Leavenworth

We had a great trip this past week to Leavenworth, WA, which is about a 2 hour drive over the mountains.
Besides my parents, we were also joined by my brother, his wife Libby and their two kids John (16 months) and Evey (3.5 yrs). It was so fun watching the cousins laugh, cry and play together. Hard to believe that between our two families we will have 5 little ones aged 3 and under.
The week was spent swimming, playing in and floating down the Wenatchee river, eating ice cream and bratwurst, watching Shark week on the Discovery Channel, playing cards and bananagrams, golfing, attending the Sound of Music play, going to a local farm, and otherwise relaxing. Another highlight was a birthday dinner and celebration of a 60th (Dad) and 30th (Andy) birthday.
We did have few unfortunate events such as a flat tire and the appearance of a flu bug (baby and I were spared thankfully), but overall the trip was great and I would love to do it again next year.

Here in no particular order is a photo montage of the trip:

The Cabin

One of the best things about being a stay-at-home mom with toddlers: the flexible schedule. John has been gone all week and when my parents invited us to join them at their cabin on the Kitsap peninsula for a couple days, the kids and I were eager to go. We had a great time riding on the ferry, eating crepes and homemade granola in Kingston, beachcoming, roasting marshmallows and catching crabs/fish using hot dogs and chicken nuggets as bait :-)
Now, a quick day at home to catch up on laundry and the four of us are off to Leavenworth for some river-floating fun with my side of the family.

Fishing off the dock

Gardening


Reading dinosaur books (Dinosaurs are HUGE right now for Will)

at the beach

croquet

more fun on the dock, the ferry and at the beach







The Granola Factory

Frosting a chocolate cake

Nichole's Bachelorette Weekend

Our good friend Nichole Morford is getting married this fall, to John's second cousin Andy Altorfer. The couple met almost 6 years ago at our wedding and are tying the knot in Dublin, Ireland this September.
Seeing as I'm due to have the baby literally the day after their wedding, we won't be making the trip to Europe. I was happy to be able to celebrate her this weekend at a fun bachelorette party/college reunion:

Erkfest 2010

Every three years we get together with some of John's extended family for a reunion. The location of the reunion changes every time. This year, we traveled to the Monterey Coast where we stayed at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove. Highlights from the reunion included nightly skits/worship time together as a group, walks on the beach, a trip to the Monterey Aquarium and Cannery Row and a quick visit to San Jose.