Seeing Seattle

My sister Larissa has spent the last 7 years or so living far away. First in Milwaukee, and now in Seattle. I get to see her when she comes here for holidays and other things, but I have never been to her house. I decided a few months ago that I really wanted to go, and that I would surprise her for her birthday.

Surprise!

So, Sadie and I took off to spend almost a week up there. We went to some fun spots in Seattle, like Pike Place Market...

The Space Needle...

And a ferry ride over to Kingston for a fun day trip.

(It was a little windy)

My niece Olivia was afraid to get her pants wet in the freezing water, so she pulled them all the way up and had a great new look going.

We ate some delicious crepes. Yum!

Sadie was pretty clingy for the whole trip, but she did like to play with her cousins. Olivia got to teach her how to accessorize!

We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us crash your place Lar! Hopefully next time we come to visit you'll be much closer!

Zak stayed home with the boys for the week. Luckily we have great friends who were willing to help out so Zak could get some work in. He ran a pretty tight ship, making sure homework and chores were done everyday. And they got to have fun watching movies, eating out, and going to the wildlife museum.

A little late...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The little things...

Sometimes simple things make them so happy. And that makes me so happy.

I sure love these kids!

It's done

I finally got around to painting Sadie's room. I decided to do the stripes, and just figured I would have to spend a few days working on it. It could have been done within a few days if we didn't have everyday life happening as well, but because we did have other things going on, we had to extend the life of this project to about 2 1/2 weeks. I am so glad it is finally done and I can get back to my normal routine. And I can let Sadie back into her room!

Here it is on about day 5. After 2 colors and all the measuring, leveling, marking and taping.

The finished room. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Lessons learned:
1. Don't wait until your baby learns how to crawl to start painting her room. It makes it a little harder to work while she is awake!
2. Never use Ace brand painter's tape again. It left nice blue residue. Really made me smile.
3. Don't let your 3 year old play with your straight edge if you want it to stay straight.

I'm starting to think...

...that this girl is going to be trouble!

I went to get her when she woke up from her nap yesterday, and this is what I found. She is pulling herself up already. Yesterday she only got to her knees. Today, she pulled herself to standing. Can't someone tell her she is not supposed to grow up too fast!

...that "stuffed" animals are kind of cool.

We finally went to the Wildlife Museum. I had heard about it a lot and thought it sounded a little weird to go look at a bunch of taxidermied animals, but we decided to go check it out. We had fun. The kids loved it!

...that I am still not cut out to raise boys!

Ethan was so excited about this frog he caught, and he couldn't understand why I wasn't more excited, and why I wouldn't want to hold it. Sorry boys. I'll wrestle, camp, play superheros and build forts, but I draw the line at slimy creatures. (Especially this little frog that looked half dead.)