Kubota Gardens

 Last weekend on one of the days it wasn't raining we drove to the Kubota Gardens with Margaret and Adam and Chelsea and Madeline. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous and it was fun to be with friends and family and be outside.

Two very cute girls!

  We even got to see some fish- which was exciting for both the children and the adults. :)

Beautiful flowers courtesy of Nate.

Catch Up

 The last month we have done a few things that I haven't posted about so I decided today to play catch up.

One day we went to Mikey's tball game. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Running home- Go Mikey!

 Paige enjoyed being outside and climbing the stairs and watching all what was going on. She even kept her hat on for most of the day.

 Then on the nice days that we have had this month we have enjoyed walking on the Soos Creek Trail and this is one day that we did just that.

Thirsty girl- most of the water ended up on her instead of in her mouth.

 It is so green here!

 Taking a break to eat some snacks.

 We even found a caterpillar to stop and look at.

Spaghetti

 Paige's new favorite dinner is spaghetti- she loved stuffing handfuls of it in her mouth and as you can tell loved every bite.

This is the first time that she actually gave a cheesy grin for the camera- she usually just stares with a blank look.

 She even enjoyed some garlic bread. She is definitely my little girl- a love of pasta and bread. :) 

IPD

 Last Thursday we headed over to Portland for the traditional weekend of attending IPD (a Volvo thing for those of you that don't know what it is). 

On Friday we decided to drive over the coast and enjoy the day.

Our first stop was at Seaside to enjoy some of the Pacific Ocean.

Also in Seaside there is this neat Saltwater Taffy store that has so many flavor to choose from and you just fill up a bag and buy the candy by the pound.

Then for lunch we stopped here and I even liked the fish which means it is pretty good since I normally am not a fish eater.

Then we drove to Astoria and walked on a pier that had this little museum that talked about and had things about Bumble Bee Tuna packing.

Then we climbed the Astoria Column. I had heard many stories about this place and it was fun to see and to climb it for myself. Everyone said how scary it was (coming from three Smith boys who are terrified of heights) and I wouldn't have been that scared if I hadn't had Paige but I was afraid she would want down and wiggle out of my arms and fall which was terrifying and I had a death grip on her the entire time.

Made it to the top.

Quite the view!

 On our way down- this shows why it is scary. You climb up this spiral staircase that has big gaps between the stairs and this huge gap between the stairs and the column which is big enough for an adult to fall down.

 Then we stopped at a Lewis and Clark place- where they made a small fort and canoed from.

Girl cousins.

 Our last stop was to see this old ship that is sitting on the shore of the ocean. 

 Then Friday the boys got up early and went to IPD to get some good deals and the girls and kids went later to see all the cool cars. It was the 50th anniversary of IPD so they had a Volvo from every year for the 50 years. It was fun to walk around and see all the Volvos. 

 Then we all headed over to a park and went on this beautiful, small hike. It was so green and we hiked up to this old building.

It was a fun weekend full of new things and spending time with family!

Fun Filled Weekend

Last Friday it was a beautiful day and we decided to drive to Discovery Park and we enjoyed the Sound and a lighthouse- my mom was jealous. :) I told Paige that she was a lucky girl to get to see the beach/ocean already so many times in her life because I didn't see it until I was in high school. We had so much fun enjoying the beautiful weather and being outside.

We then went and saw the locks- it keeps the freshwater lake and the saltwater sound separated. It was interesting to see how it all worked.

Here is the a bridge going up to let a boat into the sound.

Here is where boats would sit and be locked in and wait for the water to rise or lower depending on which way they were going.

Cute girl enjoying being outside.

Then Saturday we headed over to Ellensburg and got to see Lily be baptized and enjoy some fun time with family.