Warren's a Party Guy!

August 28, 2009! The big day for Warren's Retirement Party finally arrived. It started with Warren playing golf with 2 foursomes. In the meantime, Arianna & I collected lots of memorabilia from Warren's 32- year career in education. We packed it in the car & headed for our friends Rob & Wendy's house. Rob has been friends with Warren since college - 37 years! They were Assistant Superintendents in Arlington for 5 years together. What a team! Misti, their secretary for about 5 years (and as crazy as they are), Rob, & Arianna organized a retirement celebration for Warren! It was such a loving gesture and much appreciated.

Misti, Rob, and I decorated the outside of the house. Arianna decorated the inside. Wendy was the floater & helped out where needed. The location was perfect and the weather certainly cooperated!

Misti brought some memories from all the building projects Warren had been involved in. Arianna & I stole many things from the wall in Warren's office showing his many achievements through the years.

Arianna had originally thought she'd create a slide show on her computer, but once she started looking through 24 yearbooks, it was just easier (and more amusing) to flag all the pictures of Warren through the years. The first administrative picture was from Soap Lake. The first yearbook page features John S & Warren. John, a dear friend, hired Warren into his first principal job in Soap Lake right before Arianna was born. We moved there over Labor Day in 1986. Katharine was 5 and starting kindergarten. Arianna was 2 weeks old. Diane was their first babysitter! Ari is a living growth chart of our friendship.

Our theme was True Colors, so we even chose the wine based on the color of its foil top - green, gold, orange, & blue. If you've never looked for wine based on color before, it's quite fun!

Wendy & Arianna got busy tearing up the romaine for Caesar Salad. The menu, created by Rob, was marinated flank steak, corn on the cob, Caesar salad, & french bread. Bon appetite! Dessert was a retirement cake chosen by yours truly.


There were lots of wonderful people who came to help Warren celebrate. It was so much fun to talk to them.

The food was excellent and everyone seemed to relish the meal.

Arianna & I hit the jackpot at The Party Store in Lynnwood for finding retirement decorations. But, the biggest coupe was when Arianna found orange plates - only because the stores are stocking Halloween decorations! We laughed about that one. True Colors as a theme can only happen between late August and October 31!

Mike A brought his big propane cooker for the corn on the cob. It was delicious!

Warren's cake has a golfer on it, in case you cannot figure it out. Fitting, since he bought himself a new set of irons as a retirement gift to himself! Too bad he's got his new job - no time for weekday golf - but, that's OK. He is looking forward to working at the middle school - back to his roots!

Rob had lots of funny things to say about his long relationship with Warren. John gave a lovely speech about why he hired Warren & our wonderful friendship.

Linda, retired superintendent, won a golf prize. Later, she talked about working with Warren and his influence in creating an amazing high school for our community.

Diane & John were able to spend the night with us. We had a lovely morning together before they headed back to their home. They'll soon be snow birding it around the country. We count ourselves truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Warren was presented with this beautiful ring celebrating his work in Arlington. It was an honor to celebrate his career with so many friends and colleagues. And a lot of fun!!!

A Birthday Weekend

The weekend birthday adventure started on Saturday, the 22nd, with a trip on the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston. After we checked into our Silverdale waterfront hotel, Arianna and Tim came over to meet us. We then traveled to Poulsbo where the Hopkins family had moored their sailboat for the evening. It was Susan's actual milestone birthday! So, now that you're this old, where are you going next, Susan? Disneyland!

The weather was glorious! Some sailing/work friends joined us - they were lots of fun to talk to. We had appetizers on the boat while Sue opened her presents - both funny & nice - with gusto!

Tim recently became a certified Nuclear Engineer! We are so happy for him. He's worked diligently to achieve this goal. What's in store for the Wells couple? Travel? They are loving the Bremerton area and seem to be off on an adventure at every opportunity.

Roberta helped host the boating soiree. The water was sparkling! Just like Berta!

Warren & Mom Jean observed the goings-on from the cabin. Warren opened a couple of his presents, too, since his birthday was the next day! Can you believe that Jean has had to figure out how to celebrate her childrens' birthday, one after another, for 60 years??? We all walked uptown to a cute restaurant for dinner. After dinner, Ari & Tim dropped us off at our hotel, after we made plans for the next morning.

Thank you Katharine, Brian, McColley, & Brady. Grandpa loves his iPod car FM player/charger. Warren got lots of cool presents, including Logo Making software from Ari & Tim; a golf hat; computer stuff, and raquetball wear from me. He got almost everything he had on his list. I love lists! Family called to wish him Happy Birthday, including the singing of songs. Thank you everyone!

Arianna & Tim joined us for a birthday brunch at our hotel's restaurant. Although not in the picture, the view was stupendous! We had the buffet = Good food galore, quick as a wink!

Warren & I then drove to Seattle to check into our sweet boutique hotel downtown. Sadly, for some reason, my camera deleted all the photos of our Basal Cellars Estate Winery suite and Warren's new Puma shoes. Grrrr. Anyway, our hotel was swell! Then, we headed out for the Underground Tour. Very interesting. Warren had never been. Here's the birthday boy waiting for the tour to start.

This picture is from the sidewalk below the street, as in the days of yore. It was a stunning day in Seattle. The tour lasted a half an hour longer than I'd planned, so we had to book it back uptown to make it to the hotel's wine tasting in the lobby. The Dobbes Family Estates from Dundee, OR were hosting.

We had a nice conversation with a lovely couple from Utah (via Wisconsin), while enjoying a Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz. Tasty wines. After a brief rest in our room, we went downstairs for dinner. We savored an excellent Italian dinner and, in honor of our room, ordered the Basal Cellars "Forget-Me-Not" wine. Yum. Back to our room, where we slipped on our leopard print terrycloth robes! We were very impressed with our hotel, which had been a Hotwir.e surprise.

On Monday, we had a delicious breakfast in our room and departed early so I could get to a meeting at my school. Later in the afternoon, Warren interviewed for a retire/rehire job and, I'm pleased to announce, got hired! He will be an assistant middle school principal, covering a personal leave. Isn't that great? It all came together quickly and he's really excited to get up really early every morning. Well, maybe not the getting up early part - but, very excited about the job.

Our house is getting painted - starting today. We really like the colors in small chip size - sure hope they look as good in large house size! Seems fitting to start the new school year with a freshly painted house.