Douglas Family News: October 2013

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Purple Cow

Enjoy this ridiculously adorable video of Alia singing a song she learned at school.
I watch it every time I need to smile :-)

Yesterday, we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at the pumpkin patch. We really lucked out with the weather. We were even lucky enough to run in to the Helbing family there. We hung out and then all went to Old Chicago for dinner afterwards.

Alia shocked us and decided that she wanted to do a pony ride. She loved it and kept asking to do it again!

All the pictures of Max from this trip are action shots. He was operating at full speed!

There were fun slides ...

hay mazes

a field full of pumpkins,

and a cow train ride!

Seattle

So .... the family vacation pictures continue! After our stay at Great Wolf Lodge, we continued north to Seattle. We checked in at the hotel and then went off to walk around and explore.

We walked along the waterfront and saw the big Ferris wheel. Alia insisted there was a carousel nearby, and what do you know, there was!

This picture cracks me up. Silly little crabs!

Probably the closest Jason will get to a picture with Ron Burgundy ... stay classy!

We had to pose for a picture with the big piggie bank.

That evening we met up with a friend who used to live in Portland (and then LA and then San Fran) at our hotel restaurant and had dinner. The kids were exhausted but it was great to catch up and get a quick visit with him.

The following morning we we took a walk over to the Seattle Aquarium. The divers were cleaning the windows of the big tank in the front and the kids thought that was pretty cool.

Cute Max with a big ol' ugly octopus

The touch pool is always a big hit with little boys. Alia gave it a try too ... squishy!

Not as big as a sixgill shark, but growing like crazy

There were high school students doing face painting. Alia got a pink starfish.

Max got a shark.

After all that excitement, we grabbed a yummy lunch at a deli in Pike's Market and then went back to the hotel to rest, nap and watch football. We decided the kids had done enough walking and for our afternoon fun, we drove over to the shopping district (I forget what it's called) and then took the monorail to the Space Needle.

Alia on the monorail with her new friend Squeak (she got him at the gift shop at Great Wolf Lodge).

Alia was terrified of the elevator. Getting her to the top was no easy task, but she had a blast once she got up there and did much better on the way down. Luckily, some very nice people offered to take a picture of all 4 of us together, which is a rare treat. As you can see it was a very "northwest" fall day and visibility wasn't outstanding, but it was still pretty remarkable.

The kids loved all the lookout spots!

We managed to get a table and stopped for a grown up drink and some snacks.

The kids being "pretend people" (mannequins) outside of the EMP. We didn't make it there on this trip ... next time.

This is what bed time looked like. The kids all curled up on the pull-out bed, with the iPad propped up so that they could watch cartoons.

A couple of out of order pics ...

my selfie at the top of the Space Needle

Alia and Squeak being adorable

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Great Wolf Lodge

Last week, our family took a little mini-vacation/road trip. It was our first trip in a long time (maybe ever?) that didn't involve visiting family. About 1.5-2 hours north of us is a fabulous little place called Great Wolf Lodge. It is a hotel/indoor water park. Sadly, I don't have a ton of pictures because when we went down to the water park area we didn't want to take our good camera or phones or anything. I'll do my best to give you a rundown of our good times there.

The car ride was relatively quick and painless. Ben the pig joined us and entertained Alia and Max managed to fall asleep and get in a little nap.

When we walked in the kids said "hey, this is just like Papaw and Mimi's house!"

After the first afternoon in the water park and a lengthy dinner service at the hotel, a little guy was tired out. However, he managed to wake up bright and early the next morning and run laps around the hotel lobby before most of the other guests were even awake (see video below).

They have an arcade that Alia was thrilled to discover had this tiny little carousel.

Max (and mostly Daddy) enjoyed playing some car racing games.

After the early awakening, the lap running and a whole ton of fun ....

Even after he woke up it took him a few minutes to shake of the grouchies.

A little comic relief ... On the second night we rented Planes ( new Disney movie) off pay per view and let the kids curl up in the big bed to watch it. Alia made it about half way through and then passed out. Jason pulled back the covers so that he could move her into her own bed and discovered she had fallen asleep like this! So funny!

Previously mentioned video ...

In case you are curious, here's a link:

http://www.greatwolf.com/grandmound/waterpark

Spa Day

Alia recently had her very first spa experience. Her friend turned 5 and for her birthday took Alia and another little girl out to lunch and to get manicures and pedicures. SO CUTE! Someone please stop time for me. My little jellybean is growing up way too fast.

Another room under construction ...

The home projects had to go on hold for just a little bit, but I'm back at it now. I recently painted the dining room and after much searching finally found a dining room table that fit what we were looking for. I was hoping we'd have it by Thanksgiving but, of course, it is back ordered and may not arrive until January. I'm thinking a rug and new curtains may EVENTUALLY happen in this room as well, but we'll wait until we see how things look with the table and stuff in there first.