What we've been up to...

It has been so nice and warm the past few days so we went and got ourselves a kiddie pool. The kids love it, and even though the slide is a bit hard to do because it is inflatable, it has been a lot of fun. All we need are some friends to come play with us. This will probably be our new daily activity so come on by and join us!

Dress Up

This little girl has cotumes on now about 75% of the time. She loves playing dress up! The other day she asked if I would do her makeup with real big girl makeup. So on went the blush, mascara, and lip gloss. Here are the results. I'm glad we have a lot of years until she starts wearing makeup for real! Love that sweet face!

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter this year. We got to do many Easter egg hunts before Sunday and lots of other fun Easter activities. Easter day we went to church and enjoyed the company of my Mom, Step Dad and The Oka Family. It was a great day and it was so nice to remember all that Jesus went through for us, and realize once again the great love he has for us all.

Finding the Easter baskets Easter morning.

Lunch on Sunday with The Oka's and The Hayden's. We did an activity with the girls called "resurrection eggs." We could have waited a few more years to do that one, but I think they learned a little bit.

Some pics before church. This is the only spot in the house where we get some light in the morning, so not the best background but some super cute kids.

April Fools

For April Fools I made sushi and cupcakes...

The sushi is obviously candy, but the cupcakes were meatloaf with mashed potato frosting. Brooke was so excited that she was going to get to eat a cupcake for dinner.

As soon as she took one bite she said "Think it's mashed potato frosting?" So funny. Our Niece Kayla was with us and got a kick out of them as well. Preston was just happy to have some food.
I thought they tasted pretty good, even though it was hard to get past the fact that they looked like cupcakes and were supposed to be sweet.

Dance Class

Brooke has wanted to do dance class for some time now. I have tried to teach her things, but I'm Mom and it just doesn't quite work the same as having a real dance teacher. I put her in the city dance class because to me it is all about fun the first few years. It was funny because when I got there and saw all the little dancers my teacher side came out and I felt immediately that I needed to go get my ballet shoes on and get them dancing. It was weird being the observer and not the teacher. Brooke did great and it was fun to see the things I had taught her come out as her teacher was surprised that she knew what first position, pique, sashe, and many other things were. She loved it and didn't ever want to take her "ballet dress" off.

When we first got Brooke her ballet shoes and leotard she wold not take them off for 2 days straight. Even when sleeping. It is so fun to see her get really excited about something that I love.

Seattle Day 5 & 6

We decided not to do the Space Needle. It is $20 per person and it is small. So we lovingly looked at it and then headed over to the tallest building in Seattle, The Columbia Building. We ate breakfast at the Starbuck's on the 40th floor and enjoyed the views. Then we went all the way up to the 86th floor. It was crazy to be up that high. The views were amazing. Seattle really is very beautiful.

After that we went and watched some movies. We saw the Adjustment Bureau and we also saw Unknown. Neither of them were all that great to me but they were okay. I'm more of a romantic comedy girl...

Day 6 we were off to the airport. We enjoyed our last few kisses without the kiddies and enjoyed watching the landscape change as we flew home.

We were so excited to see the kids. 6 days was too long. I would say 4 would be perfect. Thank you so much Lana and Eric for watching them, they had a great time and love you guys so much. We owe you big time!

Thanks Hubby for such a fun trip. I loved getting to spend some extra time with you!

Seattle day 4

Day 4 was my favorite day. It started off with a Chocolate Tour. It was delicious. We learned everything there is to know about growing, harvesting, making, and eating chocolate. It was hilarious because the tour consisted of Jason and I and then a large group of ladies celebrating a birthday so Jason was the only guy. The ladies were so fun to watch and hang out with. Jason was a great sport and fit in just perfect with us ladies. Thanks honey for being so much fun no matter what I put you through :).

We also got to drive through some parts of Seattle and see the Fremont Troll under the bridge, the space needle, and a bunch of cool looking houses.
After our Chocolate tour we hung out and took a nap and then it was off to Red Mill Burger. This place was voted best onion rings and burger in the country so I knew we needed to stop there. It was delicious! The french fries were not good though. But the rest was a really good , nothing fancy just made really well.
That night we took a bus to the Tractor Tavern to see 3 new contemporary artists sing. It was so cool. By far my favorite thing we did. We heard Laurn Pritchard (didn't love), Brendan James (loved!!) and Matt White (he was okay). I liked the Matt White song on the McDonald'scommercial ("and love, such a funny game we play"... you've heard it, right?) and that's how I found it. It only cost $20 for both of us and was a really intimate concert. Totally cool. We also made it home alive and not mugged. We had to take the bus all the way back to Seattle at 11:30 at night and then walk several blocks back to our hotel. Thank goodness we were okay :).

Seattle day 3

Day 3 started off with a delicious breakfast at a little whole in the wall restaurant.

Then we walked to the sports complex and past Quest Field. Afterwards we visited Safeco Field (where the Seattle Mariners play) for a tour. It was pretty awesome and I totally want to go tour Dodger Stadium now.

Jason was in baseball heaven.

We got the cutest older man who has a serious love of baseball to give us the tour. He was the best part for me.

I thought this baseball bat chandelier was pretty cool. It lights up and flickers every time they score.

