Matt's Motorcycle

Matt has a tradition of every few years of going on an epic motorcycle trip with a few friends. This trip was planned to start in El Paso, with a quick jaunt down to the Mexico border, then up the Continental Divide trail all the way back to Alaska.

The Alaskan contingent shipped their bikes down to a shop in El Paso and then flew down a before the trip start to get them put back together and buy any last minute items. Several friends were coming from both Dallas and California to join in the fun. 

Unfortunately, this section of sand had other plans. Deep sand is apparently a bit tricky on motorcycles and it made the bike take a hard left, while Matt continued going straight...

It was immediately apparent that something was broken and Matt was not going to be finishing the ride. The other guys called for an ambulance, but were concerned that the ambulance would not be able to make it down the dirt road. Luckily a rancher was driving by and offered to take Matt to the road to meet the ambulance. Which is where we lose exact details of what happened from there.

The best we can tell, the rancher got Matt to the ambulance. The ambulance crew was worried that he had injured his head because he was very confused and mentioned having head pain. They called in a helicopter, closed down the highway for it to land, then Matt got a ride to the nearest trauma hospital back in El Paso. He got there and got all kinds of scans and tests. 

Amazingly, I was still in Texas on my trip when I got the initial news and then the update that he had gotten a helicopter ride. So guess who got a side trip to El Paso to go check on their husband?

Luckily it was only a broken collarbone. The doctor said that in cases of trauma like this, the brain tends to check out a bit and that was the explanation for the fact that Matt doesn't remember hardly anything from the wreck to when he was at the hospital in El Paso. The ortho team there decided that a sling was all that this break needed.

So I got him the fanciest sling I could find at Walgreens and treated him to a few Texas delicacies before heading home. (In the midst of all this, my sister flew to Texas and took the boys home. Talk about a life saver!) I got him safely home and then found an ortho up here to make sure things were healing up ok.

Except the angle of the x-rays they took in El Paso didn't quite give the whole story. They took new ones and realized the break was much worse than it initially looked. So in addition to all of the "fun" of being helicoptered, he also got a fancy schmancy new nail put in his shoulder. 

And his poor bike got left behind in Texas. Luckily, one of his friends took it back with him to Dallas and it will just have to hang out there Matt can go retrieve it.

Continental Divide trip, take 2 - coming summer of 2018? 

Galveston Fun

The beach house was just north of Galveston in Crystal Beach. It was nice to be away from the hub-bub that is Galveston Island in summer, but we still made several trips back there for fun!

It may not look like it here, but the boys loved the Ferry rides! There were a few crossings when they fell asleep and I tried to let them nap, but without letting the engine run, the car got pretty toasty even with the windows open - so that never lasted long. It was much nicer to get out of the car and watch the ships going by!

The kid fell down sooo many times on this trip. We met my parents at Starbucks one morning to retrieve Nonni (dad came down for a few days to spend with mom) and I happened to notice how bruised and scraped up his leg had gotten. This poor kid!

He even managed to add a few more after this photo...

I wanted to take them to Seawolf Park because I figured they would like the giant submarine and warship. I don't think they quite understood what the giant torpedo behind them was, but they acted suitably impressed! 

They loved climbing through the submarine doors though! They were the perfect size for kids - us adults had a harder time at it than they did. Especially poor Josh, he is much to tall to ever serve on a sub!

The best part of the submarine was the air conditioning honestly. It was pretty hot outside (in case I haven't mentioned that before), but the sub was nice and cool. So nice!

The battleship, on the other hand, was roastingly hot if you weren't in a breezy and shady part of the ship. My kids didn't seem to mind all that much, but the kids that live in this heat year round were pretty done. We were all a bit confused about that turn of events. ;)

See this guy? Red as could be, but having a blast!

Luckily for all of us, a storm was rolling in! The temperature dropped to reasonable levels as soon as the clouds covered up the sun. So we wandered over to the park to play for a bit and then down to the dock at Seawolf Park to watch people fishing. The kids were super excited when this guy in the corner caught one and ran over to check out his catch.

But one kid was much too concerned with the lighting off in the distance...

He wanted us to leave as soon as possible! To be fair, it did start raining shortly after we got to the car, so he wasn't that far off.

We found this spot on the ferry after a few rides - there was a sitting area that was above the car deck, but not as high as the enclosed deck. It was shady, breezy and we could see all the ships going by. Definitely the best spot!

