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WHAT'S NEW
9/25/10 - Today's fun activities included a baby shower (for Marisa) and the Fremont Oktoberfest (for Edgars). The shower was less chaotic than expected, despite the various young children running/crawling all around the house. We ended up with lots of baby loot that we won't have to buy for ourselves. Edgars and his father enjoyed sampling numerous unique beers at the Oktoberfest, despite being some of the older people there.
9/19/10 - Today Nikolas and his mother (Jenny) arrived for a week of fun an mischief. Good thing we already baby-proofed most of the house in anticipation of our own hellion. Much fun will be had with Nik this week.
9/1/10 - For those of you who don't know yet, Marisa and I are expecting our first baby!
8/28/10 - Today's activities were the Evergreen State Fair. Food, Alaskan racing pigs, food, vendors of stuff you don't need, food, cows (also considred food), pigs, dogs, and more food. Do you see a pattern here? Fair food seems to be the big draw for us.
7/16/10 - Mmmm. Bite of Seattle (drool). We sampled a variety of old and new, good and bad foods at the wonderful Bite. This year we even tried The Alley. Some of the items were a bit odd, but most were really good! We'll definitely do The Alley again at the next Bite of Seattle.
6/26/10 - Today Marisa walked the Rock & Roll half marathon! Not many people can say they've done that.
5/28/10 - Tonight we went to the Historic Everett Theater and saw the Cherry Poppin' Daddies with opening act Nigel Mustafa. It's a nice intimate place for a concert (seats just over 800). The Daddies were just OK, but Nigel was pretty rockin'.
5/1/10 - For Edgar's early birthday present we went to Brooks & Dunn's Last Rodeo Tour concert at the Tacoma Dome. Edgars liked it, but Marisa wasn't too impressed. The opening acts were not very good, but at least B&D rocked out with lots of their hits.
4/4/10 - Yesterday was spent watching the Final Four games at our house with lots of family. The event was even sponsored by Coke Zero (while in San Jose we entered a contest for a Coke Zero party pack that included tons of free Coke Zero, free pizza, and various Coke Zero branded party favors). Today we spent a pleasent Easter the family again. Lots of food, family, and b-ball. Good times.
4/2/10 - Marisa can't get enough of Muse. Tonight we went to the Muse concert at Key Arena. They put on quite an impressive show with the lights, lasers, smoke, monster video screens, rotating drum kits, and height-changing stage sections.
3/22/10 - This March was filled with much madness. We just got back from San Jose where we watched the Huskies with their games in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. It was quite exciting to be cheering them on with all the other Husky fans. This was very much a last-minute trip since we only found out we got tickets about three days before we flew out. Between games we even took a side trip out to Fresno to visit Hazel and her parents.
2/5/10 - Tonight we went to the Mastery of Scottish Arts concert at Benaroya Hall. As with last year, it was an impressive display of world-class bag-pipers and other Scottish arts.
1/24/10 - Today was Nikolas Roberts' kristibas. The little guy is finally more interesting than the little lump we saw back in October. He can actually interact with you now.
12/15/09 - Tonight we went to the Deck The Halls Ball with the bands Muse, 30 Seconds to Mars, Metric, Phoenix, and Vampire Weekend. It was a loud and energetic event. Some bands were really good (Muse), and some were kinda bad (30 Seconds to Mars). Overall it was quite a fun evening.
11/28/09 - Yippee! The Huskies win the Apple Cup this year! Given how crappy the Cougs are this year it was not a big surprise, but it is a relief to finally have the Apple Cup back where it belongs.
11/12/09 - Tonight we went to the Fall Cider Celebration at Ivar's Salmon House with a couple of Marisa's friends from work. We got to try 33 different hard ciders from 14 cider companies. Some were really good, some were really bad, and many in between.
11/2/09 - Marisa just got back from Fresno where she visited Hazel, Laura and Marshall's bouncing baby girl. "Auntie" Mari had lots of fun with Hazel and the gang.
