Dane started driving in August I think. He's doing "Running Start" at school, that's where you take some classes at the Community College that count for both high school and college credits, and he's still taking 2 classes at the high school. That's why he had to get his license. He now has so much homework, and, of course, he works (has to pay for gas and insurance) so he has no time to even sleep. These 4 days will be real nice for him, some sleep catchup time. He was planning to go to Italy in April with his Latin class but had to choose between that and anything else he wants to do, like snowboarding. If he goes to Italy he can't spend any money because he needs to come up with like nearly 3K by April. I think he's opting to go snowboarding and giving up on Italy. Fine with me.
He turned 18 a month ago and I had a surprise "Freedom" party. Seriously, it's not a birthday party, no cake, etc. But I told the other kids that if they can think of anything, they can get him freedom-related gifts. So Rach is gonna take him to Car toys and get him a new phone and add him to her family plan (so he can get off his dad's) and Kevin wants to take him snowboarding. I didn't do anything special, I thought maybe the dinner and attention was enough.
Rachyl and Tony finally got married 9/23 on a cute Mississippi-style paddle wheel boat on Lake Union just before sunset. I thought it was the best wedding of all 3 kids.
I got an invitation from an old friend to join a stock photo site where you submit your photos and they screen them and then offer them for sale to people all over the world for pamphlets, brochures and websites. So I signed up and have about 30 photos now for sale, haven't sold any yet but I think most of what I have is more suitable for spring and summer stuff so maybe that stuff will sell later. In the meantime I used this as an excuse to buy a new 8 megapixel camera so the new shots I take just to sell will be the quality they require. My new camera is just like my old one but 8 mp and with some new features so I already know how to use it. And it didn't cost as much. If you want to check out what I have for sale you can go to fotolia.com and in the search box type suehill (one word). But please don't click on any of the pictures, they enlarge if you just place your mouse over them. I keep track of how many times they're being viewed and if all my friends and family start viewing them I'll get distorted numbers. If there's any you'd like for any reason I can just email them to you, you don't have to pay for them, I can give them away if I want.
Dale bought a BBQ restaurant in Auburn. He always wanted a restaurant and he's always trying to come up with ways to give his kids jobs (why? they seem to do OK on their own) Anywho, he got this restaurant and Rach and Heather (Denny's wife) kind of manage it and Dane works there. He hired too many people and now has to get rid of some and then Keith will work there too. Dane works M W Sat, mostly to stay away from dad. Keith will work only 2 or 3 days, he only needs money to build a computer. I want him to work the front counter so he learns to talk to people again (and because Dane works in the back, they need to be separate).