Last visit to Seattle…

Here we go again with another post of “lasts”… but it’s true! We made our last visit for who knows how long up to Seattle this weekend to visit my cousin Collette and her family on Saturday, and then Aaron’s brother Matt and his family plus soon to be twins on Sunday. It was a fun packed weekend!

On our way up we ‘practiced’ our quickly approaching road trip adventures my mixing our drive with fun stops along the way. First stop was Cabelas, no pictures sadly, but  the girls had fun checking out the ‘dead’ taxidermy animals. Malia was like “where’s the blood if they’re dead?” Funny. Next was a very unnecessary stop at the Brown & Haley Factory in Tacoma where you can buy factory boo boos for super cheap, but complete with the same amount of deliciousness.

My favorite this time around was the Dark Chocolate Roca! The girls decided they only liked the chocolate outsides, which resulted in very messy faces.

At Collette and David’s we enjoyed a fun walk to the duck pond, and delicious dinner by the chef master herself (Collette is like a food connoisseur), and a very competitive game of Settlers once the kids went to bed. It was such a nice visit. We grabbed some pics of Collette and her adorable baby Olivia before leaving. We had so much fun!

My cousin is seriously the most beautiful red-head ever! She should totally be a model.

We hit some sights in Seattle before heading over to Matt and Jeralyn’s. I’ve always wanted to find this troll (The Freemont Troll), and was so glad we managed to see it! And of course no trip is complete to Seattle  without a visit to the Space Needle and Pike’s Place.

Malia wanted to be his booger.

Space Needle! (we parked real fast without paying, jumped out and snapped this picture… we’ve found this spot before to be a good place to capture the enormous height of the needle AND the people down below.)

On our walk towards Pike’s Place Malia was super fascinated by the blue trees. Kinda random?

The classic Pike’s Place picture.

This was a new gem for the visit. We were wandering any parts of Pike’s place that we maybe hadn’t seen before and came across a Gum Wall! Kinda gross, but super cool right? (and how did this become ok in the first place?) People were snapping pictures as they put gum on the wall with their mouths in the distance… I tried not to let the girls get too close.

Matt and Jeralyn took us on a walk through the University of Washington where Matt is working on his PhD. It is such a beautiful campus. (Notice Aaron proudly sporting the rival?)

I had a hard time picking my favorite crazy-faced cousins pictures, so here’s two of their bests. I love them so much!

When the kids got a little too rowdy after dinner we embraced the lack of rain and went on a fun little nature walk. Grant was Aaron’s little buddy for the evening.

This is the face I get when I try to get Allie to hold still and pose. Stinker…

Pretty view… without any crack too! Lol.

This was a very well spent weekend with family. We sure will miss them all! As of this post we only have four weeks left… which makes for only three weekends! I’m so glad this was a trip we had time to make. We love you all!

Woodland Tulip Festival

It was our first year going to the Holland America Tulip Farms in Woodland. Who knew we had a tulip farm so close?!?! It was amazing to see the many varieties of tulips, and the girls had fun picking tulips of their very own. It sure made for a perfect photo op!

Our last visit to the West Coast….

At least for the next long while anyway!

We went to Seaside, OR for the day during Spring Break and enjoyed every bit of our visit. After next month we’ll be enjoying a whole different sort of ‘beach’… a lake Erie waterfront and on future weekend trips, the East Coast (hopefully)!

We always stop for a carousel ride on the strip.

Only this time I rode and sure got dizzy.

We actually remembered a kite! The kids LOVED flying it.

We met up with my friend Karen and her family. I will miss her so very much! But, it just means we will have plenty of excuses for girl trips in the future.

Girls and Brock dug a fun hole to play in.

Our cutie pa-tootie girls.

This was our first time on the bumper cars. Malia got hit pretty hard and a lady kept apologizing. It was kinda funny.

Allie tho… she was like a happy scared. It was hard to steer and hold Allie tight at the same time. But it was still fun!

We hit the arcades.

I just love those blue eyes!

Malia is always trying to find things to climb on.

We stumbled upon a barely put out fire and loved getting to enjoy some warmth along the beach, without having to put in any of the work!

For dinner we stopped at Camp 18. It’s a fun restaurant dedicated to loggers with fantastic food, a beautiful log building, and quirky carved décor.

