It may be April, but there is still some powder at The Summit, so Avery and Dalton went skiing/snowboarding

It’s getting real!

First fire of the season

I love this magnolia!

We stayed home for Spring break, but Layla went to her friend, Shelby’s family ranch, 9 Mile Ranch, in Eastern Washington for a few days. They had a terrific time together!

Phoebe, waiting for Jonathan to drop something… anything!

First day on Everlong this season. We had to take the Christmas lights off her!

Avery and Erika are so sweet with Layla. They’ll often hang out with her around the house.

Moms night out at The W

Trivia night at William Grassie Winery

Layla went the her friend, Sawyer’s, spa-themed birthday Party. It was so cute I have to share the pics!

We  really appreciate Nana and Frank staying with the kids after Easter so we could get away for a couple days in Las Vegas. It’s been a stressful couple months with Jonathan looking for a job and we needed a break to recharge, so we used miles and points to treat ourselves to a couple days in the sunshine. We hung out by the pool, walked around town, ate yummy food and went to a show.

We stayed at the Vencecian. Here’s the view from our hotel room.



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We went to a show one night

This little cutie was next to us on the plane

Here’s what we were up to in March:

Jonathan had a continuing ed session for teaching ski lessons

Silas played basketball on the middle school team.

Silas had two band concerts in March. The first was an “extravaganza” with all the other bands in our school district. He’s just to the left the middle of this pic.

This is at his concert later in the month – just his middle school band.

Layla played rec basketball with her team, the Jelly Beans

Silas and Layla had a piano recital

Senior Assassin started. It’s a game the high school seniors play with Nerf guns. Basically, the kids are on teams of two and each week they are assigned another team, which is their target that week. If they manage to shoot one of their targets (or one of their assassins in self-defense) then they are still in the next week. It’s $20 to play, so the winner and runners up walk away with quite a bit of money!

These girls were after Avery & Dalton the first week.

Erika and Avery had a scare leaving our house one evening

Here is Avery and Dalton’s first attempt to get their target. Kieron dressed as Avery and baited them.

There was disagreement over whether they indeed shot their target, so they agreed to a duel. This time they got him.

Layla went to a lot of birthday parties. Here are a couple pics from her friends’ Wicked themed party

Fun with slime!

We celebrated St. Patty’s Day by going ot dueling pianos at Saints & Scholars.

Loving on our pets

Look who’s getting tall!
Our friends who often watch Phoebe when we are out of town adopted a French Bulldog, Dottie, so naturally, we had to introduce them!

We went on a walk and realized we can see Snoqualmie Falls from a spot on the golf course not far from our house!

February is a short month anyway, but it went by fast. Jonathan and the kids did a lot of skiing! Layla and her friend, Millie are both fearless and do Black Diamonds together!

Mount Si High School Class of 2025! (Avery is in the middle, sort of in the upper left quadrant.)

Layla is playing rec basketball and loves it! She gets pretty aggressive on the court too!

Layla and I went to see Sleeping Beauty at Pacific Northwest Ballet

 

At the Boat Show

High school swim team was well underway and Kieron enjoyed his first season. This was senior night, where they recognized Hayden & Colin.

We had some late start days due to snow

Silas had a great season of middle school basketball

I went to Pullman to celebrate Papa’s birthday

We went out to Rico’s for birthday dinner

I volunteered to help at the school during a Pacific Science Center event. It was pretty cool!

Valentine’s Day   

Avery and I went to Bellingham for a college visit day 

My old apartment is still there! (It’s the one in the middle.)

We visited our friends, the Stryjak’s, at their new home in Arizona for mid-winter break. Silas and Layla came with us while Avery stayed home and watched over the pets. Kieron went to the Big Easy with Nana.

Niki and I walked most mornings
   

There was lots of pool fun! They just finished their pool a couple weeks before our visit.

Lunch at The Olive Mill while the boys work

San Tan Flat had a very cool, southwestern vibe

We spent an afternoon Revel Surf Park, a water park in Queen Creek. They had a man-made beach and surf lessons, but the big hit with our kids was jumping off a set of high jumps.

Jonathan had people cheering for him!

Go karts!

A little more fun at the pool before heading back to rainy Washington
  

Kieron and Nana went to New Orleans for his double digit trip. Here they are before they left.

The Muddy Mississippi

Trolley

Memorial for victims of New Year’s car attack

They went to a WWII museum – P51 Mustang

Artillery Shell

Enigma Machine
 

M4 Sherman

Battle of New Orleans

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde
 

Steamboat Ride

They did a cooking lesson together. Kieron’s favorite was the artichoke and shrimp bisque

This is an online pic of an abandoned hospital they saw that is said to be haunted.