Happy 5th birthday!

5 how did that happen?  I can't believe it.  I recall the long days of babyhood as if they were just a few weeks ago, but somehow we have two big kids now.  Two beautiful, tall and REALLY bossy big kids.

So how do you celebrate 5?  Well if you are Max and Zoe you start planning when you are 4.  For their 4th birthday we took them to Great Wolf lodge indoor water park and although they enjoyed it, it was not really what they wanted for a birthday.  They wanted a party, and cake and friends, and did I mention a big, massive party.  So as I am not a great lover of party planning I said "Fine, you plan it then," and they did.  They wanted a Halloween theme costume party at the Everett Children's museum.  They wrote the guest list.  It was long.  They wanted the place to themselves, not just a party room on a Saturday afternoon.  In the end I just made the phone calls (and handed over the credit card), but the rest was all them.  They chose their costumes, designed the cakes and I think they had a great time.

After this years success they have started planning next years celebration.  Max wants a space Angry birds party, where the guests actually go to space, and for Zoe a Christmas theme, with a trip to the North pole and each guest gets a reindeer to take home.  A REAL reindeer.  So no problem there then:)

Arlington Adventure

I have wanted to go up to the Outback Kangaroo farm in Arlington for a while, and a couple of weeks ago Jamie, Cassie and Leah invited us on a trip up there.  Arlington is a bit of a drive at a little over an hour so we decided to make a day of it with a picnic lunch by the river and a stop for berry picking.

The farm tour is about 40 minutes long and you just turn up at a tour time.  We chose the first tour of the day as we thought it wouldn't be so busy and the animals would be not too grumpy.  I have to say it wasn't the nicest place for animals too live, but the kangaroos seemed very happy and had plenty of space to run around.  Max and Zoe were very impressed with all the animals and loved feeding them.  Their favorite was the tortoise and the big kangaroo.  We even got to feed a lama by putting the feeding nuts in our mouths.  Max thought that was hysterical, but too tickly for Zoe.  Jamie and I did it too, and it was a bit strange.

After that we stopped at Twin Rivers park to wallow in mud.  That wasn't the plan and though I am famous for my all day adventures and general couldn't care less attitude to dirt, it was messy even by my standards.  I felt bad for Jamie as she was wearing a skirt and flip flops, but the upside was that we were both prepared with a full change of clothes for everyone and it was a fun lunch spot.

We then headed back to Biringer farm to pick strawberries.  We have improved at this since our last attempt 2 years ago.  The kids were expert pickers and we soon filled our flats.  We added Tye berries (yum) raspberries(even yummier) and shortcake at the checkout.

Of course no hot summer adventure is complete without ice cream so we popped over the road to Fosters farm for a treat before we headed home.  It was a super fun day, made better by sharing it with super fun friends:)

Tip Toe through the Tulips

So each year in the Skagit valley a mere 1 hour north of Seattle there are many, many fields of Tulips that bloom.  They even have a festival to celebrate said blooming.  I am not sure why but I have never had much interest in a jaunt up to view the Tulip fields.  Before the kids there was no way I would have wasted a weekend day in late snowshoe season to look at a bunch of flowers, and since the kids I was thinking that a one hour plus drive to look at bunch of flowers might be rubbish.  However this year I wanted to go.  The kids are older,  we could go for lunch, it might be fun.

So we decided on a sunny "field trip" Thursday to head North and check out all the fuss was about.  Of course no adventure would be complete without the BFF's so we agreed on a time and place to meet and went on our way.

We decided on Tulip Town as it was supposed to be very kid friendly, then lunch in La Conner before heading home.  We actually had a great time.  The weather was amazing, the flowers were beautiful, the kids loved the mud, flowers and the ice cream.  We had lunch outside overlooking the water in La Conner.  Sadly, the only downer was that Miles had a tuna sandwich that gave him food poisoning.  After we got home Shannon reported that he had been violently sick twice on the way home, and he was sick for 2 more days.  Next year we'll be eating at the brewery:)

I'm back!

So I have fallen off the blogging wagon, I know it has been forever.  I have no excuse really apart from the fact that my kids are awake for about 14 hours each day and that at the end of those 14 hours the very last thing I want to do is think about my kids, never mind write about them:)

But I am recommitting to a blog a week, to document their evolution and so their grandparents can see them from afar.  For I am sure that no matter how much M and Z overload I have, it is not the same for their Nana's.

So here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Northwest trek.  This is a sort of local (ish) safari park, that is home to animals typically found in the Northwest.  It was nice to get out and do something different.  They have lovely hiking trails through the grounds and a tram tour out into the meadow.  They also have a lot of really stupid people on the tram, that think it is awesome to lean out the window to stroke the bison.  The most awesome was the "Gamma" that held out her 3 year old grandson outside the entire window.  Sadly, he survived as that is a gene pool we really don't need to perpetuate.

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.