Hello Spiritridge Park...and hello tennis!

One consolation in saying goodbye to our Sammamish park is the enjoyment we're getting from our new neighborhood park, Spiritridge. You got a sneak-peak at Spiritridge in a post a few weeks ago, and it has become one of our go-to places as the weather gets nicer. It's a slightly further walk than our Sammamish park was, but it actually has a lot more to offer. Most of our time there is spent on the playground, but lately we've been visiting the tennis court. One of Eli's favorite birthday gifts this year was a real, "big kid" tennis racket from Pa. Tennis is one of Pa's greatest passions; he plays most days and is very good! We think it's pretty special that he decided it was time to share his passion with Eli (Nana did the same, giving Eli three introductory piano books!). Eli is having a great time learning this new sport (and is looking forward to piano lessons from Nana!).Lucky for him, both Dada and Pa are great tennis players with experience coaching. I think Eli's got it made!I love the intensity on his face!!We got to watch Dada and Pa play a set, and much to Pa's surprise, Daddy won! :)Abby was a great spectator and may have had just as much fun sitting on the bench watching as the boys had playing!While Daddy and Pa played their set, the kids decided to explore more of the park on this little "hike."They had a great time exploring...And they were awfully cute doing it!

I love these precious punkies! :)

Goodbye "Sammamish Park"

The kids asked to take one last walk to "our Sammamish park" (it's actually called Klahanie Park) before the sale of our house was final. This park is an easy half mile walk from our (former) home, and during our three years of living there, we took many walks to this favorite spot. Fortunately we were blessed with a beautiful, warm, sunny day on which to honor their request. We headed over to our "old house" and set out on our walk. The kids actually spent very little time on the playground, opting instead to spend their time running in the field... picking flowers...and sitting barefoot in the grass.We packed a picnic and enjoyed a relaxing, sunny lunch together. I just love Abby's sandwich-eating technique!I got some cute close-ups... (that's a bandaid on Eli's nose)When it was time to head back to the house we took the back route, which included a trip (actually, several!) down our favorite sledding hill. It's an absolutely beautiful spot, and I didn't mind letting the kids hike up and down the hill over and over.Needless, to say, this next shot is one of my absolute favorite photos ever!!I just loved watching them share that moment as they said goodbye to some of our favorite spots.

Eli has always loved pretending he's a zebra in this tall grass!I loved lagging behind and watching my kids enjoy each other on this last leg of our walk. We will miss having this walk, this park, this hill so close by...but we know that God has great things in store for our family wherever He takes us next!

Pirate Party!

For months Eli has been talking about having a pirate party for his fifth birthday. It started after he learned about pirates at school, and I thought the idea would eventually pass since pirates aren't really one of his interests. Even though we offered other ideas, including a dinosaur dig (which I really thought would be a big hit with him), he was set on a pirate party. I found these invitations on Etsy, and was really happy with how they turned out!Eli was excited to discover that there's a park very near our temporary home that has a pirate ship play structure. We decided this would be a great party venue, and it was probably the best party decision we've ever made! We borrowed a tent from Ryan's school in case of rain, and made the park party-ready.I cannot even describe how excited Eli was to wear his brand new pirate costume to his party! This was a birthday gift from Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Elizabeth, and Cousin Lucas, and definitely made Eli's day extra special! Here's Captain Eli, ready to party!My little pirates were ready to play!After plenty of play time we rounded up the crew for cupcakes. Eli requested chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, and I decorated them with gold-wrapped chocolate coins.I love this shot of Eli post-cupcake...he really looks like a pirate now! After cupcakes it was time for the treasure hunt. I hid clues around the park and the kids hunted for their party favors. The activity went great and the kids had a lot of fun. Here's Abby, ready to hunt for treasure with her spy-glass. First clue was on the ship...Everybody in a hurry to get the next clue...Captain Eli stretches to reach one way up high...Up the hill for the final clue...And here's the last clue, leading them to their treasures.We had a lot of fun at this party, and most important - Eli had a blast! Happy Birthday, Captain Eli!

Birthday at the zoo

On Eli's birthday we and some friends headed to the Woodland Park Zoo to check out their new dinosaur exhibit. It's a temporary exhibit that consists of a walk through a collection of animatronic actual-size dinosaurs. I'm not the big dinosaur lover in our family, but even I thought it was incredibly cool! Eli and Sawyer got friendly with a couple of T-Rex's! The only dinos that Abby liked were these adorable little baby ones...believe it or not, there's actually a little smile behind her Lovey here!On our way out of the exhibit I noticed this etiquette guide...the second to last line had me laughing out loud! Cute!Eli, Sawyer, and Tyler had a great time playing on and around the meerkat den.So Abby and Courtney - who we thought would spend most of the morning in the double stroller together - decided to take matters into their own hands so that we could move on!Finally the boys were ready to move on...and they took off! They were searching for the source of a loud noise...turns out it was the siamangs. I've never heard them SO loud and crazy before!!On our way to the exit we found ourselves cornered by this beautiful peacock. Little did we know that peacocks can be quite agressive, and this one actually came after my poor birthday boy. Fortunately Eli is fast! I actually ended up getting Eli and Sawyer to school late, partly because we were literally held hostage by this darn bird for close to 10 minutes. It was rediculous!

Our last stop was the penguins...and boy were they friendly! They really seemed to be playing with the kids from their side of the glass, it was great!Eli was a very happy birthday boy!