Happy 40th Jeff!

Jeff had the honor of first one in our family to celebrate a birthday in Seattle.  We had takeout for dinner and cupcakes for dessert.  Then later in the weekend we took a family trip to the Museum of Flight.  A low key way to celebrate a big milestone but that's Jeff's style.

Chocolate mustache!

Lots of airplanes!

They even get to sit in a few of them

rainbow loom

Why can't I be the one to invent something so simple (and lucrative).  Tiny elastics turned into bracelets, brilliant.  This little tool keeps my girls happily occupied for hours...hours!  Anyone with kids knows something that keeps them occupied for hours is worth its weight in gold.  This is why we currently own two rainbow loom kits.  The first one was packed up by the packers at the old house before I had a chance to put it aside for Jillian's carryon bag (this is what she planned to do on the 5 hour flight to Seattle).  Which led me to go straight to the store to buy a second rainbow loom.  I knew with the 2 girls we would easily be able to make use of them both and sure enough they are often both in use at the same time.

Things I love about this toy?

* Jillian has been so patient and kind to Leah while explaining how to use the tool and has helped her when something doesn't work out properly
* Jillian is getting creative and learning new bracelet designs...she just goes on youtube to watch the video and follows the instructions
* did I mention the hours of quiet play?

Leah can even do it all by herself now.

Normally I'm not a fan of the latest kid fad (remember silly bandz?  Kept finding those all over the house for months).  But this fad is definitely my favorite so far!

taking Nana out on the town

Having my Mom here was great because she helped get a lot of the unpacking done.  We made quite a dent in the boxes (and by we I mean she, but I figure it looks better if I at least pretend I did some of the work).  But it wasnt all work, we also took in some sights.  We went downtown for the day to enjoy some fun Seattle stuff.  And we checked a few things off my personal "want to do" list including a ride on the giant wheel and dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (yum!).

mountains

While Mom was visiting we took a trip through the mountains.  First stop was dropping Kyle off at a retreat with the youth group from our church for one night.  He had tons of fun there since the cabin has its own zipline.  Then we continued on to visit Leavenworth, a very cute Bavarian style village.  The views are spectacular and it's nice to walk around the streets and shops.

Lake Wenatchee

On our way back home we went through Steven's Pass and the girls really wanted to play in the snow so we made a stop for them to throw snow around for a few minutes.

I have to say I am enjoying the milder weather here on the west coast.  We knew moving to Seattle meant giving up building snowmen and forts out front of our house (along with giving up winter boots, snow pants and full snow gear for going to school each morning - not a bad trade off!).  But it's nice to know snow/skiing/snow tubing are all within an hour drive for us to enjoy (but none of the snow shovelling!).

beach

One of the biggest differences for us living here in Seattle is being so close to the ocean.  The beach is different than what we are used to at home (at least this particular beach that is only 10 minutes from our house).  It's rocky but that makes it easy for Kyle to find skipping stones and the girls love to hunt for seashells.  I love the view of the mountains in the background, on a clear day it's a stunning view.

While my Mom was here we took a few trips to the beach because it reminded her of being home in Ireland.  My Mom has always loved the ocean so it was nice to be able to walk along and smell the salt air while on the west coast.