Bremerton vacation - a happy ending

All the Bremerton vacation photos were taken on the new camera Matt gave me for my birthday. I wanted a super small one I could carry with me instead of his big camera/camcorder that is heavy & hard to pack in a diaper bag. So here is Matt playing with the camera & taking some self portraits. Pretty cute!

We were one of the first cars in line for the ferry on the return trip to Seattle. We did this on purpose because we had to leave time to enjoy the fountains and sculptures (and to get coffee from Starbucks of course!).

Addie was trying to run between the fountains to catch the next one before it sprayed its water.

We took the ferry back to Seattle, drove home & it was nap time. A fun time was had by all. The end.

Bremerton vacation - a bit of nostalgia

Addie liked the phone booth. We had to take a picture because it is so rare to see them these days. We also had a bit of nostalgia at the playground at this park: they had an old-school teeter totter. The kind that we all grew up using & have been banned from most parks for safety reasons. The ones that are a plank of wood with two handles & tires at the ends to "cushion" your descent. The ones where your teeter-totter partner could decide to jump off and you would slam forcefully into the ground and suffer serious pain in your crotchal regions. Remember those?

A classic kid-in-the-tree picture.

Bremerton vacation - big bacon

Etta's happy smiley face hides the fact that she slept really crummy on vacation
(and thus, for the most part, so did we). More sleep training may be in order. Ugh :(

The house had kayaks we could use. Addie went out with Matt twice & enjoyed it, but was not interested in smiling for pictures.

Addie is enjoying her big piece of bacon.

Bremerton vacation - the rental house

Here is the house. The master bedroom was on the top floor & had an incredible view, but I realized I did not take any pictures from up there. Addie got to sleep in a twin bed for the first time. The first night she was on the mattress on the floor, the second & third night she was up on the bed & did not fall once :)

There were tons of shells and rocks to play with. Plus there were blackberries to pick & eat.

This one of Matt & the girls was taken a a park.

It is impossible to get 2 kids to look at the camera & smile at the same time. 

So as long as eyes are not closed and tears are not coming down, the pictures get deemed acceptable. 

Bremerton Vacation - ferry ride

Ok, I am having issues with getting all my photos to upload at once
so I am going to break this into a couple of posts.

When we were trying to decide on a vacation spot we wanted something that was fairly local because we did not want a long drive. We also wanted a ferry boat ride. After ruling out the San Yuans, Bremerton was recommended and we decided that it fit our criteria just right!

Here are pictures of the new haircut :)

Etta decided she wanted to take a turn driving the car. I had actually gone to the car with her to try to nurse her, but these days she thinks there are much better things to do in the car than nurse (or nap). 

One candle for each decade

A few big events this past week:
-Matt & I had our 7th Anniversary
- I turned 30
- The 4 of us went to Bremerton for a little vacation

Our new renter Heather babysat for us while we went out to dinner on our anniversary. Addie is at the stage of loving attention & really enjoying having babysitters come over because it is someone new for her to show off to.  She had a lot of fun with Heather and Matt & I had a good dinner. After dinner we watched Date Night with Tina Fey & Steve Carell. Pretty funny & pretty fitting since we went to our tried & true local neighborhood spot for dinner instead of getting dressed up & doing a night on the town.

I had a really relaxing birthday! Matt's mom & grandma came over to spend the day with the girls. I went downtown & got my haircut. I really should have done a before & after picture. We donated my hair to locks of love so as you can imagine it was a pretty significant cut. I always enjoy getting a haircut. I love the feeling when you walk out of the salon afterwards with a little smile on your face as your shiny happy hair is gently ruffled by a breeze. I almost always get compliments on my hair color as well, which makes me feel nice even though it is one of those things I really should not have pride in because I have no control over the natural color of my hair. I am the product of two blond haired parents of Dutch ancestry. Anyways, they were super nice at the salon. I went from there to the cinema to watch Eat Pray Love with my friend Katie. Watching a movie in the theater in the middle of the day felt like cheating or getting away with something naughty. It had been a while since I saw a movie at the theater, but it had been a really long time since I saw one in the middle of the day. After the movie I went home & had a couple relaxed hours with the girls. Then I went out to dinner with my friend Becky. We enjoyed a slow, delicious meal at Tilth.

Turning 30 was not monumental. I only started to feel old when Matt said he put one candle for each decade on my cake. Speaking in my life in terms of decades is a little off putting. Also a comment was made about aging. I realize I am getting older & my age is changing, but saying "aging" makes me think of "elderly"!

I am getting sleepy: pictures & more details of the Bremerton vacation to follow in a night or two...

Addie singing Happy Birthday

I do not have time tonight to post everything I want to, but here is a little something:

I have not been successful thus far in having the patience to learn how to edit videos & post them. Maybe the trick is just to take extremely short videos so they do not require any cutting. Here are two videos Matt took. I tried 2 different formats for posting them, so if you prefer one over the other let me know. Usually Addie's birthday song lasts much much longer than this.   :)