Honeymoon For Now

Last year at our wedding Dr. Trotta and Kathy gave us the weekend use of their home in Seattle as a wedding gift.  What a fabulous gift! And almost 1.5 years later we were finally able to do it! They just bought the home earlier last year and have spent almost every weekend over there renovating and furnishing it.  We tried coordinating a weekend they would be gone with a weekend we wouldn't have the girls/didn't have other plans.  So about 2 months ago we coordinated schedules and settled on this past weekend to go.  Of course plans changed at the very last minute but we still decided to go.  I'm so glad we did! 

Most evenings we are finally both home around 8:30 and when we do finally get home we are trying to get ready for the next day with class prep or packing lunches or grading (or sneaking in a guilty-pleasure episode of 'X Factor'). With both of our work schedules, kid schedules, and all the worries we have going on right now, it is easy to disconnect.  I think this weekend was really rejuvenating for our relationship and our individual peace of mind.

We didn't take a honeymoon, in fact, we both had to work the day after our wedding!  Definitely, do NOT recommend that to anyone.  I decided this would be sort of a "honeymoon for now."

As far as lodging, this was top notch!  Check out the view from their living room:

 

We did some site seeing and LOTS and LOTS of eating!  My idea of a perfect vacation and we had amazing Seattle weather, 50 degrees on Saturday and Sunday!

Friday night we wondered up and down Queen Anne and ate a salad at 5 Spot which rotates its decor around 5 different cities every 3 months.  This month it was Philadelphia and they had all kinds of cool paintings and Philly landmarks:

Saturday morning we went to Pike Street which I had never been to and walked around all morning with a cup of warm coffee in our hands (Shane had cocoa).

 The fruit and vegetable displays were gorgeous.  I saw fruits I had never heard of before - it was beautiful.

 I got to see the Fish Market and got a bowl of shrimp cocktail as a snack - YUM!

 They had HUGE bouquets of flowers for $10 - I couldn't believe how many flowers there were!

 We accidentally wandered past THE ORIGINAL Starbucks.  I had no idea it started so quaint!

Later Saturday afternoon we drove to his friend Ryan's house to say hi.  I had met Ryan a LONG time ago at OIT when him and Shane visited. Shane had a good time reconnecting with him, his wife, and new baby.  On the drive to Seattle I saw the shipyard which was incredible:

Perspective: look at all these railcars

Check out this boat

Railcars loading on a boat

= AMAZING

We were going to buy crab legs at Pike Street but decided against stinkin' up Tom & Kathy's house so we went out instead.  We ate at a cool restaurant on the water with a great view.  The bibs were every bit as cool as they look.

 Found my dream bus:

Sunday before we left Kathy told us to walk to a nearby bakery for fresh pastries and coffee.  What a perfect way to start a Sunday!

 I came home relaxed and 10 pounds heavier!

This picture was after MANY attempts to get our faces in the same shot as the Space Needle!

 Happy 'honeymoon for now' to us!

Isabella Writing

Isabella's writing is getting so good!

The more I'm around the girls the more natural it feels to do things a Mom would do in the evenings.  We have fallen into an evening routine and I find myself (suprisingly) liking to do the routine things I remember my Mom doing.  Simple things like packing Kennedy's lunch for school, helping with bathtime, reading bedtime stories, and giving lots of hugs. I know I'm the stepmom and that can sometimes come with negative connotations to kids.  Shane's girls have been as welcoming to me as any stepmom could ever ask. I'm SOOOOO lucky.

I talked with a patient a few weeks ago that was in his 30's and he had really great things to say about his stepmom and how he was really happy she was part of his life.  I can get fairly discouraged sometimes and his conversation really uplifted me. Of course, it is PRICELESS that Shane is so supportive of me.  He seems to sense when I need help finding my way or when he should let me find my own way and not say anything. He is an amazing hubby that way.    

But sometimes despite what Shane (or a random patient) says, sometimes it's just best to feel love from the girls.  Sometimes they do or say things that make me feel like they've really accepted me as part of their family and it touches my heart so much.

Isabella drew this the other night:

Isn't this the best looking family you ever saw?!  I didn't happen to see this picture until Shane put it up on the fridge.  This picture meant the world to me and came at just the right time.

Trick or Treat!

