Post Seattle Trip – Post 2

I love my husband. I love my kids. Saturday, spent without them, was fun and being with my sister was priceless! But there is something to being together as a family, it just can’t be topped.

Sunday morning, we took our time waking up. The boys slept until 9am, which is unheard of! I think it is safe to say we were all a bit worn out from the previous day’s outings.

Justin, Dan and the tots went to the Science Center in Seattle while Tiff and I were at Pike Place . . . so they were equally worn out, if not more so.

The reason behind selecting Edmonds, WA to stay in was due to our history with the scuba diving park there. Many a weekend spent getting to this place and diving . . . moreso when Justin’s mom lived in the area, pre-kids. 🙂

So Justin had packed his scuba gear and took that absolutely gorgeous morning to dive under water. The boys and I hung out and enjoyed the park and grabbed coffee and ice cream.

But, mostly we played and played . . . warm and sunny, it was the perfect morning.

Deep conversations of brothers . . . probably including some kind of smelly bodily function or cars.

Good times to be had.

Scuba-Justin . . . doesn’t have the same ring as Scuba-Steve. 🙂

After Justin was all done . . . we headed downtown again, to Pike Place. We wanted Pike Place Chowder . . . best chowder ever. And we wanted to just walk around a bit.

We didn’t hang out at this vendor too long. Beautiful glass blown art work . . . a whole table full of broken accidents waiting to happen by the hands of little boys. 🙂

Not as worried about the dead seafood. Tob was fascinated by the sheer amount and types of seafood . . . and it was at eye and hand level. Bonus.

But Pike Place, as much as Justin and I love it . . . the boys don’t so much. So we didn’t last long before the whining ensued.

The solutions: balloons and sugar

Balloon Man, (photo above) asked the Tobias what he wanted and he, not skipping a beat, asked for a robot. Balloon Man said that was an unusual request and said he’d do his best. It was super cute.

Then Balloon Man asked Samuel what he wanted. “A guy,” was Sam’s answer. Balloon Man asked, “a gun?”. “No, a GUY,” Sam said it loud and clear.  Balloon Man looked to me for guidance. I laughed and repeated Sam . . . “pretty sure he wants a guy, like a man.”

Balloon Man chuckled and then made a guy for Sam . . . he had a balloon with an alien face on it that he put as the guy’s head. hehe . . . a guy.

Biggest cookies EVER. And yummy!

After this indulgence . . . we headed home.

Um, Sam and his guy. Really, no other words come to mind.

Almost home. Coming over the river-border of Oregon and Washington. A bit over an hour left to drive. Gotta love sunsets . . . especially photos of sunsets whilst driving down the freeway. 🙂

Last Weekend

It took me forever to get to uploading the photos from Great Wolf Lodge. One main reason being that I didn’t take my camera to where the fun really goes on; at the water-park itself. Not until we were packed and ready to go home did the camera make an appearance in the water park. I couldn’t risk loosing it. And no one seemed to want to sit out and watch my stuff. Huh, that’s weird. Oh, and the fee for a locker on the water park level was 20 dollars a day. 20 bucks!

That was the only downside to our time there though, for reals! The room was impeccable and was nice. It was a suite, two bedroom, two bath . . . so we could split it with our friends that joined us. It was a perfect setup.

Food was not too outrageous . . . on a scale from 1-10 (1 being Wendy’s .99 cent menu – 10 being movie theater menu) it was about a 6 or 7.  BUT, I should’ve snapped a photo of the Starbucks that was just downstairs . . . that got a lot of traffic from us . . . um, I mean, me.

We didn’t eat out a whole lot anyway . . .
And this is why:

Our amazing friends, Troy and Miranda, brought everything and made everything! Beyond anything we expected of them and they are fantastic cooks. Check that waffle out!

We did indulge and headed down to breakfast the first morning . . . and we waited 20 minutes to be seated. But that just gave us time to enjoy the beautiful lodge and visit.

Those are good friends of ours, Troy and Miranda and their gorgeous girl Claire . . . who had just woken up before these photos were taken. We had all only been up, no more than an hour. Gotta love early morning photos.

One of the main reasons we took this loverly vacation, was Tobias’ 6th birthday. It is probably the last year I’ll be able to get away with not having some sort of party . . . he was asking, quite a bit, to bring friends and have a party. Ah well, all good things must come to an end. Hint: I don’t care for birthday parties. I know, I’m such a stick in the mud.

