Spring Break in Seattle! Day #1

Today is Saturday and the Alfaro and the Meadows families headed due West for Seattle. It is the beginning of Spring Break for the kids, and Work Break for me! How nice to have a few days to get away and feel like we are on a real vacation. We are going to stay at the Courtyard at Southcenter and play tourist for about 4 days. Swimming in the hotel pool is what the kids are most excited about -- but we have lots of other things planned too! Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle waterfront, Pike Place Market, a Ferry ride, the Aquarium, the Locks.......to name a few. Angie, Matt, and Justin, and Jakey are with us, so it is sure to be a fun few days! Here are a few pictures of our drive over and our first day.....

By the way....you will notice that Audriana is holding a stuffed green frog (Froggy) in many of the pictures. This is because she was chosen as VIP for her classroom this week and she got to take Froggy home with her and on our Seattle vacation. We are supposed to take some pictures of Froggy with Audriana and bring them back to school after the break so she can show the class what her and Froggy did this week. It's so cute...she really hasn't let Froggy out of her sight. Sofia had to bring her own little stuffed animal, too ("Monkey").We stopped at a rest area near Cle Elum to have lunch -- Angie made us all a really good and healthy lunch (pb&j for the kids and turkey, hummus, and spinach wraps for the adults). She also made a fresh veggy and bean salad. All of this at a rest stop! It topped any restaurant I've ever been to! Thanks Angie!When we checked into our room, the hotel had arranged a fun easter egg hunt for the kids! They ran around the room finding eggs, candy, and more candy, and other fun treats. What a great idea - we felt so special! Thanks to Mike Schabbing, Indri and Jessica from the Southcenter Courtyard!

Swimming at the hotel pool.........awesome!

Tonight we had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was great -- we were hungry and we got right in, got sat right away, ordered our yummy food, and got served quickly. The kids loved their cheese pizza's! I had pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, brocolli and chicken, Martin had a very yummy carne asada pizza, Ang and Matt had a margharita pizza and shared a salad. What a great end to a great day!!!!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives!

The Moose is still Loose!!!!!! In our neighborhood!

Cancer Patient Care -- volunteering is awesome!

Our smallest volunteers -- they did such a great job!

Every family collected non-perishable food, toiletry items, and anything else that would be useful to someone coming to Cancer Patient Care. Their clients are people with cancer who may not be able to afford these everyday items. They get everything they want free of charge. This amazing facility also provides walkers, wheelchairs, wigs, bras, and other medically necessary items. What a wonderful service to have in our community and we felt so proud to be able to help out in this small way. Martin got his name on the list to be called to help the Cancer Patient Care staff with Spanish interpreting for their Spanish speaking clients.

Here's the whole team -- 4 families and lots of kids can make a difference!

Here is Julie, the director of the Cancer Patient Care program.

Happy St Patricks Day! 2010

Audriana spent a good couple of hours making this Leprechaun trap -- she was bound and determined to catch that sneaky guy! Gold coins were placed inside to help "lure" the leprechaun inside the trap........as well as little messages written on the box like "Home Sweet Home" and "All Leprecaun's welcome".

That tricky Leprechaun! He left this note.....and better yet, he left the gold coins that he extracted from the trap for the girls. But, he made a complete mess of my dining room table -- spraying silly string all over (see pic below)! He also made a mess in the bathroom! Look out next year, Leprechaun.....our trap will be bigger and better!

A day at WSU -- Cougar Country!

Since the Coug was closed for Spring Break, we went to Cougar Country Drive Inn -- it's just as good and it still has the yummy fry sauce that I remember! :-)

Future WSU Cougars?!?!??!

Bryan Hall and the clock tower......

Martin and I drove down to Pullman with the girls on Saturday -- it was so great to be back in Coug Country! I didn't realize that the campus would be so empty, though -- the kids were all on Spring Break! That was okay because it really allowed us to walk around campus, take lots of pictures, and I could simply remember what it was like when I went to college there. The campus is so beautiful! There are a lot more new buildings, and a lot of beautification up on the hill has taken place. It felt so good to be walking up there again! The Bookie has moved - it's now located inside the CUB building, but sadly, it was closed too. I wanted to get the girls each a WSU t-shirt, so we drove around until we found the local Barnes and Noble bookstore also had a mini "Bookie" in there, so we picked up their shirts there. I had told them all about the Creamery on campus, and how they make and sell some amazing ice cream, cheese, and milk, but it was closed too! Boo hoo! I guess it gives us a reason to go back!

