January Vacation

Vic had to use or lose his vacation by the end of the month so we took off to see my brothers! Here is a little recap of our getaway.
Day 1: Driving-yuck! Although I can't complain too much because Tommy was an unexpected angel the entire way there & back!

Day 2: Portland & Vancouver
My oldest brother, Jason, lives in Portland so we spent the day visiting him and seeing a little bit of Portland. I haven't spent time with him in about 2 years. It is so nice that, with family, it doesn't matter how much time you've spent apart, you start off where you left off as if you hadn't been apart :) Here is Vic, Tommy, & I by the downtown waterfront.

I couldn't believe how green the grass was in the middle of winter! Jason & I below:
Jason got married 3 months ago so we went down to meet his sweet new wife, Lisa, at her work. This cute little playground for kids about 3 & under only was outside her work. It looks like painted cement, but all the stuff is soft. Tommy had a grand time running around.

In the evening we drove up to Vancouver to see my Aunt Jill & her daughter Sara. I haven't been to her house for at least 10 years! It was fun to run down memory lane in her yard. She is a game lover like us so we ate pizza and played games with her. It was a lot of fun & made me have one more reason I wish I lived closer to the area! After her house we drove to my other brother Ben's house.

Day 3: Seattle/Tacoma

AfterWe went to visit my other older brother, Ben, after Jason. His daughter is turning 5 in a week so they did her party while we were there. It was a Hawaiian luau at the pool. Becky made this amazing cake with Kara buried in the sand! It was so stinkin' cute. Plus we had LOTS of yummy finger food goodies. The funny thing is the kids were having too much fun playing with the dress up stuff to sit down and actually eat at the super cute decorated table!

Here is Vic, Tommy, & I in our luau outfits :) Not so flattering when I'm 6 months prego, but still fun to dress up Hawaiian!

I was trying to get a picture of Tommy in his Hawaiian hat & he decided he needed to kiss Dad at that moment which wa so cute cuz I've never caught his kisses on camera!

This was Tommy's first time swimming in a pool. I thought for sure he'd be so excited since he loves bathtime, but he was a little overwhelmed at first. I think part of it was that the pool was so cold. I don't know why pools always keep it so cold!

He had a blast after he got used to it. He loves splashing in water & especially seeing my reaction when he gets me wet :)

All of this party time landed on Vic's birthday!... so we had to do a little celebrating for him on his actual birthday. He wanted to see a comedy show so we went to COMEDY UNDERGROUND in Seattle and saw a traveling comedian, Mike Winfield. He was clean & hilarious so if you get the chance then you have to go see him! I love when laughter brings tears to my eyes :)

Day 4 Relax/ Vic Birthday Party!

We had more time on Sunday to celebrate Vic's birthday so the girls helped me set up the decorations, make his banana cream pie, and make a few games. They had a blast & in Kiersten's words made the room "oh so beautiful". I don't know whose idea it was, but one of Vic's gifts was wrapped in toilet paper & Kara thought it was hilarious to give him a "poopy gift". :) My sweetie is now 31!

Day 5: Zoo & Aquarium

Tommy was okay at the zoo, but when it came to the aquarium he had a hay day. He ran around gibbering & pointing his finger at everything. It was really cute.

I liked the seahorse area best. It was all so bright and colorful that it almost looked fake!

Here is a close up of some of the bigger seahorses. It doesn't look real-- right?!

Just a cute picture of cousins checking out the fish together.

Tommy by the shark tank. He liked them, but he didn't like the walruses. I guess they were a little too big & close for him. I, myself couldn't believe how huge the walruses were.
Happy boy at the end of the aquarium part.
Here is Tommy's first slide ride all by himself. His coat made him go really fast & it's a little big of a slide for him so he wasn't real happy about it! He did love going down with his dad though.

Day 6: Princess Party!

We went shopping and out to eat during the day & for some reason it exhausted me so I took a two hour nap when we got home. ....which made me sad cuz I wanted to do a full princess party with a picture shoot, fancy hair, and make a princess cupcake kit that I bought for Kara, but I was so tired and I didn't want to let Kara cuz she'd been talking about it for a few days so I did a quick version of my other party. We dressed up like princesses, had a tea party, stamped cards, and made a pixel craft. Kids are so easy to please so the girls still had a great time.

Day 7: Drive Home

I think that late night game playing and early wake ups with Tommy wore me out every day. I really wanted to do a full photo shoot with all of the kids and individually, but every day I was too tired! I was still determined to get a picture so right before I left I threw up a background and took a few pictures. Kara was gone to school so I couldn't get her in the picture, but I attempted to get this picture:

This isn't even an actual picture, but a collage I put together! See the chaos below to see why I couldn't get a real picture, haha! (and some super cute pictures of my sweet little nieces)