Adventures in Washington, Part III

...THE PART WHERE A FAMILY IS REUNITED AMIDST CHAOS, TWO LOVERS RE-UNITE, A POOR UNFORTUNATE PINATA TAKES A TURN DOWN THE WRONG ALLEY, AND FAMILIES ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER ONCE MORE.

Okay, so this isn't going to be quite so wordy as the last two due to time constraints. Soooo much to be done!!

Anyways, after getting to visit all of our friends on the west coast, Russ flew into WA for the last week and a half of our visit. He'd heard about our hiking up in the palisades and wanted to check it out a well.

Russ and I rented a cabin up above Leavenworth where we invited Russ's best friend Mark and his fiancee Amy, who we hadn't yet met, to come and stay. They weren't able to make it for the first night, so Russ and I had a fabulous time alone where we did very private things like.....bunny rabbit puzzles. Oh yes, believe it.

The place also came with a hot tub, which was pretty much awesome...except when it wasn't working. It was so nice to sit in at night though, the crescent moon over the tops of the trees that surrounded us. Really pretty.

We also did our own share of hiking around (although we didn't have to go .0025 miles/hour, like we do with the kids!). There was a geocache a mile from us, so we spend awhile hunting around for that and FINALLY found it (we're really bad at this geocaching stuff).

Yup, snow.

With all of our Coug pariphenalia in the above photo, it reminds me of some of our first Coug photos together, like this...


I sure do love that guy!!!


Mark and Amy got there and we immediately got down to business with grilled burgers, some zombie killing game, and a bit of Quelf. Oh yeah, baby.

The next day we decided to head into Leavenworth to see what we could see. Here's a photo of Mark with his twin brother, commiserating over some amazing chocolate. Yummm...chocolate....

After a bit, we split up--I went back to my babies in Quincy and Russ went with Mark and Amy to Bellingham to play for a night before they had to go pick up Corinne from the airport the following day.

While we were on our weekend adventure, Russ and I found a great deal on cowboy boots and HAD to get some for the kids. Unfortunately, Sam has gargantuan feet, so his didn't fit, but Brook's fit perfectly, and boy does she LOVE them.

And Sam settled for an old wig that used to by my grandma's.

The whole crew helping make strawberry waffles.

And enjoying a family dinner (sorry Bubs...this was the only one where your eyes were open!).

And it was decided that a real pinata was in order. So we had to decide who got to take the first whack with some good ol' Rock, Paper, Scissors. Oh yeah.

It was down to Lynne and Brooklyn.

And Brooklyn kicked Lynne's tush.

But Lynne got her revenge (even Russ ducked!).

Sam decided it was easier to sit back and wait for the candy to fall.

But he got the Final Blow.

CANDYYYYYY!!!!!

And it was decided that there must be cake.

Oh my...this book...oy.

Sam is a very habitual dude...when he wakes up to pee at 10:55pm one night, he will wake up at 10:55pm for the next 5 nights... So when the boy decides that his bedtime book must be "Gorgeous!"...you'd better be prepared to read that book at least a thousand and two times. And you have to do the voices. And point out the exclamation points. And the question marks. And ooh and aaahhh over the pictures. It's a good thing it was a cute book.

The day we were flying out to head back to NC was Sam's birthday, so there was a little present for him on the table when he woke up...his prized Buzz and Woody.

Then it was off to Olympia for some Easter celebrations at the Anderson Farm. There was lots of egg hunting.

Lots of crap flinging.

Lots of dinking around.

Lots of family.

Even more family. And lots of tractor driving.

Lots of pranking.

Lots of annoyance.

And did I mention, lots of awesome family???

The Teeter Clan.

This was the best Easter photo I got of the kids together...

Although this one was pretty cute.

Snapped a few photos of my rockin' sister-in-law.

And had a grand time with all of this awesome family. ...and yes, that is Brooklyn checking out her guns.

All in all, the trip was AWESOME and we are all missing our family. We can't wait to see them all again!!

Fun Stuff.

These are still photos from before we went to Washington, so bear with me. Must document somewhere.

The shorts (that came from a men's button-down shirt) and sweatshirt (it used to be my old sweatshirt) that I made for Sam. Unfortunately, he's already outgrown the sweatshirt! Doh.

Brook was modeling her ballerina outfit she got from Grammie and Grampy for her birthday, as well as her treasures pouch I made for her to carry her money around in.

More pillows! I would love to keep making pillows, as I love them, but alas...I find that all I do all day is pick them up off the floor. Bah.

I had this genius idea to make some rice-filled beanbags for the kids! I'd even do each letter in their names! Brilliant! HAHAHAHAHA...yeah, right.

Year old rice (stored in the garage where there are rice-loving bugs) + impatient and bored kids + impatient mama = ONE BIG MESS.

I think I counted to 10 at least a bazillion and two times over the course of the hour that it took me to do just the "B" and the "S". Then I ripped out 4 other quick shapes so they could chuck them at each others' heads.

Another day we were bored and I found myself yet again yelling at the kids to stop jumping off of the dang bay window. Then I thought, "Why?"

We quickly rounded up every pillow, blanket, couch cushion, stuffed animal, and sleeping bag that we could find...

Gee...do you think they had fun??

Brooklyn's 5th Birthday!

Brooklyn turned 5 on March 5th...but I'm a slacker. And I've been out of town for the past 6 weeks, so there.

Anyways, it was a glorious day, as always. She got a paleontologist kit from Auntie Corinne, who always finds the coolest gifts.

And of course not a day goes by that we don't play with our marbles.

Then she got her brand new bike (which was very much needed)!!

Then it was off to the Costume Bowling Party!!!

All of our friends were there in their finest costume apparel.

The bowling was a success.

Then we got to go back into a private room for lunch!

Pizza and gluten-free cupcakes (which only my kids ate, lol)! Russ had gotten doughnuts for breakfast and I was not happy with him, hence the gluten-free cupcakes.

Let the games begin!! Everyone got a card with money on it to play games to their hearts content. Brooklyn's card had $20 on it...that child was in heaven. The funny thing was, she spent it all in just about the exact amount of time as everyone else (who all had $5)!!

All in all, I believe the day was a success (except the brakes going out on the car on the way to the party...yikes!). I know Sam would agree....