We had the best week with cousins from Idaho! Amy and her girls got to visit us for their spring break. We had the best weather and we loved every minute of their stay.
They arrived Friday evening after a long drive for them. It is always nice when someone comes and visits us where we don't have to do the long drive and I get to just enjoy their company and plan fun things for us to do.
Saturday we had a lazy morning and then enjoyed the beautiful weather. We walked in the forest across the street and played at the lake.
In the afternoon, McCall took a nap so I stayed home with her and Emily and Baylor. Nate, Amy, Charlotte, Juliette, and Paige all went and checked out the Goodwill Outlet. The weather was so warm so I had Emily and Baylor play in the backyard and they loved it. They played with Barbies, had dolls out there, rode bikes, and drew with chalk.
Then we had our annual Easter egg hunt with Anna's family so we got to enjoy family from both sides.
Charlotte was McCall's helper and it was the cutest thing to watch. McCall absolutely loved finding her eggs and kept trying to grab any egg she found no matter the color.
Then we had dinner together and just enjoyed being outside. The girls found out a new spot to hang out- Nona and Pop's garage roof and we often found them up there throughout the week.
Then we took the kayaks out and enjoyed some lake time to end our wonderful day.
On Sunday we started the day off with church and spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside with cousins and friends, visiting, and soaking up the sun.
I made Paige and Baylor go to school on Monday and Tuesday so I went adventuring with Amy's family and McCall on those days. We would do a fun adventure in the morning and then be back for lunch and nap time where we enjoyed visiting and playing in the backyard until the girls got home from school.
I got to utilize my backseat for our morning adventures.
On Monday we first went to the Dollar Store and found some gnomes and then went to Maple Valley to the Gnome Hike to see everyone's gnomes and hide the ones we bought.
It's always a fun little hike to do and McCall loved it so much and was filled with oohs and ahhs and wanted to grab all the gnomes and carry them around.
It was such a nice day and we had lots of fun seeing all the gnomes and even saw 3 deer.
Then we went to Black Diamond and got all sorts of different desserts to try out later in the evening. Of course we had to get a picture in front of the big dining table, the train, and we even made a quick stop at the antique shop where McCall fell asleep on me. She hasn't done that for awhile and I loved it.
Once Paige and Baylor were home, Paige and Juliette claimed they were too hot so they wanted to go swimming at the lake. So of course we all wanted to go over and watch since we knew the water would be freezing. It was pretty entertaining to listen to their screams. Emily, Baylor, and McCall loved playing in the sand and it was a fun way to spend some time before dinner.
We made homemade personal sized pizzas for dinner, played in the backyard, and did some taste testing of all the desserts we bought at the bakery. It was another wonderful day!
Tuesday's morning adventure was to Snoqualmie Falls.
It's crazy when you look at the picture of the girls that the falls is right behind them but because of how the sun was shining and the mist of the falls you couldn't see them. So Amy and the girls were probably a little underwhelmed with the falls since this was their first time seeing it.
We walked along the river for a bit which is always pretty. McCall kept wanting to go in the water so I was on constant watch but it was still good.
Then we went up to the upper viewing point and the falls were gorgeous!
Then after school was more playing outside in the sun and then we all colored eggs. It was a little chaotic since we were trying different techniques which required some patience, but they turned out really good and the girls had fun.
Then we tried a social media treat that we all wanted to try which was fruit roll up wrapped around a scoop of ice cream and we all really liked it.
For the rest of the week, Paige and Baylor took school off so we had day adventures. It was a little bit cloudy on Wednesday, but it turned out great since it led to their not being as many people at the places we went.
We went to Seattle and did some fun adventures. First up we went to the University of Washington to see the famous cherry blossoms.
We walked around campus and went through the amazing "Harry Potter" library and it was nice that the students were on spring break so there weren't a lot of people there. The buildings on this campus are incredible and have so much detail.
We found this little cove under some cedar trees that were fun to play on and climb on.
Then we went to Gasworks Park for the amazing view and to play on the awesome playground there. There was hardly anyone there which was a bonus.
Then there was a quick stop to see the Fremont Troll under the bridge before heading home.
Thursday, Nate took off work and joined us in our adventure for the day. Our first stop was West Fenwick Park for this awesome playground. It is a very interactive shoots and ladders type playground and is really an ingenious set up. We all loved the time spent here and had so much fun.
This girl was giving the cutest cheesy grins and was so proud of herself going down the slide by herself. She would also go down the slide and lay down at the bottom with her eyes closed and would rest with the cutest silly face. It was so cute to watch!
Then we went and walked on the long dock at Lake Fenwick. The water was so still and so pretty.
Then we went to Dick's Drive In in Kent and enjoyed our lunch and then some excitement happened.
We were waiting to go to the bathroom (which is outside on the side of Dicks) and I came out of the bathroom when the chaos happened. 11 police cars surrounded a car with guns drawn and yelling. The police used non lethal weapons to break windows to get the guy out of the car. We kept the kids all close together in the corner of the building and some of the kids were more scared than others. I eventually took all the girls in the bathroom to help them feel safer. Nate and Amy were totally for it and were super intrigued with it all. Once it was all said and done and everyone was safe, it ended up being all the girl's favorite part of the day. I guess the guy had multiple felonies and it was a car that was in Dick's parking lot for awhile and the police must have been waiting for him to leave so that the people at Dick's were out of harm's way.
After everyone's adrenaline went down, we went to Value Village and Goodwill to do some thrift shopping and kill some time.
Paige really wanted to go swimming with her cousins for her birthday so we found a new pool to try out which was Rainier Beach Pool. It was really fun! We went at a time when the slide wasn't open which was disappointing, but there was a splash area, a lazy river, and just places to swim and play. I held McCall and she was unsure at first, but once she got used to the temperature of the water, she was splashing but always made sure I held her close. The girls played tag and really liked the lazy river and going through it.
We got home in time to have some dinner and then we had a small early birthday celebration for Paige.
It was a late evening of face masks, playing games, and staying up late visiting for our last night together.
These two were inseparable the entire visit! They would stay up late every night talking, played lots of games, and really brought out joy and their true selves in each other. It is always fun to watch when they are together. Both of them are a little quieter but together they are silly and fun and I think they really are their best selves when they are together.
I love their sweet relationship and I wish so much that we lived closer so that they could see each other more.
It was such an amazing visit! We did so many fun things, soaked up so much sun, had many late night conversations, and loved every minute of it. This visit was one that we didn't want to end and goodbye was hard especially for Paige. We are already counting down the time until we get to see each other again.
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