Northwest Folklife Festival

We've had such a fun Memorial Day weekend!  Saturday was spent at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Sunday we had a backyard bbq with a couple of other families and Sunday I took BFF's, Hayley and Savannah, to the Folklife Festival at Seattle Center.  I hadn't been to this festival since well before Hayley was born!  It was so much fun (especially because it was forecasted to rain and it turned out blue sky beautiful!)... just wish we had a few hundred to spend on all of the amazing vendor booths!  Hayley wanted something from each crafter!  Ah well, there's always next year!

Hayley and Savannah posing with their new headbands.  They also bought sarongs and Hayley got a new
'hippie chick' handbag.

There were tons of amazing performers (mostly musical) literally every few hundred yards apart!

Concerts were going on all day at many, many different venues. 
I think we all agreed that the Indie Stage was our favorite.

I guess it's been awhile since I've been to the Seattle Center because there is now
an amazing new feature:  Chihuly Garden & Glass.  The girls and I didn't go in because
there was a fee that we weren't planning on spending.  Maybe next time because it looked amazing! 

We ended the day in Wallingford at Molly Moon's Handmade Ice Cream.  They were voted 'Best Ice Cream'
by Seattle Magazine last year, so of course, we had to try it!  Savannah had Salted Caramel (deeelish!), Hayley had Balsamic Strawberry (yumm-o!) and I had the Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet (so good!).  All the ingredients
are fresh, seasonal, and hormone free.  It's definitely a place to visit this summer! 

Olympic Sculpture Park

We generally don't leave town over short holiday weekends.  We don't like the crowds and we especially don't like the traffic that we encounter on the way home.  We're also watching our pocket book a little more carefully these days, so we I decided that rather than sitting around the house we're going to explore our own backyard this year.  There are so many amazing parks around the Seattle area, so we started off this Memorial Day weekend with a visit to the Olympic Sculpture Park and afterwards took a long walk through Myrtle Edwards Park. It was our first time at either place... how sad is that when we've lived in the Seattle area for 25 years! 

This was one of my favorite sculptures.  It's so whimsical!  It was kind of amusing because Wes and I had to explain to the kids what it actually was.

I was very impressed with the layout of this park.  The grounds were beautiful, spacious and very natural.

Something to keep in mind... the park offers walking tours.  Check out the website to find out more information!

The park was filled with beautiful wildflowers.

Hayley and Luke at Myrtle Edwards Park.  It's an awesome park for a long (flat!) bike ride.

I'm not sure what we found so funny, but I love this candid photo of Wes.

 After our park visits and walks we rewarded ourselves with some awesome food from Red Mill Burgers.  This is another thing that I'm going to try to do with the kids this summer... explore local eateries and some of the popular food trucks.  I've been getting great ideas about where to go and what to do from reading Seattle Magazine and Bon Appetit.

After a beautiful day at the park and a long walk we headed to Red Mill Burgers.

Just a few other people & organizations think these burgers are pretty good...

Hayley getting caught up on her social life while waiting for our burgers and shakes.

It's a fact:  the messier the burger is, the more delicious it is!

I think this photo sums up how good the burgers were!  Next burger joint to try:  Zippy's in White Center!

What time is it Mom?

That was the question that Luke kept asking me.  I didn't think much of it at first.  Absently, I just told him the time.  After a couple of months of telling him the time I finally asked him, somewhat sarcastically, if he knew how to tell time.  He replied that he did indeed know how to tell time.  The conversation went no further, but his question of time kept persisting over the next month or so and this time my approach changed.  I started to tell him to just look at the clock and read it for himself and he told me that he couldn't see it.  That's when it hit me... I realized that every time he had been asking me for the time he was sitting on the barstool in the kitchen.  The clock that I had been asking him to read was the tiny little microwave clock that was about ten feet away.  I think I made his eye exam appointment that same day!  Yes, that's why they call me 'Mother of the Year'!

Getting his eyes examined.  Love the look... kind of looks like Steam Punk! 

Trying on the first of many looks after the Optometrist confirmed that he is very definitely nearsighted!

After many, many months he's finally able to see clearly... poor kid!

Happy Mother's Day

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Seattle on Mother's Day.  We had to take the boat out!  Although the water was a bit rough it was still a perfect day of just relaxing on Lake Washington & Lake Union.  Exactly how I wanted to spend this day:  warm, floating and with my family.













Beauty & The Beast

Hayley auditioned for and got a small part in a high school production of Beauty and the Beast.  She's been in rehearsals since the beginning of January and the show just wrapped on the 28th of April.  The kids put on ten amazing shows over a two week period and, I believe, they even had three or four sold out shows!  This is Hayley's 6th or 7th show that she's been lucky enough to be involved with at the high school since she's been in third grade.  She's looking forward to being an 'official' high school cast member in the fall!  Can't believe high school is almost here!

Hayley putting on her silver make-up.  One of her roles was to play a mantlepiece.

The girls had to paint their own costumes.  I know they don't look great up close, but on stage they really did resemble marble.

She had one hectic wardrobe change when all of the characters turned 'Human Again'.  She had a team of friends helping her with a very quick make-up removal and costume change.

After the show posing with BFF and ballerina, Savannah, and cousins Ashlie, Cody, & Dylan.

Posing with one of her BFF's, Hailey and the character Gaston.

Posing with Babbette and LeFeu.

Posing with Beatrice and Hailey.

Posing with Belle and the Beast.

Posing with our beloved director, Mrs. Pam Cressey!