To my surprise, there was a Children's Museum in Galveston! It was part of the Bishop's House Museum and looked promising. So one of the days when the other kids all wanted to use the water slide again, mine kids opted to go check out the museum instead. 

I wasn't sure to expect since it was in an old mansion, but it was pretty awesome! There were different themed rooms and everything from a play PIzzeria, fishing boat, art, building blocks and a health area. 

Thomas was super excited that they had real tools to use and made his own little creation out of scrap wood, beads and some tiny nails. Then he used a hand auger to drill some holes in it. Not sure what it would be to most people, but to this guy it is a treasure!

I kept losing track of Henry and Nonni because it was a bit of a maze, but I managed to find him finishing up some art work. Also, not sure what this was supposed to be, but art is subjective anyhow. ;)

If you go to Galveston, it would be a shame to not get ice cream on the Strand! It took me forever to find a parking spot and I wanted to just write it off, but I had promised these two guys ice cream and they weren't willing to give up on it. Luckily we finally found a spot and finally got our tasty, tasty ice cream! Clearly the younger two were more interested in ice cream or people watching than taking photos - at least Nonni pays attention to me. :)

Beach House with the Larsons

Our whirlwind week across Texas was deliberately planned to be before the second week of staying in one spot - a beach house on the Gulf Coast with Theresa and family. A week of relaxation with my bestie and both of our moms to help some with the kids? Perfect!

I was so stressed about the heat for this trip that I may have gone a little overboard preparing for it... As in I sent myself a snow cone maker to the in-laws house so we could cool down with snow cones. The kids didn't seem to think I was crazy at all and loved snow cone time! 

Also if you look at the reflection in the window, you can see how close we were to the beach. Plus the house had this super awesome deck all around the second floor that was mostly shaded - perfect again!

You have to catch a ferry from Galveston to get over to Crystal Beach, so I also sent myself this Lego set for Thomas to build after our ferry ride. He, of course, found it last week and has been so excited about building it. As soon as we got there, I conceeded and he set to work constructing it!

Henry found this Bop-It game at Allie's house and loved playing with it. So, of course, she gave it to him. He loves playing with it while dancing around. He's gotten more points on it than I would have guessed, but he mostly just likes the music. 

We even managed to go the beach! I know that sounds silly since we are at a beach house, but the cloudy days were our favorite days to venture over there. Otherwise we waited until super late in the day when it was slightly cooler.

The boys weren't super impressed with the waves on the first visit, so Thomas didn't even want to wear his swimsuit the second time. He pointedly said he wasn't going in the water, so why couldn't he go to the beach in his pajamas? Can't argue with that fine logic...

Also, Henry is totally pretending to be a bear and Thomas luckily realized that a bear was about to smash his sand castles and stopped the bear just in time. Ha!

Henry then wandered over to check out the hermit crabs the other kids had collected in the pirate buckets. And by that I mean it was mostly Theresa finding the hermit crabs. I managed to find one and got squeals of joy from Anna when I put it in her bucket! :)

This guy was just happy as he could be drawing in the sand and trying to build castles. And I bought him these super big Superman sunglasses because the transitions just weren't cutting it. 

Don't they both just look like they are having such a good time? Henry did try a few rides on the knee board the first day, but he was pretty happy to just splash around in the surf and play in the sand today. Water babies, they are not...

Meredith was also all about playing in the sand. Theresa and I kept building her little castles with rocks and shells hidden inside because her favorite thing to do was destroy anything built out of sand. And it was way more fun for her when there were "treasures" to find!

The other kids had been talking up this awesome water slide down the road. Even though my kids aren't water babies, it certainly looked like fun and not that scary. So we went for it - I bought a ticket too, even though no other adults did. First ride down, Thomas and I rode together!

And he hated it and refused to go again... :(

Henry rode down with Anna while I waited at the bottom to make sure he didn't freak out when they got into the pool at the bottom. And he pretty much loved it. The two of us went down several times! I managed to get Thomas to give me one more try since I had figured out how to make it a little less splashy and twisty after a few rides. I promised an ice cream cone and he did exactly one more ride before quitting again... Oh well. 

At least they look excited in the photo! 

We brought our own mini-water sliding contraption with us and thought the kids would have more fun with that. Theresa's kids were ready to hit the ground running when we set it up, but my two had never seen such a thing before. Thomas was more interested in the mechanics of the slide than sliding at first...