Sofia on 2 wheels at age 4! Wowy!

This picture's color is a little off because it was taken on Martin's cell phone - it didn't turn out very well, but it is the moment that Sofia began riding without her training wheels, all by herself. Martin was so excited and proud that he just had to take a picture and send it to my phone. WOW!!!!! Take a look at the video below that I took when I got home from work....

Click this little arrow....

Well, my awesome husband has gotten our baby riding a two-wheel bike all by herself. Sofia is only 4 and is riding without training wheels! Suffice to say, we are so proud of her -- and she is so proud of herself, too! Even though it was a bit dark, and a bit damp out, that did not stop her from moving through this important milesstone in her life. The night before last, she told Martin that she wanted him to take off her training wheels. Well, he did, and they worked on getting her going by herself, but she just couldn't get it -- although, she was really close! The next morning, before school, she wanted to try again. It was freezing outside, but they put on their coats and out they went. All she needed was another 5 minutes or so of trying with Daddy running along side her and she had it! She was so happy! When I got home from work that night, it was a bit dark, so the video I took is dark, but you'll get the jist of it. Enjoy!

Buddies! Lauren and Audriana

Audriana's 1st grade class was paired with a 6th grade class and all the kids were assigned a buddy. Audriana was really lucky to get such a sweet girl -- her name is Lauren and she is in Mr. Soderquist's 6th grade class. Today at school, the big buddies did a small power point presentation about their little buddy. It was so sweet. They get together a couple of times a week and read, talk, and just hang out together. Audriana has saved every card that Lauren has made for her and really looks up to her. Buddies for sure!

A singing trio in our basement tonight!

Audriana, Jaime and Brook
Singing and playing their little hearts out!

Their best song was "Row Row Row Your Boat"!

Jaime on drums!

Brook on Piano and Congas!

Brook and Jamie came over tonight for a few hours while Pam spent some needed time alone with her Mom after the loss of her dad this week. The girls spent a couple of hours playing music and having fun downstairs. Brook played some tunes on the piano (for the first time ever!) and Jamie rocked out on the drums, while Audriana showed her vocal talents singing! It was so cute -- we especially loved the concert they gave us! Here's a little look of what we got to see. :-) You will need to press the little arrow button to make the video play.........

I am so happy that through this sad time for Pam and her family, that we were able to laugh, play, and just be together. We decided that we wouldn't go out tonight, but that we would just let the girls have fun at the house. They played on the trampoline (pretending they were walking on the moon), made pizza's, played with Uncle Mike, talked with Aunt Kristi, and then, or course, played music. It was relaxing and wonderful.

A beautiful day for a bike ride!

Today we had blue skies - no clouds - and bright sunlight! It was so beautiful and the girls were just itching to get outside. So, after church, I made a picnic lunch, loaded up the girls and the bikes in the car, and headed up to Whispering Pines Park (Eagle Ridge). Even though it was so beautiful, it was still only 45 degrees or so. The girls didn't care, put on their coats, and we headed up. There were a lot of people out, too!

Sty update... Ewwww!

Well, since this is our first sty that we are dealing with, we are all completely amazed by it -- except Sofia who just wants it to go away. Poor thing. She woke up today and it had come to a head - and it's just kinda gross. I tried to massage it a little, so the infection would come out, but she was having none of that! It's painful, so we are just leaving it alone and letting it heal on it's own. Poor thing.

**Update: Sometime during the night, it popped itself and drained. She woke up with her eyelashes glued together (yuck!), but the first thing out of her mouth was "my eye doesnt hurt anymore"! After we washed it off with a wet washcloth, we could see that the worst was over and now it just had to heal. She is still putting in her own antibiotic medicine into her eye, 3 times a day, for another 4 more days. What an ordeal! I am so glad it is over -- and so is she. I hope this doesn't become a regular occurance with her!