Memorial Day Weekend

 Jay and Kelley came to visit, so we packed all sorts of fun activities into Memorial Day Weekend! They arrived Thursday mid-afternoon and started off with a trip to meet the kids at the bus stop! Haleigh has gymnastics on Thursdays, so we decided that she could still go to her class this week. Jay, Kelley, and I went early to pick her up so they could watch her do some of her tricks!

Friday we had the girls stay home from school and headed out to Stanley Park. Because the weather wasn't very nice, instead of hiking around the park like we originally planned, we went to the Vancouver Aquarium. 

From the aquarium, we drove around Stanley Park and hopped out of the car for a wet walk along the seawall. 

We found this big outdoor pool that the girls would like to come back to!

Unfortunately, we were ready to head home from Vancouver at the same time as everyone else! The traffic was unbelievable, and it took us much longer than we would have liked to get out of the city. Thankfully, we only had to wait a few minutes at the border!

Saturday we had a leisurely morning and then went bowling after lunch. 

Saturday evening Mom, Dad, Kim, and Malachi came over for dinner. (Ben and Kelsey were at Lake Chelan for the weekend and Thane and Elias were in Vancouver at a soccer game.) No pictures, but we enjoyed tri-tip and a nice evening together. 

Our original plan for Sunday had been to go hike Horseshoe Bend Trail, up the Mount Baker Highway. Annaliese hiked it when she was at Outdoor Ed camp and we thought it would be a good one to do with Jay and Kelley here. However, we realized that Ski-to-Sea was happening on Sunday and that it would be best to avoid driving up there! Instead, we went to church, played Phase 10, and went for a walk in the neighborhood.

Longest game of Phase 10 ever! (Haleigh didn't want to play...it's too long of a game and she knew she'd get bored before it was over!)

Monday was Memorial Day and the first day the sun decided to come out! After Kyle completed the Murph at CrossFit, we packed up some lunch/snacks and headed to Maple Falls. We hiked the Maple Creek Trail Loop, a nice 3.5-mile trail that meandered its way through the trails and ended along the falls. We've never hiked in this area before, and it was beautiful! There were so many different shades of green, between the ferns, the trees, and all the moss growing on everything. 

We wrapped up Monday with dinner at El Ranchito before trying to get everyone to bed at a reasonable time for school the next morning!

Jay and Kelley left mid-morning on Tuesday, so they were able to accompany us to the bus stop on Tuesday morning. It was a bit wet!

It was a full weekend, and we wouldn't have had it any other way!

The Beginning of May

One of my goals has been to post more frequently so that each post doesn't get quite so long. Sometimes that works, and sometimes I don't feel like I have enough pictures to share. And yet I really like to look back and see what 'normal life' looks like. 

The past two weeks have been very full of all the normal activities. The month started with Annaliese going away with the sixth-grade class for Outdoor Ed Camp. They go to the Mt. Baker Bibleway Camp, which is a beautiful camp near Mt. Baker. Annaliese has been looking forward to this all year, and it did not disappoint. I went up the first day to help serve lunch and everyone was busy running around and getting their cabins set up! She took an archery class, participated in a fun team-building session, and came back tired and happy. Definitely a successful trip!

Meanwhile, back in the elementary school, they were celebrating Creative Arts Week. I put pictures in the last blog post I wrote, but I came across a few more that someone from school had taken. 

On Saturday, May 4, we headed to Arlington High School for Hanmadang, a Taekwondo Tournament that Lydia participated in. We didn't really know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun! She did her Poomse, Sparring, and Board Breaking. Each 'event' was judged and they were given a score right away. Lydia came away with two 'Outstanding' and one 'Excellent' score! We also watch a board-breaking demonstration by the advanced students. Lydia's teacher, Mr. Schmidt, did an amazing routine as well. We left very impressed by what they were doing!

Sparring

Board Breaking

Poomse

As we were leaving, we saw these t-shirts that had everyone's name on it! Obviously, it's hard to read, so I circled Lydia's name.

Haleigh's gymnastic class had their Showcase this week as well. We actually thought it was last week, so Grandpa and Grandma came and watched her class then, and I went again yesterday and watched the whole thing. They've been working hard on a floor routine, and then showed off a lot of the other skills they've been working on. 

We also fit in a fun Mother's Day celebration last weekend. Saturday afternoon, after all the soccer games were finished, everyone met out at Birch Bay. We had a great spot right by the playground and spent the afternoon playing. It was a gorgeous day, just enough of a breeze to try and fly a kite (unsuccessfully...but other people had no problems!) and plenty of sunshine! 

Lydia made me these flowers (and took this picture)

Which teepee will be the best for getting the fire started?

And there are always the random pictures that I come across...

Trying to get a picture of the new color on her braces!

And finally, we stayed up late to check out the Aurora Borealis...it was incredible! We headed out about 10pm (we left the girls home sound asleep!) but most of these were taken closer to 11pm. We found a dark road just northeast of our house...actually, the first place we pulled over was too busy. We hopped back in the car to find a less-travelled road and it was perfect.

Above our house when we returned from our adventure

Sounds like a busy first half of the month! We also fit in a band concert, soccer, and a few meetings that Kyle and I have had to attend. Good thing summer is just around the corner!

The first band concert where we've actually been able to see Annaliese!! (She's just to the left of the microphone)