Jocelyn Hope

Congratulations to my sister Renee and brother-in-law Calvin on their first child together, Jocelyn Hope, born November 10th! She's a healthy 7 lb 2 oz little girl, with a full head of hair!

The Proud Parents

Grandpa and Grandma Bergner with their new grandaughter

A tired Jocelyn and Calvin after a long day (and night)

Big sister

We hope everyone had a nice Halloween! Katie and I started the night hanging out at home giving out candy to the neighborhood kids. We didn't have too many come by though, so we have a lot of candy left over....darn. We finally got dressed up and headed downtown to a party about 9. Katie went as a snow bunny, and I went as a nerd.

One of the better costumes we saw through the night was Juno and Bleeker

More pictures...

Happy Halloween!!

Camping Trip

Katie and I decided that we really needed to get out camping before the weather got too bad. We had planned on going earlier, but it never worked out. So this last weekend (despite the ominous forcast) we packed up the car and set out on the road. Twenty-five minutes later, we arrived! :) Katie had to work on Sunday, so we just made it a one night trip, and thus chose a close camp ground.

Luckily the rain held off all night so we didn't have to set up in the rain. Our new tent is awesome...it only has two poles, so it takes just about a minute and a half to set it up! After we had everything set up, we started on dinner....and the drinks.

Our new Coleman Roadtrip Grill works perfect! It has interchangable surfaces, so we were able to use it to cook burgers, pan-fry potatoes and cook some blueberry pancakes the next morning!

Of course we brought the essentials, and spent the night sitting by the fire roasting some 'mallows. They were so good, we decided we needed to have some more the next day for lunch!

The Perfect Marshmallow

It ended up raining all night, but our tent kept us perfectly dry. It was a short trip, but fun. We'll see if the weather will allow us to go again this year, if not we'll definately get out in the spring!

Rylan in his monkey suit

Seahawks Game

Last night Katie and I went to the Seahawks vs. Bears preseason game with a few guys that I know from work. We didn't exactly have 50 yardline seats, but I thought they were pretty good...and we had a great view of the Sound.

The National Anthem was sung by a little girl, probably 11 or 12 years old maybe. She was so incredible, the whole crowd just went crazy!

Not surprisingly, the 2nd and 3rd stringers were in for most of the game. You wouldn't have known it most of the time though, it was a really close game with quite a few exciting plays. The score went back and forth a few times, but in the end, the Seahawks won.

You can see Safeco Field (where the Mariners play) in the background, just a few blocks south of Qwest Field

So we might not have had the best view of the football game, but we did have one of the best views of the sunset.

We have now been to both outdoor stadiums here in Seattle, and needless to say, they really put the Metrodome to shame...Minnesota needs to hurry up with the new stadium!

Bruno's House

Well after a couple weeks of work, Bruno's dog house is finally complete. I decided that once it starts raining more, he should have more than the one-foot soffit overhang from which to find shelter. This should also be warm enough so he can stay outside most days in the winter while we're at work.

I built the house in sections so when we move it will be somewhat easy to take apart and take with us. The floor and the walls were all easy to move from the garage. The roof on the otherhand, is quite a bit bigger, measuring about 6'x6'. And with an extra 100 pounds of shingles on top of it, it wasn't all that easy to move out to the back. After some sweating, some yelling and some swearing Katie and I finally coerced the roof into position!

I think he likes it!

The Last Few Weeks

So somehow the last few weeks have slipped us by. We're not really sure what happened to them, but it's all of a sudden the middle of August! This summer has been so great, but has also gone by quickly - the downside to all the fun I suppose.

The last couple weeks Christen's brother, John, was in town visiting (Christen is a friend of ours who went to UND and who now lives here working for Microsoft). This past week we all went to the Twins vs. Mariners game. Don't worry, I'm still a Twins fan...although I'm not sure I can say the same for Katie, as she tended to cheer with the crowd, regardless of what her shirt may imply. Although the Twins ended up losing, it was a good game and a fantastic night for a ball game. The open-air stadium was very nice!

This past Thursday night was John's last night in town, so we all went to a restaurant called Ray's that is on the Puget Sound. We couldn't have asked for a better night, or a better sunset. The food was pretty darn good, too! I never used to be much of a seafood guy, but I'm starting to get a taste for it. The silhouetted Olympic mountain range made for quite the sunset...enjoy the view!

Okay so I know this post took a while, but we should have a couple more up here within the week, because we're going to the Seahawks-Bears preseason game tomorrow!!

