Memorial Day Weekend-Priest Lake

Priest Lake Memorial Day Weekend

• A tradition with my family, which we intend to continue with our kids.
• Parade Saturday morning with homemade local floats, Smokey the Bear, the "Cool Bus" & lots of candy for the kids. Maybe next year we will have a float for the kids.
• Then on to our dear friend Juanita's bbq after the parade/craft fair. Always great food, and good conversation with friends.
• Prior years we used to frequent Hill's Resort on Saturday night. How things have changed with the kiddos. We were tuckered out by 10. Hill's will have to wait for another year.
• Sunday AM I ran in the Coolin "fun run". Nothing really fun about it with all those hills.
• In the afternoon we did a little cabin/beach clean up.
• Monday we did some 4 wheeler riding with the kids, searching for buggies on the beach & then on to dinner at Cavanaugh's w/ the Christoffs to round out the weekend.
• My cousin brought up their Wii. We had a ball with it at night after all the munchkins were in bed. Tennis is my new favorite. Thanks Alli & Corey!
• We stayed up there till Wednesday enjoying the great weather.
• How lucky we are to have such a wonderful place with so many memories. Thanks to my grandparents for having the foresight & thanks to my dad (and rest of the family) for giving us the fantastic place we have today.
  
  

Heading to Coolin for the parade. Notice our not so fancy "bike" helmets.

We met up with Tracy, Sami & Addi.

Showing off their "loot".

Worn out after all the festivities.

Juanita's annual Memorial Day party. So fun!

Aunty Kristie, Uncle Robbie & baby "Demo".

Grandma & Ravenna

Do you like her "froggy" boots? Probably not as much as she does.

Whenever Hudson was outside he ran to sit on 1 of the 4 wheelers. He LOVED them.

Made it easy to know where he was.

Our little lake kids.

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Tri-Cities bound

Wednesday morning my self, my mom, my mother in law Irene, and my sister in law Alicia ventured down to the Tri-Cities for a day of shopping. We started in Pasco with the Farmer's Market, then hit the Viera's Panaderia (Bakery) next door. Take a look at the size & amount of sweets in that place. These are exactly how the bakeries are in Mexico. For those of you unfamiliar with the "Tri", Pasco has a large Hispanic population. I love it! We also had some traditional Mexican food for lunch. Tacos were buy one get one free. So lunch set us back about $1.34. More money for shopping.
Then we ventured over the Kennewick. Made a quick stop at Stephan & my first home. I am pleased to say the owners are taking very nice care of it. The yard looked fantastic.
Then on to a couple wonderful stores "She, She's", "Nest Feathers", & "Beaver Bark". We had a ball and managed to find something we couldn't live without in every store. Our last stop in Richland was at a gardener's home (thanks to our family friend Juanita) for some "highly sought after" scented Geraniums. We walked away with plants smelling of lemon, chocolate mint, woodland, coconut, etc....
Our last stop was on the way out of town at the Country Mercantile for some dinner & last minute fresh produce, salsa & home made enchiladas. We got back to Spokane about 8:30.
The day was all I hoped it would be. Great fun, conversation, shopping, & eating with ladies that I love. We may need to make this an annual trip. It was a blast!

Thanks to my in laws for letting us use their van for the trip!

Aunty Lala at the Farmer's Market in Pasco.

Mom & Irene trying to decide what plants to get.

The Panaderia/Bakery in Pasco. Enormous sweet treats.

Take a look at this chocolate monster! Yummy!

In the green house full of scented geraniums. Choosing our favorites.

Ours selections.

Thank goodness we brought the van!

Warm weather = great weekend

It was a fun and busy weekend! I won't go through all the details. I will say the 2 highlights were the Spokane Lilac Parade & Hudson's new bike. The weather was wonderful & so were all the events we accomplished.

