A Little Water Park Fun!

The weather forecast said sunny and 80, so when my friend Kim asked if we wanted to go to a water park, we were totally excited! We had never even heard of the Henry Moses Aquatic Center in Renton before, and it sounded like the perfect place for my girls to go for a sunny and hot day!

The day started out cloudy and cold. To tell you the truth, we were contemplating not going, but the clouds were supposed to clear so that the sun could shine, so we went.

There are lots of shallow areas for the littler ones to play. The big kids spent a lot of time at the two water slides. You can take an intertube on one of the slides, too!

This was a pretty fast "lazy river"! Haley and her buddy Amara took a break in the middle to watch their siblings float by.

 Caleb (little bro to Amara) from the M4 turned and let me take a quick pic of him enjoying the tubes.

Kaylin hardly left the slides, she was having such a blast! But she enjoyed the tubes, too!

 The clouds did clear out and it ended up being a beautiful day! The kiddos all had a blast and are begging to go back again! Thanks so much Kim for inviting us! I still can't believe we had never heard of it!

Ferry Fun!

For our last day trip with our Cali family, we decided to take a ferry to Kingston. We stopped at the Walnut cafe in Edmonds (per Sheree's suggestion) and we were not disappointed! One of the yummiest lattes I've ever had!

It was a beautiful day, so we got off the ferry and walked around Kingston for a bit. Goo-Goo B bought the girls ice-cream or sorbet (their choice) at Mora and then we hopped back on the ferry and headed home for a big family dinner because Connie, Queena, Vanessa, James, and Frankie had to leave in the morning. =(

Thank you so much for visiting and hanging out with us! We had such a good time laughing, chatting, and lounging with you all. xoxo

Donuts and Meerkats

Have you ever tried a maple bar donut with bacon?

Well if you haven't, you are totally missing out! I had to get some for our California guests to try.

My absolute fave is the bavarian cream, though. Head on down to Frost Donuts in the Mill Creek Town Center, and get yourself some! The salted caramel is delish, too.

              Srsly, you will not be dissapointed with Frost Donuts! 

After our donuts, we headed to the zoo!

The gang!

 There is a new entrance at the zoo right by the penguins. The north entrance and west entrance combined and are no more.

 The girls and I were super excited to finally see the Meerkats! I was a little surprised at how small the exhibit was, but they sure are adorable. Have you ever seen Meerkat Manor? It's a great show!

We always enjoy the Komodo Dragons, too!

The girls have to climb this statue every time we pass it!

It's been awhile since we have seen this guy. He was walking around looking for food. Apparently, the lady that feeds him works in this office.

We all gathered around to see him.

 He didn't like that, so he blew up his tale! The lady came out yelling at us all to get back because he might charge us! It was crazy the way she was yelling at this bird, like he was a 2 yr old  kid.

After the zoo we hit up Red Mill Burgers! (Don't worry, we didn't use our cell phones and get yelled at like someone I know!).

The Fourth (2010)

We headed to the local parade in the early afternoon. This is a tradition for us, and one that we always enjoy. The weather was pretty iffy, and we lucked out and missed the rain. It rained in all the cities around us, but not ours!

 We scored a great spot and got settled right before the parade began. Lookie who we saw in the parade! Joe and his daughters Kayla and Breanna!

Gotta love Star Wars!

Note: This years Darth was short! Of course my girls noticed.

We headed straight home to help host our First Annual Neighborhood Potluck. It was a great turnout!

We had our own fireworks show right in front of the house. I am not one to like the noise that comes along with this holiday, but the kids sure had a good time!

Dao made a fire pit and Smores were made!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for celebrating this special day with us!

Leavenworth For The Day

We have some family in town from California and so we have been playing tourist. We went to Leavenworth for the afternoon to show them what a cute little town it is.

I love that they have a Starbucks here! One of my favorite things about Starbucks is that the bathrooms are almost always clean. I know that it is a safe and clean place to take my kids to the bathroom, so it is always our first stop!

Next we were hungry so we went to "Munchen Haus" where we had them try the delicious brats. Dao got the "big Bob" and put everything on it and of course an ice cold beer to go with it!

The girls had pretzels and hotdogs. The prices are decent, and the food is delish. You should definitely stop and eat there.

This is one of the girls favorite shops. They have every kind of silly hat that you could think of  and they like to try them on and look in the mirror.

