Lovin' Where I Live, Too.

Mer has a sweet meme-type-thing going on at Life at 7000 Feet. We're to list the 10 reasons we love where we live. Hmmm...like her, I imagine it will be hard to limit myself to 10, but here goes...

10. I lurve the varied geography/topography and "stuff" of Washington. Western WA has mtns and lakes, and rivers, oh my! Plus, we have Puget Sound and the actual ocean beaches of the west coast. Eastern WA boasts high dessert, and reminds me of the land of my youth, Ft. Collins CO. 4 seasons and blue skies.

9. The trees! Even though we've had to cut some down due to our own risk of life and limb, I love that we have huge evergreen and deciduous trees. I especially heart that, in my development, they've tried super hard to build around the trees, rather than thru them.

8. The wild life. Especially the eagles. 7. Our location: we live about 45 minutes from the airport, which is good since Big goes to China on a monthly basis, and I'm usually going to pick him up after said trips. We're also about 30 minutes from downtown Seattle/Space Needle/Pacific Science Center/Woodland Park Zoo/Pike's Market. We also live about 1.5 hour from our beach house. That includes ferry time. We're about 9 miles from the kids' school; 4 miles from church; 4 miles from Big's in-town office; and have a great little town center which has sprouted up about 3 years ago. Cold Stone anyone? Central Market. University Bookstore. By the way, GO BUFFS! And lastly, the Canadian border is about 2+ hours away, and, conversely, Portland OR is about 4 hours away.

6. Lurve me some neighbors! More than any other place, I've developed some strong, steadfast relationships with our neighbors to the side, across the street, and around the corner. Truly, if there was an emergency and my kids were home alone, I know of at least 5 adults with whom I'd trust my kids to go. Also, one of my dearest friends in WA lives one block away from me. We took advantage of the city park adjacent to our neighborhood and had a barby yesterday; we just let the kids ride bikes and swing, and play. And we chatted and ate too many chips.

5. Folks are fairly green-minded here, and health-minded as well. While I love the former and will tolerate the latter, I admit that both are positive influences on my family's life. Like Mer, there's not a day that goes by that I don't see folks riding bikes, jogging, or walking dogs/themselves on the trails surrounding our home.

4. I lurve that we are only 6 hours from Maui. Alas, the budget does not allow for Maui as often as I'd like it to--like every 3 months, but IF we were going, it'd only be 6 hours away. IF.

3. Great Asian food. Seriously. I'm not even a huge Asian food afficianado, but if I were, this would be the place. I heart our local Thai Bistro. Mmmm. And you can't beat our Copper River Salmon. I don't even love salmon most of the time, but this is fantastic. Lurve me some halibut, though. And halibut. Especially if it's been tossed by the fish mongers at Pike's Place Market.

2. Our local library belongs to a regional system, so whether I'm in Mill Creek or on Whidbey Island, I can check out and return books w/o a different library card. Also, each library is that much bigger since really, books can be ordered within a day from the sister branches. Library geeks like me love that. Not to say that I always turn in my books on time...

1. Christmas and Halloween. When we moved here, I was so wowed by all the effort my neighbors go to really making these fun times, especially for the kids. Sometimes all the decor can be considered excessive, and we've learned not to compete. :) But, I just think of my kids and the memories they'll have of people's yards just.decked.out. and getting that one full size candy bar from the neighbor who always gives it. Or that 100th drive through our neighborhood to see the lights. And these folks are generous, too. One year, instead of our annual party, we were able to bless a suburban family in need--I wanted it to be a family in an area similar to ours so that our kids could relate to the fact that poverty knows no boundaries. We had 2 full carloads of gifts for this family (of 11), and were able to pray with them and love on them.

Okay...if you're still with me, I will copy Mer and do the 5 things I don't like...Because I am a copier to the nth degree, and it's fun.

5. THE.RAIN. Actually, the grey. I actually have gotten to the point where I don't mind the rain, especially since the storms are usually drizzles. I used to not like storms in CO because of all the hail, tornado watches, and lightning. This rain makes me feel clean, but the danged grey has.got.to.go. For about 2 months of the year, our headlights are on 24/7, and that's just not right.

4. Traffic. I-5 and I-405 both have carpool lanes, but ohmygosh, I still abhor them. Some of the surface streets are also nasty. It should not take you 30 minutes to drive 10 miles.

3. The fact that we have no family here. This is a mixed blessing. We were glad to move here to try to grow up a bit, but still...when you don't have anyone that you'd leave the kids with for a weekend or a few days, it's hard. You find out truly how alone you can be. Big had to have back surgery 6 months after we moved here, and thank goodness for our neighbors who watched the kids, but we barely knew them. Would've been nice to have family at that time.

2. Ice storms/falling trees. This is scary, and so new to us both. There weren't trees to be afraid of in CO, and snow was just snow. But ice. S.c.a.r.y. The roads just turn to glass while you're driving, and there's nothing you can do about it.

1. The Pacific Time Zone for TV watching. Man, I get tired trying to stay up for all my shows. :) When I was used to Mountain Time, I was in bed on time. I know...I could choose to a) record the shows or b) not watch TV, but I'd prefer to complain for this moment. :) Wah, Wah, Wah.

Bonus LURVES--How Could I Forget?

1. Latte stand on nearly every corner.

2. THE TULIPS

3. Loooong summer nights--cuz of our lattitude

4. my church.