Woodland Park Zoo

Another rainy day in Washington.  Let’s hit the Woodland Park Zoo!

I don’t take pictures of a lot of animals, even when I’m at the zoo.  Because, as my favorite photographer, Jasmine Star put it...”Sheep just don’t do it for me.”  I prefer people.  So there you have it.  So here are some photos of people at the zoo.

 Okay, I’m fascinated with giant snakes.  When they are behind glass of course.

 The petting zoo had three goats in it.  That’s it.

 On the way home from the zoo, the kids made up a song...

We made a quick pit stop at Top Foods in Woodinville for two reasons.  First of all, their bulk candy department is the bomb.  Also, when we first got married 13 years ago, this is where Darrin worked.  When we walked into the candy section, we saw Randy, a guy that Darrin worked with all those years ago, still working there!

 The candy section.  Was I right or was I right?

In spite of the rain, we did have a great time at the zoo, the candy section and later, at the movie Brave.

A Summer Day in Monroe

The weather was mostly not awesome while we were in Washington.  Which means, whenever the rain stopped (and sometimes when it didn’t), we went out to play and do summery things.

Like Make S’mores.

The kids even got involved in a game of football...

Grandma and Peepaw watched from a safe distance.  

Because it soon escalated into tackle football.

Doobie decided to forego the football game in lieu of watering Grandma’s garden.

He meticulously watered every nook and cranny.

Washington Adventures

For some reason I thought it would be awesome to fly to Washington at 5am.  Which means we got to the airport at 3:30am... Joshy’s hair was super excited.

Peepaw bought a new guitar and he let the kids strum on an old one.  Jordy was into it.  My kids call my dad Peepaw, which is what Jake started calling him when he was a baby who couldn’t pronounce the word “Grandpa.”  It stuck because it was hilarious.  It is pronounced like “grandpa” with the emphasis on the “paw” part of the word.  Well, Jordy, for some reason started pronouncing it, “PEEpuh,” With the emphasis on the first part of the word and lazily dropping off the last part.  “This is my Peepuh’s guitar.  

I did several photo sessions with Washinton peeps while I was in town.  Here I am in Cottage Lake with my friends Kelly and Karly and Marie.  It was raining a little and we just sat it in it cause, whatever.

Kelly brought her rescue dog that she brought from California where she discovered her roaming the Mexican boarder all alone.  

Kelly snapped this picture of me waiting patiently for Gracen to be ready for her photo session.  She was busy throwing the mother of all tantrums.

I think we might have had one and a half sunny days while we were in town (out of 11) and don’t you know we got this pool out.  My parents bought this pool when Jake was only two years old.  It has lasted for years and still looks brand new.  I should take care of things that well.

One of our favorite parks is Lake Tye.  Huge playground, fabulous lake walk and rocks to throw.  Jake learned how to skip rocks this day!

I can’t remember where we coming home from but the boys crashed hard in the car.  Car rides are long in Washington!

We brought a crap load of technology with us.

We visited my friend Jessica and her sweet little daughter Sloane.  

We made S’more’s over the barbecue.

We played in the rain.  A lot.

The day we left, it was gorgeous.  Pre-flight dinner, hotdogs roasted with extra long sticks over the barbecue.

My parents survived the chaos of the Powers Clan for nearly two weeks!  I had a great time with mom shopping for treasures at Hobby Lobby, Home Goods (which was a huge disappointment by the way), antique stores and thrift stores.  I brought most of it home with me but some of it had to be shipped and I’m anxiously waiting for it to arrive.  I’m already a planning a blog post about all my treasures.  EEEEE!

Making Pot Stickers

While we were in Washington, Jaycob had the distinct honor of helping Grandma stuff and fold potstickers for dinner.  As usual, he was a genius and figured out a new and easier way to fold them into purses.  Also, he prefers to cook shirtless.

Hiking Thunderbird Falls

Home from vacation, two days of rest (not really) then I shot a wedding and I’ve been sitting behind Photoshop and Lightroom ever since.  Taking a moment now to catch up on a little bit of bloggedy goodness.  Before I left for vacation, the kids and I took Grandma Diana out for her birthday.  We hiked Thunderbird Falls!

I was taking a picture of Grandma with the kids when a nice gentleman offered to take a photo of all of us together.  I totally hesitated because, well, it’s not easy for me to hand over a few thousand dollars of camera equipment to a complete stranger, well meaning or not.  I mean, what if he dropped it in the river?  What if he got attacked by a bear while he was holding it?  WHAT IF HE TOOK OFF RUNNING AWAY WITH IT?  But I decided I could take him, seeing as he would be bogged down with an extra 10 pounds of camera equipment.  

Well, he didn’t steal it, and I didn’t have to beat him up.

Doobie was pretty tired by the time we reached the falls.  So, needless to say, he was awesome during the mile hike back out.

After our hike we had lunch at our favorite restaurant and then it was frozen yogurt time at the Yogurt Lounge.  We planted Grandma a big flower pot for her birthday and she drove it home in the trunk of her car.  At some point it tipped over, but she assured me that she was able to rescue everything (but had to vacuum the trunk.

 

 

Happy birthday Grandma!