A Fun Filled February

February seems so long ago but yet when I think about the month of February I can still remember the fabulous memories we created and the adventures we shared.  Here are our top three memories.

On the 9th we had planned a trip to Mt Rainer to play in the snow.  However, with Mother Nature on our side we woke up to a beautiful white layer of fresh snow outside our own door.  No need to pack up and drive for two hours!  Tyler & I realized the snow was going to be decent before we went to bed the night before so as the kids drifted off to sleep we sat in the living room blowing up our inner tubes.  Honestly, Tyler did most the blowing.  

 In the morning the kids woke up around seven and we told them they had to eat breakfast before they could play outside.  They chowed down their eggs & sausage and were fully bundled and out the door by eight.  We took advantage of a hill outback and enjoyed a good hour of fun before any other children began to appear.  The kids enjoyed making a snow man, having snowball fights and riding the tubes for almost four hours before we headed inside for a movie and hot chocolate.  

Josie was showing us how she was gonna ride down the hill.

 The kids love the snow, stopping to take pictures; not so much!

 

 Valentine’s Day can be overwhelming for many.  I included.  Flowers, chocolates and jewelry.  Lovie dovie gushy stuff, blah!  Tyler & I usually stay home and enjoy a special meal to avoid the overestimation of being in public as some young military boy gets down on one knee in the middle of Olive Garden.  Now that we have children, Valentine’s Day is fun filled crafts and children’s books.  This is my type of celebrating.

 Issac’s preschool class had a lil Valentine’s Day party, potluck and card exchange.  It was so much fun to prepare for and participate in. Issac enjoyed picking a candy free idea off Pinterest and assisting me with gluing on the erasers.  After I had cut out a dozen hearts I had asked Issac to sign his name on them.  At first I was like “WHAT ARE YOU WRITING AFTER YOUR NAME!?!?”  But then I realized my sweet boy was signing each Valentine from Issac & Josie.  I honestly got teary eyed, my sweet boy.  

About a week before we were at the store and in front of us was a Valentine’s display of chocolates and the like; Issac stopped and threw both arms at his side, I knew something was up. Issac had just had an “ah-ha” moment.  “Mom, I haven’t gotten a valentine for Teacher Colleen!”  I asked him what he thought she would like and he selected a nice heart shaped box of chocolates.  He was very excited to give the gift to his Teacher. 

The morning of the 22^nd my Mom drove down from Ferndale to babysit the kids for us.  Then, Tyler & I drove down to Portland so he could receive an award from his employer.  We arrived early and were able to enjoy some Mexican food & drinks with his brother Jayson & his wife Andalyn before checking in to our swanky hotel room at Hotel Lucia.  The hotel was very modern, fresh, & cleans with a lil swanky funk vibe.  The staff was friendly and our room was crunched for space but gorgeous. 

The awards event was at the Governor’s Hotel only a brisk walking distance away.  We were welcomed with a nice cocktail hour before being sat in the banquet room for a Murder Mystery show & dinner.  I have ALWAYS wanted to do a Murder Mystery dinner but this wasn’t one that really counts.  Honestly, I felt bad for the paid actors because there was so much cross conversations going on it was hard to hear the performers, even with microphones, so people weren’t paying a ton of attention to their performance.  (I still think Victoria killed that guy)…  The food was good.  Okay the salad was gross; it was three leafs from the heart of romaine with grilled lemon & shaved parmesan cheese.  The rolls were hard.  However, the steak and salmon were so delicious that made up for anything that was previously distasteful. 

Tyler was awarded the company’s first ever “Presidential Safety Award” for his work as the Chair on the company safety committee and for organization & implementing Safety Awareness Month.  All night people spoke highly of his hard work, ethic and dedication to safety.  

Sunday we woke up before the city.  I guess Portland is a lil bit of a lazy town because at 8am the only thing open was Starbucks!!!  We had some coffee and adventured to Powell’s Books.  We limited ourselves to an hour and wondered down to the children’s section to pick out two books for each of the kids before finding some books for ourselves.  After Powell’s we found some breakfast sandwiches from a hole in the wall place called The Brunch Box.  We took our breakfast and our hungover bodies back to the hotel to enjoy some lounging before heading home.  We loaded up, picked up a dozen Voo-Doo Doughnuts and headed home.  In and out of Portland in less than 24 hours.