Portland Adventures!

We had a great time in Portland this weekend! It was nice to get a break from the marathon of June at school and see tons of friends and family!

We hit the road after setting up First Grade Camp. Lily was a great traveler! She sang, read books, and played the whole way to Vancouver. We are hopeful for our road trips that we have planned this summer!

We pulled into Vancouver super late, and got to wake up the next morning to play with this guy and catch up with Elissa and Cole.

It was a slumber party! Marika was in town, too!

We headed out to check out the Strawberry Festival that Elissa found. The girls hopped right into this cow train...and it took off for a LONG ride with my baby!! Luckily her big cousin took good care of her.

Riding the cow train off into the sunset...

Good news...Lily finally road a pony! ("NOT pony, mommy. Horsie!" ~Lily). Last summer she refused, so we were super excited that she did it AND loved it!

This hay ride never actually went anywhere, but we still had fun (tractor problems!).

What a sweet family of three these guys are now!

Luckily we got wristbands for the girls to do unlimited activities, because they went down this giant slide about 98576987 times. Lily even climbed all the way up and slid all the way down by herself! She is such a daredevil baby!

The girls bounced and bounced in the bouncy house, and then we ate Strawberry Shortcake, bought Father's Day apple pie, said goodbye to our friends and headed for Grandma and Grandpa's for a nap. We loved having lots of time to spend with G&G and Aunt Mary. Since plan are being made to sell the big house, this might have been our last sleepover with tons of Brehms piled in the attic!

Of course, we had to have monkey cake for breakfast. At least we had plenty of monkeys!

Cooper was "helping" too.

We spent some time enjoying Grandpa's gardens.

Lily's moves.

We will all miss the squirrel and bird entertainment at the big window!

Finally, we got to go celebrate Elie's graduation from Oregon State at a super fun party. We even got to tour her new condo. Congrats Elie!!

June is Here!

June has arrived, and it sure feels like summer! We (the grown ups) have the sun-burns to prove it (oops!).

We had a super busy weekend and lots of fun pictures.

Lily has really bonded with one of her friends at school. We ended up having two playdates with her family last week! On Wednesday we went to the Bell Square play area and dinner. Lily was jumping up and down, she was so excited to play at the "inside playground" with her friend!

Come on, let's run into Nordstrom!

 On Friday, we met them at Chism Beach in Bellevue. What a little gem of a park in Enatai! A was a great influence on Lily. Once she saw her buddy playing in the sand and waves, Lily was in, too! Hurray! The waves were nice and small (though a boat going by did create some concerningly 'big' waves at one point).

Sharing! These girls play great together!

 Lily is still a total monkey on the playground. She's been studying the big girls at school and all the tricks they can do on the bars. She has a few tricks of her own!

On Saturday, we met Kristina for breakfast at one of our favorite spots, Toulouse Petit. We planned to hang out on Queen Anne after breakfast, but Lily saw all the buses cruising by and requested, "I ride the bus!!!" So we hopped a bus to downtown!

 We ended up a Pike Place, sat on the pig, watched some flying fish, and checked out the flowers and veggies.

 Then we hopped a bus back to our car. It was perfect!

On Sunday, we met an out-of-town friend at Mukilteo Beach. We all love that beach. We can all enjoy the view and the ferries going by while Lily swings and swings and swings! We stopped at home for a nap, then headed to Renton for a BBQ with the Friesen clan. Lily loves her cousin time! She is picking up speed and joining right in with the boys and their antics. Also, she thinks they have great toys.

 We even got some pictures with all three of them in them! Win!!

 Jack was so sweet to her. He's trying to cheer her up...and convince her to run away from the Kaden-monster.

 No toddlers were harmed in the taking of these shots!

 

 P.S. Uncle Jason photo bomb = total creeper.

3 more weeks until summer break!!!!!!