Take me out to the ballgame

    Well, I am another year older now. It was quite a bit more depressing this year than last for some reason. Now, it's pretty official that I am just going to get older and older. I know this isn't an earth shattering discovery, it just feels different all of a sudden. I really had no reason to be sad about it because I had a really good weekend.
 
     Sunday was my birthday and Chris made me scalloped potatoes with bacon wrapped chicken cordon blue. We also had salad and cheesecake. Yumm! It turned out really great! We had a relaxing day and got packed for our mini vacation to Seattle.

     That's right, we got to send the kiddos to Grandma's house for 2 days while we enjoyed ourselves in Seattle with some friends of ours who live in SLC. We had a really good time. The weather was perfect for sightseeing. We walked around the space needle, the glass museum, the waterfront, and ate tons of delicious food.

      We went to Ivar's for dinner and had seafood of course. Chris got the bounty of seafood which came complete with a bib, bucket, and tools. I had the salmon with halibut.

      After dinner we caught the Mariners vs. Orioles baseball game at Safeco field. It was my first time at a major league game. The stadium was pretty cool, and our seats were awesome. We even had two chances for a foul ball. Kara actually came away with one of them! The only bummer was the score. Apparently the Mariners are pretty terrible this year. They did manage a small rally in the 9th inning, but it was too little, too late. It was still fun to go see. I would do it again.

     The next day we checked out more along the waterfront, including the famous Pike's Market. We saw some flying fish, cheap flowers, and amazing bakeries. We stopped at the "gum wall", which as you could guess, is a giant wall in a creepy ally full of people's used gum. Interesting. The giant "wheel of Seattle" was fun to ride in. It had amazing views of the city and harbor.

     After that we headed up to the Science Center; which is a lot like OMSI. It was nice to wander around and look at interesting stuff there. They even had an exotic butterfly house. We walked through this super humid room with gorgeous butterflies everywhere! There were tons of them. It was pretty neato.

    The last thing we did was hit up Red Mill Burgers for some tasty grub and the best milkshake ever before heading back home in crazy traffic. We had a great trip, and can't wait to do it again! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Phillips for taking care of our kids!

End of Summer and Beginning of Fall

The last couple weeks of summer were pretty crazy around here! We tried our best to live it up and enjoy the last few casual days of sunshine and no schedules.

I had the chance to take a fun little road trip out to Provo with my lil sister. It was tons of fun! We chatted the entire 12 hour drive and it went by surprisingly fast. We moved all her stuff in and then spent the rest of our time playing. We went to eat at Tucanos Brazilian Grill and spent a long day in the sun at Lagoon. I didn't get any pics, because toting the camera around would get in the way of my roller coaster fun. I love roller coasters! It was so much fun to do whatever I wanted (I didn't have my kids with me), and sleep, and eat whenever. It was great to enjoy the rides for myself and not just watch kiddos. I had a blast! I'm thinking ladies weekend at a 6 flags or something???? You know it would be awesome. Anyway, it was good times visiting my alma mater and remembering all the reasons why I am glad to be done with school. Hahaha...no more apartments with 4 loaves of bread, 4 jars of PB, and 4 gallons of milk. :) Thanks Kee! I had a great time!

  The week after I came home we decided to spend a day at Oak's Park with the reading program passes that the kids had. It was super crazy busy! We almost left early because the lines were getting pretty ridiculous. Plus Neil was having a really hard time. He wanted on every ride, but as soon as it would start he screamed bloody murder. He was not a fan. Even on rides where I was with him, he still cried. Eventually, I think lots of people left, because the lines all got much shorter. At that point it was fun again, and we all had a fun time. Well, except for Neil, who had a great nap in the stroller.

 Now, I guess it is back to a normal schedule and back to soccer and school. I really enjoyed sleeping in on most days. I think it was harder on me than on Claire to wake up this morning. We need to adjust a little. This year, both girls are playing soccer, and so far are having tons of fun. It has been fun to watch Grace interact with her team. This is her first soccer experience. I can't wait until the games start!
Claire went to her first day of second grade today. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. I can remember second grade pretty well and the friends that I made that year. She came home and said that she had a great day and can't wait to go back. I think she will have another great year!
Grace will be starting her second year of preschool next week. She is anxious for that. I am looking forward to it as well. I guess Neil and I will get more bonding time this year.