Simpsons in Seattle

I don't know how we got talking about sit ups, but Evie was quick to brag that she could do a lot of them. Here's proof:

I have now officially crossed into my late 30s and you may be surprised to hear I'm a little trepidacious. I never cared much about getting older but I'm feeling it this year. I think it's because I'm so thankful for all that I have in my life that I don't want anything to mess it up. I can understand now why people develop phobias as they get older; there's more to lose! If that's a downer, it's not meant to be - I'm just very aware that I have health, happiness, prosperity and a lot of love in my life. I don't know what I did in a past lifetime to deserve this, but I'm grateful every day. Anyway, I celebrated my day with a nice birthday lunch at work, cake and flowers from my awesome team, HH with Scott where we relaxed out on a patio with some champers and lamp chops, then a nice grilled dinner at home with the girls followed by presents! Sweet Evie made me lots of presents like this handmade envelope and scarf. Beautiful weathe

While Scott was in Orcas for the weekend, we joined my parents, Lili and Chiu, my Aunt Daisy and my grandmother for a weekend getaway in Seaside, Oregon. Seaside is about 4.5 hours away (about 1.5 hours from Portland), right along the coast. The town was the same as I remember it from ages and ages ago - a quintessential beachy little community, stuck a little in the 70s/80s era with dim arcades, candy shops and tourist shops. It was a fun little getaway though, and the beach was great - wide with soft sand, and since the sun was out, actually warm enough to enjoy!  Out beautiful view from the condo we rented.   Nora (and I!) enjoyed hanging out on the balcony. Awesome views of the coast as we drove south towards Cannon Beach. Selfie with my mom! We did a pit stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Eating ice cream at the Tillamook cheese factory. "Someone" enjoyed my chocolate dessert! Enjoying Cannon Beach. Beach selfies  

PoPo and GoongGoong came for a visit with PoPo's cousin Lili and Chiu from London so we played tourist for a day and went up to the Space Needle for brunch! We've never been up there before so this was the  perfect excuse to go check it out. Evie got a huge kick out of the fact that the restaurant revolves (takes about an hour to do a full 360) and we had a lot of fun looking down on all the cars and people down below.  Matching dresses for this special occasion. View looking towards Downtown Seattle. Fun with PohPoh She WAS having fun, up until we told her to say CHEESE! It is pretty much useless to try to get a good picture of the 4 of us together.

Nora got a new stuffed penguin from Popo and GoongGoong's recent vacation and for the past few days, Penguin has been a constant companion wherever Nora goes. He went to the park with us the other day (and fell out of the stroller a few times) and tonight, she refused to let go even at dinner time. She was super cute and was even feeding Penguin a few bites of rice. Poor little guy had rice bits all over him by the end of the meal.  Hard to eat with only one hand!

Seattle is finally welcoming Spring! We have had a few glorious days of 70 degree weather this past weekend (and it looks like next week will be pretty good too - hooray!). It's been awesome. It's so "hot" that Evie had to have ice cream for dessert and we did some water play out in the backyard. I used to laugh at all the Seattlelites who wore shorts the minute the sun came out, but looks like my kids are going to be the same way! Ice cream sandwiches hit the spot! Notice Nora with no pants. She insisted she was too hot.

Evie moved up to the "Strokes" swim class this week! The teachers had said they think Evie just needs more confidence with swimming and that stroke class might help. I didn't really believe them until I saw her today swim the long length of the pool all by herself, without any floats, for the first time ever! I felt like such a proud mama. She needs to work on taking short breaths out of the water because she tends to tread for a few seconds before she resumes swimming, but she did really great in general. She also tried flippers for the first time and kept talking to me afterwards about how fast they made her go. Excited to try fins! Go, Evie, go!

Lots of high pitched squealing goes on in our household! Evie and Nora vs Daddy!  

Here's Evie's school pictures for this year! Isn't she a cutie pie?