Category: Seattle


Other than the festivals in the other post, we had a really quiet April. The only other big thing we had was Easter. It was the first year we did Easter with Edward and he had a blast dying the eggs, looking through the baskets, and then doing an egg hunt. He was so excited to do the egg hunt that we did it three or four times.

May was huge for our family. Darrell was laid off in March from Milsoft and our family took a hit. He focused on studying and getting ready for interviews. He went through a bunch of interviews and never got a call back so we were getting a bit discouraged. Then, beginning of May, he did an interview and got an offer a couple days later. He had one more interview scheduled, so he waited to accept until after his interview. Low and behold, his last interview called him shortly after he got home from the interview. After discussion and back and forth, he went with the last one. So he began his new job at Concur Technologies in downtown Bellevue on May 8. We were excited for the new road ahead even though we were a bit nervous as he had been working from home for the last 4 years and now he is going back to having a commute. It took Edward awhile to adjust to not seeing Daddy all day whenever he wanted.

So, once Darrell signed the offer, we celebrated. One of my friends offered to watch the boys and we spent a night just us. There was a Cirque du Soleil show, Luzia, in Seattle at the time so we headed out for the night to see the show. I love the shows and they are some of my bucket list things. It was a great date night and we had a lot of fun.

To help Edward out with Daddy being gone all day all of a sudden, I took the boys down to San Diego to visit with my family. We spent a week and my family was excited to meet Morgan for the first time. It was a lot of fun hanging out and the kids got to hang out with their cousins.

While we were in San Diego, Grandma and Papa surprised Edward and took everyone to Sea World for the day. Edward loved seeing all of the animals with his favorite being the Orca. He is all about the Orca. Morgan had a bunch of fun seeing everything and all of the activity around him. Unfortunately, around lunch, he started to throw up and then not feel good. We weren’t sure if it was the heat or what exactly it was. It only really affected him at the time, so we just kept him hydrated and cool. Then it slowly hit almost everyone else in the group. Overall, a very successful trip for the crew.

June was a blur. We had parties, lots of time at friends houses, splash parks, and we hosted another Exchange student from Spain and he arrived towards the end of the month. So we had the welcome party for him and Edward got to play in a lake and also use his kite he got for his birthday. Both boys had a blast playing and seeing all of the other people. The boys are definitely extroverts.

To round out our June, we went down to St. Edward’s State Park and attended the Midsommerfest. It was fun and Edward got to wander around and see a different holiday. We had friends with us and it was hot, so we hung out in the shade as much as we could.

After a long 3 years, we finally made it! We attended Darrell’s graduation ceremonies. On Tuesday night, we went down for his EE graduation ceremony which is the smaller one.

Then on Saturday, we headed back down to the University for the big ceremony with the whole school. It was long and hot, but we made it through and the boys were both well behaved. Darrell’s Dad showed up and came with us. It was a lot of fun. We are happy to be able to put this part behind us and move forward. It is nice to be able to spend more family time together without having to worry about homework and everything else. Yippee!!!

We hit up two different spring festivals this year. First up was our trip up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We had a lot of fun once again. We love seeing the different layouts they do each year. Unfortunately, this year, I started feeling a little sick so we didn’t get to do as much as we wanted. I think it was related to the fact it was a really warm day for the PNW.

We also went and attended the Cherry Blossom Festival at The University of Washington. We wandered around and the boys ran and played. It was nice to see at least once and we got some really great family photos!

In January, we had a Flat Stanley from one of Darrell’s coworkers kids, so we went around Seattle and saw a bunch of the typical touristy spots. Edward loved visiting and seeing things.

We also went ahead and took Edward bowling again. He only really likes to play for the first game and part of a second, so we just finished up while he wandered and played in the arcade.

March was a big month for us. I took the boys to Fort Dent Park in Renton.

We also took a trip down to Boonville for the Ross family reunion. It was a long drive, but the boys did great! We stopped in Medford for an hour or two at a kids museum to let the boys get out of their carseats and stretch. Then we finished the drive. We enjoyed spending the long weekend with all the family and Edward loved the attention. We went to Pennyroyal Farm and got to see all their baby goats. Then on the way home, we stopped in Humboldt to visit friends and got to see the Elk herd on the way home. It was a great trip!

There are always a bunch of stuff going on for the Christmas holidays in Seattle. This year, we took advantage of some things we hadn’t before and we loved doing them. First up, we took the link train downtown and wandered around to see the sights down there. We wandered through the Sheraton Hotel’s Gingerbread village, the Olympic Fairmont Hotel’s Christmas Tree Festival and their Teddy Bear room. Then we grabbed the monorail and headed towards the Armory and the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle, the train setup, and we took Edward ice skating for his first time. He was nervous at first, but after a bit, he became more stable and loved going around.

We also went to Woodland Park Zoo and did Zoolights. It is the one thing we try to make sure we do each year. Edward loves seeing the lights and playing at the Zoomasium with all the snowballs they have.

We got a snow day and the neighborhood kids had a blast sliding down our street. Edward and Darrell spent a good portion of the day outside. They sled down the street, built some snowmen in the park, and even built an igloo. Darrell also brought out a bunch of hotchocolate for the kids to drink and they all loved that.

We took some family photos for Christmas Cards and even went and did our annual Santa Photo. We have been doing the Santa Photo since Edward was a year old and we have made it to see the same Santa thus far. We love him!

And last but not least, we began something we hope is a tradition. Edward loves watching the Polar Express, so we decided to do a Polar Express movie night and invite his friends. We put the movie on, got some pizza and hot chocolate and all watched. Since most of the mommy friends I have love to bake, we added a side mommy thing and did a cookie exchange. There were lots of cookies to go around and everyone seemed to love it. I made these cute little snowmen with Reese’s in them for each family to take one home.

Plugin from the creators ofBrindes :: More at PlulzWordpress Plugins