Simpsons in Seattle

Wow, we've neglected this blog quite a bit! So much to catch up on including Thanksgiving but since Scott will post about that, I'll just catch you all up on everything else!

A few weeks back we did a Seattle day where we explored around some old places we haven't been to in a while and also explored a few new ones that have been on our list. First, we took a stroll around Greenlake and it was super chilly and brisk but also nice! That neighborhood has changed so much since we left! Then we went up the hill and had brunch at Pete's Eggnest, which was a local brunch place that we used to walk to from our old house in Phinney. Then we drove over to Ballard and ducked into the shops and perused around. So many fun things to look at including a shop that my old co-worker opened recently! Then we headed to Wheelie Pop Brewing for an afternoon snack and to try their beer before heading back home. It was a nice day out exploring Seattle!

Greenlake selfie

hot chocolate at Pete's. YUM!

Winter officially started here a few weeks back when we got hit with a much-bigger-than-forecasted snowstorm! It snowed a few inches over the course of several days and hovered right around freezing for about a week so the kids got several days off of school, which they thoroughly enjoyed!

Yay for Advent Calendars!

Snowy scene looking out from our front door.

We also did a holiday cookie decorating party as a goodbye to one of Evie's close friend who is moving to the Bay Area over the holidays. It's a little sad that all of these girls who started elementary together are now all separated and going to different schools, in different cities. The cookie decorating was a lot of fun though.

Rolling out the cookie dough

Decorating time

Nora focused on making snowflakes

Each snowflake is unique!

The Moms got into it too making fruit tarts

These 3 are great buddies! They were re-enacting an old photo from when they were kids.

Bye, Meher! We will miss you!

We also cheered Evie on at her first school band concert! We had quite the debacle getting there because we were rushing rushing to make it on time, only to have Evie forget her flute! So then Scott had to hightail it home to get her flute and we made it literally just as her bandmates were shuffling up on stage. PHEW! Luckily no one noticed that she slipped right in and good thing because she had first chair position and was right up front on stage. The band sounded great but since we were pretty much the last people there our seats were really bad and way in the back.

6th grade band!

Can you spot Evie? She's wearing my shirt and shoes!

This past weekend, we went up to Mount Baker to do some skiing. This was the site where Nora got lost last year and thankfully this time there was no drama, just a super fun nice day out skiing. Since I'm just not a great skier, I kept to the green runs. Nora decided to stick with me all day while Scott and Evie went for harder runs. Nora was such a fun ski buddy! Unlike previous years, she jumped right into skiing and was fearless going down the runs but was very patient and encouraging with me. She would check to make sure I was following her, and shout out praise when I did well. She was in a great mood all day even though it was incredibly snowy and the wind and snow kept blowing in our faces.

Cute smiling kid

Lift buddy

Look at the snow on her hair! It was frozen by the end of the day.

Petting the lodge cat (nicknamed Chubby Charlie) during our lunch break.

She built a snow tunnel while we waited for everyone else at the end of the day.

Finally got goggles that can fit over my glasses. SOOOO helpful when it was snowing hard.

Yesterday, we were going to try out some cross country skiing but since it was raining at the sno park, we went to Bellingham instead. We explored the historic area of Fairhaven, which is just as I remembered it even though the last time we were here was back in 2009! After lunch at Black Cat (cute old timey building but lunch took f-o-r-e-v-e-r), we drove Chuckanut Drive over to Larrabee Stake Park. This is Washington's first state park and was founded in 1915! We didn't get to do any of the hikes I wanted because the kids wanted nothing to do with hiking, plus it was late and wet, but we did at least walk out to the water to take in some lovely views before driving back home.