Kelsey Creek Farm

Today it is supposed to hit 81 degrees in Bellevue. This is big news! When we hear something like that here in Washington we drop everything and plan an outdoor activity. This morning Ellie and decided to head over to Kelsey Creek Farm. Playing on the tractor.

Mother Goose.

Ellie was afraid of this goose. It kept on making loud noises. Ellie would run to me, grab onto my leg and say, "I scared." By the end of the trip she was screaming (trying to mimick the sound the goose was making) at the same pitch of this goose...and didn't want to leave the goose. It was pretty funny.

Ellie making friends with the piggies.

She kept on waving to the pigs saying, "Hi." I think she was disappointed that they didn't talk back to her like her friend Wilbur.

Memorial Day Picnic

On Memorial Day we went on a picnic with the Bagleys. We went to Gasworks Park in Seattle. We enjoyed some yummy food, a great view of Seattle and kite flying!
Brandon, Ellie, Quinn and Hazel.. all trying their hand at kite flying! There wasn't much wind on Monday....luckily this park was hilly so we would run down the hill to create our own wind.

The beautiful view of Seattle from the park.
Hazel and Ellie enjoying their cookies and brownies.
A little R & R after the big kite flying event!

Snoqualmie Falls

On Saturday we did a family hike to Snoqualmie Falls. Ellie loved looking at the falls. Our first view of the falls was from top. Brandon held her up so she could see. She held on so tightly to the rail when Brandon tried to put here back down we had to stay there for another 10 minutes while she finished awing in amazement at the falls. We were kind of astonished at her wonderment of the falls... but we thought it was cute and let her get her fill.
We hiked down to the falls... it was only about a half a mile or so. Ellie loved walking along the "bridges."
The base of the falls.
We were so impressed with how well Ellie did. We brought her all the way down on the stroller...which was the easy part. But on the way back she refused to ride in the stroller... she wanted to walk. It was a steep walk up but she walked a lot of the way! It was funny to watch her put so much effort into her hiking! The end.

Picnic in the Park

Today we went on a picnic with Dewi and Ellie's little friend Hazel. Ellie and I walked to Robinswood park from our house and met our friends there. The girls started off on the swings, the slides and then the teeter-totter. Then Ellie wanted to go feed the ducks so off we all went to the pond.

After feeding the ducks for a while Hazel started to get hungry so we headed back to the park for the picnic. Yummy!
We ended the trip with some kite flying! There wasn't very much wind today which made kite flying a bit of a workout.... but we had a great time. I felt like I was five years old again flying a kite. We are definetly going to pick one up over the weekend and do some more kite flying. Ellie and Hazel loved it as well... although in this picture Ellie is much more interested in the cookie in her hand than the kite in her other hand!

Curtis Visit to Seattle

My sister, Christie, and her husband, Alan, came to visit us in Seattle last week. Alan had an ortho conference for the weekend so we were so excited to have them stay with us! We had such a fun visit. I feel like I know the city so much better after showing them around.... so in all reality we discovered the city together because I didn't know too much about it before they came. But now I feel like I really know the city... and I LOVE it! There are so many cute little bakeries and cafes that we discovered that I now want to frequent. So many little shops that I want to explore within Pikes Place and so many other things I want to see. My sister had asked a couple of her friends that have lived in Seattle their favorites about the city so we explored some of those places as well. Thanks sis for helping me explore Seattle!

Spring Weather

The last two weeks have been just beautiful! It has been sunny and around 70 degrees every day! During the winter we had stored Ellie's car and climbing cube in the house for her to play with but we decided yesterday that it was time to move it outside again. It was the first thing she noticed when she woke up this morning. She wanted to go outside at 6 am to play with her outside toys. Needless to say we spent the majority of the day outside today! :)

Lunch Date with Brandon

On our way home from the zoo yesterday I decided to stop by Brandon's office to see if he was up for a lunch date. He made the time and Ellie was ecstatic! She was actually pretty confused as to why she was seeing Daddy in the middle of the day in this strange city that she rarely sees. We got some Indian take-out and enjoyed our lunch in the courtyard under the Seattle sun. It was a fun treat to spend time with Brandon in the middle of the day!

Going to the Pond

Ellie loves ducks. She loves the sounds the make, the fact that they get so close to her and that she gets to feed them! We walked to the park the other day to feed the ducks some old bread. I have never seen Ellie more excited. She was squealing with delight as those little ducks would gobble up the bread she was tossing to them in the pond.

Saturday Morning Treat

Trip to the Zoo

As an early birthday present I got Ellie a membership to the Woodland Park Zoo. She LOVES animals and always loves going to the zoo so I thought it would be a fun activity for us to do this summer. On this trip we went with Kacey and Jack. Ellie and Jack both have the "crazy" gene in them so it is a little wild with these two at the zoo... but they always have such a great time together... and this trip was no exception.

