Party hard

This weekend we celebrated two awesome boys turning 4. 

We started off with a birthday party for Eli at Chuck E Cheese. Sam and Eli are really good friends. They are both obsessed with Super Hero's and love to pretend. 

Sam, Eli and Juan. Cute boys!!!

When the pizza had been fully digested we met up with Chase at Red Robin for dinner and then swimming. 

Chase and Sam are hilarious together. They are in the same class at school and get to hang out a lot. It's very apparent that they are good friends. 

 Silly, crazy boys.

Happy 4th Birthday Eli and Chase! We love you so much and are so happy that we are all friends!

Summer Adventures

The weather has been AMAZING and we are not wasting any moment of it. So far, we have had some really fun times!

Allison Krauss and Union Station at Chateau St. Michelle. 

Although we were a little let down at the amount of music played, we had a good time at the concert. 

 Mariners Game

Do you think he's excited?

Sammy's first picture taking experience.

#yuckychinfolds

 We got to meet the Moose and we were are nervous as we look.

 Edmonds Beach and Lynnwood Rec Center with the Frandsens

After spending a wonderful morning at the beach, we cooled off at the Lynnwood pool with Jane, Ashley and baby Nolan. What a blast!

The Seattle Waterfront

Today Sam and I met up with our friends Ashley, Jane and baby Nolan on the waterfront. We filled our tummies with lunch and then rested atop the new Seattle Ferris Wheel.

 The view was amazing and Sam had NO fear about the height.

Sammy and Jane got along great and had a blast goofing off together. 

 My sweet, very brave boy. See the Space Needle in the background?

After our Ferris Wheel ride we walked around the aquarium for a while and enjoyed the exhibits there. 

We finished off the day with a surprisingly FAST ride on the Carousel. We actually got really dizzy!

 We had a blast and are hoping for more fun adventures with the Frandsen family this summer. :)

Sarah turns 30!

 This weekend we celebrated my BFF turning 30 by Riding the Ducks in Seattle while dressed in our best 80's attire. We were so lucky that the weather was perfect, and everyone had a great time!

 My bench mate Kaydee and I enjoying the view.

 Bella and Lily on the water.

Gassworks park in the sunshine. It's been raining since...

Birthday Girl and Mullet Man.

After our lovely ride through the city, we drove down to the water to enjoy a Seafood dinner at Chinooks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH! You are the greatest friend anyone could ask for. We have been through 6 years, 3 babies, 2 states, long car trips, bowling injuries, inside jokes, late nights and party after party! Here's to many more!!!

Colton comes to visit

Colton, who served his mission with Matt, is a good friend of ours who shares the same love of animals and the outdoors as we do.

So we knew we had to take him out to Sequim to feed the animals at the game farm.

We took a ferry out over the Sound.
A seagull doing the Titanic pose......and Colton, doing the Titanic pose.
The Olympic Game Farm is a seriously fun experience. But let me tell you a few things before you make the trek.

First, check the Hood Canal Bridge schedule. We were stuck in traffic for a good hour. Good thing we were parked next to blackberry bushes. Yum.

Second, bring WHEAT bread loaves with you to feed to the animals. They never turn down a slice of bread.

Now, be prepared to see some really cute animals. I was about to walk out of there with a new Raccoon friend. How cute are they!?If you are into photography, bring a wide angle lens. Otherwise all of your images will look something like this:Be aware that the Bison are HUGE. I mean, seriously large animals. We are in an SUV and he was still towering over us.
The other thing to know about Bison is that they have very intrusive tongues. It also doesn't help that they are 2 feet long and super smelly.All of the animals love bread. Even the Kodiak Bears. They will actually do tricks on command like wave and snarl.

Beware of the "Special Elk". She leaves flys and slobber behind on your car interior.If you are anything like my husband and hate to get dirty, or if you are extremely allergic to cervidae saliva, bring rubber gloves. None of the animals are schooled in manners. Know this. If you are out of bread, do not stop or slow down. The Yak will start chewing on your car if you don't feed them. I warned you.If you are looking for nicer, less pushy animal, try the Fallow Deer. They are a little more timid that the other game. But the male deer will push away all the babies and females if he's hungry.Don't expect much excitement out of your 2 year old if you have them drugged up on Tylenol. Sam was fighting a cold, so we gave him a dose and watched him zone out. Oh well.Have fun! We sure did!

The Evergreen State Fair

We love fairs. And this year was especially exciting because Sam's age made him old enough to ride rides and enjoy the animals.

Sam's best friend Eli met us and the boys loved the rides.

Then we walked through the animal exhibits and admired the livestock.
These boys are inseparable.


Sam loved getting to touch the momma pig. She was due to have babies any minute!

These "pinks" were 10 days old :)

Sam chose the rabbit on the carousel.

Then, as we were heading out of the fairgrounds, we noticed the pony rides and Sam was happy to try it out. Ironically, he was given the pony named "Bullseye" so he was thrilled to ride the "Ho-sey".

Just sit right back...

...and you'll hear a tale.

On Friday we were invited to join my parents on a boat ride through Lake Washington. Carl, a friend of my Dads, just bought a new boat and wanted to show it off and let us have some fun.

Sam woke up that morning talking about boats and water and fish so we knew this would be an exciting adventure for him.

What we didn't know was that the excitement would only last about 30 minutes in to our 4 hour trip. After a while he grew extremely tired of the life vest he was required to wear and got bored with all the sights. Good thing Carl's boat had cable!

 Sam would occasionally come up to see what we adults were up to.
The best part of the ride was checking out all of the amazing houses on the water.

 Thank you Carl for the fun boat ride!