Bellingham

Wow. I can't believe it has been three weeks since I've posted here! A big part of the reason it's been a while is that Heather and I went to Bellingham for a much needed vacation. The rest? Well, laziness I suppose. :)
I think most of you are friends with us on Facebook so you've probably already seen a decent chunk of the pictures from our trip. I'll probably put up another 10-20 pictures in that album and will include a few highlights in this post. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time!

The night before we left Nashville, we were thinking about things we may want to do on our first day there. We were flying into Sea-Tac so we had the option of doing something in Seattle on our way to B-Ham. I wondered if the Mariners had any home games left. Turned out, they had their last game of the season at home that next day! So we bought tickets for the best seats we could get and got ready to feast on our favorite thing at the field... garlic fries!!

The weather was spectacular. The air, crisp and fresh. The sounds, exciting. The smell, baseball-y. It was, the absolute perfect way to start our vacation!!!

Oh, and we ended up renting a car that we've had our eyes on for quite some time. We got a Chevy Equinox LTZ! The thing was loaded with options and was a real treat to drive!

We had most of Thursday to ourselves. We rented a 2-bedroom condo in Bellingham to make lounging around more comfortable. The place was great! If we ever vacation with other people again, I'll definitely try to go the route of a house rental instead of a hotel. It made such a difference having a living room to relax in, and a kitchen to cook in! We easily saved the difference in cost by eating some meals at the condo. We'd definitely recommend it if you have a chance. We used www.vbro.com to find our rental.

We spent part of our first day walking around Western, and being by the water as much as possible.

Check out the album on my (Tim's) Facebook page for more pictures!

Oh, when we got back to our place on Thursday afternoon, we found the outside pane of our patio door was broken. It wasn't us! We called the property management people and they said a rock hit the window when the landscapers were mowing the grass. Lucky it only broke one pane!

Seth and Emily were the first to come visit us. As always, we had a great time catching up with our best friends. Seth and I went Sumas to a really legit go-kart race track. These were not your ordinary go-karts you find at a mini golf/batting cage place. These were on a huge outdoor racetrack. They hold sanctioned league races there. We had to start out with the slowest go-karts but they still went 40-45mph. Not bad! We've had a few chances to race each other before and we seem to be pretty level in terms of driving skill. Good times! While we were out racing, the girls got a mani-pedi and some coffee. Just like ol times!

My parents, sister Cami, and her son Jack were next up to Bellingham! This was just our second time seeing Jack and he was absolutely beautiful! Lots of fun to play with, and so darn cute!

My dad probably had the best time of all playing with him...

Seriously... the kid is cute!

Just FYI, Bellingham has the best farmers market ever.

Last but not least, Heather's parents and brother came up!

As expected, seeing our family and friends just made us miss living closer to home more than ever. If you haven't heard, I've decided to pursue a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt once I finish my 4th year of the Au.D. this Spring. When we left Bellingham in 2009, we told ourselves and our families "It'll just be three short years. We'll move back to the PNW for our 4th year. It won't be that bad!" And here we are, preparing to commit to living in Nashville for another 3-4 years. I definitely never imagined being in school for quite this long. But through this all, I've learned that you just can't predict with full certainty the road you've yet to travel. Going to Bellingham was an incredible trip for the both of us. Restorative and relaxing. And we've never missed being at home more than we do now!

Bang Bang!!

Most of you know that I enjoy target shooting. I grew up in a family that enjoyed taking a few cereal boxes and pop cans up into the mountains to poke some holes into them. Like most kids, I learned to shoot with a .22 rifle.

I started on a Winchester Model 60 (pic below) which is a single-shot bolt action rifle. What that means is that it only holds a single bullet at a time. You have to open the bolt to insert the round. Then, close the bolt and pull the hammer back to cock it. Pull the trigger, Bang! 

Winchester Model 60

Not sure what a .22 round is? Allow me to explain! You've probably heard of a few different bullet sizes before (9mm, and .22 being the two most common). The number refers to the diameter of the bullet. Some pistol rounds are referred to in millimeters (9mm or 10mm), while others are referred to in inches (.17HMR, .22lr, .380, .40, and .45ACP). Assuming a bigger diameter means more power, now we know which rounds are the more powerful ones, right? Not hardly. Here's a picture of a .22lr round next to a .223 round. Same diameter bullet. 

Hmm. So there that is. LOTS of powder in the .223 round on the right! My point is, it's all about the powder. More powder equals a bigger boom. How much force you feel after pulling the trigger depends on how much powder is burned and how much mass is in the gun you're shooting. A heavier gun will soak up more of the recoil and will make things easier on you. Lighter guns leave more of it up to you to absorb with your arms, shoulders, and back. 

So that's enough bullet education for now.As my sister Nicole used to say, back to me! I have a .22 rifle of my own (Marlin Model 60) that I like to shoot, in part, because it is very economical. Bullets are about $.03 a piece. Bullets for my .40 caliber pistol are about $.32 a piece. Here's a picture of a .22 round next to a .40 caliber round. Quite a difference!

 Ever since I bought the pistol, I've been trying to get Heather into shooting. She also grew up in a family that respected firearms but enjoyed recreational shooting from time to time. The trouble is, that .40 caliber round is really powerful, and subsequently delivers a lot of recoil to your body. It's kind of scary for a new shooter! She has done well shooting my .22 rifle in the past, but had only fired a .22 pistol once and it was a very big and heavy revolver. So, a few weeks ago I saw a Groupon for two .22 pistol rentals with targets included at a local gun range. I thought, this is it! What a great opportunity to take Heather to the range to shoot the relatively small .22 round in a pistol that fits her small lady-like hands! So on Saturday, we went to Guns n Leather in Hendersonville, TN. She shot a Ruger SR22 and I shot a Ruger Mark II 22/45.

Surprise Surprise! The Ruger SR22 fit her hands very nicely! She felt comfortable with the controls and shot pretty well! Lookin' good babe with those pink ear muffs!! The gun I shot jammed a lot while chambering the first round of a magazine. Once I got past that, it shot very nicely and had a really smooth trigger.

 I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't hear it with my own ears. As we were walking back to the car, Heather said to me, "Well, I think I want a gun!" BOO YAH!!!! You got it babe. Well, not quite yet. There are 4 or 5 .22 pistols that I want to consider. Unfortunately Guns n Leather only had the 1 model available to shoot that day. I'll be keeping my eyes open for some of the others. Sometime soon, Heather will have her own pistol! It's a win-win for us. It'll mean we can go to the range more often, and start to enjoy another hobby together. 

So that's what we were up to this last weekend! Many of you know that Heather and I are flying to Bellingham on Wednesday to spend a few days with family and friends in a town that is very special to us. I'm sure we'll create a bunch of blog-worthy material, so stay tuned in the next week or two!! Until then, I hope you all are enjoying a nice transition to Fall!