Back at home

Broc has been playing on his work softball team and Rune got caught up in the love for the game. When he is not asking to go to the park to play baseball, he is asking me how much longer until he turns five. The kid is a little excited about turning 5. 

I have been wanting to go to the Big Four Ice Caves for months now, but the bridge officially reopened this month. Because of all the snow this winter it was still an ice field, rather than ice caves, but it was cool nonetheless.

Here are the boys wishing they had brought their snowboards, or at least the snowskate.
A view on the way.

It is cherry season here and so at every opportunity we get some on which to gorge ourselves. Rune has not quite figured out getting the pit out without making a huge mess of himself.

Eric and Kim came to visit. The afternoon they got into town, we hit the Experience Music Project on the busiest day they had ever experienced. Ever. They had to close the doors because they were at capacity. Needless to say, it was ridiculously crowded. However, it is a very cool place and we got to see the famous MJ glove. You can see Kim's sidekick too. Dolly was so much fun to have here. Rune could not leave her alone.
Here are the boys on our way home from Bainbridge Island.One of my favorite things we did was hiking to Franklin Falls. They were lovely and the spray was the perfect way to cool off.
We loved having the Huffakers come visit. It was a little hot for a few days, but otherwise it was a perfect weekend with friends! 

Arizona in June

I was dying to see my little people (nieces, nephews, and the like) and when I mentioned the idea to Rune, he was all about it!

Despite the perfect weather in WA and the less than ideal AZ days, we decided to spend a couple weeks seeing our loved ones.

Rune got reacquainted with Cousin Shaynie. 

Loved spending the day in Globe at Calan's house.

Here he is with his summer cut. Love the Cooper Girls.

Could Rune and Lily be any cuter? Swimming with the Chaffees.

Rune's absolute favorite thing of the trip- RC cars in Poppie's backyard.

My absolute favorite thing of the whole trip- Liam is such a chub and a sweetheart. And Vanessa gave me a little haircut.

Good times with The Girls in Scottsdale before Lindsay moved to Oklahoma. 

Our last get-away as twenty-somethings!

I was so happy I got to spend time with Cora. It is amazing how much I love my little people!

It was great to be able to see everyone! But as fun as the trip was, nothing was more joyous than our return home. The man I adore with his mini-me:

A few people have asked me what is home to me- Mesa or Seattle. It is definitely wherever Broc is and I don't have to live out of a suitcase.  So--- Seattle.

Camping and Special Occasions

It's been an eventful couple of weeks. Our anniversary was celebrated by adding a declaration of our love to the Gum Wall in Post Alley. I never want to see Bubble Yum again in my life.

The next day we dropped in on GrammieKaye and GrandpaDon for some kite flying and pizza.

The weather here has been unbelievably beautiful, so we are trying to take advantage of every moment. Here we are in an old railroad tunnel we hiked to.

This year we celebrated Broc's birthday by eating meat (sandwiches). Salumi's was amazing!

We spent our Memorial Weekend camping in the North Cascades. The weather was perfect, the scenery amazing and Rune LOVED it.

We hiked to Ross Dam. The dam jokes got old, but the view was worth suffering through them.
This is the view on Diablo Lake Trail. I don't get in hikes without the munchkin much these days, so I was happy Broc encouraged me to sneak this one in while they went fishing.
Broc washing away the smell of campfire in ICE COLD water.

Our efforts to do some geo-caching while camping never worked out, so when we got home we popped into Schmitz Preserve just a mile up the road from home for Rune's first "treasure-hunting" experience. (Chelsi & Trevor introduced us to geo-caches- they are lots of fun)

Found the goods. We will definitely have to do this again.

Uncle Caleb

We were so happy to have Uncle Caleb visit this week. He got here just before Broc left for his bike race weekend. Here are the boys enjoying Ezell's famous chicken in Volunteer Park.

 

Rune loved having Uncle Caleb here for two reasons: 

1. *ultimate fighting machines* made out of Legos 

2. computer games 

A hike to Boulder River. 

Finally, a small tribute someone left for us down on the Waterfront. 

Celebrating 8 years of true love today.

Love you, Babe. Devil eyes and all.

Tulips, Salamanders & Slugs

I had given up hope for making the Tulip Festival this year, but last minute we decided to make the trip and get a hike out of it as well.

 

Off of Chuckanut Drive, we hiked to Fragrance Lake. Rune did the whole 4 miles on his own two feet.

And got to catch his first salamander along the way.

Rune was an eagle-eye at spotting these guys before we stepped on them, as they were frequently on the trail. 

The lake was quite lovely and worth the walk.  All-around great Saturday!

My birthday

The three of us spent a lovely weekend on Vancouver Island for my birthday. We took the Clipper into Victoria, and promptly headed to Butchart Gardens. I have always wanted to see them and they did not disappoint.

This is the sunken garden. It was my favorite part. 

Rhiannon was sweet to host us. Should you ever receive an invitation of any kind from Rhiannon, I highly recommend accepting it. Regardless of the occasion, she knows how to make things beautiful and the food is always fantastic. 

 These little beauties are my Cupcake Royale indulgence for my birthday.

These are from Broc. What a great birthday.

And what a beautiful time of year. I am completely enamored.

Love this place

First, a big event for our family- Rune finally saved enough to get a bigger bike. 25cents for emptying the dishwasher is a steady but slow way to earn money. He is thrilled with his Hotrock and shows off like crazy.

Here is a little hike we did on Saturday. Twin Falls. Rune and George have way too much fun.

Obligatory rock throwing.

Obligatory rock leaping.

This shot is not from our hike, rather it is from a park a mile from us that we just discovered this week. 

How I love this place.