the white house at the right time

Come on, roll a 12! So she officially turned 12 in April. But, as life is for a lot of us, we didn't have an open date for her party till mid-May. She mused about a few things she wanted to do, she had to think because she didn't want any repeats of past birthdays... did that, been there pajama party/toilet paper party, (that was fun, the girls almost peed their pants when they about got caught), Strawberry Shortcake (I saved all my miniatures one day for my little girl and by golly she was going to have a Strawberry Shortcake and Hopsalot party), spring fling (with a birthday around Easter this is inevitable ), Mickey Dee's (McDonald's, a 3 year olds paradise), scavenger hunt at the mall (way to test early shopping skills), Hello Kitty party, and more.... so a little bunko , food, crafts, and time to be crazy my cute niece made some flip-flops like this for a dance performance once and we thought they were funky and cute. Totally easy, pick strips of fabric, cut o...

C6-U4-T3-E2 - Scrabble tile necklaces, seriously who are the creative minds that come up with this stuff? Check out http://www.makeandtakes.com/ for instructions on how to make them. Makayla and friends made some of these at her birthday party and they turned out cute. However, for the sake of time, I used hot glue for the bales instead of super glue, but don't we had to re-glue some.

C is for Crew team - we went and watched several crew teams from around the country and a visiting team up from Brazil participate in the crew races. Someone told me this is an "Ivory League" event, I think they meant Ivy League, either way an awesome sport. During the event, I kept telling the kids, "O.k. do you think you want to do this, I'll do it with you!" C is for Cup - The Windemere Cup Competition is akin to a homecoming football game. U-Dub dominated the competition. However, we struck up a conversation with some alumuni crew rowers who said that the school use to have a light weight division crew boats but the program was cut after the teams didn't perform too well. There is definitely something to be said about winning and cutting your losses, literally. C is for Cut - The CUT is the name given to the narrow channel of water that cuts between the Sound and Lake Washington. So you can go take a walk down by the Cut, boat on the Cut, or go paint the...

We've been going to our little local fishing derby each year and each year the experience has been a little different. The first year the kids were excited to catch a fish with the help of their personal "fishing guide" in the stocked area. The following year, Randy and the boys took advantage of the one and only day to camp at the park, they pitched Cayden's tent and spent the night - kind of - it is a party atmosphere all night - it is crazy noisy all night, the fire siren goes off at midnight to signal the official opening of fishing on the lake, a fisherman's breakfast begins at 4 a.m., and everyone is trying to catch the tagged fish for the prize money. This year a 16 year old boy caught "Sir" and won $300 - I know, the prize money alone bespeaks of some serious fishing going on, (wink, wink). Electric engines are required on the lake. This was Randy's birthday present this year so he was able to take out our little fishing boat - in fact, one...

This is such a beautiful spot - it connects to the Pacific Ocean and is very scenic. It was windy up on the bridge, but perfect down below on the beaches where the kids played for quite awhile. A LITTLE HISTORY - In the spring of 1792, Joseph Whidbey, master of the HMS Discovery and Captain Vancouver's chief navigator, sailed through the narrow passage that is now called Deception Pass and proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by the Spaniards (hence the name "Deception"), but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Saratoga Passage. In the early years of the 20th Century, travelers of the horse-and-buggy era used an unscheduled ferry to cross from Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. To call the ferry, they banged a saw with a mallet and then sat back to wait. The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest, is actually two spans, one over Canoe Pass to the north, and another over Deception Pass to the sou...

So we went to the annual Tulip Festival, but no tulips, just daffodils, so we returned awhile later after a little more sun and whalah , the tulips popped out.

I think I like tulips because they come back every year, it is a plant I can grow, and of course, because my dad is from the Netherlands - famous for their tulips. Randy and I went to the Tulip Festival last year and I wanted to bring the kids to it. So this year, we went twice. I took the kids earlier in the month but only the daffodils were out so we went back when Randy's sisters and their families came to visit - it is beautiful, just imagine acres and acres of tulips. When driving, you can easily pick out the tulips fields because the swaths of colors pop out of the green plains. BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS! Of course you can't pick the tulips, but Makenzy kept picking out a lot she wanted to smell. Madalyn and her cousins, Marlie and Lauren.