A Very Happy Thanksgiving

Some of you may recall that last Thanksgiving was not a fun one.  It included rain, grumpiness, a lot of cooking all washed down with crying (the children) and bickering (me and Scott).  I know that it is supposed to be a time that you are with family and you all have to sit there and say what you are thankful for ; but this year I was just very thankful for the fact we went to Whistler and spent the long weekend skiing and avoiding food coma and the diabolical shopping frenzy known as "Black Friday."

What can I say it was awesome.  A monsoon in Seattle fell as over 3 feet of new snow and it was the best opening weekend to ski season ever.  The very best part was sharing the thing I love to do best with M and Z.  It was a serious lump in the throat moment dropping them at ski school and watching them waddle onto the gondola and ride to the mid station.  We collected them 6 hours later and they had "ski-ded down the whole big mountain."  I think it was my proudest moment as a mum thus far.

So this year I am thankful that we got to have fun as a family:)

Happy (very belated) birthday

A very happy 4th birthday was spent at Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park.  M and Z loved the wave pool, the water slides and the ride on mini water cannons.  We stayed the night at the lodge and enjoyed pajama story time and met the characters.  The next day we came home for presents and cakes.

Note- I loved everything about their birthday, except the 8 hours it took assembling the Playmobil fairy princess castle and the fact that it sheds pieces and parts like a molting dog. Truly I hate that thing.  Never again Playmobil, NEVER again.

We are going on a Pumpkin Hunt......

Out on Bainbridge island at the Blodel reserve they do a gourd treasure hunt for children which I thought looked like fun.  It turned out to be my favorite thing we did this fall, with our treasure map we tore through the reserve in hunt of pumpkins.  We found a lot of them and jumped off a few too:) As always the day was so much more fun as we shared it with the BFF's and I don't think I have ever seen 4 more joyous kids as they ran through the golden fields, in search of the hidden treasure.

Photos courtesy of Shannon as I took a bunch, but cannot find where I downloaded them.  I know that probably surprises you as I am totally awesome at technology.  It's a gift, like my craftiness and my unmatched ability to parallel park.

Bob's Corn

On a glorious sunny Saturday at the start of October we made the return trip to Bob's corn, just south of  Monroe.  I think it hit 68 degrees and we got sunburns along with our pumpkins.  We had fun on the cow train, playing cars in the trike track, doing obstacle courses on the pony ride and having our faces painted.  The kids corn maze was an even bigger hit this year (10 acres next year?) and they really loved hunting for unique pumpkins to carve.  Here are a few fun pics from a really fun day.

Pumpkin season

The weather through fall was golden and sunshiny and it made for a fabulous pumpkin season in Seattle.  We visited 3 pumpkin farms this year, so not as epic as last years 5 farm extravaganza, but still a barrow load of fun.

Here are a  few pictures from a sunny afternoon at Trinity tree farm.  This is the place in Issaquah where we got our Christmas tree last year, and it was a very mellow relaxed place to hunt for the perfect pumpkin.

Here are a  few pictures from a sunny afternoon at Trinity tree farm.  This is the place in Issaquah where we got our Christmas tree last year, and it was a very mellow relaxed place to hunt for the perfect pumpkin.

Bye Bye blonde

The last shots before we had our back to school hair cuts and said goodbye to the toe head for another year.

Twice as nice turns 4

So here I am still playing catch up from summer!  It is nearly December and I still haven't blogged about their birthday.

Anyway, I was pleased that we continued out yearly tradition of our twin group birthday party.  This year there were a few less faces, but most of the group was able to make it to our little celebration.  We decided to keep it simple and meet at a park in early September, we hoped that the weather would co-operate which it did and we just hung out and played.  It is so nice to see all of our babies so grown up. It is funny to think of all the traumas and worry we went through when they were so tiny and how we discussed every mouthful they ate, or every minute they slept (or didn't in my case).  I remember lots of tears (moms and babies) and even more wine:)

Happy birthday to Twice as Nice, here's to another great year.

Wild Waves!

Wild Waves is an outdoor water park about an hour South of Seattle.  Usually this is a very expensive day out with entrance over 30 dollars each, but we got reduced price tickets through our community center and the kids were free.  I wasn't sure how this day would go as I thought it might be too big and too busy, but it turned out really well and ended being one of my favorite outings of the summer.

There are several big slides and thrill rides and a giant wave pool all of which we avoided.  They have a pool and slides just for little kids and we had fun just playing there for an hour or so.  After that and a break to refuel we hit the rides big time.  We also got to watch the brilliant sea lions put on a show, such smart animals and so full of fun.