New Schedule

With our move to Monroe, we have adapted to a new schedule....on several fronts:

Obviously with my job in downtown Seattle, my commute has changed. I leave the house at 6:50am, drive to Woodinville, then use the park n' ride (with my free bus pass...thank you "you-know-who"!) to take the 311 bus to downtown Seattle, I walk in the door to the Hyatt at 8:00am on the dot. This is a great bus route, it make a couple of random stops in Woodinville after the PNR and then it only stops 4 times before getting downtown and they are all pretty quick freeway stops. That part of my commute is only about 5 minutes longer than my commute from Shoreline. I think for as many miles as I am traveling, the commute time is not as bad as it possibly could be. The bus is not packed, there is always a place to sit, and there are no crazy people like on the 358 "Crazy Train". Overall, I am pretty happy with the commute.

Before we moved out to Monroe, Derek was able to see Ryan every other weekend, that is 4 days a month...that is just not enough. This week we started our new schedule...Monday & Tuesday nights Ryan stayed with his Mom, Wednesday & Thursday nights he stayed with us, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday night he stays with his Mom. Next week it is opposite, M/T with us, W/Th with his Mom, then F/Sa/Su with us. You add it all up (but given I went to WSU, I won't), and that is WAY more than 4 days a month. I am so happy that they get to spend all of this time together, it has also been great to see him bond with Lexi...he takes such great care of her (he even got pooped on this week! That is a whole other story!). Wednesday night, Derek and Ryan went to a basketball open gym that is put on at Monroe HS for 4-8th graders and they got to play some hoops together. Last night they went to a baseball field and pitched and hit together. While I know there are some skeptics out there about our move, it is so worth it to be a bigger and more active part of Ryan's life and be able to be close by to watch him grow up. We are both so happy with our new neighborhood and our new life.

Derek starts a new job this week...he is going to be working for a company called Xippa, he will be working with one of his old colleagues from Xerox. Basically they review copier leases and find ways to save companies money on their document management services. He will be working from home which gives us quite a bit of flexibility with Lexi. Lexi will be going to daycare part time after Labor day, Ryan's Aunt Chris runs a daycare out of her house and Lexi will be going there. Chris lives approximately 10 houses away from us, I have met her several times and have been to her house, I know and trust that she will take great care of our little baby (at a reasonable rate!!!).

Derek has also taken the Asst. Varsity/Head JV Boys Basketball coaching job at Woodinville High School. It will be a big change for Derek to go from coaching college to HS, but he will be back coaching and doing what he loves. For Derek to continue at the college level, we would have had to move out of Washington and we decided that was not the best move for our family at this time. Plus, coaching the HS kids will also help promote the basketball Academy that Derek and Butch started, so they will be able to get some more kids involved.

So I thought this was going to be a short sweet update, but I kind of rambled on...sorry, I know you missed my bloggging, so I am assuming you will put up with it being too long. :) Hopefully you will being seeing pictures by the end of the weekend!