Simpsons in Seattle

Scott's birthday is at the end of May and it often falls on Memorial Day weekend, which can be awesome because it means having a long weekend to celebrate! On Friday, the actual day of his birthday, Scott and his parents drove back from Orcas Island just in time for dinner with the girls. I recorded this early in the morning to send to Scott: On Saturday, we did lots of errands and didn't do much to celebrate. On Sunday, Rick and Margie were nice enough to watch the girls so that Scott and I could have a date night. YAY! We finally got to try Brambling Cross, which is a new-to-us gastropub in Ballard by one of my favorite Seattle chefs. It was pretty good. We also meandered around a bit aftewards and stopped to get a drink at another new-to-us watering hole. We felt so hip! Scott, at Percy's. Today, the sun finally decided to show itself and let Seattle know it's summer. We made the best of the beautiful weather by going out on the boat. It's been a

We went to a bouncy house party this past weekend and I mistakenly thought Nora would be old enough to enjoy the bouncing. Unfortunately, she's 3 months shy of the minimum age requirement! At first, she was pretty bummed about not being able to go bounce, especially since Evie could go. But, she found other ways to amuse herself and the girls ended up having a blast! Thanks, Josh, for inviting us! Evie (in blue) going WHEEEE! Nora having fun on the mat. She spent a good 20 minutes running around this bench, climbing up and down it, and generally being a goofball and waving at Evie. Sisters! Who needs bouncy houses when you have toy trucks?? SHOCKED that the two sat quietly to take a picture! The aftermath of chocolate cupcake with blue frosting. Photo wall. I love Nora's expression!

I have been looking forward to seeing a bandmill in action for a LONG time (well, at least a year). Today I had my chance on Orcas island. As background, I had a stockpile of 9 tree trunks sitting on our property (mix of douglas fir, spalted maple, elm, and madrone) that I wanted to mill. I had these taken to our local sawyer in a big ol' dump truck.  The sawyer, Kai, lives on an incredibly picturesque farm with a giant meadow, swimming pond, barns and of course piles and piles of lumber! Sounds like heaven to me. The mill produces an incredible amount of sawdust -- trash can size quantities every hour. It was fun to decide how the log should be milled and then seconds later see the inside of the log. But lifting the slabs around after cutting them was serious work. The largest log we milled weighed almost 5,000 lbs! That pile above is half of my logs. Awesome, right?? So, what will I do with all this wood? No idea! But I am sure I will think of a gazillion projects over the next 2

I didn't check the swim bag before sending Evie and Scott off to swim class and guess what? the bottom half of her swimsuit was at home! Ooops.

Look who helped me make my favorite cookie - oatmeal raisin with walnut cookies! YUM!

Wow, it's been a while since we last posted. Sorry about that! Here's a quick recap of our Mother's day. Since we flew back from Hawaii the day before, we were pretty exhausted on Sunday. We woke up late and had a lazy morning of unpacking and doing laundry. For lunch, Scott let me pick so of course I chose noodles! We went to a nearby Taiwanese "bistro" where I was able to get  my jook and noodle fill. YUM! Bonus that Evie loves this restaurant. Me and the Evester at lunch. The rest of the afternoon was more chillaxin at home. We got a lot of packages while we were gone and the girls had a lot of fun playing around with them. They were making beds to sleep in. For dinner, we headed over to hang out with our pals Blakely and Graham again. I think this might become a tradition! this is our 3rd year in a row we've spent Mother's Day with them and it just works out great - the parents get to enjoy adult company and the kids all get along really

More to come later when I get in front of a computer but for now, thank you TMobile for the wonderful trip to Maui and the chance for us to create more lovely memories with the girls! Here's a fun shot of the goodbye luau we went to last night. Evie and Nora especially loved all the Magenta ice cubes lighting up the tables.

Life in Maui is good so far! Here's a pic from the lobby of our hotel. It's like a painting!