I'm not sure why Payton was posing like this in almost every picture I take of her lately, but I thought it was kinda funny that she is in a tank top with rosy cheeks next to a Christmas Tree. They have a few Christmas shops that have a very good selection of ornaments. This was taken at the Kris Kringl shop and they were stocking up for the holiday busy season. I am so not ready to think about Christmas yet!

It was over 80 degrees out, and Emma was happy to find a shady spot. I love all the flower pots on the sidewalks there. It adds such a pretty splash of color.

Another shady spot. The girls played for a long time with this drink fountain. Apparently if you hold the top one down, the little one at the bottom (for dogs) would shoot up and squirt you.

(From left to right: Dao, Frankie, Vanessa, Payton, Kaylin, Connie, and Queena)

A trip to Leavenworth would not be complete without an ice-cream cone! We stopped at because they were making handmade waffle cones that smelled delicious!

(James, Haley, and Emma)

The sun was starting to go down, and we wanted to stop at Deception Pass, so we left soon after we finished the ice-cream.

For some reason I didn't take any pics of the falls at Deception Pass. :(

After the Pass, we all headed home and the kids fell asleep in the car.

It was a very good day!

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day started off on Friday, with a box on our porch addressed for Dao. When he got home from work, I gave him the box and we all gathered around curiously to see what it could be.

It was a delicious box of Sherries Berries. Chocolate covered strawberries and a special cookie for just for him! It had a sweet note from his California family that read  "Happy Father's Day Dao! Hope you and your girls enjoy the berries! Have a wonderful Father's Day celebration! We'll see you soon! - Connie and Van". What a great way to start his special weekend!

Thanks Connie and Van! We ♥ you!

Sunday we went to Dao's soccer game, and then headed to the Seattle Pacific Science Center. We had planned on our usual picnic and fishing at a local pond, but it was raining hard, so we had to change our plans. Turns out the G6 had also changed their plans, and decided to go to the Science Center!
 David's Dad, Eddie (also known as Grandpa Eddie or GE) came along with the G6. I asked the Daddies to pose together for a pic, and they graciously obliged. :)

 

The Daddies took the kids into the butterfly exhibit, and I gave Dao my camera. I was so happy to see that he actually took some pics!

Apparently, the butterflies loved GE! They were on his shirt, his pants, and even his hat! The kids thought that was pretty cool.

There is a space shuttle type "ride" that the kids love to go on. It counts down and they sit and pretend they are heading into space. Right when it "takes off" Dao starts shaking it like crazy, and the kids crack up.

The sad thing is that the kids behind our kids want Dao to do it for them too!

The big kids go play on the "shadow wall" and the little kids like to play on the computers.

They have a new circus exhibit where you can dress up, and use a stage. The kids got totally into it.

So did the Daddies!

Of course the kids love it when the Daddies play with them. :)

 

It was another successful Father's Day!

6th Grade Graduation

Our oldest Haley is an amazing girl! We are so very proud of her accomplishments this year! She has completed 6th grade. And it was a busy year for her indeed. She played in the schools Band, Jazz Band, was in the African American Exchange Club, played Fall and Spring soccer and gave everything 100%!

 Her classroom does a big graduation where the 4th and 5th graders write a play and practice for months. The play is about the 6th graders and what each one of them might be doing in 20 yrs. They said that Haley was going to be a world known piano player and still playing for audiences. :)

 Here she is with her fellow graduates!

 I asked all of her besties to go outside for a group photo. I'm so happy they all agreed! Such a great group of kids!

 With one of her teachers, Siri. Her other teacher, Lynn, had to have surgery on her shoulder the week before school was out. This will give her plenty of time to recoup for next year, where I am hoping that Kaylin will get to be in her class. Siri and her husband (the Assistant Principle) will be leaving our school this year to move closer to family. We just found they are having a baby and are so happy for them. It will be there first!

It was such an emotional day for Haley. She is leaving the center/classroom that she has spent the last 3 yrs of her life in. She and her friends will all be split up for Middle Schools classes. Our school is K-8, so she will still see many of them, but it will not be the same.

Dao and I met in the 7th grade and started dating in 8th. I keep telling her that she could meet her future husband next year! That is until her Daddy completely freaks out and says "No Way!". Hahaha!