Matt's Visit

Okay it's been a while since we've updated the blog here. I guess we haven't been doing a whole lot lately, just playing a lot of tennis, and it's kind of hard to take pictures while that's going on. This last weekend though, my good friend Matt came out to visit. It was a short trip, just Saturday and Sunday, but it was a lot of fun. On Saturday we picked Matt up from the airport and went straight down town. We had some lunch at an awesome little pasta bar, appropriately named, "Pasta Bar," and then went to the market. We picked up some fresh fruit and some halibut for dinner that night. Afterward, we made our way to Woodinville, which is where the Red Hook brewery is located. We took the "tour" which was really more of a visual tour, as we stood in one room and looked through the windows as the tour guide explained the processes. It was probably one of the better tours I've been on, as their main point was to give us beer as often as they could. Katie was there too, we just didn't take too many pictures.

The halibut that night was awesome, Matt was pretty impressed. Katie is quite the cook! On Sunday, Katie had to work, so Matt and I went on a tour of the Boeing factory where I work. They don't let me take people into the factory myself, so we had to go on the public tour. It was still fun, and I think Matt enjoyed it. The rest of the day was spent playing tennis, followed by a relaxing dinner at Arnie's on the Puget Sound (for the record Matt liked Katie's halibut better than Arnie's salmon). We had a great weekend and were really happy Matt could make it out to visit! We're hoping for more visitors soon!

Independence Day

Well I'm finally getting around to putting up this post after the long weekend. Katie and I had a really fun 4th, and it was a full day. We started the day at noon, driving down to North Seattle for a "Street Scramble." Basically, we were given a list of items to go look for around the city, a map and three hours to go find everything. We were invited along by a few of my co-workers at Boeing. It was a lot of fun, relaxing yet tiring and a good way to get to know the city a little better. The forcast was for rain, so we were all prepared, but were pleasantly surprised by the partly sunny day...not a drop!

After we finished the scramble, we found a great spot right next to Lake Union to watch the fireworks. We had about a 5 hour wait until the big show, so we settled in, enjoyed the view, had some food and made a trip or two to the beer garden (the guy laying next to us is Nate, one of my co-workers).

We were about as close as you got to the fireworks, and also had a great view of the sunset with the city as a backdrop. By the time the show was about to start, nobody had any wiggle room, the whole park was full!

Katie and I both agreed that this was the best fireworks show we have ever been to. It started off with somebody singing the National Anthem (which strangely neither Katie nor I recall ever hearing before on the 4th of July) followed by the Army Reserves flying a Chinook helicopter around the lake to the tune of America the Beautiful with a giant American flag hanging from it, all while being followed with a spotlight. At this point, the fireworks started, which were also put to music. It was pretty impressive how they managed to get the fireworks to explode at just the right time so it would follow the tune! I wish we could show you good pictures of the fireworks, but they never look very good in pictures. Overall it was a really fun day. The wait for the fireworks (and the 2 hour drive home) was definately worth it!

Bainbridge Island, etc

Well, contrary to popular belief, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous for the past couple weeks (of course it started as soon as I had to start work). We have definately been taking advantage of it though. This past Friday we took Bruno to a dog park on Lake Washington.

He even took a dip in the lake. It was a beautiful 85 degree sunny day! We took a walk down the lake shore, but didn't go exploring too far because we weren't sure how far it went and had to get home. We got a few pictures with Mt. Rainier in the background though. All of the mountains were so clear, it was a pretty cool sight to see.

Saturday we woke up to the same perfect day we had on Friday, so Katie and I packed some lunch and headed downtown to catch a ferry across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. It is about a half hour ride, and has some spectacular views along the way!

It got pretty windy out on the water once we got moving. I don't think Katie will wear a dress next time :)

We obviously weren't the only ones with the idea of getting out on the water; the Sound was filled with all sorts of boats.

We had a great view of the Olympic range the whole way over

Although the Olympics were great, Rainier really seemed to catch our attention...it was so clear, and looked like it was floating up over the land. Incredible. My parents lived in Seattle for 10 years and they said they were always awe-struck when they saw it. Pictures really don't do it justice.

We arrived at Bainbridge Island around noon and walked through the town and down to the water where we had our lunch. We saw a few people kayaking and there were some places to camp, so we think Bainbridge might be a great place to stay for a weekend and have some fun.

After lunch we found an ice cream shop. I'm pretty sure it was the best $5.95 I've ever spent...wow.

We are having a lot of fun exploring all the different areas around Seattle. Everything is so close and easy to get to, the weekends just aren't long enough!