10/31/09 - Candy Candy Candy! Hoo boy. Despite the wet weather this year we had a record 94 trick-or-treaters. As usual we gave out full size candy bars, but we had to dip into the reserve bag of fun-size candy for the last few kids. Oh, and don't forget to check out our pumpkins for this year.
10/11/09 - We just got back from an enjoyable trip to New England. We spent some time with Jenny, Colin, and Nik in Newport, RI. While there we also visited several of the historic mansions. They are quite impressive. We also took trips out to Mystic, CT to see the seaport museum, and to Plymouth, MA to see the famous Plymouth Rock and the replica of the Mayflower. Then we spent a relaxing two days exploring Cape Cod. We stayed at a lovely bed-and-breakfast in Chatham. Our last stop was a day in Boston which we spent with Niki.
9/17/09 - Top o' the morning' to ya. Or in our case, it was the evening. We saw an awesome concert by Flogging Molly at Marrymore Park. The first opening act wasn't all that great (Fitz and the Tantrums), but the second act (Hepcat) were pretty decent. Then Flogging Molly came on and the place got rockin'. There was even a big standing-room-only section right in front of the stage that was practically a mosh pit. It was a wild night.
9/12/09 - Today we went to the UW vs. Idaho football game. In what we hope to be the start of a trend the Huskies won the game 42 to 23. Go Huskies!
8/29/09 - Tonight we went to see an Aqua Sox game, with the evening sponsored by Dunn Lumber. Hot dogs, popcorn, baseball. Sufice it to say it was an enjoyable evening.
7/24/09 - We hiked to an alpine field on Mt. Rainier to commemorate the passing of Edgar's maternal grandmother.
7/11/09 - Two words: caber toss. What can be more fun than spending the afternoon watching burly Scottish men tossing heavy things? As you may have guessed, we spent the afternoon at the Scottish Highland Games in Mt. Vernon.
6/13/09 - Today Marisa and her mom hosted a baby shower for Jenny. Old friends, generous gifts, and lots of good food were in attendance.
5/24/09 - Phew! We just got back from our trip to Great Britain. Our two week trip took us through London, Bath, Stonehenge, Dover, York, Edinburgh, and Loch Ness. The sights were amazing, but the food was only so-so. The haggis in Scotland was good, however. Our highlight is probably the bus tour through the Scottish Highlands. It really is beautiful countryside.
5/9/09 - Tonight was a pleasant evening at Vilnis' and Valerie's wedding at Val's beach house. It was a beautiful setting for such an event, though a bit breezy at times. The appetizers and dinner were quite good. The live music was good, but half the time you forgot that it was live.
5/2/09 - Today we celebrated Edgar's birthday lunch (a day early, but who cares) at XXX Rootbeer in Issaquah. Edgars had the "famous incredible triple XXX burger." It was the size of Edgar's head! Suffice it to say there were left-overs. The employees even dressed Edgars up (party hat, sunglasses with built-in side-burns, hot pink boa, etc.) and sang to him. Oh, and he got a XXX t-shirt out of it too. Too cool.
4/26/09 - Yipeee! Early birthday present for Edgars. Tonight we went to the Alligator Soul cooking class and learned some classic cajun recipes like smothered chicken, gumbo, and collard greens. It was three, spectacular hours of learning, wine drinking, and eating. All the recipes were excellent and we came home fuller than we ever thought we could be. We highly recommend these classes if you love food.
3/7/09 - Today was the Apple Cup of basketball: UW vs. Washington State. The promising Husky team pulled out a 67 to 60 win over their in-state rivals. Edgars and Dick were able to attend this exciting spectacle, but Marisa and Dzintra had to attend the funeral of Laimdota Rusis. A happy and sad day all at once.
2/5/09 - Tonight we went to a lecture on Lucy by none other than Lucy's discoverer: Donald Johanson. Much of the basic info we already knew from visiting the Lucy's Legacy exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, but what was fascinating was learning how much more that scientists have discovered since then. Lucy is just one small (and very famous) piece of what we now know about the evolution of humans.
1/19/09 - We just got back from a relaxing weekend at Willows Lodge in Woodinville for our anniversary. Dinner was spent at the Trellis restaurant in Kirkland. Very yummy food, though the bread was only so-so.