Wallace was by far the one to get the most air, but I'm not sure he really liked the landing... "/

Henry kinda figured out the sliding on his knees at the end. Meredith and Henry would mostly run down it and fall dramatically at the end.

Thomas managed to get a few decent slides in. But he's totally posing at the end for me. :)

Then the kids pretty much gave up after a bit and just hung out cooling off on the slide. Henry didn't realize the girls had given up and was yelling at them to move. Good luck, Henry!

Popsicle time! We tried for awhile to get a group photo and this was the best we could do. They were close to all looking at the camera. 

I was a total sucker for this frog hats when we went to the Rainforest Cafe. And Henry loved wearing his around. Pajama bottoms and a frog hat - he is one stylish kid! ;)

I didn't get very many photos with Nonni in them, but I swear she was with us and having fun! :)

The last day at the beach house, we pulled out the tons of water balloons that Allie had given us. They are the ones that have a cluster of 30 balloons and one connector for a water hose. It is soooo much easier than filling up tons of balloons! Even the adults got in on the action as you can clearly see the water balloon flying through the air that Josh launched at me...

Henry was most excited when the seal on the balloon wasn't that great and he could spray water out of the end.

This kid was risking serious payback throwing water balloons at mommy while she had her camera out. He is not yet aware that mommy thrown water balloons are a bit more accurate than the ones he was chunking...

Obviously, we had a blast at the beach house and thanks to the bestie and family for letting us crash the family trip to hang out with all of them for a week. Though I think we are basically family at this point, so maybe the better question is why this is the first year we got invited?? :)

Houston!

After all the fun in North Texas, we headed south to Houston! I may or may not have planned the route to Houston to go through West just to get kolaches. It seemed like a nice detour around the madness of downtown Houston and I got my favorite Texas pastry. Win-win!

We were doing so much running around visiting all of our friends that the camera once again got forgotten until almost the end of our time there. (Like always...)

But I did manage to get a few photos of pool time at the Thurmond's house! We had pool time at one of my former mentor's house and he suggested these pool "wings" that worked great for his grandkids. They did a much better job of keeping the kids from going face first in the water. These two still weren't convinced and mostly preferred to stand on the side of the hot tub. (It was definitely not being heated!)

As usual, Allie went a little crazy buying all kinds of toys for them for both indoor and outdoor use. We managed to convince her to keep the pool floats since we don't have a pool, but she insisted on sending the water squirters along with us. The kids (mine and hers!) had such a blast attacking each other with them, that I couldn't resist taking a few along with us. 

Also, as usual, John had a fun project going that the kids were super interested in watching. Last time was 3D printing and this time was a new CNC router he was tinkering with building. The boys kept trying to peek into the garage through the cat door. We finally let them out there to watch with the proper hearing protection.

After saying goodbye to the Thurmond's, we decided to hit one more museum before hitting the road south again. We hadn't made it to the Children's Museum of Houston yet (we did get the one in the Woodlands again on this trip), so we decided to go check it out. Our museum membership in Alaska covers so many museums around the country and this was one of them - it even included immediate entry into Kidtropolis. I think you usually have to reserve a time, so it was nice to just walk in. 

The boys had a blast in Kidtropolis! They got little bank cards at the beginning, then got to try out various jobs - collecting paychecks along the way. 

Of course, they wanted to hang out in the grocery store and this one was even a HEB. I wanted to hang out there too (maybe more at the real one, but it was close!)

Henry was more interested in shopping than checking out. I spent most of my time restocking behind them. They had the cutest little aisles! And there were even kids manning a meat & seafood counter. So adorable!

I finally got them to wave goodbye to Kidtropolis and check out all of the fun water activities outside. Henry must have been watching his brother the other day, he was using two water guns from the get-go!

Thomas was much more excited about making the biggest waves he could in this wave tank. I was mostly trying to avoid the sun and stressing over not having their hats! Only one of them got soaked enough in the water play to need an outfit change once we got back to the car, but for such an exciting morning, it was a small price to pay! 

On the road again and off to the next Texas adventure!

Hanging out in Weatherford

After two action packed days, I thought it would be good to stay closer to home for a day. All this excitement will wear a mom out!

The boys were pretty excited to get plenty of water time in on this trip since it was so toasty outside. I made them wait until late enough in the day that the sun wasn't roasting them in the pool, so they got the splash park and pool time yesterday!

