Kid's Day

Friday we hit up a local town's 'Kid's Day' festival with some friends. The weather was perfect, not too warm or cool! The park was amazing, brand new and creatively designed. Holly really loved the natural aspects they created, like a sand play area butted up to a kid friendly stream that water must be hand pumped by the children. Little rock gardens and logs were scattered about for natural play and more! Musical stations throught out and more. It was wonderful!

After loads of playtime at this playground we ventured out to take advantage of the various kids activities - games, crafts,activities, music and more! Holly was excited to hear a favorite children's musician she knows, Nancy Stewart. I was too! She had a wonderful time - a great 'Kid's Day'!!!

Museum Of Flight

Saturday we spent the day with Tex & Annette - we enjoyed breakfast together, Museum of Flight and then dinner. A full day of fun! Holly had a great time and did a wonderful job through it all with no nap - amazing!

The Museum of Flight is a large museum filled with airplanes of all shapes and sizes, flying devices, historic pieces, a gallery on space/NASA, movies, Amelia Earhart and a small children's area to boot. You can go on to the Concord and on an retired Air Force One - pretty cool.

There were some areas that are more interesting to myself than others of course, but to really enjoy the museum it will have to be alone with older children. That being said though, Holly really loved the museum and all that it offered! I see many homeschooling opportunities down the road involving the Museum of Flight.

Holly making a rocket with the help of Grandma.

Our astronauts in the family...

Bryan & Tex landing a shuttle. Mine crashed - badly!

Gingerbread Play Dough

Today Holly made some wonderful smelling play dough, gingerbread play dough -- Yummy! The recipe was super easy to follow, very quick and just about the best smelling play dough we have ever made. She loves to do stuff in the kitchen, but even we can't eat to many baked goods. So, play dough fit the bill perfectly - a great winter treat to have some fun with. We broke out the gingerbread cookie cutters that Grandma Annette gave Holly last year - a fun way to use those too.

Gingerbread Play Dough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 cup water

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp ginger

Mix well. On medium heat stir for about 3-5 minutes until the shine changes a bit and balls up. Let warm for a few moments on the counter then play to your hearts content! Store in a Ziploc bag.

Our week at a glance...

Blogging for me is like a simple journal or scrapbook for our family, the little side bits and pieces that get lost in my paper scrapbooking simply because the day did not come with matte finished photo to scrap. I like to sit and write a bit about our everyday adventures, tiny family moments and post a few random photos... simply because those are the moments that really make up who we are as a family.

On that note; our week as a family can be relaxing one moment and an abrupt whirl wind the next. For the most part we try to keep things pretty simple as far as 'plans' go... again, *we try*. Bryan works your traditional weekday schedule with really nice hours that make for great family time. Luckily he is not faced with odd hours or overtime. So, all general family activity takes place after dinner on week nights or is squeezed into a weekend.

I am not afraid to pass on an activity to simply keep things balanced. I am not one to constantly go day to day or overly plan our family time. When we have been full of visits, errands, activities and events --I will then pass on others when the opportunity arises. And, I am thankful that I can recognize that in our life. It is okay to say, "no thanks" and move on to future plans. So, we plan a few nights a week with an activity and then take a few off. Weekends are usually pretty fun filled with big plans, game nights, dinners or weekends away.

Weekdays are for the 'Mom & Me' moments. Being that I am stay at home mom I am lucky to fill our week with great opportunities for Holly to play, learn and grow all while watching and participating. We take in our weekly playgroup with dear friends, participate in a weekly preschool co-op and then plan a few field trips with other friends. You might find us at a local kids museum, playing at our neighborhood parks, searching the library, enjoying a kids amusement attraction or simply at a friends home playing. But, you'll most likely find us about town.

Our week at a glance... the many moments I don't scrapbook but want to remember! Thanks for sharing with me!

My 'Scope'

Holly received a gift from Grandma Annette, a microscope or as Holly puts it her 'scope'. She has taken to this new little device like a fish to water and wants to use it all the time. Last night she asked to break it out again, so we did. She took her little dish around and collected things to instpect, Bryan set up some juice and beer to look at -- beer yeast is very cool looking, we looked at animal fibers, cat hair and more. It was a lot of fun and the best part is that Holly really loves it!

Not the hand over one eye to help her see in the microscope - cute!

Fall Walk & My Camera

It just doesn't get better: a beautiful morning, my family, a morning walk and my camera... with a little time to play too! Saturday morning we headed out to take advantage of the crisp morning sun and took a morning walk. This is one of our favorite paths in town, a good length and the park is simply fun.

This morning I brought along my camera - I just don't get enough time to play with it and try my hand and different kinds of photos. So, this morning I captured some fall berries and mushrooms of sorts. There were some really cool items to photograph... it was hard to choose and keep up with Bryan & Holly on our walk!

