Band Tour in the Big City

Lynden Christian Band Tour group picture

The Fearless Leaders & students enjoying downtown Chicago

Performing on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building

There are small steps in letting go of your children and giving them independence, this was one of those leaps. Wyatt went on his first trip without his parents to the "Big City" of Chicago on the L.C. School band tour in March. I packed him up, prayed, and sent hin on his way. They flew out of Seattle to Chicago and spent five days touring the city, visiting colleges, and performing at different schools around the area. My final instructions were -- take pictures with people in them. So much for listening to mom, he took some great photos at the Museum of Science and Industry and the John Hancock building, but where are the people? Fortunately, mom chaperone Val, shared her "people photos" with me.

Thanks to all who organized the trip and took care of our kids on tour - Wyatt had a great time!

Sonoma & Napa Valley Review - Wining and Dining

Jeff and I headed to CA on Sunday for a QUICK getaway. It is our 20th wedding anniversary in June and we went to Napa on our honeymoon so decided it was time to return. We flew into Santa Rosa and drove to Sonoma, stayed at the Fairmont Mission Inn & Spa for a couple of nights.




The whirlwind tour included -
Ledson Winery - beautiful castle and my favorite wine of the trip


Kunde Winery - great tour of caves built into the hillside for wine barrel storage
(warning - to much wine tasting can make you light headed--I'm just saying)




The Girl & the Fig Restaurant - great French restaurant, pleasant atmostphere, good food.
Garden Court - small cafe with awesome breakfast menu (yummy honey bun french toast)
Figone's Olive Oil Co. - serveral olive oils to taste, we purchased an orange and lemon flavor- it is sooo good!
Chateau St. Jean Winery - Beautiful gardens - we did not wine taste here.


Kendall-Jackson Wine Center - very large, impressive wine center. They just introduced "Avani Chardonnay", it is a light crisp wine, great for summer.


Rodney Strong Winery - we fell in love with this wine at a
wine maker's dinner at Whistler during Cornucopia so had to stop here, we but did not taste, just a looked around at the tasting room and toured the different wine storage areas.


Castello di Amorosa - a castle winery in Napa valley - very impressive!!!














Wine Spector Greystone Restaurant at the Napa Culinary Institute - interesting to watch food prep and had a great lunch here.
















Black Stallion Winery - the newest winery in Napa, it was beauiful and the wine tasting was good.



















Back to the hotel for afternoon wine tasting courtesey of VJB Vineyard - again one of my favorite wines of the trip

Lasalete Restaurant - highly recommend by our friends, the food was delicious, I would return to this gem. Loved the "Trio of Chocolate" dessert.






YES, we did all this in less than 48 hours, a lot of driving, tasting, eating and even relaxing in the evening - a great getaway!

Special Gift

Happy St. Patrick's Day. My good friend Robin from Bellingham Travel gave me a special gift my last day working in the office. She made this awesome present by drilling a hole in the glass block, putting in a LED light string,and then added the bow, wishing me "Good Luck" with my new ventures in life. What a great idea--it can be a great Christmas gift too! Her "love langauge" is "giving gifts", she is the best! I will miss working with her and the other girls in the office. I was at the office yesterday setting up an "outside sales" position with Bellingham Travel. I am looking forward to planning trips outside the office.

Early Retirement & Fat Little Hippo

Early Retirement and and fat little hippo -what more can a girl ask for?!? Well, I got it!

I didn't really ASK for the early retirement, actually, I was a little shocked last Friday morning when I was "let go" from Bellingham Travel after almost 24 years of employment. However, the more I thought about it, the more excited I got, I was so excited I felt bad about it--really, who is excited about losing their job?!?

Today was my last day and it was great! I felt very loved and appreciated by my co-workers (love them!), my husband, friends and family. Jeff took me out for lunch at my favorite place - D'Annas, and brought me 2 dozen roses (24 years). The girls at work brought yummy food to munch on, flowers,special gifts, kind words, and Abby made an awesome chocolate cake. FOOD was the theme of the day. After all those years together they know me very well!

I always thought (to myself), "when I leave Bellingham Travel I'm taking the fat hippo with me", well, I did! Just a little reminder of my years at Bellingham Travel.

I don't think I'll give up travel consulting completely, my boss offered me an "outside sales" position. I guess that means having my favorite clients over to my home for a cup of coffee, planning their travel, and make money doing it - how cool is that? I'll keep you posted on that as my life settles into retirement. I'm going to take a few weeks off to clean closets, paint our ceilings, watch Wyatt's Lacrosse games, and take a trip to Napa with my honey for our 20th anniversary.

The Travel Industry has changed a lot in the last 30 years. I started out in the 1980's without a computer, phoning in reservations to the airlines and typing itineraries - now days anyone can be a "Travel Agent", booking their own travel on personal computers. It's a hard business to be in today. However, not everyone can be a "Travel Consultant", which I consider myself to be after 30 years of "Travel" experience. I hope you will still need me to "consult" you on your future travel plans from time to time.

Happy Valentine's Day

Monday evening our Sonlight GEMS and their Moms got together at church and made Valentines for people in our church who are going through difficult times. We have a great night together with the girls and their moms being very creative and crafty. LOVE my GEMS!
Have a great Valentine's Day!!

Auction Fun

Last weekend our good friends Janelle & Graham and Jeff & I went to a really fun auction for The Boy & Girls Club in Lynden. Our friend Karen did an amazing job helping plan, and catering the auction. They had the pre-Super Bowl theme so Jeff and I wore our sports attire (Wyatt's LC football jerseys). It was a great way to raise money for the kids and have fun doing it. Loved the 5th quarter -we danced to the music of my cousin's band "7 Second Window". They should have played for the half time show at the real Super Bowl game, they were much better entertainment!

Heavenly Weekend in Indianola

Last weekend our family headed south to new and exciting destination -- Indianola, WA, on the Kitsap Peninsula in Puget Sound! Jeff's brother Jordan and sister-in-law Jana invited us to stay with them at their "home away from home". It was a perfect weekend, complete with- ferry rides, walks on the beach, great conversation with family, yummy food, games, and absolutely beautiful view. Wyatt had a great time with cousins, playing X-box, air soft wars on the beach and helping Wil put together his "Star War" lego collection. It was a wonderful memory maker!