12/30/08 - We just spent the last 5 days hanging out with Marisa's parents and her sister, Jenny, who is visiting all the way from Maryland. With all the snow we've had this week (over 14"!) there was not much more we could do besides hanging out. We did manage to get out to the movies, however, and saw Valkyrie and Frost/Nixon.
11/6/08 - The time has come hoops fans. Today was the first game for the University of Washington Huskies men's basketball team. They handily won against Western Washington University in the season opener. They may not be good enough to win the NACAA tournament this year, but the boys are showing the potential for an exciting season.
11/4/08 - Hooraaaayyyy!!! Obama has been elected our new president.
10/31/08 - Joy oh joy. Halloween again. This was a record breaking year with 90 trick-or-treaters! Although most of the kiddies got full size candy bars (we don't skimp) the last few bunches got the smaller "fun size" candy from our reserve supply.
10/29/08 - For those of you that don't know, we are a lucky charm for baseball teams. For the third year in a row (see entry dated 10/28/07) we visited the home city of the team that ended up winning the World Series that year. Yes folks, the Philadelphia Phillies just won the World Series... and we visited Philly last month. Hmmm, where to go next year?
10/14/08 - Tonight we went to the Seattle Symphony and saw the world-famous piano player Lang Lang. He really is amazing.
9/28/08 - We just got back from a wonderfull tip to the Washington DC area. We spent only a day in DC, with the rest trapsing around to neighboring sites like Antietem, Harpers Ferry, Monticello, Mount Vernon, and a train ride to Philadelphia. As always, many nerdy historical sites were seen.
9/14/08 - Shrek the Musical! We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the theater. This musical adaptation of the movie and book by the same name was very well produced, funny in parts, boring in other parts, and overall just OK. One annoying part that had nothing to do with the production was that parents took their very little kids to this. HELLOOO! Despite this being Shrek, it is still a musical stage production... and most kids that young can't sit still or keep quiet no matter what they are watching.
9/1/08 - Finally home from Ventura and Dziesmu Svetki! We both had fun and saw lots of familiar faces. Downtown Ventura had quite a few good restaurants. We highly recommend the Cajun Kitchen for breakfast. Walking along the pier we also saw some dolphins in the water. The Kursas salidojums was also quite successfull.
8/22/08 - Tonight we went to the Highway 99 Blues Club for Marisa's dad's birthday. The band Dr. Funk was playing. The musicians were decent, but the singer was terrible. A white guy trying to sing soulful black people music ... not pretty. The food wasn't very good either. Maybe we'll go back some other time when a better band is playing.
8/20/08 - In his yearly tradition, Edgars got to play "square-rigged sailor" for a day. The Lady Washington was in Everett and Edgars went sailing with them (as crew, not passenger). Even rain couldn't dampen both the crew's and the passenger's spirits. Much fun was had and new friends made.
8/1/08 - Hydros hydros hydros! Yes kiddies, it's SeaFair time. We spent the afternoon watching noisy hydros and fast Blue Angels. Edgar's highlight was the A-10 Thunderbolt II demonstration, who's routine ended flying formation with a WW-II era P-51 Mustang. Very cool.
7/21/08 - Yesterday we explored the Lavendar Festival in Sequim. You could buy not only lavendar the plant, but almost anything else you can think of with lavendar somehow added. Lots of yummy and smelly things to experience. The lavendar "farms" weren't quite as big as we were expecting, but it's still interesting to see them growing in the fields. Afterwards we spent a relaxing night at the Alderbrook Resort on Hood Canal. A very nice place. Their restaurant had decent food, but not fantastic.
7/6/08 - Today we got back from our mini-vacation to Vancouver, Canada. We took the Amtrak train there from Everet. Seeing the baby beluga at the aquarium was neat, and a couple of the other museums were mildly interesting, but otherwise it doesn't seem like there is much to do in Vancouver. Still, it was nice to get a break from the ordinary.
6/24/08 - Tonight we went to a Zoo Tunes concert at Woodland Park Zoo and saw Keb Mo and Taj Mahal. Both were good, bluesy musicians, but we preferred Taj's style.
