You know you're not in Dallas anymore when....

• you wait in line for 20 minutes to enjoy $3 kid's cones at the famous Molly Moon's!

• You stop under a city bridge just to give your kids (and husband) a chance to climb on a troll holding a real VW bug!

• You stop at Kerry Park just to enjoy views like this:

• you then climb down stairs like these just to go to its play area:

• and slide down slides like this one that are built on the natural landscape!

• you end your Saturday at Alki Beach being that family (that family also just enjoyed delicious fish & chips on the beach)!

Yes, we are definitely not in Texas anymore and while we miss it so much, we are loving our many Seattle adventures!

Mount Rainier

We spent a fantastic Saturday out at Mt. Rainier National Park with the Bauslaughs, who served as our official Rainier tour guides. We spent alot of time in the car but it was totally worth it once we got there. Here our little family just after entering the huge national park.

the cute Bauslaugh family:

heading out to hike and play in the snow from "Paradise base":
the mountain was packed with fellow hikers:
happy boys:

Baker and Lance hiked down a snow covered slope to this beautiful waterfall (yes, this is real and not a cheap Walmart backdrop)

the crew starting to get tired but having a great time:
not a shabby place to spend a 60 degree Saturday in July!


SNOWBALLS!

so nice to have such a strong daddy!
We stopped in at the visitors center at Paradise and our kids wandered into the informational movie and were enthralled (really). They learned all about Continental Drift, the mountain's native wildlife, scaling the peak, and of course, the history of the Mt. Rainier settlers.
Here's Ella and sweet Lindsay (these two are only a few weeks apart in age and Ella loves her!)
Our final stop in the park was at these falls:
do we look tired yet?
We can't wait to go back!

Grammie's and Poppa's Visit!

We had an absolute blast when Grammie and Poppa visited us July 9th-13th. We explored downtown Seattle, the Ballard Locks, rode the Ducks, took the ferry to Bremerton, ate lots of seafood and even celebrated their 4oth anniversary! We were having so much fun, we only brought our camera on our last day adventure which was a huge highlight...we hiked up to Twin Falls!

Here we are starting out at the creek...

Ella and Will inside the trunk of an old HUGE tree...
our "leaders"...
atop the bridge over Twin Falls (the bridge is narrow, so this is a closeup!)

the falls....
Poppa, Ella and Will climbed up a big rock...
Daddy and Ella having a blast!
mid-air Ella...

happy boy throwing rocks into the creek....

we're almost done and we all made it...hooray!

We had so much fun with Grammie & Poppa and we can't wait for their next visit! More adventures to come:)