These two kids are not at all water kids. I can plan out some activities for them back home, but I never seem to make the deadlines for swim lessons. So I brought along their life jackets and they never get to go in the water without an adult each. Good thing, since we discovered these life jackets actually tend to tip them into the water face first. Yikes...

Luckily the life jacket an pool noodle combination let them float pretty well, though no one was willing to let them go at any point anyhow... 

Today we opted to check out one of the parks in town that I had found on google. It said they had a splash park and the boys kept asking to go back to Legoland just for the splash park. Instead of paying those high ticket prices again, I convinced them to try out this awesome free splash park in town! And for the record, I really wish this had been here when I was a kid - it was super fun!

After slathering them with a super high sunscreen, they were off and playing in the water jets! We were the only kids (and adults) wearing rashguards, but we Alaskans aren't really used to the hot sun...

Nonni even joined in on the fun - she will pretty much follow these kids anywhere. Even when she knows Thomas is covering a water vent just to try and spray her with it when he calls her over to see "something"... :)

The boys had ben begging their grandpa for a tractor ride since we got to the house and dad pulled it out for them today. They were super pumped! Also, those boat seats used to be where my sister and I sat in the back of my dad's pick-up truck. He did have a camper shell on it, but I can't imagine that would fly with road safety these days...;)

I was going to follow along and take photos of them having fun until my mom nicely reminded me that there were chiggers out in the field. I decided to hop in and ride along after that. I hate chiggers! I distinctly remember my grandmom putting sulphur on her legs to keep them away and I did not have any sulphur on hand...

Plus it was much more fun to see the boy's reactions to their nature ride. Thomas was not impressed by a few parts of it.

But they both thought the goat was awesome. She followed us for quite a while, probably thinking we had Fritos - her favorite snack from my dad. The boys threw her some of the leaves I had been tickling them with, but she wasn't interested in plants. Oh well!

Overall, a relaxing day in the home town before heading off on the next part of our Texas adventure!

Legoland!

I have to be honest, I have a lot of fun on these trips trying to think of fun activities that the boys will love. I wanted to take them to Legoland last time we were in town, but I wasn't sure Henry would be old enough to enjoy it, but this year, I figured I would offer them the option and see what they thought...

Ha - they didn't even think about it before they got super excited! Just like the Perot, it was pretty crowded, but they didn't seem to mind! The first building table we got to inside the door, they were ready to start constructing and destructing!

They had one exhibit hall with scenes from around the city - Thomas was entranced by the airport display. The windows in the terminal had a scrolling scene of passengers so it looked like people walking by - he thought it was too neat. 

Amongst the city-scapes were random scenes to find. I think my favorite was the skateboard accident one. I sent Matt and photo about how wearing your helmet is always important (the Lego guy didn't have one!). Also, I loved the miniature Lego American and Texas flags!

There were even a few Lego themed rides. The boys were super pumped about this wizard themed one. It would go in a circle and to get it to go up in the air, you had to pedal. So I basically had to pedal for the both of us because Henry's feet couldn't even reach the pedals... Thomas helped Nonni out a teensy bit, but we both got a workout in!

Then there were race cars to build and race against other people!

And a big Star Wars exhibit with a very huggable R2-D2!

But the part they had been most excited about? The splash park! Ever since we tried it out at the zoo last year, they had been talking about how fun splash parks are. We don't have many (any?) in Alaska, so this was their first chance to enjoy one again. And they had a blast! It took forever to pry them away from the jets of water and giant foam Lego blocks, but their hunger finally won out once I mentioned the magic words: "Chick-fil-A" :)

Fort Worth Museum

Our first day over in Weatherford, I let the boys pick what fun activity they wanted to do. Unsurprisinly, they picked their other favorite museum!

Both of my parents decided to join us on our museum outing, though Dad opted for the boring sidewalk into the museum instead of racing though the insect tunnel. 

We don't usually pay attention to most of the museum, but Nonni had heard from some coworkers that there was a special exhibit going on that were aimed at kids. So we wandered around looking for the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit, but ended up finding Dora the Explorer instead. The boys were happy as could be with that!

Henry's favorite part was definitely the animal hospital! The animals all had tags that the machines would read and tell you how to help the animals feel better. His favorite "treatment" had to be the pretend bath and real blow dryer.

Nonni tried to keep up with Thomas, who was all over the place. Anything that required moving things around was his favorite, so the big plastic coins on this pirate ship definitely fit the bill!

Henry tried out some rock climbing, but wasn't quite sure how to traverse the wall. Yet...