6/15/08 - We are sad to report that Edgar's maternal step-grandfather, Valdis Nikmanis, has passed away at age 97. He will be missed.
6/9/08 - Aleksa's baby was born today, giving Edgar another nephew.
5/26/08 - We just got back from Indianapolis where we witnessed the Indianapolis 500 race. What a spectacle it was. Loud and fast cars, lots of crashes, sunny weather, what more could you ask for? Oh, I guess Marco Andretti winning, but at least he came in third.
4/27/08 - We just got back from our trip to Charleston, South Carolina. We had lots of fun seeing all the historic sites. And the weather was nice too. 80's and mostly sunny. The food in Charleston was excellent too. We flew through Charlotte (because the tickets were WAY cheaper) and spent some time with Erik, Jenny, Madeline, Elina, and Logan. Those kids are just bundles of energy.
3/13/08 - Yipee! We are finally done with school. We've both finished our Graduate degrees, and you know what that means ... Netflix time! We'll finally have some time to catch up on movies. Oh, and probably some housework and yardwork that's been put off too.
2/17/08 - Marisa has returned from her trip to Washington DC, visiting her sister. Many sites were seen and many pictures taken. Oh, and she found a few more root beers!
2/3/08 - Today a scientific fact was proven. Conan O'Brien's turtle race results correctly predicted the winner of this year's Superbowl. Ha ha, those darn Patriots lost.
1/31/08 - LOST started again tonight. Exciting! What will we learn new about the castaways?
1/27/08 - Another year, another Draudzigais Aicinajums. This year we had the highest attendance in several years. It's good to see that people still want to support Kursa.
1/21/08 - Happy anniversary to us (Jan. 19th, for those of you who don't know)! We just spent a relaxing weekend at Salish Lodge. Good food, big baths, relaxing spa treatments.
1/8/08 - Aargh, school has started for Winter quarter. At least this is our last quarter.
1/5/08 - Today Marisa had a double-header. First the Seahawks playoff game at Qwest field. The crowd was VERY excited about the game and got REALLY loud. That game was followed by men's basketball with the Huskies versus the Cougars. The joy of the Seahawks win was counterballanced by the Huskies' loss.
12/29/07 - Christmas at the Graudins house in Olympia was good this year. Lots of people, decent food.
10/31/07 - Another year, another 67 trick-or-treaters. I guess word hasn't spread too far yet that we give out full-size candy bars, but the kids that did show up were still very excited about it. One group was so excited that they couldn't stop saying "thank you! thank you! thank you!" as they ran off to the next house.
10/28/07 - We now officially have a streak. With the Red Sox winning the 2007 World Series we have now gone two years in a row where we went to a game of the team that ended up winning the World Series (last year we went to a Cardinals game in St. Louis).
10/20/07 - Today we went to the Monty Python musical Spamalot at the Seattle Paramount Theater. For Python fans it was worth seeing, but not all that good. There were definitely some funny parts (like the French taunting scene), but also lots of not-so-funny parts.
9/29/07 - We just got back from our trip to Boston. Lots of interesting sites to see, but we are glad to be back. On the Freedom Trail we saw sites like Boston Commons, the Old North Church ("one if by land, two if by sea"), the Old South Meeting House, Cops Hill burrial ground, Paul Revere's house. Edgars was very excited to go on the USS Constitution, the world's oldest comissioned navy ship. We also went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Those Red Sox fans must really love the history of Fenway, because it is a rather crappy stadium to actually WATCH a baseball game. We also made it to Salem and went to a Witch History Museum. Rather cheesy, but still interesting. Also in Salem was the House of the Seven Gables. Very old, very fascinating. South of Boston we went to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum as well as the houses of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
9/8/07 - Today was an exciting football game between the University of Washington and Boise State. There was a surprising amount of orange and blue in the stands, but the Boise State fans got rather quiet by the end (the Huskies won). With Jake Locker on the team it looks like this could be an exciting year for Husky football.
