One busy week!

Life has been busy in general, but the last couple of weeks in April I was busier than I have been in a long time....thankfully it was with normal life stuff!

Starting on Saturday, April 25, we took the opportunity to leave our kids with my in-laws and headed for one of our favorite restaurants...Sakura (a Japanese SteakHouse). Dinner was fun, Summer liked it too...of course she goes everywhere we do these days...she is quite the conversation piece! We headed back to my in-laws' house for dessert. The kids (ALL 11, including mine and the cousins) were hiding, oh, so well, and all jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!" My mom-in-law ordered a Princess/Frog prince cake she assured me looked so nuch better in the catalog....she thought it was the ugliest cake ever...so we added this toy plastic toilet just to complete the look :)

The next day (Sunday), I made dinner for my sister, Debbie and her kids. After dinner, my parents arrived with a cheesecake, then along came our friends from Utah, Eric and Jessica with their daughter, Cleo. We had a nice visit with them between munching on cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, and of course, CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! Yum :)L-R~ Tom, Micaela, my dad, Debbie, Connor, mom, Jessica, Eric, little Tom, Summer, and me...in front, Morgan, Andrew, and Cleo.

Monday was my actual birthday. I got the boys out the door and climbed into my parents car to head to my sister's house to pick up my birthday present. Debbie just bought a new car and happened to have an extra Ford Explorer laying around...Happy Birthday to me :) Thanks Deb :) We went out to lunch, then it was back home with my new present. That night, m+++++++y hubby grilled steak and we had a quiet night at home.

Tuesday, I had a couple of appts. for Summer, then that night it was time for Tom's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. As we were getting ready to go, a friend of mine reminded me that the 1st graders had their Spring concert was the same night! Yikes!! It was a good thing my new birthday present was sitting in the driveway....my hubby threw Andrew in the Explorer and headed to the school. I finished dinner and threw the other 3 kids in the car and headed to the church for the Pinewood Derby. All went well...Andrew survived the concert and Tom's car did well in the race. He placed at least 2nd in most of the races and was very happy.

Tom's BIG cheese car complete with wingnut mouse for added weight. Grandpa Norris helped Tom cut the shape and drill the swiss cheese holes. It was a very clever design.

Tom earned a bunch of awards during the last month

Watching the cars race

Tom and his car

The 2nd place race

The BIG cheese won the award for the "Kraftiest" car

Wednesday we had an appt. for Summer at Children's, then running around taking Tom to scouts that night.

Thursday morning I dropped Morgan off with a friend and headed to the school for Tom's fieldtrip to the Science Center in Seattle. I had to take Summer with me, so I had to drive. I carpooled with a couple of other moms and we met the buses there. The boys had a great time at the IMAX Undersea movie, Planetarium, and GPS adventure.

The flash still hurts even with 3-D glasses on!

Tyler and Tom at lunch outside

Summer and Tom in the Duckbill footprint

Tyler

Summer and Tom

Summer, Tom, and Ms. Aulava

Mindy and Terri sporting the stuffed germs

Tom, Isaak, and Tyler

Tyler, Tom and Isaak

Me and Tom...had to force him to take this picture (in case you couldn't tell (: )

That night it was girl's night and time to shoot some pool. We all love to play, but can't shoot worth anything...but have fun chasing the balls around the table!

Cathy, Allison, and Angie...pool sharks, ha ha

Cathy LOVES it when I follow her around with a camera :)

Bridget always fools us into thinking she knows what she is doing :)

Me (with pool chalk tattoo), Cathy, and Bridget

Bridget looks on as Allison shoots with her cane....didn't work so well :)

Saturday brought us back to the Science Center! Yes, it is true....twice in one week :) This time I drove Tom and a couple of scouts with his den...Andrew came along with us :) We visited the Planetarium and went through the GPS adventure maze...geocaching is pretty cool!

Andrew, Jaron, Tom, and Alex

Here are some of the cool butterflies we saw...

