Pumpkin Patch

We went to a birthday party at a pumpkin patch today. It was the perfect day, sunny and 60 degrees! I remembered to take some pictures, so here they are. . . .

Here are all the kids who came to the party. . .it was nice to have such a wide open space for the kids to run around. They had a great time!

This is Anna and her friend Kahlan. They had these old trucks and tractors the kids could climb on and pretend to drive. . .it was great!

Anna was trying to make a pumkin "snowman".

Brent and his best friend Mal driving the tractor.

Brent and Mal with their super hero poses.

It was a great idea for a birthday party. . .anything that allows little kids to run around and climb is always a good idea!

Ellisa's 30th Birthday

I turned 30 yesterday. At work they decorated my cube and brought in donuts, which was nice and put a smile on my face. Brent made me a birthday card every day this week at the YMCA for my birthday. He was SUPER cute about it being my birthday, told everyone he knew! Anna didn't care, if it is not about her it doesn't matter too much to her!;) Andrew got me some VERY comfy socks that I LOVE! (I love warm soft socks!!) To celebrate I invited my family over to my friend Erin's house for a party ;) . . .I am sooo lame! We had pizza, cheesecake and games, it was a lot of fun with plenty of laughter and even the kids had a blast! I planned on brining my camera, but of course I forgot it at home, so no pictures. Erin actually put 30 candles on my cheesecake. . .I was impressed, the light from those candles were pretty intense, I would have loved a picture of that! :)

Kite Festival

This weekend the kids and I went with our good friends the Egberts to the Kite Festival in Long Beach Washington. (That is in the Southwest tip of Washington near Oregon.) It was soooo much fun to spend the day at the beach, buliding sand castles, playing in the waves and trying to fly a kite. . .but mostly it was really fun spending the day with friends!

Because it was the week of the National Kite Festival. . .there were a lot of kites around. I thought this one was especially cool because they were all the same type of kite.

This was our little group. Me with Brent and Anna and my friend Erin with her two boys Mal and Cole. We all get a long so well that even though we were gone from 9am to 9pm the trip only felt like a couple of hours.

I was attempting to fly our little Spider Man kite with Anna. . .it never got to far up, but Anna LOVED running with it! You can see all the other cool kites in the background.

Brent, Anna, Malachi and Cole were all building a sand castle. . .I don't remember seeing a final product I think they got distracted by playing in the water.

It was a great day, and I am so glad we got to go!

Camping

We went camping last Thursday thru Sunday along the Washington coast. It was sooo much fun and we were able to see and do so much. Here is a sample of some of the things we got to do. . .

This is a picture of our first morning. We had marshmellows for breakfast. . .at least the kids and Andrew did.

This picture and the next couple were taken at Rialto Beach, about a mile from our camp site. There is a ton of drift wood along the beach, the kids had a blast climbing all over it.

Anna and Brent LOVED getting their feet in the water. The water was FREEZING cold even though it was in the upper 80's the whole time we were there.

Brent was the king of the beach!

We went to the Hoh Rain Forest, which was about 30 miles south east of where we were camping. This is a picture of the "big tree". . .that is what it was called. It is a 500 year old tree. . .and it was big.

This and the next couple pictures were taken on a nature trail we went on through the rain forest.

On Saturday morning we went out to the beach for low tide and got to see sea anemone (picture above), star fish (picture below), muscles, hurmit crabs, and we even got to see a bald eagle flying around above us. It was really cool!

Brent found a dead crab on the beach. . .kind of gross but it was cute how fascinated Brent was with it.

The ocean in this area was calmer and warmer during low tide and it was really fun playing in the water.

For all of you Twilight fans we did camp in the same area where the Twilight books are based and according to this sign we camped right on the treaty line. . .we were on the reservation (Jacob) side of the line. It was sooo much fun to go out there and see how the Twilight books have really taken over the town of Forks. It is not a big town but there are 3 Twlight themed stores and 1 Twlight themed resturant. It was pretty funny. They even had tour buses that would take you to all the sights from the book.

On the last day as we were packing up we pulled up cartoons on our phone and let the kids watch while we packed.

On our way home we stopped off at Crescent Lake. It is a beautiful blue crystal clear lake. We got our feet wet and just enjoyed the beatuiful view.

You can see the rocks at the bottom of the lake in this picture and can see how clean the water is!

