Pacific Northwest Trip

My little travel buddy

Random rest stop in Washington on our way to Vancouver

Crossing the border

Sea to Sky highway in Canada

Hanging out on the rocks

In British Columbia

Lynn Canyon Park in Vancouver

Hunter's favorite picture from the trip

Tide Pools on the Olympic Peninsula

Beach at low tide

Olympic National Park...probably the most beautiful place I've ever been

Her first snow!

His first snow!

Mountains, ocean, snow, and wildflowers

"Mama, it's so coooooooold!!"

Not a cloud in the sky in Seattle!

No pictures from our train ride, but this is the little railway museum where our ride started and ended

At the Seattle Aquarium with my friend Sarah

Packing to go home!

Randomness

Morning at the park

Arthur loved the sandbox

This is how he sits all the time now.

A month or two ago I asked Eleanor what she wanted for her birthday.  She already had the globe on the left (Earth, of course) and she said, "I want another globe.  A red globe.  A MARS globe!"  Would you believe they actually make one?!

Mmm, frozen applesauce

(This didn't last very long.)

This might be the first time I've ever found her asleep anywhere besides her bed or car seat.

We made Olympic cookies!

"Mama, I'm 3 years old!"

Those were Eleanor's first words to me as she came out of her room this morning!  My sweet girl is 3 now and she is so excited.  Twice today she told us, "I'm a grown up now!  I'm 3!"  We had a full, fun day celebrating together.

A special birthday eve biscuit that Hunter made

Last time to go to sleep as a 2-year-old!

We went to Downtown Disney and Eleanor enjoyed building a car at the Lego store

Her car

Racing against other cars

(Hers did not win.  It was pretty though!)

She loved riding the carousel! 

Checking out the toy store

She wanted to ride in this little train all by herself!

Water break

Lego dragon(?) in front of the Lego store

Catching her first glimpse of the T-Rex restaurant

She was a little overwhelmed at first, but ended up loving it

We ordered a quesadilla for an appetizer, and Arthur ate over half.

Here he is waiting VERY impatiently for more food - just after taking this, he started crawling over Hunter's arm to get to round 2 or 3 that Hunter was preparing for him.
The boy loves his food!

Back at home, opening presents

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

(That's our special birthday plate that I made - you only get to eat off of it on your birthday.  She loved it!)

Tonight after Hunter put Eleanor to bed I went in to say good night.
Me:  Happy birthday!
Eleanor:  Happy birthday!
Me:  But today isn't my birthday.  It's July 22nd, your birthday!
Eleanor:  But then after August it will be your birthday and I will tell you, "Happy birthday, Mama!"
(My birthday is in September)

I love this girl so, so much.  What an amazing 3 years it has been!

Summer fun

Some Arthur videos

Arthur has gotten very good at doing the sign for "All Done" when he finishes his food!  He usually does it on his own, but of course here I'm trying to get him to do it for the camera.  And I realize that this is not the official sign for all done, but it's the one we use around here.

Technical note - this video is blurry and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  My new DSLR takes great pictures and can do HD movies, but half the time I take a video I focus incorrectly and it comes out blurry.  Anybody have any tips?

 

 Hunter invented this silly little bath game when Eleanor was a baby where you hold up the plastic octopus and drop it into the water.  She thought it was hilarious then and now Arthur does too!