Vacation Sunday

I forgot to mention that this vacation was a complete surprise to the kids. We told them that we were going to drive to Portland for the weekend and that they were going to take Monday off. I had them frantically finishing homework on Friday night in preparation for what they thought was one day off from school. August was not too happy about the extra work load that day.
On Saturday we woke up and packed ourselves into the car. The kids were none the wiser. Andrew came along and we just passed it off that he was coming to Portland with us. As we were heading towards the airport Trey started telling Andrew about how being a parent is a lot of fun and that sometime you can play tricks on your kids. Like the time I told August that the bees and ants had an alliance and when a kid stepped on an ant the bees would come sting the kid. August believed it for a long time.
Trey then said something about how funny it would be if we weren't really going to Portland and were going to Disney instead. Hazel screamed and August said, "No, that wouldn't be funny because it wouldn't be true." I had to convince them by showing them all the secret texts between me and their Aunt Amy.
Needless to say, August didn't complain when we got on the plane and I pulled out his real stack of homework for the week. I've never seen this boy cruise through math so fast!

On Sunday we were still at Scott and Amy's house. The weather was perfect for a hike and after striking out on the first location (closed due to fire damage), we found this cool place.
The kids jumped from rock to rock, crossed a river and found walking sticks and even discovered some tad poll eggs.
And their Uncle Scott tried to splash them all by throwing huge rocks into the river.
A good time was had by everyone.

Vacation Day 1

We took the kids out of school last week for a much needed vacation. Visiting California is such an easy get away for us as the Reynolds live out there. We spent a few days with them at their house and then drove out to Disney for 3 days and then back to the Reynolds.
The kids had a wonderful time playing with each other. It just gets better and better every time they get together.

Casey jr

Sun Kissed

Say What You Will...

My dogs drive me crazy. They are overly excited when people come over to the house, they are hairy, they beg too much, and I can go on and on...but then Penny does something like this:

And all the annoying things they do go right out the window and I just want to get on the hairy floor and play with them.

Eggs

We've slacked on the Easter spirit here in the Many house.
No hidden treats around the house, no folks coming over for an Easter dinner. And we're not going anywhere either. In the past we've invited several families over to celebrate, but this year it's going to be a quiet one.
My sister and her husband are going to go to church with us Easter morning and then we'll go out for brunch at one of the many wonderful brunch joints around Seattle. But that's it.
Today the kids and I went to Target to pick up some egg dye so they could at least continue this tradition. While we were there August thought he was being funny and slipped a bag of candy in the cart. I totally saw him do it but I let him think that I didn't. He started giggling and whispering to Hazel who then slipped a chocolate bunny in the cart. I ended up buying them just so they'd have some chocolate for Sunday afternoon.

Thursday with Friends

Here's the whole day in photos:

And we even saw some animals:

Point Defiance Zoo

Hangin' with the Bazan family and Francis at the zoo.