Spring Break...Washington style

Ok, we expect rain when we visit family in Washington state, especially in the Spring when we typically go, but the sheer amount of water they've been getting and getting and getting was apparent in the puddles (and nearly a pond) on the driveway and lawn.  This is NOT something we are used to, coming from the desert.  We stayed with some of Pete's family, using our RV to sleep in, and enjoyed some down time and catching up.  We lounged around the first day and a half we were there, I think we needed it after driving the 14-15 hours over two days to get there (with a head or cross wind the entire way, not fun when you're in a big truck pulling an even bigger trailer).  On Tuesday we went with cousins to a local community center with an indoor pool and waterslide.  The kids had a blast. 

We decided to do a few touristy things on this trip, so on Wednesday we drove into downtown Seattle (an hour's drive away) and went to the Pacific Science Center. 

We saw exhibits of insects, dinosaurs, mind & body, "Hubble" Imax movie, etc. and our favorite part -- they had a special exhibit on Star Wars with ship models, costumes, weapons, droids, etc.  The boys were in heaven.

After the science center we walked over to the Space Needle nearby and went up to the observation deck where it was very windy making it quite cold.  We didn't stay outside very long, but enjoyed the amazing views. 

On Thursday, we again went into Seattle.  We started at the Seattle Aquarium where they had a lot of local fish and other sea life, including a couple of large tide pools with beautiful and colorful sea stars, sea urchin and coral you could touch. There was also an octopus, moon jellies, some harbor seals, fur seals, sea otters, and river otters, and some birds including puffin.

(we found Nemo and Marlin)

We then went to lunch at Red Robin on the pier before our harbor tour cruise, a one hour trip around the harbor learning information about Seattle.  Luckily at this point the rain we had been having for days had stopped and we even saw the sun a little bit.

Before we left Seattle we went to Pikes Market, though by the time we got there many vendors were closed or closing, but we did at least get to see the famous fish throwing at the Pike Place Fish Market.  We also found the Gum Wall completely by accident, the kids thought it was pretty cool (I thought it was pretty gross).

Our last two days were spent doing more lounging around, our two busy days in Seattle had worn us out.  We did spend Friday evening with some more family, Pete's brother and his wife and kids, enjoying a nice dinner out and catching up (we don't see each other nearly often enough).  And then us adults went out to eat dinner in peace on Saturday night.
After driving 13 hours on Sunday with only TWO stops, we finally arrived home at 11:30 pm, quickly unloaded what we had to and crashed in bed!

Trevor loves it when we visit family in Washington because he has cousins very close to his age whereas on my side of the family he is the oldest by five years.  Logan and Kylie had a great time too even though there are no cousins close to their ages (they are all older), everyone was great to include them.  We always enjoy our visits and this time was no exception.  We especially appreciate the hospitality of family letting us invade their home and schedules, and we're willing to return the favor any time but somehow I don't think Wendover will ever be their destination of choice. :)

Logan's latest

Logan played his second year of Jr. Jazz and really enjoyed it.  He tried hard and really improved his skills.  Like Trevor was, Logan isn't very competitive when playing sports, but did enjoy playing defense.  His coach taught them how to stay in certain areas and pass the ball to each other, which helped everyone to be involved and have chances to shoot the ball.  Logan made a few baskets, most of which Pete missed seeing as the games started at the same time he got off work and Logan inevitably would score early in the game.  Pete did get to see one of them in the last game.  Kylie enjoyed cheering Logan and his team on.  And I enjoyed having a good camera and zoom lense to take pictures with (my new Nikon DSLR), since gyms are notorious for bad lighting and the bleachers are a bit away from the court.

Logan has also been busy with cub scouts since they started a Tiger den in the area this fall.  He has now moved on to the Wolf den, and lucky me (sarcasm), I'm his den leader.  This is my second time around as I was also Trevor's den leader for Wolves and Bears.  At least this time they have a manual that guides you with each den meeting so I don't have to come up with ideas on my own.  We have a full group of 8 boys, so I have my hands full.  Logan is of course the one who gives me the most grief during our meetings (now I have an idea how his teachers at school must feel...we've been having issues there lately as well). 

They had their Blue and Gold Banquet in February and had a cake auction fund raiser as part of it.  We made the following cake:

It was so easy, if the Boy Scouts have their annual spaghetti dinner and cake auction this year, we'll probably make the same one for Trevor to take.

Newest cousin

We welcomed the newest cousin to the family on 1/10/11 - Lila Brenda Bangerter, daughter of Nick and Darci.  She is such a doll, a tiny little thing with big eyes and dark curly hair.  Kylie was so excited, she LOVES babies!  Now we're almost even - 6 boys and 5 girls.  At Lila's blessing I rounded up all the kids and took some pictures, didn't get all of them smiling but at least they were looking at the camera (except for Lila of course).

(I love how tiny she looks in Pete's arm.)

What a good-looking bunch!

December highlights

Kylie's preschool Christmas program, she was quite shy and didn't really want to do anything (sounds familiar, Logan just gave us scowling eyes the whole time through his back in 2007).

   

I had realized it had been a very long time since we had been to Temple Square to see the lights at Christmas time, so I decided this year we were going.  It was Logan and Kylie's first time, and Trevor hadn't been since he was probably 3 or 4.  We decided to make it a family event, my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews all went.  We first ate at Crown Burger, then walked up the street to see the lights.  It was a very mild night which was nice, since I have many memories of freezing fingers and toes in years past.  What a great way to really feel the Christmas spirit.

Picture of the kids in their new Christmas church clothes in front of the tree.

Pete and I on Christmas Eve, a rare picture with both of us in it.

The traditional photo of the kids in their new pjs on stairs Christmas morning.

Kylie turns 4!  She decided she wanted a princess party so she wore her new Aurora dress and shoes she got for Christmas.  Her girl cousins also wore dresses they had - Abby was Belle, Rylee was Cinderella, and Presley was Tinker Bell.  We had the kids decorate crowns with jewels.  Kylie then opened her many presents - most of which was Disney Princess stuff.  We then had cake and ice cream.

October and November in a nutshell

October

Logan enjoyed another year of soccer and really seemed to learn a lot.

 Traditional pictures in Papa's pumpkin patch.  

Frightmares at Lagoon, our last hurrah with our season passes.

Halloween party at Grandma's in Bountiful with cousins and 2nd cousins on the 29th.  Trunk or treat and trick or treating in Wendover on the 30th (Saturday).  Trevor missed all the Halloween festivities as he was off with Pete deer hunting with his own Jr. tag, though neither of them got a deer this year.  Kylie was a fairy and Logan one of many Iron Mans this year.

 

November

The kids enjoyed the snow storm at Grandma's.

We also had our traditional Thanksgiving with dinner Wednesday night with my family and Thursday with Pete's family.  Pete went on his annual fishing trip with his dad and brother to Flaming Gorge Friday and Saturday.  While I did most of my Christmas shopping on Black Friday.  We enjoyed the Utah BYU game that was so exciting, coming down to a blocked field goal at the last second for the Utes win!

(Our littlest Ute fan, she loves to cheer for Utah.)