Just he and I went down to Starbucks. We woke up first, so that’s how it happened. Frapuccino for breakfast . . . mmm mmm good. 🙂 The caffeine-less kind for him, sugar is bad enough. That day we also visited the Croc store, there in the resort, and made our own crocs . . . as in we picked the colors and doodads for them and the clerks put them together. Good times.

My boys in the water park.  Unfortunately this is all I got. Next time, a water proof camera will be had! The wave pool is to our left, a set of regular water slides to the right and straight, beyond the pillars is a regular pool and the inner tube slides. Behind us is all the eateries and lounging areas. Just in case you wanted a layout.

We’re about spent here. Two nights, three full days at a water park will do that to ya. We’re packed and, mostly ready to go . . . except for half-naked Tob. This is on the balcony overlooking the water park below.

ps, plan to go when Washington state’s spring break is NOT happening. Apparently it is later than Oregon’s spring break.

This is the first overnight vacation we’ve had . . . not counting family member’s houses, since Tob was born six years ago. I think we were about due. 🙂

Next outing . . . camping on the 4th of July. Anyone want to join us? 🙂

Blessings on your day!

101

Degrees . . . 101 degrees is what our digital thermometer read in our truck when we loaded up at 3pm yesterday.  We headed west.  Over the Coastal range for an hour, to Lincoln City.  We smiled with joy as, throughout that hour, we watched the temp go down and down and down.  When we parked at our favorite spot in Lincoln City, right on the beach, it read 62 degrees.  In an hour we had gone from scorching to needing a sweatshirt!

We didn’t expect overcast but we were fine with it . . . especially after Justin painted the exterior of house all morning and I had resided outdoors at the water park and in the yard with the kid pool filled . . . we were plain tired of being hot, really really hot.

We brought fire wood, hot dogs, smores ingredients and lots of extra clothes.  🙂  We had an incredible time.  Relaxing, running, frisbee throwing, tide-pool watching and eating good stuff kind of fun.

Samuel, throwing the frisbee to me.  🙂

Proud of himself for chasing the lazy Seagulls away . . . endless source of entertainment, those Seagulls.

Dad and Tob, returning from the nearby tide pools.  Sam is heading back out into the freezing water.  Brrr!  I used to like playing in the ocean here too, but now I’m so intolerant to the cold.  I think the ocean temp here hovers around 50 degrees.  Thats cold.

The boys, enjoying the water.  Tobias kept talking about how he was playing in the river.  That is one big – butt river . . . salty too. 🙂

A better water-extravaganza photo.  I got drenched with this one. 🙂

Then there’s Byron.  To lure Byron, who is not that big of a fan of water, out into the freezing-ness, was with an ocean sized stick.  Which, of course, Byron was convinced he could take on and kill.

He didn’t last long though . . . look at his face.

After playing in the water, there was just one thing to be done . . . fire and warmth.  Dry clothes. 🙂

It was well past 7pm here . . . din din time.  Loverly hot dogs hit the spot.  Don’t you like Justin’s fire pit.  It is quite the ritual to get that all set up the way he wants.  Plus last year we made a quick fire pit and a river rock was left in the pit . . . it exploded and burned holes in Justin’s shorts.  To say the least, we are paranoid about the rocks being cleared from inside the fire pit. Who knew rocks exploded?  Probably everybody but us. Hahaha 🙂

Two of my favorite boys!

Oh smores, how I love thee . . . The boys had never had them before and weren’t quite sure how to begin eating them.

It was pretty nice at the beach on Thursday . . . here the fog had rolled in and the sun was pretty much set.  I love the spontaneous trips . . . can’t pull them off a whole lot anymore, with kids, responsibilities and such, but that makes them even more fun when we do pull away!

Photos

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Random photos of our time up at my parent’s this past weekend.  Relaxing and so enjoyable . . . the usual. 🙂 Blessed with amazing family!!

Its Me Birthday!

I turned a whole year older today.  Now a whole 21 years old.  🙂

Nope, try 12 years ago I turned the popular 21.

Justin, my lovely and dedicated hubby is job searching, now school is over, and had to test in Walla Walla, WA at a fire department there.  My parents live a whole half hour away from Walla Walla, in the great city of Pasco.  So he is currently up there, chillin’ with my really cool parents. Actually they are pretty cool, all sarcasm aside.

