Tulip Festival 2011

Today was such a beautiful day, we just had to go to the Tulip Festival once again! I think the girls liked playing in the mud puddles more than taking pictures of the tulips, but we managed to get a few good pics anyway =)

Kaitlyn's 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday, Katybug! This year, Kaitlyn had a Barney-themed party with all the trimmings...including a pinata! The kids had a great time making crafts and eating cake. Madison enjoyed helping me "plan" the party and make the invitations.

Happy New Year 2011!

What a crazy year it has been! Especially December. Jason came home from deployment, we did our "tour of Texas" for Christmas (thank you Mimi, Papaw, Grandpa and Grandma for letting us stay with you!) and we are finally settled into our home in Washington. The girls had a great Christmas. Madison got several gifts related to Toy Story 3, Tinkerbell, horses and crafts. Kaitlyn received lots of baby dolls and dress up things. What a great and tiring month!

Sandy Lake Park

The forecast called for showers today, but they were wrong and it ended up being a great overcast day to go to Sandy Lake Park! It wasn't crowded at all, which was great of course because we could just walk onto any ride we wanted! I had forgotten what a great place this was for young kids. The girls both loved the little roller coaster and boat rides. Madison's favorite ride was the tilt-a-whirl! For her, the faster the better =)

Allen USA Celebration

We had so much fun today! Our adventure started by taking a bus to the Allen USA Celebration...Madison loooooooved the bus ride! Once there, we had tons of things to see and do. Madison got to play on several bounce houses, ride on a train many, many times, play games and make some crafts (her favorite was making a sand-filled dog =) As the day went on and the 100 degree heat became a bit much, we sat down to enjoy some snow cones, corn dogs, and lemonade (Kaitlyn's favorite part!) The girls had such a great time they passed out on the drive home! What a day.

2010 cruise to Mexico!

We just got back from a great Carnival cruise in Baja Mexico! It was sooooooo nice to see the warm sun again! Madison loved the spray park on the ship as well as the kids club where they played games and sang silly songs with all her friends. Kaitlyn preferred to sleep most of the cruise, but hey that's what cruises are for, right? They enjoyed playing on the beach and finding the towel animals in our cabin every night too =)

March is here

What a busy month we had! Kaitlyn had her 1st birthday party with cake, ice cream, pizza, lots of friends...what more could you ask for ;) We also had a playdate at a local firestation where the kids got to use a real water hose to put out "fire" on a pretend house. For Valentine's Day, we got the girls dressed up and went to a family Valentine dance on base. The girls were really cute dancing together!

Our winter vacation!

We had such a blast on our winter vacation! Mimi and Papaw came up here to stay with us at a vacation home in the mountains where we enjoyed tubing, making snowmen, sledding...well you get the picture =)

Grandpa's visit

Grandpa came to visit this week. It was soooo nice to have an extra set of hands to help out with the girls. They had a great time =)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was very different this year. For one thing, Jason was actually home to celebrate it with us! The other thing is that up here instead of kids going trick-or-treating door to door, they go downtown and visit all the shopkeepers, who of course hand out candy. It was fun, and cold! But at least it wasn't raining =) Our little Snow White and ladybug had a great time!

Salmon running the Skagit River

We went to the North Cascades National Park this weekend and had the opportunity to see the salmon running in the Skagit River - it was so incredible! These fish (which are quite ugly, by the way!) were there by the thousands, and they were in water that was less than a foot deep. It was really an amazing sight to see. If you can make out all the "bumps" in the river in these photos - those are the salmon. Madison and Kaitlyn did great on our hike, as always =) We also saw the Ladder Falls and a dam. Another successful weekend!

Skagit Valley Farm Tour

We loooooove farms! On Saturday we visited 2 of them. The first had free pony rides - Madison had a blast riding them like a big girl. She also made a "veggie racer" out of a cucumber and raced it down a hill. The second farm had u-pick apples, u-pick pumpkins, a corn maize and a haunted barn. This was our first time picking apples or pumpkins - very exciting! I think Madison's favorite part was running through the corn maize and hiding in the corn. It was surprisingly tricky...we had to cheat to get out!

Wallace Falls State Park

We're having a hard time saying goodbye to summer, so we went to Wallace Falls State Park this weekend. It was in the 90's there - can you believe it? We hiked roughly 2 miles to the lower and middle falls which were incredible. Madison did a fantastic job hiking like a big girl all the way there! Kaitlyn seemed to enjoy the view from her baby bjorn of course =) We also went to Big Edy - it's a nice river with little gold flecks in the sand everywhere. I guess that's why they call the town 'Gold Bar'! Madison loved playing in the sand there, but wasn't a fan of the freezing cold water. Afterwards, it was back to the cabin for hamburgers and smores - yum!!!

Olympic National Park

I've been told that you could spend every day seeing something different in the Olympic National Park, and it would take a lifetime to see it all...I believe it! This park is huuuuge! We started early Sat morning catching a ferry to the Olympic Peninsula - we were the last car on - talk about cutting it close! We drove through Port Angeles to crescent lake and Marymere Falls. Kaitlyn did the hike in the baby bjorn (of course!) and Madison walked the entire way! Then we visited Sul Duc Hot Springs. We were disappointed in the Hot Springs themselves. Unfortunately, instead of natural looking springs, the park decided to make traditional public (crowded) pools out of them. But the Sul Duc Falls were really impressive, even for this time of year. That night we stayed at "Kinder Farm" - a vacation rental on a farm. Madison had a great time feeding the goats and watching wild deer walk by the house. The next morning we drove to hurricane ridge. Spectacular views from all around. The deer were so tame that you could walk right up next to them! Kaitlyn started getting fussy, probably because it was pretty cold up there, so we decided to wrap it up a little early and head back to the ferry to go home. Another busy but wonderful Washington weekend =)