We finally found the Clifford exhibit and Thomas had a blast being the postman. He was delivering mail in his postal uniform and made sure that all the letters went to the right house. But then he got confused - they mail he had *just* delivered was missing...!

Can't imagine how that happened...?

We finally made our way down to the usual kid's exhibit and the boys went nuts for all of their old favorites. Henry was shopping up a storm and then diligently checking out. Not quite as good at restocking, but that's not the most exciting part, is it?

Thomas wanted to get the big wheel in the center to spin, but one stream of water wasn't quite enough. He was about to give up when I pointed out that he could do two if he used both hands - the little guy was so proud of himself when it started moving!

Two worn out little guys and one worn out momma! It was as fun as always though! :)

Dallas!

This year we switched it up a little and headed over to Dallas first, so we would be there over the weekend. I thought the Aunts and Uncle would be more free for meeting up on the weekend versus during the week. And they did come over and hang out with us! 

Of course, I got zero pictures of that... But I swear they like us and came to see us!

On our last day in Dallas, I did remember I own a camera! And brought it! Mostly because Grannie went and bought us donuts for breakfast and we were goofing off while we waited for her to come back. The kids decided it was well worth the wait when she came back with sprinkle donuts!

Thomas was very intrigued by the game Pawpaw was playing on his laptop. Pawpaw explained to him how solitaire worked, but Thomas isn't quite up to trying it for himself. Yet...

Also, we got to meet the newest member of the family while we were there! Bucky #2! He looks a lot like his predecessor, Bucky #1. Much more energy right now though, because he's still a pretty young guy. 

And of course, we can't go to Dallas without going to the Perot museum! I honestly think the two of them might be plenty happy just playing with the musical forest outside. Well, maybe if it wasn't blistering hot temperatures, anyhow...

The museum was moderately packed. It wasn't quite as bad as when we went on Labor Day, but it was pretty busy. Thomas still managed to get his shopping lists completed though!

And Henry managed to snag the truck all to himself for awhile!

The two of them hogged this conveyor belt for a little while, but that seemed to be the going trend everywhere, so I let them get away with it. Plus they had on the orange vests, so they looked super official!

The grandparents look like they are catching a quick nap. I think the activity level was a little much for them...

It was much less crowded outside (because it was so stinking hot!), so the grandparents were happy enough to hang out there with us. The boys jumped straight into the giant sandbox and were super excited to discover a bone! I swear they have seem them before, but you wouldn't have guessed it from the reactions.

This crazy kid! It took forever to convince them to go back inside even though they were both quite sweaty. Oh to be a kid again and not be so bothered by the temperatures outside. 

One last chance to play on the frogs before we headed out. As always, it was a blast not only at the museum, but spending time with Grannie & Pawpaw. Thanks for having us! :)

Random Summer Fun!

Summer around here is busy and full of fun, so I figured I'd show you all an assortment of the summer fun we had before we took our big trip down to Texas. 

Soccer time! Soccer is only outdoors in the summer and it's much more fun than the indoor soccer. Well, unless it's raining, but I got a new soccer mom chair this summer that has a pop-up cover on it. So I'm ready - rain or shine!! 

Henry and Thomas played on separate days, so Henry found ways to entertain himself when he wasn't playing. His favorite activity? Picking dandelion puffs and trying to blow them, though he prefers to call them dandy flowers, which I think is just adorable. :)

Matt somehow convinced these guys to not only clean the table and vacuum the floor - the two of them would argue over who got to do what. Ummm... what other things could I have them do for me??

Apparently I can convince them to carry their own soccer gear and chairs. No more pack horse momma!! Also, that backpack looks giant on Thomas, but he didn't complain.

Grannie brought these sheet tent sets with her when they were in town. The boys kept asking to make them and I kept forgetting until it was too late to set them up. Until one night when I remembered and made this super awesome tent for them to have a sleepover night. I texted a photo to Matt (who was working late) and told him I was the fun parent. Winning!

My little breakfast helpers! I let them try the biscuit dough since it was egg free and they apparently thought it was tasty!

Luckily we realized it was National Ice Cream Day before it was too late to celebrate! I have finally convinced them that ice cream is just as good as frozen yogurt, so we've gotten to go to Baskin Robbins more. I can't say I would have gotten the ice cream with pop rocks in it, but Thomas was pretty happy with it. 

Clearly, Henry was plenty happy with his chocolate ice cream... This kid is serious about his ice cream!