Jaron had a friendly visitor

What a cute shoe accessory :)

Tom's goal is to always have at least one butterfly land on him...he did it again :)

This was fun...do you think I'm a little too old for this? haha

Tom, Jaron, Joe, Alex, and Andrew

A much needed break

This Spring break we actually got a break :) Our friends, Zack and Celia Nilson, along with their 5 kids, came to visit from Utah. They lived here 4 years ago and we have missed having them around.

Tues. April 7th we met them at the Seattle Aquarium. The kids always love going there and got along great with all the Nilsons. On our way home, we stopped to play at Gene Coulon Park on Lake Washington. Celia and I have taken our kids there many times together...it was just like old times :) The kids ran right into the water, despite the fact that it was only about 55 degrees that day...brrrr! That night we had a dinner party at the Lim's house complete with the chocolate fountain...yum!

Andrew by the huge fish tank

Tom checking out the tide pool before the security guard caught him climbing :)

You gotta watch out for that darn rubber octopus!

AHHHH

Jellyfish

Andrew

Tom and Andrew

Bekah, Sarah, Joey and Zack

Tom and Morgan

Andrew and a cool sea star

Morgan

Morgan, Tom, Bekah, Sarah, Leah, and Emma

Morgan

Tom loves my camera, ha ha

Tom and Andrew getting wet by the waterfall

Summer's so cool :)

Andrew at Gene Coulon park

The kids ran right into the water...half of them ended up riding home in their underwear :)

Tom held Summer to warm up

Wednesday I spent the day getting ready to go. We watched the Nilson kids while Zack and Celia went out for seafood (yuck! (; ) then packed all night...almost literally...as usual, I stayed up getting things done while everyone was in bed....went to sleep at 4 AM...zzz

Thurs morning the Nilsons met us at our house and we were off...like a herd of turtles :)

We stopped at Cape Disappointment on our way to Ocean Park to check out the lighthouse. It was windy, but there were blue skies. The only disappointment was that the lighthouse is closed for tours...we had to just admire it from a distance.

Morgan and Sarah

Zack, Celia, and Joey

Tom, Mel, and Summer

EWE Andrew, good thing it isn't winter time!

Next, we headed for the vacation house we rented on the beach in Ocean Park. The pictures on their website didn't do this place justice! http://www.bytheoceansoblue.com/ There was nothing between us and the beach but dunes. The whole front of the house was big windows...we sat and watched the waves from a comfy couch. The kids had a great time there too. Friday was spent all day out at the beach. It started out gray, foggy, and a little rainy (most summer mornings start this way around here) but cleared off by mid day and we had blue skies. The kids flew kites for a few minutes, and then planted themselves in the sand. I think Tom almost made it to China! We spent a few hours getting wet and dirty, then headed back to the house to hose them all off. We made a fire in the outdoor pit and roasted hot dogs followed by marshmallows for s'mores.

Our first walk to the water

Bekah, Sarah, Celia, Leah, and Emma

Andrew already found something!

Morgan

Tom is Captain Awesome

Lounging babies, Summer 9 months, Joey 7 1/2 months...we have already arranged their marriage :)

Sarah and Andrew outside the living room window

Wow...this was our front yard!

Andrew heading to collect shells

Leah flying a kite

Celia, Zack, and Tom manning the kites the kids were done with after 5 minutes...

Mel and Celia with Joey attached

Some family pics...yes, it took a lot to coordinate us!

Hey, this one's decent :)

Morgan with her Moses stick following Zack

Summer

Tom digging to China

Morgan

Morgan loved the beach but got nervous when the waves came in....

....she ran away every time

Andrew joined in the wave chasing too

Bekah found some shells

Sarah

Emma and Tom were best buddies in no time...just like they were when the Nilsons lived here :)

Our boots didn't escape the waves! This is a lot harder than it looks!