Stay tuned for a more ‘last time’ posts as we get ready for our big move!

Three-ish Months in the Life of these Brewers

 

We’re gonna play a lot of catch up tonight with this particular post because after the beautiful sunshine today (Easter Sunday) and the chance I had to put my camera to excellent use, I am realizing it has been FOREVER since my last post!

So… to fill you in real quick, we have a little over a month left here in good ‘ole Vancouver, Washington. Hoku was accepted to dental school and decided upon Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine in Cleveland, OH. We are very excited for the opportunity and look forward to the adventure ahead… although any prayers for Aaron on securing a job in the very near future would be much appreciated! We can’t wait to settle down and begin this new chapter of our lives, but of course we will miss the many friends and family we are leaving behind. But hey. You can always visit us in OHIO!

 

DECEMBER (picking up from the previous post)

 

-Christmas Pageant. Starring Malia as Joseph, cousin Leah as Mary, and cousin Merrillee as the Angel Gabriel. The rest of the grandkids played wandering stable animals.

-Too sick and laid up in bed for days for actual Christmas day and present opening pictures…

-Nana, ZZ and Uncle Jared made a surprise visit to us over Christmas! It was really nice to have all us kids together.. We are growing old!

-Traditional beach trip (so many great pictures… but not enough time!)

 

JANUARY

 

-New years: Malia’s first celebration made at 12am!

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-First snow

-Aaron’s 31st

-First time to CC

-Uncle Brandon leaves us on a 2-yr mission for the LDS church

 

FEBRUARY

 

-Allie swallows a quarter during a soccer game (Aaron and I have been playing co-ed together for a few months now) which required a very expensive trip to the children’s hospital and an esophageal endoscopic surgery to remove that LARGE object you see stuck there in her throat/neck. Did I mention that we had just managed to finally pay off her 2 1/2 yr old baby delivery bills???

-Allie learns how to ride bike by self!

-Sold Lezzie

-Sledding (no time for snowboarding this year… hopefully next!)

-Malia’s 5th birthday was AWESOME! It started out with mickey mouse pancakes,

a trip to JJjump,

presents and new toys,

and ended with dinner and a movie (the kids LOVED Wreck-it-Ralph).

The next day we held Malia’s “Royal Party.” She planned the whole thing from the food, to the décor, to the utensils! Because she hadn’t had a real party since her 1st yr luau and since we might not have any friends yet in time for her next bday, we figured we would make this party a special one. In other words, we kinda spoiled her and went all out with a pinata (which I decided are VERY dangerous and should be outlawed from children parties), and a bounce house that fit just perfect in the basement. Happy 5th Birthday baby girl! (And a big THANK YOU to those who made it super special.)

 

MARCH

 

-Aaron flies to Cleveland for job interviews and to look at housing. By the end of this week we should hear news (first wk of April). Here’s the house we’ll be renting. Inside pictures complete with our own furniture to come in May. (oh… and it’s STILL snowing there)

-Hoku regrettably chops hair, but loves new bangs. No comment from Aaron.

-Forgot camera for first time bowling with Malia and Allie… so here’s crappy non-smartphone pic.

-Sunshine calls for a visit to the Portland Saturday’s market on the waterfront.

-Girls first trip to Voodoo Do-NUUUUUTTT! (that’s what Allie is screaming… it really was a joyous scream)

-Easter Sunday: The Easter bunny delivered a map on where to find their Easter baskets.

The excitement over new outfits (kids needed clothes BAD), shoes, trinkets and treats is so much fun to be a part of!

We LOVED the Easter dresses Nana sent. Couldn’t pass up the photo ops with the sunshine and beautiful blossoming flowers!

Easter dinner and egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandmas. Why is it that we have to move after cousins finally live close enough to play with??? (We’ve been swapping date nights with Ben and Maura and LOVING it… the girls love spending time together too.)

Happiness and joy… with evidence of chocolate grazing remaining on these cute little faces.

Wow!!!! That was a pretty quick run-down on 3-ish months in the life of these Brewers. I was trying to figure out why I haven’t had time to blog and, well… I think I can see why! We are just too dang busy, lol. But hey, at least we are enjoying every step of the ride!