Charlie turns 4 on a trip to Spokane

We now have a four year-old in our home! This past May 4th, Charlie celebrated his fourth birthday with GG and Auntie Marion in Spokane. Tom had a conference in Spokane and my parents and Beth were out of town. So, we joined Tom in Spokane and celebrated and visited with our elder family members. Sadly, a stomach bug went around to all of us except Charlie. So, we didn't get to see GG as much as we would have liked, but we were able to celebrate with her a little bit. 

 We took Charlie out to breakfast at Frank's Diner for his birthday. It is a diner inside an old train. Not only is sitting in a train amazing, but it is right near train tracks. So, you also get to see the trains as they go through Spokane. A favorite! This morning Charlie was super lucky and was given a breakfast ice cream sundae to celebrate his day. Having the waiters and waitresses sing was a bit much for our big guy, but as you can see from the picture above, he loved the sundae!

 Gabriel was all tuckered out from a day of fun at River Front Park. This picture is a bit out of order, but below you can see some of the fun. We rode the gondolas over the falls that day. The falls were high and beautiful!

 Since we were sick quite a bit of the trip, Charlie spent quite a bit of time playing in the pond in the back yard of my parents home. He had lots of fun "fishing" for a small black container that floated on top of the water.

 This is another yard activity that passed the time while I moaned on the porch. Gabe dug dirt while Charlie went "shopping" up and down the side of their home.

 GG and Tom out to breakfast. This too is out of order. This is from Charlie's birthday breakfast.

 Charlie and Tom took a spin on the Spokane merry-go-round while at Riverfront Park. We learned that day that Gabriel is not a fan of merry-go-rounds. In fact, they make him cry and cry. Watching is his thing.

2013 Skagit Tulip Festival

The last weekend of April, my parents and my sister Kaarin joined us on an outing to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We all piled into our van, stopped at Starbuck's and were off for a day of adventure. Unfortunately, Tom had to work that day, so he couldn't join us. He was surely missed by all of us festival goers. As you can see from some of these photos below, we had a great day. The following are some obligatory shots of us kneeling by the flowers. 

 I found myself attempting to take some artistic shots of tulips. Here is one that isn't half bad. Boy, the tulips were gorgeous. We were nervous we were going post bloom, but that wasn't the case. We were at the tail-end of a wonderful season.

 This is a photo taken by Charlie. He is still learning the camera. Getting the heads in the frame is his next goal. The flowers are pretty and that is Nonnie and Boppa, if you couldn't tell.

 Gabriel had lots of fun out of the stroller, when we let him. It was a bit muddy in spots that day, so he was tied into the stroller quite a bit. Running into this field of yellow tulips was awesome for him. He was giggling and laughing.

 Charlie took over stroller duty for a while. Thank you Boppa for assisting Gabriel as he hops back into the stroller!

 This was our favorite flower stop by far. These fields also had several huge kites flying in the air. Of course, flying kites are a great magnet for kids. Our kids included.

All in all, we had a wonderful visit. Several stops at tulip fields, lunch and a stop at a road-side market made for a great outing. Thanks everyone for joining us!