8/31/07 - Tonight we went to the Stevie Wonder concert at Ste. Michelle Winery. We were lucky to get tickets because it sold out in like 10 minutes. And even on the day of the concert, the first people in line waiting to get in for the general admission seats had shown up like 8 hours early. Crazy! But overall the concert was very good. Marisa tought it was AWESOME! Edgars thought it was OK, but it's not his kind of music.
8/18/07 - Today we saw Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein musical at Seattle's Paramount Theater. It was surprisingly entertaining. Definitely recommended to any Mel Brooks fan, but if you are not a fan, you might not thinks it's quite so funny.
8/17/07 - Edgars just got back from another business trip to China. He had another business meeting/visit with the company in Xi'An. While there he also visited the Terra Cotta Warriors again, as well as visiting the Emperor Qin Shi Huang mausoleum. This trip he also had a meeting with another company in Beijing, and while in town got to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Square has some historical significance but is not too interesting. The Forbidden City, on the other hand, was very fascinating. Highly recommended. Outside of town Edgars also managed to visit the Great Wall, specifically the section near Badaling. Any one section of the wall is not that impressive, but it boggles the mind to think that it once stretched around 4,000 miles long.
8/11/07 - Finally, Kursa is over for the year. Sounds like things went really well this year. The izlaiduma program was exceptionally good this year. Time to start looking towards next year.
8/3/07 - It's that time of year again. Hydroplanes and Blue Angels. Yes folks, it's Seafair weekend. No flips today, but the hydros were still loud. The Blue Angels were even louder, and as always, cool.
7/22/07 - Today is a joyous and sad day. Marisa has finished the 7th Harry Potter book. She finally knows the ending, but now there are no more books about Harry.
7/16/07 - We just got back from our mini vacation to San Francisco. That city has more pressed penny machines than you can count (Marisa collected 22, and that wasn't even close to all of them)! China Town was fascinating, though along the main drag is was mostly souvenir shops. We found the infamous Sam Wo's restaurant (Conan O'Brien fans will understand the relevance). We took in a Giants game, but alas, Barry Bonds didn't hit any home runs. Alcatraz was very interesting, if a bit crowded with tourists. Be warned that the outdoors area of the island has an ever present stench of bird poop (the building interiors don't smell like poop). Seeing the cell blocks and such first hand was enlightening. Fisherman's Wharf had lots to see. Overall the food was decent, but the only restaurant that we would recommend to anyone is the Tadich Grill (Boby Flay tipped us off to this gem). The view from Coit Tower was great. On our way to walk onto the Golden Gate Bridge we stopped at the Lucasarts facility on the Presidio. Edgars got his photo taken with the Yoda statue at the entrance. We also had a photo session in front of the Full House house.
7/7/07 - Well, Kursa has started now. Not many people there yet, but lots of them will show up after getting back from Song Festival.
7/2/07 - This update is a little late, but school is out for the summer. Yipee! But alas, we are now busy with Kursa stuff. At least we have a LITTLE more freetime now to catch up on movies (we managed to catch Pirates 3, kinda disappointing). Gus Gus is doing well, but he still meows a lot. And now with the weather warming up he is shedding even more to thin out his winter coat. And now for the bad news: the squirrels are at it again. Our cherries are almost, but not quite ripe, but that is not stopping the squirrels from eating them. Even shaking the tree with them in it doesn't deter them. They just come back an hour later (maybe they just have short memories).
4/30/07 - We spent a relaxing weekend in Woodinville. After a picnic, Ste. Michelle winery tour, and Red Hook brewery tour we relaxed in our luxurious room at the Willows Lodge. At the Lodge there is the Barking Frog restaurant which had some good food. Today we went to Woodland Park Zoo and saw the baby tiger, among other animals. Following a great lunch at Rowdy Cowgirl BBQ we went on the Theo Chocolate factory tour where much chocolate was consumed. We would recommend that tour to anyone (well, anyone that doesn't hate chocolate).
4/15/07 - Yesterday we got a kitty! His name is Gus Gus. If you'd like, you can call him Gus for short. He mostly answers to no name in particular anyway. You can see him on our pictures page.
