Grandpa and Grandma come for a visit

 Last week was the end of the third quarter at school which meant the girls had no school on Friday. The long weekend was the perfect opportunity for Grandpa Jay and Grandma Kelley to come for a visit. 

They left rainy California and came to sunny Washington (I'll never be able to say that again!) and we made good use of our time together. They were here before the girls got home from school on Thursday and we spent Thursday afternoon just hanging out, mostly playing games. Haleigh has eagerly been awaiting their arrival so she could open her last few birthday presents too!

Friday was chilly in the morning, but the afternoon was supposed to warm up to 60* and sunny so we spent the morning playing more cards and then ate an early lunch and headed to Surrey, BC to play mini-golf. I'm not sure I would go back to this particular place, but we all had fun and none of us have professional golfing in our future. 

Saturday was another nice day, so we decided to go for a hike. We wanted to avoid the Chuckanuts because there was a big race happening, so we ended up going to Little Mountain Park in Mt. Vernon. It was a very windy trail with poor signage, but it was pretty and we all enjoyed it.

This was what one section looked like on my Strava tracking! 

It was pretty steep in parts.

We made sure to be home in time to shower and get ready for our dinner reservations at Infusion Cuisine. Annaliese has been eagerly anticipating their Penne Pistachio Pasta since the last time we went (6 months ago!) We were all excited to see that the restaurant has expanded since we were last there and is now over twice as big...and the food is just as delicious as ever.

The rest of our time was filled with more card games, stories, playing basketball, and some baking! The time always goes by so quickly and we always love it when Grandpa and Grandma come to visit.

We played lots of cards! Nertz, Up and Down the River, Kings in the Corner, Spoons...

Baking Cupcakes

Spoons

Haleigh is 9!

 We celebrated Haleigh's ninth birthday last week! She's been looking forward to it for quite some time, so I was hoping that everything would live up to her expectations! 

Her actual birthday was on Tuesday, which is a bit of a rough day to celebrate, but we had a fun breakfast and she picked tacos for her birthday dinner. Auntie Kim, Elias, and Malachi stopped by to say Happy Birthday and deliver a birthday present, so that was fun! 

New lego set from Uncle Jon and Auntie Sarah

New basketball!

Giant deck of playing cards...perfect for card tricks!

On Saturday we continued the celebration with a birthday party with all the girls from her class at school. When we were planning her party, she simply wanted to have her friends over to play. So we invited them all over and they played...they played Nertz, outside, legos, and the piano. It is always so fun to watch the kids all interacting together and since all of the girls speak Spanish, their conversation was a fun mix of English and Spanish!

Starting on the left and going around the table: Sawyer, Haleigh, Victoria, Savannah, Valentina, Mikayla, Mallory, Noelle, Macy, Sophia, and Taylor

Giant game of Nertz...there was the possibility of having 44 Aces out there!!

Within the past few months, Haleigh has really started to like reading and has been working hard at school. She's developed an interest in playing basketball, is very creative, and can play by herself for a long time! 

She continues to take piano lessons and is currently taking an Acro gymnastics/dance class. She likes singing and dancing, doing handstands in the living room, and learning card tricks. 

Favorite food: Tacos or cheeseburgers

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Book Series: The Tuttle Twins (Los Gemelos Tuttle)

Favorite Thing to Do: Play outside with friends

Haleigh said she had a great birthday and loved all her presents. She's excited that the birthday celebrations will continue when Grandpa Jay and Grandma Kelley come later this week and then she'll get to go birthday shopping with Grandma Tara when she gets home from Arizona at the end of the month!