Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Weekend sojourn to Vancouver/Portland

This past weekend we traveled to Vancouver and Portland.  We hung out with friends (new and old) and attended the memorial service of my friend, Sara's mom.  

We left on Saturday following the kids' basketball games and spent the first night with our friend Erika, a relatively new friend that we met last year on our cruise to Hawaii.  She and her wife have come up here to see us but this was our first time staying at their place.  Unfortunately her lovely wife,  Jamie, could not be there.  Next time though!!!

The next day we got up and headed into Portland and had brunch at one of my favorite places in Portland, The Country Cat.  As you can see by the photo the weather was great.  


We attended the memorial service and then headed over to my childhood friend Diane's house to have a delicious dinner and to watch the NFC playoff game.  What fun!  Finn got to eat on a tv tray for the first time.  
Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed back into Portland to Powell's Books.  We had promised Finn we would ride the Tri-Met so we took the streetcar to the area where the food trucks are and had a great lunch.  Everyone had something different. I had a pork belly sandwich, Meghen a Reuben, AIdan had Pho, and Finn a footlong hotdog. The kids shared their first bubble tea. We sat in the sun and had our lunch and then jumped back on the streetcar.
Both kids were exhausted and fell asleep on the way home.  We can't wait to head back down to Portland and hang out again with everyone.



Monday, January 13, 2014

4th Anniversary

Hard to believe but January 2, 2014 marked our 4th year of living on Vashon Island.  It has also been about 4 years since I last posted anything but this weekend my daughter stumbled upon this blog and requested that I once again start posting.  She thinks it makes her famous if she can be found on the internet.  Little does she know.

So how do I compress the last 4 years into a single post?  Well I certainly cannot write about ALL that has happened to the Magonegil family in that time but I can offer some quick bullet points.


  • We moved from Point Robinson to the Westside and although we miss our old neighbors, we love our house and the location.
  • Aidan completed kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade and is now in 4th grade and loving school.
  • Finn completed kindergarten, 1st grade and is now in 2nd grade.  He still attends Cedarsong Outdoor School one Saturday a month.
  • Aidan broke her tibia in two places on the last full day of school last year and it took all summer and most of the fall to heal properly.
  • Finn became a soccer phenom and had over 40 goals for the season.
  • Both Aidan and Finn play baseball/softball and currently are playing basketball.  
  • I continue to coach both of them in every sport that I can.
  • Meghen is busily preparing delicious food for a couple of island businesses as well as her family.
  • The kids and I are very involved with our church.  Aidan is in the choir and is an acolyte while I serve as the church treasurer and lecture.  We all serve food to the island's needy at the church a couple of times a month.
  • I ran for public office this fall and lost but had a blast running.
  • Both Meghen and I had big birthdays in 2013.  
I am sure there is a ton more but I think those are the major things.  I promise to do my best to post on a more than every 4 years basis.