Seals, Eagles & Whales... Oh My!!

When my mom was in town we went for a whale watching excursion. We got up early and boarded the boat for a 7:45 departure. Here we are enjoying free donuts for breakfast:Travis, Noah (being uncooperative) & Grammie:It was a really long day, but we saw whales, seals, eagles, sea lions, porpoises next to the boat... very cool. Notice the two eagles on the rocks in the back of this picture:It was another beautiful day --- and my mom got to see Deception Pass, all of the mountains, and spend a couple of hours in Friday Harbor, too. While in Friday Harbor, we decided to purchase little bottles of wine for the boat ride back -- I wasn't sure whether it was allowed or not, so that made it even that much more exciting! :)

Fun with Grammie

My mom came into town last week. The kids have really been enjoying her visit. The weather has been beautiful, too -- perfect timing!! Noah and Grammie:Here is Evelyn blowing bubbles for Cocoa -- Cocoa loves to run around and try to eat the bubbles :) We visited a splash park for a couple hours on saturday morning. Notice the hat Noah grabbed before we walked out the door... everyone else is in swimsuits... and Noah is in his knit hat! Not sure what is going on here... :)

Family Fun

These zoo pictures are from a couple weeks ago.. but I am going to make up for my lack of posting with a couple posts all in one night! :)
Anyway, we have a zoo membership again this year (thanks Nana and Bumpa!). The kids LOVE animals - so the zoo is always a fun outing when we have a few spare hours. Favorite animals are the usual (penguins, giraffes, elephants, monkeys, lions).But as you can see, one of the BEST parts of the zoo is the packed lunches and snacks that the kiddos enjoy. I swear -- we aren't even there yet and Evelyn is already asking what we are going to eat, and when (and we just finished breakfast!)Here is a family photo before church this past weekend:

fun with friends

Evelyn and Noah went to their friend Turynn's birthday party yesterday. It was at the Family Fun Center (where Evelyn had her last party) -- one of the kids favorite places!! Here is Evelyn with the birthday girl:
Why does posing for a picture always involve a head-lock? :)

Here are some kiddos from the party (Evelyn on the far left, Noah on the far right) on the Frog Hopper. The ride goes way up high in the air and bounces up and down all the way down --- the kids loved it!!!

Last night was also a ton of fun for the kids.... we had our friends Jim & Melissa over, and their children Lucy and Charlie. We also babysat Lola and kept her for a sleepover so her parents could enjoy a night alone. Here is dinnertime -- Evelyn, Lucy, Lola & Noah -- a bunch of blondies! Charlie is still a little guy, so he missed out on the "big kids table". Needless to say, the kids pretty much passed out last night at the end of the evening. And they seem to be taking a great nap so far today, too!! :)

In other news, I completed a half-marathon on May 7th. It wasn't pretty... I did it without training appropriately... and it was pouring rain... but I finished. My next big race is on July 17th -- Napa to Sonoma -- I can't wait!! (I actually plan on training a little for this one!)

Pics & A Fond Farewell

We had some pictures taken this past weekend by Heather Puett again. She took some cute ones of the kids last fall, too. Here are a few (these were already posted on Facebook, some of you have already seen them):

I said good-bye to my old friend "the bean" this week. My old Sony mp3 player was given to me by Travis a long time ago (maybe in 2004?). It has seen me through a lot.... 5Ks, 10Ks, a 12K, a triathlon, a half-marathon, and all the countless hours of training (and some tears) that went along with it. I am putting the bean into retirement :)

Travis bought me the cute little pink iPod nano for my birthday. I LOVE it! My in-laws gave me iTunes gift cards for my birthday to go with it -- so I was all set! I had my first bonding experience with it last night during a 9.5 mile run. We survived the run together -- I am sure it was our first of many memories :)

Happy Easter!

Saturday morning we painted Easter eggs -- Noah enjoyed it for about three minutes, and then got bored and wanted to do something else. Evelyn liked it -- and already asked today when we were going to paint eggs again :)
We went to 8:30 Mass this morning as usual, then came home to search for Easter eggs and their baskets of goodies. Both of the kids got new pjs (Minnie Mouse for Evelyn and Thomas for Noah) -- they also got the Bambi DVD, and yummy candies :) Here is a picture of Noah opening up a bag of goodies from his Grammy and Papa:

kinda fuzzy picture -- but this is the only full length one of Evelyn in her Easter dress:

We had friends over for dinner last night... and it ended up being a really late night, so I am exhausted today. Hoping to sneak a little nap in during the kiddos nap time.

I had hoped to get in a long run this weekend, and so far that hasn't happened..... I definitely don't have the energy right now! It is also raining pretty hard outside -- so that doesn't help the motivation. I will have to try to do it on the treadmill at the gym tonight after the kids go to bed. But, I have never done more than 6 miles at a time on a treadmill... I have such boredom issues when I run indoors! The Apprentice is on tonight --- so maybe I can tune into that while I run...

Bright Shiny & New :)

The kids were able to practice their "Easter Egg Hunt" skills this past weekend at our church. They had a fun hunt around the church & school grounds... along with plenty of candy and sweet treats to be enjoyed by all :)

The kids opened all of their eggs afterwards and pretty much ate all of their candy immediately. On one hand I felt like a bad parent for allowing them that much candy (I don't think the other parents were allowing that)... but on the other hand I remembered what my mother-in-law (a dental hygienist) told us about cavities and sugar... I guess it is better to eat candy all at once as opposed to 8 or 10 pieces of candy spread throughout the day. Maybe we did the right thing after all...?? :) As for my mention of "news" in my last post... it is not baby related (sorry Laura)... it is job and car related!

Job: I started a new job this past Monday... with Amazon.com. It was a tough decision to leave Pfizer, but I was ready for a change. I was getting worn out with all of the driving, night/weekend events, etc... and feeling a little "stuck" from lack of advancement. I am now working in downtown Seattle (south Lake Union area) in a sales role dealing with large corporate accounts and I love it so far!

Car: We had to start shopping for a new car (since I had to turn in my work vehicle). We ended up purchasing a new silver Mazda CX-9 --- it is amazing!

Starting to feel all bright shiny and new -- just like my new car and job :)