Grandpa's 90th Birthday & Seattle

Over the weekend we got to fly out to Seattle for a quick trip to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday and help my mom and her siblings throw him a big birthday bash!

GRANDPA'S 90TH BIRTHDAY BASH

The flight there was great. It helps that our kids are great walkers and love to compete to see who can carry the heaviest bags. Pretty soon Kevin and I will be buying ourselves adult strollers and we'll let the kids do all the heavy lifting/pushing.

We loved exploring the parks around my grandparent's house. We hit up this one twice...

On the first night I went over to visit my grandparents while Kevin put the kiddos to sleep at the hotel. I loved getting to chat with my aunts and uncles and grandparents without my kids running around. Grandma made sure that we got our sugar fill! In this photo she is holding three large boxes of ice cream bars. If you ever wonder where I got my sweet tooth from... it is my Grandma Brown! We are kindred sugar/chocolate spirits. :)

On Friday Kevin and my dad explored and played with the kiddos while I ran birthday party errands with my aunts. What a fun day!

On Friday night the "adults" (aunts, uncles, grandparents) all went out for dinner so Elise & I (and families) we had our own cousins bash at the park with pizza... followed by Dairy Queen!

On Saturday we played some more at parks and then let the kids play at grandma and grandpa's house for a few hours. In the late afternoon I helped set up for the birthday party and then loads of family and grandpa's friends arrived around 5pm for his 90th Birthday Party!

My kids had fun running around and eating as many treats as they could sneak while we met many of Grandma and Grandpa's friends and neighbors and chatted with cousins.

We even managed to get a photo with Grandpa and all of the great-grandkids that were at the party from the Smith, Love, Caffee, and Buskirk families. We need to have a big reunion so that we can get all of the other great-grandkids together too!

It was so fun to spend time with my mom and dad again! My kid were in heaven!!

One of Grandpa's neighbors made these cute 90 cookies for his party.

Darling Sophie!!

The highlight of the evening was listening to Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Diane shares stories from G&G Brown's life. This testimony shared by grandpa was the best part of the night. It was so special to be there to listen to him.

After cleaning up the party we went home and crashed at the hotel!! My kids were terrible sleepers the entire trip, so we were exhausted!! Ryan slept in the bathroom at the hotel and the two little kiddos shared a pull out couch and were constantly stealing blankets from one another and rolling on top of each other. Since Ryan slept in the bathroom we had to walk the big kids down the hall if they had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night... it was PAINFUL! So glad to be home because of that!

SEATTLE

Before we went home we had to spend a day or so exploring Seattle!! We visited the Space Needle and Seattle Center, rode the monorail, went to the International Fountain, rode the Giant Seattle Wheel, ate ice cream and food along the pier, and just roamed around. We are so glad our kids are such good walkers. They walked and walked and then walked some more! The weather during our visit was gorgeous too!

I was also so excited that I got to meet up with several blogging friends that live in the Seattle area! We went out to dessert at the Purple Cafe and chatted for a few hours while Kevin and the kiddos played at the park. I've known all of these ladies online for a few years and yet we'd never met in real life... in fact, Allie (far left) is one of the bloggers that inspired me to start my Toddler Approved blog. So cool to all hang out a bit this weekend. I love how many creative and fun people I have met through blogging! 

(photo courtesy of Marnie from Carrots Are Orange)

My only wish is that we had another day or two to play in Seattle!! There are so many things that we wanted to do and not enough time!! Can't wait till our next trip back!

We finally headed home this evening. I am exhausted, my house is a wreck, and am hoping my kids decide to sleep FINALLY. Wish me luck!