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.