We stopped at the neighborhood playground on the way home to burn off some extra energy the ice cream had provided them.

They still make me nervous with the climbing bravery, but obviously they have got this!

Picture day at soccer was *not* Henry's favorite. This poor photographer could not convince him to smile for the camera. Amazingly, the other photographer must have been part wizard because he got Henry to drop his arm, pose and even got a great smile out of him. I was too in awe to pay enough attention to how he did it - would be a great skill to have!

Last day at work before heading out on our two week trip to Texas! I love the shape of Texas (because all Texans do), but I hadn't ever tried to draw it out accurately. Much harder than I expected, but I finally got a decent approximation!

Matt wasn't going with us on this trip, but he very nicely dropped us off and helped us get checked in early in the morning. Also, look how helpful Thomas is - we did a few practices attempts in the house before I completely relied on him to help me with a bag, but he did great! 

Oh and you can see their awesome new backpacks! After the cabin trip, I decided they needed better packs that we could clip in the front so the straps would stop sliding down their arms. We have had many discussions about how the whistles built into the clips are only for emergenies and so far, they haven't blown them without asking for permission first.

One last hug for Dada before heading through security! 

These two were studying the emergency info cards like they were going to be quizzed on it! Then the flight attendant did the demonstration right next to our seat and these guys were glued to her every move. She said no one had ever watched her so intently and everyone around was telling me how adorable they were. Unsurprisingly, they got lots of attention and treats from the crew after that. When I was helping Thomas in the tiny bathroom, Henry waited outside after his turn. As soon as I opened the door, he proudly showed me the 5 Biscoff cookies he had gotten from the nice flight attendant.

Flight #2 was pretty much a breeze as well. They both were sound asleep before we even took off! They woke up and had time to eat lunch and watch a movie before arriving in Texas. Easy peasy!

I may have spoiled them with a few new treats in Texas...

And visited some old classics!

I can't say for sure which of the must-stop Texas restaurants is their favorite, but they are covered in the most food after Waffle House. Those chocolate chip waffles are messy...!

Seward with the Elams

Matt and Sam put in on all of the same hunting tags and against all logic / odds, they both got a goat hunt tag on the far side of Resurrection Bay for this fall. Matt had a tag on this side of the bay last year and it was pretty challenging, so they were wanting to prepare as much as possible for the far side. So we planned a long weekend in Seward so they could take a flight or boat over and scope out the mountains. 

For some reason, they ended up not doing that at all... But I still had plenty of fun things planned for the boys and when the dads decided to scope out a fishing spot, we decided to check out the super cool looking library. Henry was *very* excited!

Conveniently, it was located across the street from the house we were renting!

The library had a really nice kids area that was somewhat sound insulated from the rest of the upstairs, so they could play some games, check out the musical instruments and read books while sitting on cushions that look like tree stumps. 

Plus it had a ton of windows and it had a pretty awesome looking background, huh??

After the guys gave up on fishing, we all headed over to the Sea Life center. Of course, it was a mad rush to get to the boat first and claim the captain's wheel. I am pretty sure Thomas only won because the other two got distracted...

The fishing game behind the boat has started to be more interesting to the kids now that they can basically play it. They don't quite get the point and end up overfishing most of the board, but they still have fun trying!

This time they were both daring enough to touch the sealife in the tank. I was super proud of them! :)

Everyone is looking for Woody, but he was pretty happy just cruising around ignoring all of us. We lucked out two years ago to be there when they were feeding the sea lions, but that's the only time. Sigh...

But some things don't change and a quick run across the balcony break was still in order - though Henry did a much better keeping up than the last time! ;)

Almost forgot to get a photo of the kids in front of the sign - they were nice enough to go back upstairs for me. Also, so they could play on the boat again. Win-win!

Because we didn't quite pack *enough* fun into one day, we headed over to the playground, which was conveniently only two blocks from the house. Best house location we've had in Seward yet!

The boys were trying really hard to figure out the monkey bars and rings. And I don't just mean these two little guys - Matt & Sam were also competing to see who could get further on the monkey bars. I got in on the competition as well - I was in shock how much harder it was than I remembered... And all these tiny kids were just flying across them. A bit humbling. ;)

And we can't leave the park without some swinging time in front of the scenic Resurrection Bay! Even if the guys didn't get their scouting in and the fish weren't biting, we all still had a blast. Thanks for a great weekend, Seward! :)