3/15/07 - Yay! School's out for Spring Break! Overall the quarter wasn't too bad, but boy do those teachers like to pile on the work at the end of the quarter.
3/11/07 - It is a sad day for the Huskies. They didn't make the NCAA tournament, nor the NIT. Boo hoo. If Spencer comes back next year they might actually be good enough to not only make the NCAA tournament, but actually do pretty well. It will be a long wait until next season.
2/28/07 - Edgars just finished his stint at Jury Duty. The first day he ended up in one jury pool, but they didn't want him. The next day they didn't need many jurors and he lucked out and didn't get picked. The up side was that at lunch he got to go to the Alligator Soul restaurant.
1/28/07 - Kursa's Draudzigais Aicinajums was another success. We just wish more people would volunteer to help out.
1/19/07 - Happy anniversary to us! We spent a relaxing evening at the Salish Lodge by Snoqualmie Falls. The room was very nice, and had a HUGE bathtub. The Attic restaurant they have there had quite good food.
1/4/07 - Argh! School has started again for both of us. So long free time.
1/1/07 - Happy New Year!
12/20/06 - We just got back from our trip to the East Coast.
11/3/06 - The first Huskies men's basketball game of the season... an exhibition game vs. Saint Martin's. It's that time of year again. College basketball! March is only 4 months away.
10/31/06 - Halloween! Yes kiddies. It's that time again, for dress-up and FREE CANDY. But alas, schoolwork kept us too busy to carve pumpkins. So in case you missed it, here are photos of last year's pumpkins. However, we did up the ante for the other houses on the street by handing out regular size candy bars instead of the "fun" size ones. I never understood how "fun size" candy bars could be considered "fun." The reactions from the kids, who stopped by were great. "Cool! King size! AWESOME!" This year we had 69 trick-or-treaters. Not as many as last year, but oh boy, wait until next year when the word is out about the big candy bars.
10/27/06 - Another Friday opera. This time we saw the comedy, "Italian Girl in Algiers," which was great. Much, much better than the first. Really funny - the acting was superb, and the sets were really impressive. The singing of the male leads was beautiful. We really recommend this opera, if you ever have the chance to see it.
10/20/06 - Brandon Roy and the Portland Trailblazers were in town for a pre-season game against the Seattle Supersonics, so of course Marisa had to go. Portland won, and Brandon scored 19 points.
10/13/06 - Marisa and Papa went to the Bob Dylan concert. Bob was good; his band was sharp. Worth every penny.
10/10/06 - Not much going on for Marisa's birthday this year; she was sick. Edgars' made her a fantastic dinner and also made her (on the sly without her knowing) a picture frame that holds a map of the world into which we can indicate what cities we have visited.
10/6/06 - Saldu dusu, Video Vili!
10/4/06 - Huskies basketball tickets arrive!
9/27/06 - School. Autumn quarter has started and there goes our free time. Edgars' classes are all online this quarter, and Marisa is plowing through some general education requirements on Monday and Wednesday nights. Following the completion of this quarter, we should both be approximately halfway done with our degrees. However, Marisa is just looking forward to completing the course work in Spring.
9/23/06 - Before the busiest time of the year for us, we took a mini-vacation to the Bonneville Resort and Spa. We got a hot tub room, a free bottle of champagne, and a treatment at the spa. The food was fantastic, and there were a lot of cool places to visit nearby. Such a great and relaxing time.
9/8/06 - We're really excited for Marisa's cousin Aleks, who is playing varsity football this year at West Seattle High School. We've enjoyed all the games we've been able to attend, and hope that they make the playoffs!
8/22/06 - We just got back from our trip to St. Louis. Many photos were taken while visiting the Gateway Arch, Old Courthouse, Missouri History Museum, Museum of Westward Expansion, Art Museum, St. Louis Zoo, Basilica of Saint Louis, Anheuser Busch brewery and a few other places. We took in a Cardinals game in the new Busch stadium, and also saw Chuck Berry in concert at the Blueberry Hill restaurant/bar.
8/12/06 - This year we added Seattle Opera season tickets to our list of entertainment expenses. The first opera of the year, Der Rosenkavalier, was excellent. One down, 3 to go.