A quick thank you to Tricia & Tracy for throwing such fun birthday parties for Cole & Addi. The kids had so much fun.
Another thank you to Judy, Lyla & my mom for Hudson's shower today. All your effort made it so perfect. Hudson will love all his gifts, but the only one he has seen thus far is his new bike. He is WILD about it. Thank you to all his aunties who pitched in for this. Being the caring brother that he is, he was concerned that Ravenna didn't have a bike. So off we went to Chadwick & Camilla's (one of Stephan's cousins) to get an old bike which is now too little for her girls. It is just the perfect size for her. Thank you Camilla!
Hudson can now rest easy in knowing Mei Mei has a bike as well. He is always so thoughtful when it comes to his sister.
Hope you all enjoyed the great weather over the weekend where ever you are.

Mother's Day Weekend

We had fun on Saturday going to Nana & Papa's farm in the morning. We looked for rock chucks, fed the cows, and checked out the old school bus. Stephan & my dad were busy pulling his fifth wheeler out of one of the big barns & getting it ready to sell. Then we headed to our friends the Todd's t ball game. Megan & Bridget were hilarious to watch. They had some great hits & were ready in their stance to field the balls (most of the time).

Sunday was a lazy morning for us (just what I wanted). We went to mass & then home. The afternoon we took the kids to the pet store. Hudson wasn't a big fan of the snakes or the resident turkey who trots around the store. Maybe it was because they were the same height & he clearly wasn't afraid of Hudson. Then we drove around & looked at some of our favorite neighborhoods with cute houses. We ended the day with a stop for some Mexican food....love it! I am now a mom of 2 & how special it is. Mother's Day weekend was all I could have hoped for.

Hudson has been with us for 2 months now & I think he is doing so well. I don't have much to compare it to since Ravenna was much younger when we got her. Hudson is such a happy boy and a joy to watch change. He loves his sister, being outside, motorcycles, repeating most everything we say, eating, and sleeping. The addition of Hudson to our family of 3 has been so easy thus far. We are so thankful everyday for all that we have.

Perfect weekend!

We had a fantastic weekend!

We started Friday with meeting the newest member of my friend Kara's family, little Brady. The kids had fun playing outside in the warm sunshine & eating lunch over at Tricia's. Hudson's newest thing is to cry when he has to leave people. So he started to cry when we left Tricia's. He really does this with his grandma/grandpa & nana/papa. Turns on the waterworks hoping it will buy him a few more precious minutes.
Friday evening we had a surprise 40th birthday party for my friend Candi. It seems not so long ago we were celebrating her 30th. How time flies. It was a fun night with lots of great people. Lots of Candi's friends, neighbors, & work counterparts came to wish her a happy b-day. She is such a good friend to so many people & I am lucky enough to be one of them. Happy Birthday lady!

Saturday we played outside & did yard work then had our friends Kristie & Robbie over for dinner. They were in town for Bloomsday with baby Delaney. It was a perfect night for a bbq & we ate well before the race the next morning.

Sunday I woke up to sunny, blue skies. Yes!! This is more important the older I seem to get. I am finding I am really a fair weather kind of person. So the more sunny days the better. Anyways I ran Bloomsday (which a local Spokane race 7.5 miles or something). I have done it on and off since we moved here in 1985. I vary from walking, walk/run, to running. This year I fell into the running category. I ran with my friend from my old job Michele Crowley. It was so nice to have someone to run with. We talked for about the first 2 miles, then there wasn't much else said besides: "dying, water,and are you kidding me (when we would see the hills ahead)". Anywho, we finished & did well considering not much training led up to this annual event. This was the best Bloomsday thus far for me, because as I rounded the turn for the finish line. Stephan, Hudson & Ravenna were there to cheer me on. What a great feeling to see them. Grandpa also came down for the festivities. So after I finished we had a wonderful day in Riverfront Park, playing, riding the gondola, having a few beers at O'Doherty's, seeing friends, people watching (this is one of my favorite things) & then enjoyed some great Mexican food. The past 5 years or so we go to Casa de Oro & have a little Mexican food with Kristie, Robbie, Jenni, Molly & now the kids.
It was a perfect weekend.