Fun Day With Abby

Abby came up on Thursday to hang out and to let us meet her adorable puppy, Moose.  We had a fun day that included a MickeyD's picnic lunch, a trip to the zoo, golf in the backyard and we topped it off with a tropical snow snack!

Abby and Nora ready for a train ride

Ethan was ready too!

The train didn't work :(...so we opted for a carousel ride instead!

Ethan and the baby goat

Checking out the goats

Moose and Max playing in the backyard!

Fun and Games

We got out the dominoes the other day and Ethan has fun making trains and matching the colors/numbers.  But this time he decided to build something.  I looked over at him, and this was what he was doing...all by himself.  I have to say, I was pretty impressed.  I think we may have an engineer on our hands.  

Here are a few of my favorite people, just hanging out in the front yard!

Practicing with the BIG club

Golfing with Daddy

I LOVE this one!

Grads & Moms

Happy Graduation to my lovely sister, Abby!  She graduated yesterday from SIU-C with her bachelors degree in dental hygiene.  I know from experience that this is not an easy program and I'm so proud of her!  We went to Salem this morning to celebrate with a graduation cook-out.  Good food, good company and a good time!

Officially a college graduate!

Some party-goers

Jared & Dustin playing some Bocce Ball and a happy Abby

2 SIU DH Grads!  (7 years apart)

Along with the graduation party, it was nice to be with our moms on Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day!  We are, both, so lucky to have these women in our lives.  Thanks for all you do, we love you!

My Mama with 50% of her children

Jared and his brother, Dustin with their Mom

Me and my babies on Mother's Day!  I'm so blessed!!

Seattle

As seen in the previous post, we arrived in Seattle on Monday afternoon. Across the street from our hotel was the Seattle art museum with a very large metal man swinging a hammer (or something). We could see it from our balcony and Ethan thought it was pretty cool.

Trying to get a picture of them both.

The view out our balcony. The harbor steps and giant metal hammer guy.

Tuesday we spent the day out and seeing what Seattle had to offer (keeping in mind a 3 year old and 6 mo old). We first headed to the Space Needle. We looked around the gift shop and decided to make lunch reservations at the revolving restaurant at the top. We had a couple hours before lunch and we were very close to the children's museum, so over we walked. It was really nice and a good size for Ethan and Nora.

Ethan made clouds during arts and crafts time at the museum.

Firefighter and Pop

Working hard

Nora appreciated some time out of the stroller.

After we were finished at the museum, we walked back to the Space Needle and went up for lunch. The food was good, the view was amazing and we all had a great time. And after we finished eating, we went up to the observation area.
















We didn't stop after that...we got back in the car and headed to the Seattle Aquarium. Where Ethan even touched a star fish!




















What a busy and wonderful trip! Thanks Grandma Terri and Pop for a great time. Ethan will be talking about things we did for a long time, I'm sure.

Port Angeles...Part 2

We spent the morning at Sarah and Patrick's house. They made us a delicious breakfast of yeast pancakes (crepe-like). I've never had them before but I did get the recipe to try. Anyway, we had a good time just hanging out and letting the kids play. We also did a quick photo shoot.
5 kids under 3=Crazy!

Leah (1 mo), Lily (3 in July), Will (1), Nora (6 mo), Ethan (3 at the end of the month)

The Lovejoy Family

Pop and Grandma with 5 of their 8 grand kids.

Here are some of the kids playing outside.








We had lunch with them and quickly said our good-byes. We had to get to the ferry at the right time and we were running close on time. We had a great visit with them and it would have been nice to stay longer.
We caught a different ferry back to Seattle. This one took us right into the Seattle harbor. The views were amazing and we just watched the Seattle skyline get closer and closer.

Ocean and mountain view

Pop and Ethan having a snack on the ferry.

Seattle skyline.

After we got settled into our hotel (which is also in the harbor area), we walked to Pike Place Market and around there for a while before finding a place to eat dinner. After dinner we walked back to our hotel to get rested for a full day out tomorrow.

He's sitting on a pig in front of Pike Place Fish, where they throw the fish around.

Nora enjoyed her ride through the market.

An excited Ethan!

Both kids have been great travelers! I'm one lucky mama!