But that meant he had to take off the morning of my birthday, today.  Sad.  Happy, if he gets the job!  It’d be a good one.  Such a slight chance, since there are many qualified firemen testing, but God knows right where we’re suppose to be and if its Walla Walla (I’d laugh out loud) that would be fine with me.  Who named Walla Walla and why?  I must research these things . . . especially if I were to call it home.  🙂

I had a good birthday anyway.

I got to go hiking at Silver Falls State Park, up the road (40 min drive) from me . . . my good friend, Kacy, called me up Saturday and asked if I wanted to go and I was elated!

I had my two and she had her three kids.  All under the age of 6 (correct me, Kac, if I’m wrong on the ages bit).  What a brood!  And they loved, almost as much as me.

Off we go . . . the rain held off until we were loading up to go home . . . and it was tolerably warm and quite nice, regarding the weather.

There are multiple falls and a great hiking trail . . . but the kids wouldn’t of lasted 7 miles plus, so we just did the loop while we checked out, walked behind and just took photos of the one known as the South Falls.

Thats the falls, the trail walks you behind it.  Quite a beautiful place to visit!

South Falls, Silver Falls State Park.  On me birthday! 🙂

Um, its also Memorial Day.  There were a lot of people there.  All the kids are in front of me here, generally staying together, AMAZING.

Our kids only randomly hugged, ran into or just plain plowed into half the people there.  Not bad, for an entire afternoon at a busy park.  🙂

Stunningly beautiful day!  Grateful for a wonderful wonderful birthday spent with a dear friend!  Reminders of God’s goodness!

The fog coming in near the end of our trip.  Thats the top of the South Falls.

Here’s to nearing my MID-30’s.  ugh.  And to the adventurous year ahead!

Weekend Going-Ons

We haven’t seen much of Justin this summer. The fire suppression program runs through summer and he maintains his shift life, etc. Plus he’s been working on side jobs, to top it off.

But he was home this weekend.

Yesterday, which was Saturday, we headed out for the fire house cook-off. There were several different fire houses having a competition regarding their traeger bbq and the tastiness thereof. We enjoyed visiting and letting the kiddos run rampant at Wooden Shoes Tulip Farm. They had a nice park area designated for events such as this . . . flowers galore and I left my camera behind. Retard am I.

Oh yeah, and we ate our weight in bbq . . . traeger style.

We also made it to the ‘Movie in the Park’ put on my the city of Salem. They were playing the Bee Movie. (hint: I remembered my camera)

They have an amphitheater built into a grassy knoll near the playground and we soon found a camp out spot. Tobias couldn’t wait for the movie to start for snack time.

Thats my son, Sam’s, giant noggin. Poor boy, inherited the Matthews large noggin gene. But, also in the pic, is the large inflatable screen (nearly the size of the noggin) we are to view the flick of choice. At this point we were watching vintage drive in movie commercials.

Dad brought the boy’s chairs from home, which they thought was the best thing ever . . . well, since boxed crackers and juice anyway . . . and hung out on them pretty regularly throughout.

He’s mine, I claim him but I wonder what he’s thinking sometimes. 🙂

God Bless and I hope you had a good weekend!

Haircut

Ok, I went drastic.  Very very drastic.  Drastically different than I have in 10 years, plus.  I love my locks.  I grew to love my locks as I came into my early 20’s and realized how nice natural curl was and what hair mousse could do for such as me.

But somewhere along the line . . . after marriage, kids, and having the, generally, the same do as . . . give or take a couple of inches . . . i cut it . . . off.

this is my hair yesterday, prior to 4pm.

Wannabe pic. This is the pic I showed my neighbor/friend and long-time hairdresser, Anne

Now, keep in mind . . . this is the haircut I got.  And, when the money is a little looser than today, I will be purchasing hair wax (which is necessary to create the above look) . . . I will also be adding color, fun stuff!

Ok, please be nice.  I am still getting used to the new do . . . and, at times, I cry for my lost locks.  But, overall, I think I like it. It definitely dries quicker!! Blow dryers have never been a close friend of mine and my hair takes hours to dry naturally.  Its thick and coarse . . . it was dry within an hour this morning . . . nice!!

Now, not that anyone gives a royal crap . . . but with hair wax, I’ll be able to make the hair stand on end (like the wannabe pic above) and go different directions . . . against the cowlicks. 🙂

I think I repeated myself.  Sign that its time to log off. 🙂

Please tell me the hair-do does not make my face look huge . . . thats my only concern at this point. 🙂

God Bless!

Surprise Surprise

May 31st, that is my birthday.  And, coincidentally, I will be 31 years old.  I just realized that . . . hmm, I imagine it means absolutely nothing, but still interesting.

