Walking through the House

Yesterday, we were taken on a walk-through of the house to see "the guts." It was fun to see all the framing, wiring, and plumbing and start to imagine ourselves living our daily lives inside new walls. It was also a great reminder that a house is just that: walls, a roof, pipes. 

We discovered that our lot is below the level of the road, but they have good drainage plans in place. They work with a landscaping company to also ensure adequate drainage to the plants. Plus, they mentioned that the soil on site drains extremely well. We shall see...

I love the back of the house. This is the southwest corner with so many windows and two sets of sliding glass doors! That's a huge plus for often gloomy Seattle. The kitchen is in the back and above are three bedrooms. The pillar on the corner holds an outdoor fireplace, too.

This is what most of the house looked like on the inside!

Another shot of the exterior from the southeast corner. The den/office is in the front and the bonus room is over the garage.  Looking forward to seeing it without a port-o-potty and dumpster out front!

More house progress

February

March

Easter eggs 2016

We had some impromptu egg dyeing today. The kids enjoyed watching the little dye disks change the water color. Only two dropped on the floor. Sam dyed most of his eggs blue and Elsa liked dunking hers in multiple color cups.

Yup, that one hit the floor. So we ate it.

Yum!

Overheard today

"Elsa, I'm the rhino and you're the oxpecker on my back!"

Thank you Wild Kratts for encouraging symbiotic relationships at play!

Siblings on swings in Spring

A Visit from Claire

Cousin Claire is living in nearby Mt. Vernon, WA while she attends the Parks Law Enforcement Academy. She came to visit us last weekend and inspired us to go rock climbing. It was so awesome. Although Claire knows how to climb, we have little to no experience so we paid a staff member to belay us. Claire, Kyle, Sam, and myself took turns going up. Meanwhile, Elsa got into some bouldering. I think we were all inspired to do more!

Sam asked Claire to belay him!

My forearms were tired!

In the afternoon, we visited the Pacific Science Center and Claire treated the kids to their first taste of astronaut ice cream! Wow. It was so good.

Our favorite pastime at home: reading!

Vegas, Baby

After two nights in Palm Springs, we drove to Las Vegas. The drive took us through the Mohave desert where there was, at times, nothing but sand and cacti. Truly stark and amazing landscape. We passed the time listening to Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone on audiobook. We had read much of the book at home prior to the trip and Sam was on the edge of his carseat listening to it.

We journeyed to Vegas specifically so I could visit with my long-time friend, Lindsay, and her three children. As life would have it, they were days away from moving to Bend, OR (closer to us, yay!).

Our first day we visited Red Rock Canyon. The weather was unexpectedly (for me at least) windy and cold with a bit of rain so our hike was cut a bit short.

Strong winds!!

Our second day, we went to Mandalay Bay to visit the Aquarium and Shark Reef. It was really a well-done aquarium that kids could truly enjoy. The exhibits were easy to see and the path guided us through the space from start to finish.

Snacks near the sharks.

This diver was a great show for the kids!

 Sam says he could've pet the stingrays "all day long." We had to practically drag him away from the tank!

Henry (2), Lindsay, Doc (4), Addison (6), me, Sam (5), Kyle, Elsa (2)

We stayed a block off the strip, using our SPG points at the Westin. Abba and Teeb also joined us for our three nights in Vegas. We took a turn around the largest observation wheel in the world, walked the strip, and spent a little time at the pool. Kyle and I also had a night to go to a show.

It was a wonderful mid-winter get away!