June-uary?

Uncle Palmer came for a visit this weekend. He helped Eben put in the new loft / rec room (pictures to follow). On Sunday we went to play at Richmond Beach on a 63 degree day in January. Crazy! We all have spring fever now - it was amazing.

Visits with Friends, Make Believe, and Cheering for the Seahawks!

Edison and Charlotte have been playing a lot of make believe lately. He dresses up like Obi Won and sports his light sabre. She dons her Elsa dress and has ice powers from her hands that help her defeat the Dark Side.

 Really good post-season football with the best family out there! Look at Jack sitting up!

 We stayed in town for the weekend and got to catch up with friends, including Maija and Eevi.

 Kim and her kids, Lily and Tavis. Charlotte had a blast playing with Lily who is only a couple months older. Usually Charlotte gets stuck playing with all the boys. But left to her own devices, she gets super girly. They played My Little Pony and of course, Elsa from Frozen.

 Another playoff weekend for NFC and AFC champs. Two-for-two! And the kids had fun coloring. Thank goodness Meg and Chris could host us - our power was out for two days due to a big wind storm.

 Rocking the Seahawks headbands - thanks Meg!

 And we even got a nice swim in with Nana before she left for the desert.

JANUARY - We Welcomed the New Year of 2015 at the Cabin

Lots of playing in the snow at the cabin and at Lake Wenatchee for the first few days of the year. The kids tried out snow shoes for the first time. Edison especially enjoys the freedom of going anywhere on the snow.

 Reed conked out and dad helped him take a nap on what is usually the beach before Reed rallied awake and got a nice sled ride.

We enjoyed watching this critter eat her nuts.

 The next day we played on the sledding run next to our house. It is a great little ride and we've discovered the Reed totally digs the thrill of downhill speed.

 Our most adventurous sledder is definitely Charlotte - she'll try anything.

Goodbye 2014

When you have little kids, this is how New Year's Eve is done: four grown ups, six kids, burritos, board games and fireworks. We were hoping to cap off the evening with the New York City ball drop at 9:00 pm our time. But the networks changed approaches this year and didn't show it live. Argh! Kids not satisfied after we'd talked it up being a big deal. We headed off the conflict with a Netflix special (on demand) of Madagascar characters doing a New Year's Eve dance. Thank goodness for that! Not pictured, but joining us later were Bill and Katie. Sadly, kids in bed too late for a good game of Spades.

Rosario Resort Getaway on Orcas Island

Because we had a couple extra days of winter vacation, and since we didn't get there in the summer, we decided to venture out to the San Juan Islands. We have boated into Rosario Resort before, but this time we arrived by car after a horrendous ferry ride (my fault - we missed the ferry by two cars and had to wait four hours until the next one). It was stormy on our way in but beautiful (though chilly) after that. This is the Moran Mansion that is the main building of the resort and houses a museum, restaurant, spa and historical organ. We stayed in a small building across the lawn.

 

This was the gorgeous view from our patio, with the mansion in the background:

 

We found a perfect suite with a room for us plus another room for the kids - who loved their giant queen sized beds. 

 

We had a picnic breakfast in our room before each of us headed out running.

 

Then it was off to the heading out to the indoor pool and spa on the ground floor of the mansion.

 After our swim, we meandered around the grounds and enjoyed the views over Cascade Bay and East Sound to the south. It is no wonder that Rosario frequently appears on "most romantic" lists for the Pacific Northwest as it has many private vistas and gardens.

 

Then we went into the quaint artsy village of East Sound for lunch before driving up Mount Constitution, the highest point in the San Juan Islands, to take in the 360 degree views from the Olympics to the Cascade, Baker to Rainier and everything in between.

 At the look out on top of Mount Constitution:

 An early moon...

 We played in the late afternoon sunshine at Cascade Lake before heading home on the ferry. Definitely on the must do again list!