Children's Museum

Monday I took Holly to our local children's museum in Tacoma. This is a cute little spot that is never crowded, just the right size and offers some great playtime, especially when it is rainy outside. The museum recently changed out their exhibits to a 'story' theme - The Adventures of Raven and Coyote. These two stories are tales/lore from the Native Americans - The Raven was about how the sun came to the sky and The Coyote was about how he obtained his dark grey coloring. It was fun and really Holly's first interaction with this kind of tale, Native Art and culture - made for a cool day!

They recently revamped their art studio too, my favorite part by far. The new studio has more painting space, lot's more crafty selection out for kids to enjoy. A hug magnet wall, a weaving wall, a window wall to draw on and a building area with lot's of different building toys and sculptures. Such a fun, fun room!!!

Dancing Girl

Holly put all her ballerina attire on began dancing around the house 'practicing', in the words of her teacher. Each week when the girls leave she tells them to go home and practice, so that is what Holly was doing. It was wonderfully cute to find her dancing around the house and enjoying every moment of it. The joy of little girls... it's a moment that really makes a mommy just smile in pure enjoyment and love! Ahhh... my little ballerina!

Oktoberfest

Saturday night Holly spent a couple of hours with Uncle Don and Sarah while we headed down the hill to check out the Oktoberfest celebration at the fairgrounds. This celebration was really cool, fun and festive - of course. The newest pavilion was filled with folks, family activities, lots of really neat music, tons of wonderful smelling foods and of course... beer! A lot of beer!

We wanted to see what it was like and were pleasantly surprised - it was nice and pretty popular as there were a lot of folks there. The music was all of Scandinavian variety with some cool dancing. There were several beer bars featuring varieties of Oktoberfest beers and many food booths that had brats of any variety you can possibly imagine, Weinerschnitzel, stroganaff, german baked goods, etc... Good Stuff!

This was nice because it was close... much closer than our last attempt to take in an Oktoberfest celebration with our friends Ray & Devon. Back in our younger days (before kids) we met for dinner one night at Olive Garden where the wait was your typical hour to hour and a half long. We joked that we should head to Leavenworth for Oktoberfest... then that joke became a 'what the hell' moment. We loaded up and headed out at about 5 or 6 at night, no hotel reservations and not a lick of anything with us. It was fun trip over.

We arrived in town to find not a single hotel and to not find an Oktoberfest celebration but rather the Fall Leaf Festival. Oktoberfest was next weekend, oops! So, we tried several locations for a hotel with no luck and proceeded to head over to Wenatchee where we found a room to share and finally had dinner at Applebees - no comparison to Olive Garden, Ha! Oh well! We did spend the next day in Leavenworth and had a great day and a great memory!!!

Now when we leave town, we make sure we have a hotel reservation booked!

Anyhow, next year we would like to attend our local Oktoberfest again, with a good group of friends & family who enjoy good beer, fun music, a reason to celebrate and can enjoy a brat now and again. So.... we'll be in touch next year!

My Little Ballerina

Holly started a small dance class last night that features ballet & tap. It was sooo cute to watch 10 little 3 & 4 year olds bee-bopping around the class in their cute outfits.... a moment that just makes you go "Awe, so cute!". Her teacher is a young gal from a local high school who has been in dance since 3 years old and competes & performs a lot. She is cute - but, as you would suspect with a 17 year old gal - she is not 'kid' savvy... as in how in the world can I control 10 preschoolers. Which honestly is enough to put anyone over the edge. But, I think she did great!

Holly had a blast and is very excited to continue with it. I love it because she *really* has to listen and use some control - a great skill to learn. She will also have to work a bit on her calmness, not giddy excitement. If she tends to continue liking this we may eventually move her to a studio in the area - but for now this is a great way to see how she does, if she really likes it or if this is just a phase. I am hoping she likes it - what a graceful art!

Soccer Fun

Today was Holly's first day of tot-soccer lessons! She had so much fun and talked about it a LOT today. It was so cute to see all these little kidlets on the field and paying such great attention to the coach as she instructed about 15 little 3 & 4 year olds with such enthusiasm, yet control - kudos to her!

Holly dressed early for soccer, wanted to go early and play before class, wanted to stay after class and play and then come home to... play soccer! Our number one requested activity lately - and today was much heavier than normal. She has even started to bug me to set up a soccer playdate with her friend - who is also taking the same soccer class. She is enthusiastic! I'd say we have a winner in choosing to play soccer, which is very exciting - for her and us. It will be great to see her involved in a class that she is on her own in... she is growing up. Let the fun begin!

Grove of the Patriarchs

While camping this week we all loaded up for a day up at Mount Rainier, a hot day! Our first stop was the Grove of the Patriarchs trail. This trail heads along the Ohanapecosh river back to a small island of old growth trees, some amazing trees at that! This was an easy, fun trail with many neat views, fallen trees and a fun cable bridge. I highly recommend this trail if you are ever in the area!

This is not everyone we camped with, just everyone who made it to this little hike.