Great Wolf Lodge

You may remember that just after my diagnosis last year we were treated to an amazing weekend at Great Wolf Lodge by some truly wonderful friends. We decided then that we should come back to celebrate after I beat cancer. We were fortunate enough to find a great deal online, and we thought this was the perfect time to get away, celebrate our victory, and have some quality family time before I head into the coming surgeries. Once again, it was a wonderful, blessed time for our little family.

The kids were super excited to stay in a "Kids Cabin" room; inside the standard hotel room there is a small bedroom designed to look like a log cabin. They thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Abby on her bed...

 Eli on the top bunk...

 Goofing around in the "cabin"

Throughout October, Great Wolf celebrates Halloween by inviting the kids to dress up and go trick-or-treating throughout the lodge. Eli and Abby were really excited to have an early opportunity for wearing their costumes, an - of course - stocking up on candy!

 

 

Being a year older made a huge difference in their ability to enjoy the MagicQuest activities (especially for Abby). Here is Eli standing in front of the dragon we defeated (barely visible on the screen behind him). He earned the title of "Master Magi" and was pretty proud of himself.

In the morning we had a picnic breakfast in the cabin...

 And had some relaxing play time in our room.

Watched a little football...

And then it was time to hit the water park again. Last time I didn't even try to take photos in the water park, so this time I really wanted to capture some of the fun on the slides. I learned, however, that it is almost impossible to get pictures of kids on water slides with poor lighting and a cheap point-and-shoot camera! Oh well, that's what memories are for!

It was a really wonderful time for our little family - we had an absolute blast!

Fall City Farms

We had a fabulous family day at the pumpkin patch today. Our family tradition is to go to Fall City Farms...for their pumpkins as much as for their fresh pressed cider and hot mini-doughnuts! It was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch; slightly rainy which means that we didn't get very wet but also didn't have to fight any crowds. It was awesome!

 The kids loved the pumpkins that were big enough to sit on.

 Since Abby had picked out her own pumpkin on her field trip, Eli got to choose one today.

 We sat on hay bales surrounded by pumpkins to enjoy our fresh pressed cider and hot doughnuts.

 Eli loved the hay maze!

Our little family had a great day together!

Field trip fun

Abby and I had a great time on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with her preschool class. It was the first day this season that really felt like Fall, and we were all so cold! The field trip began with a little intro to the farm and a game of guessing vegetables. Abby had fun raising her hand.

Next came a couple of romps through the hay maze. The kids had such a blast doing this!

 Finally it was time to hunt for the perfect pumpkin! We had fun on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.

 My precious, happy girl!

And here it is...Abby's perfect pumpkin!

 I love this mommy/daughter photo, compliments of my friend Kelly and her really nice camera!

 We had to have a class photo of course. Abby's amazing teachers are Mrs. Pat (at the top of the stairs) and Mrs. Beth (at the bottom).

 It was a fantastic field trip and lots of fun!

Salmon Days

We had the most amazing weather for Issaquah's annual Salmon Days festival. Ryan grew up here and he said there's never been a Salmon Days weekend like this. It was cold in the morning but warmed up quickly and thoroughly. It was perfect! We totally indulged in the awesome fair food...

Abby enjoyed her first pony ride...

And Eli totally impressed us with his climbing skills...

He had to wait in line for close to an hour for this climbing wall (which he did with amazing patience), and the handles were just far enough apart that it was a real challenge for him. We were really proud of him for trying it, and impressed that he made it to the top.

Usually we start our Salmon Days celebration with its annual 5k Rotary run and Kids' Dash, but this year the runs were held a week in advance. I ran the 5k with a couple of friends and then did the Kids' Dash with my little man. He did awesome, and the 1k dash counted toward the 25 miles that he's tracking for the Seattle Kids' Marathon (more on that in another post).