Also on the way home we stopped off at Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles. It is a mile high and provides a breathtaking view of the Olympic moutains.

This was an amazing vacation for us and sooo much fun. We love camping. . .next time we are going to try a backpacking trip in the moutains!

Anna's 4th Birthday

I picked Anna up early from pre-school and we went out shopping. We picked out her ice cream birthday cake and I took her to a local flower seller and she got to pick out any flowers she wanted for her birthday bouquet. She wanted a bunch of sweet pea flowers. They smelled sooo good! Afterwards we picked up Brent and met dad at the local water park. The kids had a blast getting wet and running around. For dinner we went to Red Robin. When they came out to sing Happy Birthday to Anna she turned her head into Andrew's chest and started to cry. It was funny and reminded me of my 4th birthday when I did the same exact thing! They gave her an ice cream sunday. . .she only ate the whipped cream and sprinkles on top, she is not a big fudge on her ice cream fan!

While we were walking out of the resturant Brent slipped on two stairs and hit his chin. . .picture below. . . at first I didn't think it was anything until he started bleeding profusely over his shirt and the floor. After grabbing a bunch of napkins and assessing the situation, we decided we needed to take Brent to the hospital. . .but first we did get a couple Red Robin ballons for the kids. . .we have our priorities!;) Luckily the ER was not busy and we were in and out in an hour. They were able to just glue Brent back together!

It was about 9:30pm once we got home from the ER but we still had to open Anna's presents. . .

Brent got Anna two baby dolls, a brother and sister baby. . .I thought it was so cute that he picked that out for her and it was a real winner, she LOVES them!

She got this super cute night gown from Grandma and Grandpa Harris, along with a shirt and Sleeping Beauty the movie.

Anna got this beautiful dress from her Aunt Rachel. She wore it to church this past Sunday and it looks great on her and fits perfectly!

Grandma and Grandpa Wahlquist got Anna this cute little dog that she sleeps with every night and insisits that I give it a hug and a kiss good night. She also got some really cute cloths and a lunch box from Grandma and Grandpa.

Here is a picture of Anna with all of her spoils. Anna loved all of her gifts! Besides the exciting trip to the ER it was a really fun birthday for her!

We did not have time to have birthday cake on Anna's birthday or even the day after so on Saturday we invited our friends over for cake. Kahlan, sitting next to Anna, is one of Anna's good friends. Anna enjoyed having the spotlight on her one more time, but this time she enjoyed it when we sang Happy Birthday to her!

Brent's 6th Birthday

For Brent's Birthday (July 9th) we went out to IHOP for breakfast in the morning. Then he went on a field trip with the YMCA to the zoo. When we got home he asked for hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and spaghetti for dinner. . .it was interesting. Then we opened presents. If you can't tell from the pictures of what he got, he LOVES lego star wars!

He got this lego star wars book and ship from his Aunt Rachel. He LOVED it! Stayed up an hour past his bed time reading it. The best book ever for him! Great job Rachel!

Brent got this and many other T-Shirts from Grandma and Grandpa Wahlquist. Brent was in serious need of new t-shirts, and the fact that they are all star wars makes them instant favorites!

Grandma and GrandpaWahlquist also got him this new lunch box. Anna was just as excited as Brent was about this. . .not sure why. :)

Anna bought Brent a Snow Trooper Lego set. They are so cute together and the best of friends!

Brent got these Lego men and some other lego sets from Grandma and Grandpa Harris. Brent actually started hyperventilating when he opened this one up, he was so excited. It was funny!

Brent also got many other gifts, but those were the highlights and the ones he was most excited about!

Brent's ice cream birthday cake. It was really good and small, so no leftovers!!!:) We had our neighbors the Anderson's over to help eat it. It was a fun day!

Blast From the Past

My best friend from High School. . .actually it all started in Middle School. . .Cami Ford and her family came out to Seattle for a visit and last night they were able to come over to our house for dinner! I was super excited to see her! I haven't seen or really talked to her in about 6 years. It was a great visit and much too short!

This is a picture of Cami and me at girls camp back in VA in 1996

. . .14 years later (i.e. yesterday) this is Cami and me

Brent and Brinly, mine and Cami's oldest children, are about a month apart in age. Brent was the King and Brinly was the Queen. They seemed to have a good time playing together.

It was a great visit and I am so glad the Ford's were able to come by. Brought back a lot of good memories!