Simpsons in Seattle

We visited the local animal shelter when we were on Orcas Island a few weekends ago, and the girls lucked out because the shelter happen to have four 7-week old kittens there. The girls were besides themselves with joy playing with them. Nora fell in love with one in them in particular and had a hysterical meltdown later that evening after we left because we couldn't adopt the kitty (we never said we would). She insisted that she bonded with the kitty and truth be told, the kittens were mega adorable and one of the kitties did really like to snuggle up with Nora. If you're looking for a kitten, there's a few on Orcas that are looking for a good home and we can attest to the fact that they were very friendly and cuddly!  

How did my little girl already turn 12???!!! 😭😮😭 She's so grown up now! At 12, Evie is still the biggest sweetheart but she's also now turned into a fashionista who borrows my clothes and shoes! In fact, she's wanted to wear my pants on her birthday. I think it's also a fad right now, but she likes to wear white shoes and was diligently cleaning her sneakers the other day.   For her birthday, she chose to have Sushi and even ventured out of her comfort zone to try a few new rolls, which made me super proud. She didn't like them as much as her tried-and-true salmon avocado though. She also requested Grammie's apple pie because it's the best!  Evie has continued to play the oboe for school band, but she misses playing flute so will voluntarily go practice flute every once in a while so she doesn't forget. She's a straight A student and loves school, and still picks Language Arts as her favorite subject because of all the books they get to read. She&

Over the weekend, Scott went on a bike packing trip while Evie, Nora and I had a nice girls-only weekend. The girls thought that meant they'd get out of doing outdoor activities but I made them do pickleball, swimming and hiking!  For our hike, I picked Rattlesnake Ledge because it's a very classic Seattle area hike but in my 10+ years living here I hadn't done it yet, the trail is relatively close by (30 min away) and it is well traveled and busy - I don't feel comfortable hiking in remote areas by ourselves. The hike was great - at 2 miles each way and a 1100 ft elevation gain, it's just long and hard enough to be a worthy hike but not so bad that you're completely worn out after. It was also very shaded throughout, and offered up great views at the top! The ledge was a bit scary and had a huge 20ft deep gap that we steered clear of.  Also, we learned that it's called Rattlesnake Ledge (and Lake) because the noise of the wind rustling through the grass sou

The other weekend, Scott went fishing with Nora early in the morning. Guess who was the only one who caught a fish big enough to take home? Nora! We grilled it for dinner. Yum!