Catching Up!

  Here's our amazing Grace! She is a real cutie. We went over on Thanksgiving and had a great time with everyone, topped off with plenty of "Grace Time" and a real fun watching of the Seahawks beatdown of the 49ers.
  I can't believe how fast time goes. Just a couple of weeks before Christmas. We have everything decorated here and at the golf course. Even got a little taste of early Christmas snow.
  Should be a fun Christmas, Travis will even be here this year. In years past it's been mostly Chris & I but this year there should be 10 of us!
  My thoughts come to me randomly as I try and remember the past 5 months. Work continues to be fun and challenging, I'd like to think I'm making a difference, cleaning things up, improving things on the course, building a good team and most importantly, creating a positive attitude. We just finished a "Turkey Shoot" golf tournament where we raised about $1,500 in cash and food for our local food bank. Got a real break in the weather. Had a good year personally on the golf course getting my handicap as low as an 8, by far the lowest it has every been. I'm now back up to an 11 - a good number for the winter.
  We will be going to Borrego Springs again this spring, have not decided if this will be the last time I rent the house. Might look for more affordable options. I might also try and stay down there a little longer than a month. Might be a good compromise with the BOD to give me more time off vs more money.
  The neighbors are down south now in Borrego, the Merle and Donna should be coming home for Christmas soon. By the time they leave again I'll only have a couple of months to go before I head down.
  Riley & Carter are good, they haven't been able to get out as much as they would like but they are quick to adapt. We kenneled them over Thanksgiving, they got their nails trimmed and got a much needed bath.

  Thinking of projects for the spring, one is to build a pond out front where we have an undeveloped area that is a pain to weed. I saw something I liked
during our stay at the beach. It incorporated natural things to outline the pond, things we have in abundance on the property. I asked Annie to inquire about the person who built the pond at the beach, he has since moved to Texas. Might be something I can tackle.


Ben just completed work on an amazing project for Starbucks. Starbucks took an old Packard auto sales building on Capitol Hill and turned it into a Roaster. Ben had a large part in the interior merchandisers design, we went to the grand opening last night. Ben & Matt then hosted a dinner at their place afterwards. It was a fun evening!

Welcome to our family Grace!

 Grace Annabel Nelson - Born June 3rd @ 8:52 am
Grace was born @ Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. Chris and I got the call that Jake & Em were heading to the hospital at about 11:00 Monday night. We got to the hospital about 2:30 and didn't get to see Grace until about 10:30 that morning. Some anxious moments as we waited there with Linda (Em's mom). I'll never forget seeing Jake pop out of that delivery room beaming with both arms in the air and both thumbs emphatically pointing straight up. We were all guessing her weight, I (of course) was the one to correctly guess her weight at 7 lbs 3 oz, she was 21' long at birth. We couldn't be prouder and happier for both Jake and Em.

Just 3 days later...

Fire rips through their home, thank God none was injured, but they will be displaced from their home for at least 6 or 7 months. Jake thinks a compost pile might have started the fire but nothing yet has been determined. The upstairs is totally gone, that means all the bedroom items and nursery items. They have to go through the painstaking process of identifying all the things they lost and making sure the insurance company rebuilds their place to their total satisfaction. Takes away from the time they could have spent enjoying their daughters first months at home - how sad.

Despite the setback, the kids are in good spirits and we are anxious to get to know our granddaughter. We are heading over today to babysit while Jake and Em do some shopping.

Everything back at our place is good, Chris planted her garden and has been trying hard to help me outside. I really like the condition of our yard, we are slowly starting to add planting to the hillside. The boys (dogs) are good, they are enjoying the nice weather and spending more time outside. It's good to have our neighbors back and they already have their yards in beautiful condition, it's hard to keep up!

Ben and Matt have both been busy as ever and they are both enjoying their careers and they are both excelling. Ben sold his large viaduct painting and is working on it's replacement, should be amazing when he finishes it. It's been so long since I've updated this blog, I don't know if I had previously mentioned that Ben & Matt got married, we are so happy for both of them. There ceremony was held on the state capital grounds and a reception followed over at Peters in Olympia. It rained but as usual the boys were prepared and we all had fun celebrating with them under the tent. They honeymooned in LA @ the Beverly Hills Hilton and had a great time.

Trav seems to be settled in to his new place, much closer to his work and he is working hard to strengthen his bond with Bailey and Dillon, it hasn't been easy for him but he never gives in and I'm continually amazed at how positive he remains.

Things are good up at the golf course, our very wet spring has got us off to a slower start then I would have liked but I'm really happy with my staff and I will not be working as much on the weekends as I did last year. That's good because it gives me more time to visit Grace.

Happy New Year - Seahawks Superbowl Champs

It's February 4, still reveling in our epic beat down of the Denver Bronco's in Superbowl 48 (43-8). Seattle's hosting a parade on Wednesday, it would be fun to go but we got our tax appointment in Lake Stevens. Work has been good, we've had a very mild winter, cold temps but very little precip.

Only three weeks until my Borrego trip. Looking forward to seeing our friends, playing golf everyday, hitting the pool and generally warm up. I think I have everything covered at work and I'll bring my laptop with me to keep in touch.

Last year was a success at work, we installed wifi, installed epoxy flooring on our stairs and restrooms, updated fixtures in the proshop, created an office for me and now I have organized our financial and personnel files and have established phone lists and vendor files. We revamped the website, now have an electronic reservation system. This year we are re-doing the lighting inside and outside our buildings, beginning an improvement project on our driving range and modify hole #2. Created a real nice rack display that I plan to take to the parks, hotels and our visitor center to promote our course. Always plenty of improvement projects. I have really enjoyed the job, I look forward to see what we can accomplish in 2014.

Our family has quite a 2014 planned. Ben & Matt are getting married in 2 weeks, I'm so happy for both of them. Jake & Em are expecting a baby, there has been a lot of concern about Em's pregnancy, the baby has been diagnosed with Turner's Syndrom but with several visits to Children's Hospital they have been given good news about delivering a healthy child, we are very excited for them. I'm anxious to see Jake transform into a dad, he'll be great. Travis has been promoted and hopes to move his family closer to work as his hours and responsibilities will increase. He has worked so hard, nice to see him be rewarded.

The dogs are great, Riley's barking concerns us, I hope he eventually grows out of this. They enjoy hanging out with Chris and chasing balls out in the back yard. Chris and I are starting to walk Riley down to the mailbox, he really enjoys the walk and it's good for us as well.