8/6/06
The Lady Washington was in Everett this past week and today Edgars got a chance to visit with them and even join them for a sail. Some old friends were greeted and many new friends made.8/4/06
In an eventful day we started off by watching the hydroplane races (OK, just the practice runs and qualifying runs) accompanied by Marisa's dad, Adrian and Tyler. Many loud boats and cool airplanes were witnessed. This was followed by dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. And to cap the evening we went to a Mariners' game. So sad, they lost, but at least we had a fun time.7/8/06
Today we went to the Cascade Aviation Services annual company BBQ at the Arlington manufacturing facility. It was planned for the same day as the Arlington Airport Airshow, and the facility is right on the runway. So we had front-row seats to the spectacular display of aerial acrobatics.6/13/06
Edgars is now an uncle for the second time. Erik, Jenny, and Madeline just welcomed into the world the latest addition to their family: Elina Isabelle Graudins.6/10/06
Today on Silver Lake we watched what we call the "mini-hydros." Most of you are familiar with the Unlimited Class hydroplanes that race during SeaFair, but these are the smaller classes: A thru F class. The A class boats are only around 10 feet long, but still zip around the lake pretty fast. There are both hydroplanes as well as single-hull "runabouts," and each class has both stock and modified categories. With that many classes, types, and categories the races were going nearly back-to-back-to-back... for 5 hours straight! Lots of racing excitement to be had. Oh, and admission to the Silver Lake park was free!6/8/06
We are now officially done with school for Spring Quarter. Yay! Now over the Summer we'll have time to do things besides work and school. Helllooooo Netflix!5/1/06
Edgars recently got back from a business trip to Xi'An, China. He also got to do a little site-seeing beforehand, including seeing the world-famous Terra Cotta Warriors. The food was good. For the most part, the people seemed polite towards foreigners. Despite China's rich and ancient history, the overshadowing communism is very prevelant.3/21/06
We just got back from a relaxing weekend at Harrison Hotsprings. For once we took a trip where we could just relax, and not rush around to see all the tourist sites. The hot springs were nice and hot. The food at the hotel's restaurant, the Copper Room, was VERY good.3/10/06
We went to the opera last night to see Cosi fan Tutte in celebration of completing our winter quarter classes. The opera was only all right, but an evening without schoolwork was much more gratifying. We are both now relaxing over the next 2 weeks of spring break before beginning classes for spring quarter.3/8/06
Edgars received his official letter from the Aeronautics & Astronautics department recommending his admission to their Master's degree program for Spring 2006. Now Edgars will be an officially matriculated University of Washington graduate student! (As if we ever had any doubt that he'd get in).
3/6/06
Today was an awesome day in Seattle sports! First of all, Brandon Roy was named Pac-10 Player of the Year, and was also named to ESPN's 1st team All-American team. Secondly, Shawn Alexander was signed to a 62 million dollar contract with the Seahawks. Both guys are really classy, and much deserve their recognition.2/12/06
We were pleased to see that all of the nations competing in the Winter Olympics were shown in NBC's coverage this year. It is such an honor for countries to be represented with talented athletes at the Olympics, and when Americans can identify with a particular country or culture, it is important that all are shown.
Draudzigais Aicinajums went well, even though all of us worked very little to coordinate it this year. Otherwise things are going well for us. We're both busy with school, and with mid-quarter papers and projects.We're looking forward to the Fabulous Forties concert in February, a trip to Harrison Hot Springs in March, and to March Madness! We're also grateful for Edgars' new raise, which is allowing us to put more $ towards our mortgage in order to pay off our house more quickly. The raise, along with Marisa's new salary, is opening the door to greater/more expensive vacationing possibilities. Currently, we have nothing planned, although we are considering taking a trip to either Ireland, London, Rome, or Charleston, SC in September.
1/29/06
The saddest basketball game ever. The Huskies, up by 1 with possession and 2.1 ticks left, get fouled on the dead ball, hit 2 free throws, but on the in-bounds, foul the shooter, who hits the shots to put the game into OT. And then they lost. So sad. So sad.1/22/06
YAY for the Seahawks! It is totally exciting that the Seahawks have *finally* made it to the Superbowl. After growing up watching Dave Krieg throw interceptions, and listening to talks about the team's possible move to California, it is about time.