The walk back from the beach

Tom does the manly thing and builds a fire :)

Roasting hot dogs

Tom eating dinner on the front deck

Tom and his dogs

Eating dinner inside

Roasting marshmallows

Summer loves the flash :)

Self portrait...mom and Summer

Saturday started out raining and windier. We sent the Easter Bunny (Tom) out to hide eggs and the kids were set loose after they all finished breakfast. Andrew exclaimed that it was the best Easter ever!! They were all restricted to only 18 eggs each, so kept close count...Andrew found his lot first and the rest of the kids didn't take long to follow. They all ran inside and started devouring the yummy treats...Morgan tried to eat her way through her entire bucket, but we stopped her from succeeding :)

Awe, how sweet these two are :)

Joey...future ladies man

Summer and Tom cuddles

A couch in the hallway...Sarah, Leah, Andrew, Bekah, and Morgan

The kids could collect only 18 eggs...Andrew found his lot first! He excalimed that it was the best Easter ever!!

Morgan had fun too...it's pink (her favorite color)

Easter egg hunters...Emma, Leah, Andrew, Bekah, Morgan, Tom, and Sarah

Emma and Tom....Tom traded all his candy for peanut butter cups...my favorite too :)

Morgan trying to eat her way through her basket in 10 minutes flat! Her idea of a balanced breakfast :)

Leah

We packed up lunch, threw the kids in the vans and headed for the North Head lighthouse (only about 30 minutes away) The older kids could climb to the top with us, so we took turns watching the little people. It was really interesting...there hasn't been a new lighthouse built for 100 years! Since lighthouses are pretty much obsolete, when they develop a crack in the base, they lock the doors and shut it down...unless some outside party invests in the restoration. Andrew and Tom asked a million questions of the volunteer at the top, then we headed back down to eat lunch. Despite Celia and I's grand plans for something else to do, we all decided to head back to the house. I took some of the braver kids with me to expolore the beach in the wind, one last time...everyone else stuck around the warm house playing games and watching movies.

Climbing the 69 stairs to the top was exhausting... not really, but the kids kept count just to make sure the brochure was right when it said how many stairs there were :)

A view from the top

Tom, Mel, Andrew and Tom in the lighthouse

It was built in 1898

Andrew and the North Head lighthouse

Another view from the lighthouse

Morgan accidentally jumped out of the van into a mud puddle...look what cut muddy footprints her socks made :)

The whole top layer of sand was blowing in the strong wind...it was cool

It was just us and the birds

Sarah...Emma, Tom, and Bekah

Andrew

Sarah growled and chased seagulls

The seagulls would ride the wind...they flew up against it and stayed suspended in the air, then would swoop down and around and do it again...it was cool to watch :)

Tom fended them off with shovels full of mud...

Like I said....Tom loves my camera :)

Sarah and Emma were drenched

Tom and Emma heading back to the house

Sunday (Easter) morning, Zack and Celia packed up and left early to head home. I was up late, so didn't get out of bed until around 10 AM. It was very quiet in the house without the extra kids :( Morgan, who every morning would ask if her friends were awake, did the same...when she went down the hall and discovered they had left, she started sobbing. It was so sad...Andrew also cried quite a bit. We all had so much fun, it was a real let down to have to head back to real life.

Summer's happy....she stayed inside :)

The kids helped me pack, ha ha

Andrew's crab parts we made him throw back...all except a crab shell I plucked the eyes out of for him to take to show and tell...yucky

Sunday the waves were wild

Attitudes changed once the kids were set loose to find their Easter baskets :) They got some good candy and activities for the ride home. We took our time packing and cleaning up. We watched the waves getting bigger and bigger all day with the increased wind and rain...it was cool to watch from a warm house :) We finally headed out around 4 PM and stopped for Easter dinner at Red Robin. Mmmmm....my Easter onion rings were yummy :)

Morgan found her basket in the living room under a table

Tom's was in the dryer

Andrew found his bucket in the laundry room sink full of sandy clothes

Happy Easter!

We vowed on the way home to take our kids on more outings like this...cross your fingers that we can all stay well and have money and time to do it :)