I loved this picture of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. I want it for a sport's themed room. I decided Lou Gehrig was really good looking and have a crush on him now. (don't tell my husband :))

In the clubhouse.

In the interview room.

Dugout.

It was so fun to be with my hubby on this date. He loves baseball and it was so awesome to see something that he is passionate about. He wanted to go hit some balls so bad just to see how far he could hit them on the field.

After our tour we walked back to our hotel and realized we had left Jason's sunglasses at the team store. After calling and seeing if they had been found we went all the way back (not a short walk, I was complaining because my feet were hurting). After that we just hung out all day. I really loved getting to give all my attention to Jason. At home he is my #1 but the kids are always are in need of something so it was nice to just be with him. I sure am a lucky girl!

Later that night we headed to a karaoke bar because I have always wanted too. We found one and started walking to it, but we both got a bad feeling and decided to turn around. I'm so glad we are guided by the spirit and are kept safe by his promptings. We just had a nice night at the hotel relaxing. It was a great day.

Seattle Day 2

Day 2 was mostly all about Pike Place Market. I am a foodie and had researched all the best spots to eat at the market so we started our day early and hungry.

We started with some donuts from Daily Dozen Donuts. They were really yummy. They tasted more like cake to me with a crispy exterior and a cake like consistency on the inside. After that we headed to Three Girls Bakery. We got a bacon and cheese pastry, a vanilla macaroon, a raspberry cobbler, and a double O which is a Reece's cooked inside a peanut butter cookie. I had high expectations for this place but nothing was that great. It was all okay but the flavors weren't there for me.

Then we just walked around and sampled everything we possibly could. It was so fun and there were so many unusual people too. Jason bought some sign's from this cute Chinese man for his SNF building. They were supposed to be $6 each. He just started charging for random things like telling us one thing was a sentence and not just a word so it was double the price. After 3 signs we paid like $46. Thanks for ripping us off cute little Chinese man :).

The flowers were amazing!! There were rows and rows of them and huge bouquets were only $10. I would always have fresh flowers if i lived close to the market. It was so beautiful.

We got macaroons at the French bakery ( I actually like the one's from the frozen section of Trader Joe's better.) We went to the very first Starbucks, and took a picture with the world's tallest man. That is his actual size in the picture.

We ate at Beecher's Cheese. It was yummy! We tried the Macaroni and Cheese because it is supposed to be the best in the world. It was amazing but it was made with penne noodles and so I felt like I was eating pasta not macaroni. The tomato soup was divine.

We had great weather while we were there. It only drizzled a few days during our whole trip. The day we went to Pike market it was the hottest day so far this year. It was beautiful (still cold though.)

After hanging out in the hotel room, napping, and watching TV, we went out for dinner at Taste. It was the worst Pizza I ever had. We ended up just eating the french fries.

It was a super fun day. And yes I did gain a few pounds on this trip.

Seattle Day 1

Jason and I got to get away for 6 days of husband/wife bliss (yes the kids stayed home with Auntie Lana and Uncle Eric) to Seattle, WA. We have always heard how amazing the city was and so off we went. We flew early Thursday morning and arrived in the afternoon and then took the light rail to Downtown/Pioneer Square area.

Here we are on the light rail.

After getting a little lost (happens to me every first day of every vacation) we were starving and still didn't know quite where our hotel was and so we stopped at probably the most deserted pizza place ever. While we were eating I was whispering and Jason kept calling it a Library because honestly that is what it felt like. The pizza was okay. I think it tasted better just because we were so hungry.

At the pizza place the walls were plastered with tons of weird posters of things to do around town. This is when I started to realize Seattle was much different from a lot of the things I had heard.

Right next to the pizza place there was this awesome guy attached to the wall. Just in case he tries to run away... Yes Seattle not quite what I expected.

After checking into our hotel we headed to Pike Place for lunch at Steelhead Diner. It was delicious! We sat at the counter by the kitchen so I could see all the yummy food. Everything looked great.

Love spending time with this guy!!

They gave us these complimentary beet tartar brushetta's. They looked so beautiful.

This is how they tasted. Jason took this pic right after I took a bite. The beets were super spicy and then topped off with spicy blue cheese. It was a little too much for me to handle.

We decided on splitting their Waygu burger. It was delicious. A great mixture of flavors, with a perfectly cooked french fry to top it off. They had the most amazing homemade lemonade, which we didn't realize was not refillable until $12 later... Yes these posts will mainly be about food, because that is my favorite part of being on vacation.

Which one is Salt? Which one is Pepper? Salt is the black one (It was smoked salt and was amazing on the french fries) the pepper was white crushed pepper.

After lunch we made our way to Hotel 1000. The hotel was really cool, swanky, and modern with an amazing bathtub that filled from the ceiling. We also had an amazing view of the Puget Sound from our room. They had a digital game playing table, and a bunch of other cool little features. Here is the bathtub from the other room. Yes there is only a giant piece of glass separating the bedroom from the bathroom. It was very fun.

After relaxing and watching TV for a while (we have no cable at our house so this is another thing we do on vacation A LOT. ) we went to dinner at a Brazilian place called Impanema. It was so yummy. I love Churrascaria's where they just keep bringing you food until you are stuffed.

It was a great way to start off the vacation.