Viva the Northwest--where the law can't find you--maybe

No, the Kent family has not joined the Witness Protection Program and fallen off of face of the earth. Although there was, apparently, a warrant out for my arrest in the State of Utah briefly. Word of advice--don't file your "carpool lane while towing a boat" moving violation in the glove compartment of your car then proceed to drive 1000 more miles, find a place to live, unpack moving van, sign kids up for a new school, visit family and friends, and otherwise completely forget about said moving violation. You may find yourself on the receiving end of this frightening document:

Wow, it looks like they mean business in Lehi, Utah. I was scared--may have even tossed and turned a bit during the night wondering a) are they serious? and b) how much is this going to cost me? Second word of advice--if you are going to completely blow off a traffic ticket and have a warrant issued for your arrest somewhere, make sure it is Lehi, Utah. When I finally gathered my courage to make the dreaded phone call and plead "idiot" (you know how much I hate such phone calls) I couldn't have found a nicer government employee on the other end of the line. She quickly assured me that, no, I didn't have to go and turn myself in to the local authorities for immediate extradition. Phew! She graciously waived the $150 late penalty. What?! This never happens for me. She even let me send in a rebuttal to be considered by the Judge. I did, of course, (ridiculous that I even got that ticket--I blame Roland and the over-eager Officer Dorgan) and got my "case" heard by the Judge and my original fine reduced and my case closed all in about 30 minutes via email. Didn't even have to leave my comfy chair.

So other than my 12 hours of life "on the lamb," what have we been up to lately, you ask?

Just loving every minute of a glorious northwest summer, of course. We have settled in to our "leafy Seattle suburb" (the lovely, Bellevue, Washington) quite nicely. We found a great 3 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood for a reasonable rent. We are a short 11 miles from Roland's main hospital, 3 blocks from Emma's brand, spankin' new elementary school, 2 blocks from a great community pool and tennis club, less than a mile from Lake Washington, and surrounded by great biking paths in every direction. We've had a fabulous time visiting with all of our family in the northwest, touristing around Seattle, and taking lots of great hikes.

Here we are at Mt. Rainier. Wow! Put this on your list of places you need to visit before you die. Even on a drizzly day with pretty poor visibility it was a pretty amazing, otherworldly place. Huckleberries, marmots, wildflowers, and glaciers--some pretty cool stuff.

Kaisa didn't have to put shoe to path too often on the hike--she actually fell asleep on Roland's shoulders on the descent. Emma did, thus prompting my shopping trip for real hiking shoes for her the next day.

I should hand the camera off more. Or perhaps not.

Harder for the law to catch up with me this way.