Justin’s birthday is the 28th . . . just a few days before mine.  I’m two years his senior but act 5 years his junior. 🙂

My good friend, K, her birthday lands on the same day Justin’s is . . .

She came to visit me today, her and her daughter.  And then she surprised me with a outing to a local Mexican restaurant, her treat.  We loaded our three chitlins into her van headed out.  The boys . . . and girl . . . did great and the food was good . . . but the company was fabulous!! Thank you, K!!

My mom has told me before, that her favorite era in life was being in her 30’s. I’m starting to understand why.  I feel so much more settled and secure in who I am, regarding my identity in God and in life (though very tightly knit).  Also just very very happy with where I am in my relationship with Justin and how our lives are switching up for the better . . . though it be hard, at times, I know God will see us through and it will be for good; for us and our future generations!

So, thats all I got for ya . . .

Happy Birthday, also to my siblings . . . Billy (24th), Amy (28th), and Kelli (June 2) . . . yes we had many a collaborated birthday party. 🙂

God Bless!

Good Times

I’m a bit of house-hermit but this weekend some good friends of ours invited us over . . . an overnighter, folks. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was in my early 20’s and definitely before chitlins. 🙂 That doesn’t include my Momma’s house. I was a tad nervous of how the kids would do . . . Sam hadn’t traveled for an overnight trip since he was 3 or 4 months old. But, as usual, things went better than I expected . . . actually they went really really well. And, on top of that, we spent some well-needed and overdue time with some very good friends! I enjoyed myself immensely and found myself even more grateful and blessed (and humbled) to have such people as these on my short list of friends.

Then last night we went to church.  I cried (literally) for the time lost at my “home” . . . where I feel most at home . . . and I cried cuz the presence of God was so thick in the place.  The message edifying and convicting all at once. And I can’t wait to get back.  It was excellent to see all of my friends as well! If you didn’t know, my church (Life Bible), is over an hours drive right now; living in Salem while J does his school thing.  And with finances being so slim, getting down there but once every couple of months is a miracle the last 6 months or so.  But I just choose to trust God, even though I don’t completely understand why He has us in this season.

Here’s some pics, hopefully its cool with my friends if they are posted on me blog.

Mixture of families, since there was a birthday party going on for Chad and Ezra.  My hubby is on your far right. 🙂 hot!

At the table after some awesome burritos, courtesy of Sarah and Linda. Again, mixture of families and my hubby is on your far right.

Playing with our dog, Byron.  It was still relatively warm out at 8pm. My husband is on your far right . . . I’m seeing a pattern forming.

Enjoying cake and ice cream.  Ezra wanted a pink cake . . . so the frosting was, indeed, pink. Very cute! He turned 3 years old. 🙂

stinkin’ camera

I am a dunce. We, Justin, myself, Tobias and Samuel, all went to the zoo with Justin’s grandma, aunt, niece, his mom, dad and sister. I had only met his grandmother once and had never met his aunt. It was not a beautiful day but the rain did hold out until we were loading into our cars afterwards. But, despite the lack of sun, we had a fantastic time and the boys warmed right up to their extended family and all was well.

Oh yeah, I’m a dunce . . . I’m a dunce because I forgot my camera. Forgot my camera like I get together with these people every weekend and the zoo is a monthly affair . . . like I’ve got so many pictures of this type of outing, who needs more. Ugh! Yeah, I regret forgetting the camera more than I have anytime in the past. 😦

His Aunt and Grandma were taking plenty of pics . . . so I’m hoping I can solicit pics from them . . . out of the goodness of their pee-pickin’, related-to-me-now, hearts.

No, they are fabulous people and I was honored that they included us and blessed us with their limited time in the area, as well as his grandma treating everyone to the zoo.

Now, I just need pictures so I can bore the heck out of all of you with the excited-toddler-running-for-the-primate-cage-faces and look-its-an-elephant-pooping . . . wow-that-stinks-face.

The Portland zoo is a very nice park! Very very enjoyable. And, bonus, we got to hear Tobias mimic the Peacocks all the way home. 🙂

Ok, thats all . . . that was Wednesday, by the way. I guess its been a few days since I’ve written. oops

Starting yesterday, if we weren’t sleeping, we’ve been outside . . . has anyone experienced how warm it is out there today! Holy mackerel!!

God Bless! Enjoy that sunshine!!

ps, today is the T’s birthday . . . . I will post more later on that.