Opening Day and Mother's Day

Saturday was beautiful and we got the boat out on Lake Washington just in time for the Opening Day boat parade through Montlake Cut. This fire boat was a favorite of the kids. We also got to see the Husky Marching Band - on the bow of three different boats with the conductor positioned on the back of a preceding boat. Very cool! And it was fun to spend the day on the water with Chris.

 Reed has been on the boat long enough to have figured out how to take a nap while holding onto the railing. Too cute.

We finished it off by spending the late afternoon and dinner at the Civic Club and met with up with a whole lot of our LFP friends!

 Sunday was Mother's Day. We traveled down to Seattle Center to watch the Cat in the Hat. It was a hilarious show filled with physical comedy and vibrant props and costumes. The kids loved it.

 

 Then we went up to my mom's house for a family celebration: birthdays, anniversaries, new babies. It was great seeing everyone! Charlotte got an early birthday from her aunts and uncles. She has already read in one day now, most of the giant collection of Dick and Jane books from Auntie Kirstie and Uncle Peter. She is so proud of her reading (me too)!

The Care Bear from Auntie Karen with matching story book was a big hit.

MAY - Reunited and it Feels So Good

We got back into the swing of things on Monday with a return to school. Reed was very happy to reconnect with Mia.

 

Charlotte's class went on a fun field trip to the Seattle Aquarium. Joy chaperoned this fun group: Mason, Charlotte, Keely & Cade.

Edison earned gold medal for reading for the amount of time he spent reading during the Read-A-Thon!

At the cabin that weekend, we were able to borrow Kim and Dave's raft and we went out on the Wenatchee for the first time in a couple years. The kids aren't quite ready to raft this early in the season with the cooler air temperatures and bigger water. But we will get them out later for some easy floats.

Mike and Zach joined us out there and Matt rode his motorcycle over just to watch the kids for the day. What a guy! We also met up with our longtime friend, Brett, who joined us in his kayak.

The scenery was breathtaking.

We even got a surprise visit from Jay, Sara, and baby Josie at the take out! Josie is only few weeks old and was so precious!

 

Our valley is beautiful this time of year, especially at twilight.

That night Eric and Joseph came out to the cabin, too. These boys just have way too much fun together!

  
It was a lovely weekend at home on Sunday afternoon. Charlotte has discovered her new favorite happy place - up in this tree. She is the only kid who can climb that far up, so it is a nice spot to get some peace and quiet from her brothers.

We finished off the perfect weekend with dinner with Megan and Chris and their boys. It was just a lovely time all around and the kids had a blast!

 

San Diego - 5: Balboa Park, Legoland Part 2, Flying Home

We took another day of "theme park recovery" following SeaWorld. We went for a lovely morning walk out to Crystal Pier. It was fun to watch the surfers do their thing.

Then we packed a picnic lunch and headed over to Balboa Park in downtown San Diego. There are amazing gardens and buildings that now house museums dating from the 1915 Panama-California Exposition that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and increase trade opportunities for California. Each kid identified their favorite rose in the rose garden. It was a beautiful, relaxing day.

We headed back on Friday for day two of Legoland. Probably shouldn't have left it for a Friday because there were definitely more people in the park. But we still found plenty of fun and the kids felt like they got to do all the rides they wanted.

We even had time for a round of mini golf in the afternoon. Both Charlotte and Edison hit hole-in-one shots and have now declared this game a new favorite.

 

Saturday afternoon we headed home. The kids were pretty easy on the flight (probably because each person had a touch screen built into the seat in front of them) and it was a great way to cap off our trip.

San Diego - 4: Sea World & Boogie Boarding

We took the kids to Sea World on Wednesday. They connected with the animals and liked the rides. My favorite part remains the dolphin show, though it wasn't as showy as in years past as the park moves to a more educational format. Sadly, there were no water acrobatics. But seeing the dolphins, orcas and whales jump and play is quite impressive regardless.

 Edison was so brave about touching the bat rays and also the cleaner fish.

 Charlotte's favorite part was being tall enough to ride the Manta roller coaster. She went five times!

 This river ride was closed last year, so I was really excited to try it out this year. Totally fun with the kids on a hot day.

 

There is a cool gondola ride over Mission Bay as part of SeaWorld. We had amazing views.

 On Thursday we hit the beach. Edison and Charlotte tried boogie boarding with great success. Charlotte's light weight and super kick led to nice rides for her until she got too cold and came in. Edison spent a lot of time practicing and figuring out how to catch the waves. He and Eben had a lot of fun in the water together.

Sadly, my camera battery died at this point and we have no more pictures of our second visit to Legoland and our final sunset at La Jolla. But, we always have the memories!