Simpsons in Seattle

It's Spring Break week and 5 years ago we were on the island of Kauai  ( and second post ) enjoying the sunshine and shave ice. This photo popped up in my Google feed and I had to repost. It's so sweet! This was taken after we had driven over to the Princeville area to our next rental and Nora fell asleep snuggling with Scott.   

A few weeks ago, we got into a bit of a fender bender while running errands!  There's a roundabout that connects a busy street with a shopping center anchored by Trader Joes to another shopping center anchored by Target so you can imagine how busy this little intersection can get, especially on the weekend. We were in that roundabout and had stopped to let a pedestrian cross when a blue truck rear ended us. It was surprising, of course, but what was more so was that instead of pulling to the side to check on us, the blue truck went around over the (low) roundabout and sped off! I wanted to pull over and ask for witnesses but Scott took off after the truck so that we can get a picture of the license plate. I was able to snag one while the car weaved in and out of traffic and eventually got onto the freeway.  Thankfully, no one was hurt but Nora did burst into tears when she saw the extent of the damage and was upset that people are so mean. We have to replace the bumper, and th...

A few weeks back we watched Evie's spring band concert. She switched from flute to oboe back in January and it's been awesome to see how quickly she's picked up this new instrument! She chose to play oboe because the band didn't have enough oboe players and now that she's been playing a few months, she seems to want to stick with this instead of flute. She's even signed up for band again next year. Great job, Evie! Close up of Evie getting ready for the show. You can really see her because she is one chair in. Yay, Evie!  

Flashback to this photo from March 2015! Daddy and his two girls! This is the hike to Franklin Falls.   

There's a very popular hike in the nearby Issaquah mountains called Poo Poo Point (apparently named for the sound of the trains that pass by) that everyone says is a must-do activity if you live in the area. We pass the trailhead often but the parking lot is always jam packed because this is the literal jumping off point for paragliders. With a break in the weather and the girls sick of skiing, we finally decided to try it out last week! It did not disappoint! The girls opted for the shorter (4.5m r/t vs 7.5m r/t), more difficult trail and yes, we can confirm that it was not an easy one! It's uphill the entire way. It was beautiful though, especially the lower part where the trail is lined with rocks and stepping stones. You are rewarded for burning those thighs with really nice views at the top. The first lookout point that faces south-east and we were lucky enough that it was a clear beautiful day and could see the Rainier in the distance. A couple hundred yards further is th...

We've had a heck of a time trying to wean Nora off of her "blanket". The problem is that she just likes having something soft covering her face so when we take away one blanket, she'll just find something else. She will use her shirt even to cover the lower half of her face if she's really desperate. Lately, I've even caught her using the Penny's TAIL as "blanket"! Good thing is that Penny doesn't mind. In fact, Penny loves hanging out with her Nora mommy. She will literally walk across Evie and me to get to Nora, and then will proceed to snuggle and wiggle her little booty until she finds just the right spot on Nora. It's very cute.  

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...