Seattle Trip

We went on a glorious trip to Seattle this summer. It was quite possibly the most relaxing vacation I've ever taken. A million thanks again to Skye and Jon for letting us crash at their house, feeding us, giving us insider driving tips, and for generally allowing us to interrupt their lives for a week! I came home feeling more refreshed than I have in a long time. 

When debating road trip vs flying, it didn't take long to decide that the flying was the way to go. The kids were just as excited about the flight as they were the destination. 

In the airport... waiting.... and more waiting..... this was Nora's first airplane trip ever!

Just landed! It was a great flight! 

The kids got their wings. So exciting! And a source of lots of creative play all week long with their cousins.

Our first evening was spent at the Museum of Flight. There was so much to see and we could have spent many more hours there. The outdoor exhibits were my favorite. 

The kids wanted to spend all night in the kid's zone. 

Friday we helped clean house (it's incredible how fast you can clean when you have 4-5 adults all working together!) and put together a puppy birthday party. So fun to share that with Alyssa. I don't think we have ever been to one of her parties before. 

Saturday was Kylie's baptism ---- the catalyst for the entire trip! Again, something we weren't sure if we would be able to share with our out-of-state family. It was so lovely. And we discovered that family selfies are hard when we are all standing up!

We also got to picnic on the beach of the Puget Sound. I wasn't expecting sandy beaches in Washington state! So beautiful and calming. Throughout the whole trip I just couldn't get over how perfect the weather was (60-70 degrees, partly cloudy the whole time!) and how beautiful the scenery was. So many very very green trees and bushes, and lots of water. So different from Utah and just as picturesque. 

We also made a trip to the Seattle temple grounds and the family discovery center there. A very educational and fun trip for everyone. 

We spent one day in downtown Seattle and did the Space Needle tour. This was at the top of the kids' must-see lists. 

Holy cow look at those bolts! They are huge! Zeke was so impressed. He said it was a good thing no one had a wrench that big to take them out or the whole Space Needle would fall over. Side note: love how the other kids are climbing on it in the background. 

We also stopped at the Science Center after the Space Needle. We were all pretty tired so we didn't stay long. We did explore the space room and the butterfly house. Again, so much to see and not much time to do it in. We will definitely plan to come again when we make it back to the area. 

The best part of the trip for everyone was simply the downtime with our family. We had a great time helping with parties and doing touristy stuff. But the time for the kids to play and the adults to talk or just chill was what everyone really wanted out of a vacation. The last day of the trip the kids had a game of Star Wars going all day long, and we were happy to just let them run all over the house exploring the galaxy without having anywhere else to go. 

It's always bittersweet to come to the end of a fabulous vacation, but having another plane ride to look forward to helped! This time the kiddos got to see the cockpit and briefly meet the co-captain. This ride was just as fun as the first and they can't wait to fly again. 

Fancy Nancy

Loved taking this cute girl of mine to Fancy Nancy again this year!

We brought her newest friend, Rosetta the fairy, because she is super fancy and cute. 

The theme this year was stargazing. There were stars everywhere. So fun!

Fancy N is for Nora!!

We love sharing this with cousins and Grandma. 

We read books, painted nails, made a telescope craft, picked out new hair bows, and had delicious treats. 

Nora even won the pedicure gift basket! She was so excited. Among other things, we got purple nail polish and chocolate. She was in heaven. 

Loved spending the day with my fancy girl!

Aquarium

We spent spring break at home, with cousins who had come to visit. Most of the week was spent at grandma's but we did load everybody up and go to the aquarium for an afternoon. 

Lots of cousin love! 

My kids love love loved the sharks. 

The penguins were another favorite. They were so fun to watch. 

We didn't think we would get them out of the deep sea diver. The windshield is curved and it looks like you are putting your hand through the glass when you reach out from the inside. They couldn't get enough!

Little tiny jellyfish smaller than Zeke's fingers. We loved the jellies too, although there weren't as many of those as sharks or penguins. 

The group. Yay for cousins!

Ice Castles

We went to see the Ice Castles at Soldier Hollow and they were fantastic! So amazing. 

Family selfie turned out pretty good. . . 

And the family picture taken by another family passing by turned out even better. 

Nora especially was excited because Elsa is her favorite princess, and she got to go see a real ice castle! She is just so cute in her winter wear. 

We went at dusk and it was perfect. Great pictures in the daylight, and we got to see the lights in the ice come on too.

We waited in a long line to go on the ice slide. The slide was fun and the wait wasn't bad. And the view from the top of the castle wall was really stunning. 

The most breathtaking part for me was looking up the gigantic walls of ice, and seeing all of the individual icicles. Tunnels, canyons, and walls -- it was just incredible. 

We all loved the fountain and I have multiple pictures just like this, but different colors. Purple, green, blue, red, and white, all in time to the music. 

Fall Park Flying

We spent one warm-ish Saturday morning meeting Aaron's flying friends at a park to fly some small planes. They were little foam planes with streamers attached. It was really cool to watch them fly close to each other and really hard to get a picture that does it justice. 

Since we were at a park this time, there was of course a playground. When Zeke got bored watching planes because no one was cutting anyone else's streamer, I decided it was time to let Nora get the park time she had been asking for. They spent the most time on the merry-go-round type toy, and I got a workout pushing them. 

After that Zeke decided to hike the arch up to the slide. I love how this picture turned out!

Nora eventually got brave enough to try the arch too. 

I had them pose in the trees for me. This would be an adorable Christmas card!

On the arch together. 

Photo finish on the slides

Corn Maze and Fall Festival

We took a Carlile family trip to the Corn Maze (and Corn Festival as Zeke likes to call it). The theme this year was minions -- super fun!

We decided to take everyone on the long side of the big maze. The little girls were so excited for the corn maze but it didn't take too long for them to get hot and frustrated that it was really just a long walk without changing scenery.

We started out finding our way by looking for numbered signposts. Aaron scanned a code on #1 and got our location in the map. We started following around the outside, to sign #2. Then we started looking for major 'roads' and found #3. We figured we were in the middle of the maze by then. A few more corners and we were very surprised to see sign #10 and it was a straight shot out. Somehow we found a shortcut the maze and ended up exiting in the kids maze. It was awesome. 

Very fitting that the kids put themselves in the rule breaker stocks. We were very happy to have broken the rules and skipped out early. 

We spent the most time in the Pumpkin Princess Playland. Nora was so happy to dress up like a princess and ride in the carriages. 

And meet the real Pumpkin Princess

Zeke spent his time in the Playland minding the store, and loving it. 

It was a great day full of fall fun. We had the best time!