Reunions: Part 1 - Bec comes to visit

*Warning: This post is a bit of a picture overload.

This summer was full of reunions for us.  And to kick it off, my best friend Bec drove up from California with her two kids for a week long visit!  We hadn't seen eachother since Steve and I left Utah two years ago, so I'm glad she was willing to make the trip!

We spent the week down at my parents' house because adding three people to our 2 bedroom apartment didn't sound like too appealing and, let's face it, Grandma's house is just way more fun.  One of my favorite things about this visit is that I wasn't stressed about planning things to do.  Even though Bec is a little more activity driven than I am, I assumed that based on our history, we could do just about anything and have a good time.  I was right.  Although we did go out a few days and see some of the (kid-friendly) sites, we spent most of our time at the house just hanging out, talking, and watching our kids play.  I was a little worried about how Aliyah would handle having two extra kids in her territory for a week, but she did really well and they seemed to have a lot of fun together.  Step 1 of making our girls life long friends and future college roommates is complete!

Now for the photo dump.  I'll let you know what each activity is, but if you want more details about what we actually did, go here and read Bec's post about the trip.  She is much better at details than I am, so check it out.

Around the House

Tacoma Children's Museum

 

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

 4th of July Mariners Game

(Aliyah stayed home with Grandma.  Steve and I are not as daring as Bec and Jeff)

4th of July Activities at Gene Coulon Park

(we didn't last to the fireworks, but the park was a lot of fun) 

Bec and Jeff spent their last night at our place before heading to their family reunion in the morning, giving the girls a little more bonding time :)

All-in-all it was a great week and really great to see such a good friend.  My favorite thing about our relationship is that it doesn't ever seem to matter how long we've been apart, we're always able to just pick up where we left off and be natural together.  We can talk for hours or just lounge on the couch watching tv and not saying a word to each other without worrying about what to talk about next.  I'm grateful to have met Bec 9 years ago and even more grateful that we have become such great friends over the years.  Hopefully it wont be two more years before we get together again :)

Camping

After having a taste of warm weather at the beach, we weren't too happy to return to the rainy Seattle weather.  So, the next weekend we decided to try camping all by ourselves and headed east of the mountains to the sunshine.  We camped along the Columbia River and once again got to enjoy beautiful weather.  The beach was not nearly as nice, but the water and weather were warmer than Oregon :)  Aliyah didn't do quite as well going to sleep in the tent this time (she decided she needed to play with her baby for an hour in the tent before finally laying down and going to sleep) but she was happy and handled not having her own bed better than we thought she would.  Unfortunately, that night and the next morning were CRAZY windy and we weren't able to light our stove to make breakfast.  So after a night of not much sleep, a super early rising toddler (5 am), and lack of food, we decided to pack it up and head home.  Although we had planned to spend another day playing in the water, the one day of warmth and sunshine was well worth it.

The Beach and a Birthday

For Aliyah's birthday this year, we decided to go camping with my parents at Nahalem Bay on the coast of Oregon.  We weren't really sure if we wanted to go since we had never gone camping with Aliyah before, but decided to attempt it and were very glad we did.  We all had a great time.  The weather was perfect and the beach was amazing!  Aliyah LOVED playing at the beach!  We'll definitely have to try and spend some time at the beach each summer.

On Aliyah's birthday, we drove into Seaside and walked around a classic car show with my parents, and my Uncle Lynn and Aunt Judy.  The highlight though was Aliyah's first carousel ride.  She laughed the whole time and was sad when she had to get off.  I think I had as much fun watching her as she had riding.

That afternoon, we celebrated with cupcakes and a couple presents.  We had one big cupcake for Aliyah and little mini cupcakes for the rest of us.  Seemed like a good idea, except she was not at all interested in her cupcake (maybe she wasn't a fan of the yellow frosting), but when she saw the mini ones, she dug right in :)

All in all, the weekend was wonderful.  Aliyah did a great job sleeping in the tent and we all had fun hanging out on the beach.  It did rain our last night there, but after a slightly soggy morning we got everything packed up and headed home.
First camping trip was definitely a success, and we will have to do more in the future!

Easter

Easter festivities were a little more fun this year.  Aliyah was actually interested in doing some of the typical Easter activities!  We spent the first half of Easter weekend at my parents' house.  While there, Aliyah got to try coloring eggs for the first time.  She probably would have been just as happy stirring colored water without the eggs, but either way, she had fun. And next year we will be sure to put a cookie sheet under the muffin tin to avoid any table dying mishaps :)

 

Later that day, Grandpa hid Easter eggs for Aliyah to find.  She still didn't quite get the concept of Easter egg hunts, but with a little help and encouragement she was able to find most of them, and was excited to find out that there were goodies inside.  Grandpa needs to work on his toddler level hiding skills though, some were a little bit too hidden for a not even two year old.

 

We spent Easter morning at home as a family and Aliyah enjoyed even more goodies in her Easter basket.  She was so excited, she brought the basket straight in to show Mom in bed.  Her favorite things were definitely the bubbles and bunny car.  That afternoon we had our traditional Easter dinner with Betsy and her family, which was fantastic as always.

  

I'm glad that Aliyah is starting to enjoy holiday traditions, rather than just doing things because Mommy wants to take pictures.  And I'm excited for her to look forward to these little traditions even more next year.