Simpsons in Seattle

We always have a great time when the Hanley family comes for a visit and this past weekend was no exception! My kids were literally bouncing up and down in their seats with excitement as we drove to the airport to pick up Ian and Owen (and their parents). We made the day out of being on the Seattle side and stayed out of the rain by first doing lunch at Din Tai Fung and then visiting the Museum of Flight. We've actually taken them there before, but since it's been a while, we still opted to go and I think the kids enjoyed themselves.  Evie and Ian selfie at Din Tai Fung. Can they withstand hurricane winds? Tracking real time flights over SEA. These two could have played with this for days. The new WWI and WWI exhibits were really cool.   The main reason for the visit though was to play in the snow!! We were crossing our fingers for new snow but alas, it was not meant to be. We made our way to Hyak for some sledding and snow play and was met with a snow/rain mix. That didn't

I love Harry Potter and loved being able to share it with Evie. I've written a few posts about it too - like when she was  listening to the book , going to a  HP themed bday party , eating  Bertie Botts Beans , visiting the  Harry Potter store in NY , or going go  Harry Potter World . One of my favorite memories is of Evie audibly gasping when she heard Harry Potter's name being pulled out of the hat to compete in the Tri-wizard tournament. She really got into the stories. Finally, finally, Nora has taken to Harry Potter too! She half listened to the audio books previously but it never held her attention. She liked going to the Harry Potter store and Universal Studios, but it was probably more because she got to pick out a souvenir! But finally, she's been excited to listen to the (excellent) audio books and we've been slowly going through them in the evenings. After we finish a book, we've taken to watching the movie too. While Nora hasn't been as expressive as

Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!  Here in the Simpson household, we were rushing the night before to finish making our valentines! Now that Evie is in middle school, she doesn't have to give out valentines but we did want to take advantage of her new cake decorating kit and decided to make cookies to give out to her friends. For Nora, I was THAT mom that didn't want to give out more sweets or plastic so instead we decided to make all of her classmates oragami rings - bunnies and cats. I thought they were pretty durn cute myself!  Cookies with icing Showing off her wares We made a lot of rings. Side note, the sun has been out much more lately and it's finally setting later in the evening so it's feeling very springlike even though we are still in February!  Driving home the other night Holler flowers!  

Scott and Evie got season passes to the local slopes, but Nora and I did not! We've gotten into a routine of all of us going cross country skiing for a few hours first, and then while Scott and Evie go downhill skiing for another hour or two, Nora and I have been hanging out at the lodge reading or doing oragami or playing games. This last weekend, we got some fries and then found a nice spot by the window to watch the skiers come down the hill.   A "S" fry! Good spot for people watching Just the two of us!