puzzles.  It's funny to watch her hold these enormous pieces;  she looks like a miniature shrunken version of herself as she stumbles around using both hands to carry a piece to the top of the puzzle.

Also, I am loaded up with work.  Which is a great thing!  Shoe work, elephant work, India bird work, and a few other projects.  Tyler's really busy right now too--  so we decided to take a day over the weekend and just be together in the sun (did I mention the awesome weather we've been having lately?)
More pictures?  Yes!  

I'm sure there is something else, but it's slipping my mind.  So I'll just leave you with a few snoots.