American Girl Doll Night Out!

A new American Girl store opened up in Seattle, well actually it's at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood which is only 10 minutes from us, but they call it the Seattle store. Anyway, my friend told me about it opening up a few months ago so we went online to make dinner reservations at the Bistro. You can even bring your doll to come eat with you. Kate was so excited to go and take Kimberly (her "fake" american girl doll until she gets older and can have a real one) and I was excited to see the new store and all the cute dolls.

My Mom made Kate a few princess dresses for Christmas for Kimberly so Kate thought of dressing up in her cinderella dress and matching her doll. Right before this, I had taken Kate to the urgent care to have her pinky toe checked out. She had cut it pretty good last week and I tried glueing it, but it wasn't getting better and I was afraid of infection. So sure enough there was a little bit of infection so we got some topical antibiotic. She has to wear a sock to keep it covered with the medicine on so she got to wear socks with her fancy shoes. ;)

We got to choose another doll to join us for dinner. Kate named her Ally. Ally had just gotten her hair done at the doll salon, they have one in the store, and it looked so cute. I should have combed out Kimberly's hair before because it was atrocious.

Kate enjoying a strawberry sparkler. She thought it was delicious. She says, "don't you wish you had gotten this Mom?"

A picture of Kate feeding Kimberly, they brought out little cups and plates for the dolls.

I got a panini, turkey on sourdough bread, and Kate got macaroni and cheese with "lots of cheddar cheese" and a fruit kabob. Kate says, "this is so cheesey, do you wish you had this Mom?"

Kate enjoying her strawberry sundae. She saw other people getting one and was begging to get one. They ran out of whipped cream so she didn't get any on her sundae and that's her favorite part!!! Because the service was SO slow and we had to wait 20 mins to be seated (we had reservations and they were running behind) we got a free picture of us in an American Girl frame and a free dessert.

Kate posing with Kanani, a new doll. We went shopping after dinner and it took Kate a while to pick out some outfits. She had birthday money that she has been saving for this. She finally chose a wedding dress with a veil, shoes and a purse with an adorable rosette on it. Then she chose silk pajamas with fuzzy slippers. They have some cute clothes! During check-out (and during decision time) Kate started crying because I used all her birthday money (and then some of mine!) to buy the clothes. We had a lengthy (and heated) discussion on the way home of why she was saving her money and how come she was throwing a fit about it. I wasn't too happy about her behavior either.

Now she wants a real American Girl doll, a cheerleading outfit with pom poms, a bed with a quilt, mattress and pillow for her doll and a ballerina outfit. I'm sure the list will get longer. I told her to start saving her money!

Welcome Aboard

A Day Out with Thomas

2011 Tour

We heard about this last year from some friends that went and knew we had to take the kids this year. We bought tickets a while ago since they go on sale a few months ahead and they sell out. I told Preston we were going to go ride Thomas the train and he said, "no! I ride James, the red one." Haha!

Getting to the place was stressful. We had done the Santa train in December, which is at the same railway museum in Snoqualmie. Well, we figured it started at the same spot as the Santa Train and I didn't bring directions...well it didn't start there!!! There were no cars around. AND we underestimated how long it takes to get there so we were cutting it close. Amongst some unhappy parents and maybe some yelling we headed over to the railway museum and quickly found parking. We unloaded the kids and I half ran to the place so we wouldn't miss the train. We made it with 8 mins to spare, but man it was stressful! Why aren't we more calm in stressful situations?!

Kyle with the kids

Riding Thomas the Train! We passed by the Snoqualmie Falls (they were hard to see), but we were very high up overlooking the river below. We lucked out and it was a gorgeous day.

Meeting Sir Topham Hatt- Preston was just starting at him the whole time. It was funny. Then after the picture Preston gave him a high-five.

They had a tent with a bunch of train tables. There weren't too many trains to go around which was a big disappointment. Preston threw a fit about not getting the train he wanted so we had to leave and come back. He settled down and ended up with a train he was fine with. Some kids had 8 trains and were hogging them all. It's annoying when parent's allow that when the trains were scarce to begin with. I wish we had room for a train table in our house. He'd love it.

They also had a bounce house, temporary train tattoos (Kate got Rosie on her cheek and Preston got James on his hand), balloon making (Kate got a heart butterfly and Preston got a blue dinosaur), storytelling, movies, big steam engine trains and a store tent. At the store, Preston got Henry and Kate got a activity book with an invisible marker. I loved getting those too when I was a kid. The kids had a good time. We were there for a few hours, got lunch and headed home. {Kyle and I aren't quite ready for Disneyland, long lines and lots of patience is required at places like this! haha}

We've Got A Screamer!

We've got a screamer...a screamer in the car!!! We haven't been for a long drive in the car for a while and this last weekend when we went to my parent's house (2.5hrs away) we found out that Lindsey likes to scream and jabber. She is LOUD! Kyle had a headache and I was laughing then getting annoyed then laughing. It was funny, but not, if you know what I mean. When you tell her to stop she'll smile at you then scream some more. Geesh. My Mom even got it on video on her camera!

We went to spend a day with Thomas the Train today so I will post pics soon. It was fun even with screaming Lindsey in the backseat. ;)

4th Festivities

Happy 4th of July!!!

Kyle decided this is his favorite holiday. There are fun things to do, it's sunny and there's yummy food. I agree! We had a long weekend at my parent's house. Kyle had to go to Moses Lake for work so while he went there, my Mom and I went to Tri-Cities on Friday to visit Melanie and the kids, Grandma Great {Arlene}, Grandpa & Grandma Wright and Jeni and her kids. I finally got a pedicure- a certificate from Christmas- and went to Hobby Lobby for my first time. Jeni helped me find some cute decorations and I wished we had a store like that over here. It's amazing... and overwhelming! ha! Then the guys met us in town and we had dinner with them. Then they went to see Transformers 3. Over the weekend we did lots of swimming (forgot to put sunscreen on the kids- not good), riding four-wheelers, motorcycle riding, eating, slip n' sliding, picking cherries and riding tractors.

The grandkids in their patriotic shirts that my Mom bought them.

Lindsey loved swimming.

Eating the yummy lunch- BBQ hotdogs and cheeseburgers.

The ROUGH and MEAN basketball game in the pool. They came out with a few scratches. All the kids eventually got out of the pool too- it was dangerous to be in there during that game.

Facepainting and decorating their bikes for our little rodeo down Boulder Lane. My cousin, Aimee, who is an amazing little artist did the face painting.

They are ready for the parade

L-R: Logan, Paige, Kate, Dallas Carter, Preston, Asher and Aubree

And they're off! They had a few spectators along the way and even threw out some candy to them.

Pinata time!

The crowd gathering for the firework show. Several neighbors also came down to join us. My Dad had Kyle's uncle get us some good fireworks (the good illegal kind).

My friend and neighbor, Darbi, and I. Her and her husband and three kids (Logan, Dallas and Asher) came over for the day. I talk about going home a lot and we have been wanting them to come visit so now they have experienced it. She wants to move over there now. Haha! They all loved it and kept saying how much fun it was there. We took them on a drive to show them around and they even got to see hay getting baled and pick cherries. I'm glad they came. My Dad's two brothers also came over for the 4th. It was a full house.