Visit with a friend from New Canaan

Last week I got together with an old friend from high school, Amy Peloquin. We hadn't been in contact for such a long time and I randomly emailed last week. Well she just happened to be coming out to Seattle the following week for a conference. I love how the timing worked out so perfectly.

We had a great time catching up and reminising about our days at NCHS. It was fun to hear where everyone is now and what people are up to back east.

Cinco de Mayo Party

Ellie and I went to Dewi and Hazel's house for a Cinco de Mayo party. Ellie LOVES going to Hazel's house for her little parties. They painted little animals... Ellie painted a monkey... really she painted herself and a little bit of a monkey. Then she took a hit at the pinata! That was fun. The kids were so little that none of them had the strength to break the pinata so the moms helped out a little. We had a great time!

The Reunion!

After five days apart... we couldn't wait to see Ellie! Christie said by the fourth day Ellie began to wonder where we had gone to. The last day when she told Ellie that they were going to the airport to see momma and dadda she shook with excitement!

Ellie pointing to her "Dadda" as he walked through the security area.

I think that she is happy to see us :)
Although Ellie was happy to see us it was said to say goodbye to her cousins whom she had become so attached to! My sister said Ellie just followed Alex, her three year old, around all week and would copy everything he did.

Saying goodbye...

Five Year Anniversary

Brandon and I went on a trip last week to celebrate our five year anniversary. Neither of us can believe that it has been five years! We had a great trip... especially since miss Ellie spent the week at my sisters in Arizona! She had a great time with her Auntie and cousins while Brandon and I enjoyed a true vacation. To sum up the vacation best all I need is just four words: beach, pool, swim, eat... and for me a little bit of reading too!

It was truly the perfect vacation! We stayed at an all-inclusive resort that had 12 restaurants to choose from every night. The caught a ride on the golf cart back to our hotel room after dinner at the Japanese restuarant. Yummy.. Brandon loved his sushi!
Outside the front entrance to the resort.
Our five year anniversary!

Our last hour in Cancun!

Arizona

Ellie and I have been in Gilbert, Arizona for a couple of days visiting my sister Christie and her family. Our first stop upon our arrival was to Cafe Rio! We ran into some old friends from Darien, CT while there.... Shalayna Fuller and Alison Bench. It was so fun to see them and to catch up!

On Saturday we were able to cheer on my little three year old nephew in his soccer game... so cute! Of course I brought the rain with me from Seattle but it only lasted about an hour and we are enjoying the beautiful Arizona weather!

Ellie is going to be staying with my sister and her family for the next five days while Brandon and I go away. To see how Ellie is doing with her Auntie while we are away check out my sisters blog.

I know that she could be in no better hands. My sister is just amazing to do this for us! Ellie is going to have a blast with her little cousins Alex and Will. I am sure that she will cry when she has to come back home!

The Projects Continue....

We have hardwood floors under our carpet and upon buying the house we knew we would eventually have the hardwoods exposed and finished. Before we moved in the previous owners put all new carpet throughout the entire house so we didn't think we would be doing the hardwoods for a little while. BUT the carpet is a light off white which just doesn't work with a little toddler around the house. Not to mention the fact that there is carpet in the eating area...you can imagine what that carpet looks like after only eight months! So the need to do the hardwood floors was moved up sooner than anticipated. We had been getting the bids etc., and realized that we would have to be out of the house for a few days while they did the work because of all of the dust and the smell, etc.

Well we are going out of town next week so just last week we decided.... ok we will get the floors done while we are gone. SO... among packing, etc. we have been pulling up the carpet, baseboards, nails and staples in order to prepare the floors to be redone! What a project it has been! We have been taking all the pictures off the walls, emptying out closets and trying to clear everything out of the rooms that we are having refinished. I feel like we are moving again or something!

Our Friday night project of ripping up the carpet.

We can only really work on this project while Ellie is asleep because it is so dangerous with the staples and nails. Luckily she has become a deep sleeper and sleeps through most of the noise!

As we do these projects it has been fascinating to learn different things about the house...and even more about the previous owner. They were cute little old couple that had lived here for more than thirty years! I loved the discovery we made upon taking up the baseboards on Friday night.

This is the original wallpaper they had in the front room! Red backdrop with gold eagles! Unbelievable!

This morning we discovered the old linoleum that was under the carpet in the kitchen.

I think we will prefer the new hardwood floors!

Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's

On Tuesday was the annual Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's. If there is one thing that most of you know about me.... is that I LOVE ice cream! So of course, we didn't miss the big day! Ellie waiting for her ice cream cone!
Enjoying her scoop of Berry Berry Extraordinary!
Jack and Ellie REALLY enjoying their ice cream!

Trip to Tulip Town

We took a trip to Tulip Town in Skagit Valley this weekend. It was so beautiful!