Sunday, July 31, 2016

An Early Anniversary Getaway

Our anniversary isn't for a few weeks yet, but since Baby Girl #3 is also due in a few weeks, we decided it would be best to get away sooner rather than later to celebrate our anniversary! Plus, this weekend worked for Annaliese and Haleigh to spend the night at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Friday morning Kyle and I headed out to Anacortes. We ate lunch at this delicious (and super busy) deli, Gere-a-deli, and then drove up to Cap Sante Park/View Point where we had a gorgeous view overlooking the marina and bay. 
That's Mt. Baker in the background
36 weeks
From here we went and checked into our hotel, the Sunrise Inn. Naturally, we did what any couple does when they get away from their kids...take a 2-hour uninterrupted nap! (And let's be honest, Kyle had to wake me up after 2 hours so we could go get dinner!) It was wonderful:)

We found a delicious restaurant that happened to be right next to where we had eaten lunch called Adrift. We both enjoyed our dinner and then headed up to Mount Erie to catch the sunset. We were told that it had beautiful 360* views and, while the view was pretty, there were way too many trees to see in all directions from one place! 




Saturday morning we had planned on renting a kayak and getting out in the bay for a bit, but none of the places were available to rent kayaks before noon and Kyle admitted he was a bit nervous to take a pregnant lady kayaking! So instead we headed to Little Cranberry Lake and went for an easy hike. We needed something fairly easy since Kyle's body is still sore, my pregnant self isn't tolerating much exercise these days, and I forgot to pack any shoes other than flip-flops! It actually turned out to be a bit hillier than we had thought, but the lake was so quiet and peaceful that it was well worth it! 





It's hard to see, but a crawfish caught the fish and was bringing it somewhere!
We took our time getting home, stopping to run a few kid-free errands. It's amazing how easy it is to get in and out of the car when you aren't dealing with car seats!  

From what it sounds like, while Kyle and I were off having a good time together, Annaliese and Haleigh were loving their time with Grandpa and Grandma! After all, they went out for ice cream, had water fights, went on bike rides and ate donuts together! They were definitely all worn out when they came home:) 








Monday, July 18, 2016

A weekend in Seattle

This past Friday, Kyle had an HR conference in Seattle. Since I didn't have to work, we all decided to go down Thursday evening and spend some time with Ben, Kelsey, and Mallory. 

Thursday afternoon we hung out a bit and then had dinner and an early-to-bed sort of a night. Unfortunately, Haleigh didn't sleep well which means Kyle and I also did not get a good night of sleep. Friday morning Kyle headed downtown for his conference, Ben headed off to work and Kelsey and I tried to decide what to do with our day! 

Kelsey was babysitting her friend's little guy, Josiah, on Friday morning so once he arrived, we got all the kids ready and headed to a local park. Tori picked Josiah up from the park and shortly after that, Kelsey and I packed up the girls and we walked over to the grocery store for a few items and then back to Kels' apartment. After lunch, Mallory, Haleigh and I took naps and Kelsey and Annaliese colored pictures, baked brownies and colored some more!
Mallory and Annaliese






The rest of our time was spent hanging around the apartment complex, either at the little playground, in the pool or drawing with chalk. Haleigh absolutely loved their cat, Juice, and couldn't get enough of him!
Enjoying the hot tub! 

Doing a little sunbathing while I swam a few laps
Haleigh didn't want to get in much farther than the top step!

Annaliese was pretty content to just float in one of these floatie things...



Haleigh and Juice






Saturday morning Kyle met with the lady who is helping him design his book. That meant we had more time to play, color, and then take a peek at what the book is going to look like!





Thanks Kelsey and Ben for letting us crash at your place! Annaliese keeps asking when we get to go to Mallory's house again:)

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Fourth of July Fun

We had a busy, fun-filled Fourth of July weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we went to Kim and Thane's house for a BBQ. I don't think I have any pictures though.  

After church on Sunday, we met up with Grandpa and Grandma, Auntie Kelsey, Mallory, Uncle Thane, Auntie Kim, Elias and Malachi at Sehome Arboretum for a short hike. It was a nice walk that ends at an observation tower, but unfortunately, it was too overcast to get much of a view. Again, no pictures:(

Sunday evening, we watched some friend's kids so they could go out on a date. Annaliese loves playing with their two oldest (LJ and Keziah,) Faith is Haleigh's age and they play together pretty well and Eden is 4 months old. They mostly just played outside although Haleigh was pretty fascinated with Eden and liked holding her and making sure she had enough toys to play with!

On Monday, we decided to go pick some blueberries; we let my parents know where we were going so they met us there, along with Kelsey, Ben, and Mallory. The kids just played amongst the blueberries and Kyle and I managed to pick 34 pounds of berries!


That's Annaliese way at the end of the row, then Ben in the red jacket and Mom picking berries!

Haleigh had her own bucket as well; after walking around with it for 15 minutes, she had exactly one blueberry!
Yum!!!
Monday evening we headed over to the Potter's house with the rest of our small group. It's been hard to coordinate schedules during the summer  so we combined a Fourth of July party with a short Bible Study! 




Faith
Mandi and Eden
Kyle doing one of the 'popper' fireworks

An attempt at the kids...none of them would look because it was too sunny!
(Back: Conner, Annaliese, Keziah. Front: Eden, LJ, Faith, Haleigh, Ryan)


Having a nerf-gun war



Jen teaching Annaliese how to shoot it!
Sparklers!

We had quite a few fireworks to set off...I only got a few pictures because most of them were too noisy for the girls and they sat in my lap for the whole night! Annaliese kept asking when we could be done with fireworks, but she still said she had fun at the end of the night!