Besides that excitement, both of us have started Winter quarter classes at the UW, and are trying to balance school and our full-time jobs. On top of that, we've been preparing for Omite's memorial by putting together a slideshow, and taking care of all the little things like obituary writing, etc. Draudzigais Aicinajums is also fast approaching, and we just completed our mailer - a little late.1/2/06
Happy New Year! Today Marisa's Omite Edite Ridzenieks passed away at home. We are very glad that Omite is finally at peace. We are also thankful to have spent time with her over the years, and Marisa is glad that she had the opportunity to say goodbye to her on the day she died.12/26/05
On Saturday we got back from our Mexico cruise with Royal Caribbean. Other than a broken foot, the trip was very enjoyable. Lots of food, great service. The rest of this weekend has been spent visiting numerous family and friends.11/9/05
Edgars LOVED the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert yesterday at Benaroya Hall.11/5/05
Marisa REALLY enjoyed the Paul McCartney concert at Key Arena Thursday!10/31/05
Happy Halloween! As I am writing this, we have had over 80 trick-or-treaters, but we may yet run out of candy before the night is through. Oh, and I finally posted a pic of Marisa's pumpkin on the pictures page too.10/18/05
Edgars finally carved his pumpkin. You can see it on the PICTURES page.10/8/05
We went to the pumpkin patch today and got lost in the corn maze. Lots of cheap fun. Mari's back is feeling a bit better after her episode earlier this week. She's trying to get by without the narcotics that the doctor prescribed for pain. Edgars worked on revamping this webpage, and created lots of fun images.9/26/05
Not much going on here. We put up the Halloween decorations and made cookies 'n' creme ice cream. Mari has come down with a nasty cold, and must get better before school starts on Wednesday. Edgars has to attend some seru konvents for another ancient and now deceased tervetietis on Monday. Inese & Ivars came over on Sunday; they hadn't been here for over a year. See, not much going on...9/4/05
Earlier this week, we saw The Aristocrats. It's a documentary about the dirtiest joke ever. It was pretty funny and disgusting. Needless to say, 40 Year Old Virgin was pretty tame compared to that. We've been busy working on this website, as well as trying out our latest toy - the ice cream maker attachment to the KitchenAid mixer. Somehow vanilla ice cream (with cookie dough) just tastes better when you make it yourself. YUM!For those asking about what to get Mari for her birthday, her list is posted here.
8/27/05
Yesterday we went to the most exciting thing to hit Monroe since electricity - the Evergreen State fair. Good chow and an extremely fun logging competition in which the log climber injured himself in an exciting fall from 25 feet! Today we saw Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. We are becoming increasingly sure that Johnny Depp has too many feminine tendencies. We were also disappointed that the movie did not feature the Oompa Loompa song, which we all love to hate.8/23/05
Edgars spent some time goofing off on a floating jungle gym (the Lady Washington) on August 19, 20, and 21st. He not only escaped Marisa's cooking, but worked on buffing up his muscles.Marisa was recently diagnosed with boogeritis and is now on medication that does not allow her to be exposed to prolonged sunlight. So, she has a reason to be a hermit.
We just booked our Winter Holiday vacation to Mexico! We will be departing on December 17th for L.A., from where we will head out for Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada for 5 nights. We will be returning to Seattle on Santa's sleigh.
We also will be flying to the tourist capital of California - Fresno (didn't you know?) - to visit Laura, Marshall, and Marlee, who will escort us to the finest mini-golf and bowling establishments in Cali.
We are (ok, Marisa is) looking forward to this year's Huskies' men's basketball season, as we own season tickets to all home games.
Other things we're looking forward to: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert, the next Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Seattle Pops - Star Wars Extravaganza, retirement, Seattle Pops - Fabulous Forties, Seattle Opera - Cosi fan tutte, Aleks Sils' freshman football games, Sir Paul McCartney concert, and the new Eric Clapton cd.