Barbie Cheerleader and the Spider Bride

Kennedy School Picture

Here is Kennedy's 5th grade school picture:

Isn't she so photogenic?  She is beautiful.  I wish my school pictures were this good.  I don't have any school pictures of myself but I'm kindly reminded of how great they were every time I go to Mom and Dad's and see all 12 of them on the wall.  These are not me (obviously) but this one reminds me of my Kindergarten haircut:

Oh ya...Kindergarten mullet...I was all about it. 

 And this haircut reminds me of 4th and 5th grade:

Spikey mullet

Except thankfully Mom decided this was not appropriate and wouldn't cut my hair this way.......THANK YOU MOM!

While searching for mullet pictures on line I found this website that classifies mullets :
http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2008/08/mullet-types-of-day.html

I particularly like this one but you apperently have to be older (55+) with a chrome dome on top to rock it:

The Skullet- The mullet is generally characterized by no hair on top and long usually grey hair.

 I kinda side-tracked a lil bit - my point was that Kennedy's school picture is beautiful :)

Halloween Fun

A few weekends ago Lainey spent the night with us. We went to Craft Warehouse for some Halloween craft supplies and the girls got choked by a witch:

Kennedy and I made a quilted table runner for the top of the piano.  Last year we made one for Christmas and she was a little leery to run the sewing machine herself.  She took off this time and quilted the entire top.  We stitched on the binding and it turned out cute.

Last Christmas when we were at Bob and Vicky's she inspired me to decorate for Halloween with pictures of the girls in their costumes from years back.  Vicky had a bunch of Christmas-themed pictures of her girls as they were growing up as her Christmas decorations and I thought it was so great.    

Shane made some decorations for Halloween out of scrap hardwoods he had in the garage.  I love the owl, he's so cute!

Aunt Nicole came to visit us this weekend.  She helped decorate the haunted house and played a round of Apples to Apples:

We drove to Grandview to check out a new pumpkin patch.  And naturally, Isabella decided to wear her Easter hat to it:

 The whole way there Kennedy taught Aunt Nicole her latest rhyme, something to do with Ice Ice Cream Cream...they practiced the whole way there:

Debbie and Don also drove out that day and brought Mason and Brady.  When we arrived the big kids went to slingshot apples at targets and Isabella climbed the hay bail pyramid:

We then went in search of a perfect pumpkin.  I didn't get any good pictures of Debbie that I think she would appreciate showing up on this blog :)  But, I thought this was a cute one of Isabella and her Papa:

After finding the perfect pumpkins, we took a tractor ride through the apple orchards.

 When we got through the orchard, Debbie and Don bought us all hot dogs and soda.  We sat at picnic tables enjoying the sunshine, blue skies, and fresh air.  I thought this display was beautiful:

The boys had to leave early so after they left we went to the animal part of the farm.

Isabella, Nicole, and I went to the petting zoo.   Isabella loved the alpacas with their big brown eyes.  She also loved the piggies but could really only pet Clarence the Cow.  After she was a little bored with the petting zoo, she said "Get me out of this farm."

  Shane took Kennedy for a pony ride:

After the zoo we decided to go through the corn maze and SERIOUSLY about 2.5 hours later we found our way out.  Farmer Bill had been kidnapped and the corn maze held all the clues to find out who did it, with what weapon, and where. 

Kennedy was ready to keep going and but Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we had to find the exit.  We had found all but one clue and after 2.5 hours of walking in a maze I had never been happier Isabella needed to go to the bathroom I was a little sad we were so close to solving the mystery and weren't going to be able to. 

When we got home we carved the pumpkins we picked:

Apparently Isabella has learned how to carve pumpkins Bruce-style.

 While Shane was trying arrange the pumpkins, Isabella was practicing poses on the stairs:

In Case You Were Wondering...

In case you were wondering if Isabella wears the nappy hair extension she keeps in her Rapunzel purse....yup....she does:

It's her "Tangled feather".  You can say that again...that thing is ratty!  Shane's friend, Ryan, jokes that if you saw it laying around you'd want to beat it to death.  She wanted to wear it to school one morning so she attached it to one of her pigtails. Phew Unfortunately, she didn't actually wear it to school. We had to suggest she leave it at home so it wouldn't get lost at school.