Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Spring Break

If you're looking for the Hodgepodge questions, scroll on down to the earlier post. 

I had a fun spring break, spent with both daughters out in Washington State. Question-is it still called spring break when you're no longer a student, no longer have students living at home, and you're not working outside the home?

Well, it is spring, and I did take a break from everyday life here so yes, I'm going with it. Spring Break! Whoohoo! Everybody needs one!


Washington State in mid-April is cold, and while I know cold is a relative thing, I live in the mostly sunny southland and am out of practice waking up to 30 degree temps this time of year. I spent most of the week wearing my winter gloves and a rain jacket over my fleece. The gray white skies of the Pacific Northwest remind me of England, except at least with English weather you're in England.

I had my girls with me though, and they bring their own brand of sunshine to my days so not complaining.


We trekked to Ikea on Day 1 to source out a closet system for the baby nursery. I haven't been to Ikea since I lived in the UK and as we pulled in I suddenly remembered my least favorite thing about that store-the parking!! Oh my word! They'd built a brand new showroom right beside the old showroom and were still in the process of demolishing the old to make room for more parking. In the meantime we parked in Canada.

You know what the great thing is about hanging out with your grown up daughters? You can have fun even in the middle of parking lot chaos and aggravation.


After successfully snagging the appropriate closet pieces we made our way back towards the Base to pick up groceries at the commissary and to try and find some cheap rain boots at the P.X. We were waylaid en route to the boots by a whole department of precious baby boy clothes, and ended up leaving with six outfits and no rain boots. I'm calling that a win.

his aunt, the shark expert...how could she not buy this?

Tuesday we spent the day in tulip country and I'll save that recap for Thursday's post because I might have taken a few hundred pictures. ahem.



We wore out the baby mama with all the driving and shopping on Monday and Tuesday, so on Wednesday we slept in, stuck close to home, and saw Beauty and the Beast that afternoon.


My girls hadn't seen it yet, and I was so happy to see it again with them. We all loved it.


The rest of the week passed in a blur, as spring break so often does. We took long walks and talks with the pup beside us and Mt. Rainier behind us.


We ordered the crib and dresser for the nursery, played lots of our favorite board game (Ticket to Ride), worked a jigsaw puzzle (the dog made it a teensy bit more difficult by helping himself to three! pieces).


We enjoyed a lovely leisurely lunch beside the water at the famous Dukes Chowder House-


read sweet stories to the baby boy-


and read piles of our own books too. My teacher daughter read five that week, a real treat as she doesn't get to read much for pleasure during the school year.

Best of all, we accompanied baby boy's mama to the doctor where we got to hear his heart beating loud and strong. So special!


We left Saturday morning knowing next time we're here we'll be welcoming a brand new little love into our family. Daughter2 and I spent all day flying west to south, navigated our way out of Atlanta without too much difficulty (traveling at 8:30 PM helps), and got back to the lake close to midnight.

We woke up to a gorgeous Easter morning.


While I was away our Adirondack chairs were delivered so after church we sat beside the water sipping coffee while our lunch warmed in the oven. For those of you wondering, I got smart and ordered myself a Honey Baked Ham dinner which was perfect. All I had to do was warm everything up, but we still could eat on china in our dining room.


We wrapped up the day with grateful hearts and an Easter evening boat ride.



"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips it's turn."~Hal Borland

13 comments:

  1. Loved your recap! I miss have you guys out here with me but so excited for the next visit!!! AHHH!!

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  2. Lots of girl time - I know that made you happy!

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  3. Adirondacks are SO comfortable and what a great view you have!! It sounds like such a great week!! Exciting times to come!!

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  4. Ugh, that Ikea is the worst! It might have been worth the drive to Portland to go to the one here. haha Looks like the perfect way to recover from that kind of day long travel!

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  5. I would so live sitting in those chairs and visiting. It sounds like you had a wonderful week with your girls. So happy for you.

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  6. Sosososo much happy in this post! I'm so glad you had your girls for spring break and yes, it's still spring break no matter what. :) How long will the parents-to-be live out west? The PNW is a place I think I would enjoy visiting as I love cold and rain. Our little boy will be here around the 16th of August unless he's like his mommy and aunties and comes in a few weeks early. I can't wait to share grandson stories with you! See you tomorrow on the Hodgepodge. Maybe. I mean my post will be there but I have Baby M from 7:30 AM until the wee hours of Thursday morning so I might be in a sleep coma. :)

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  7. Oh, I thought of you several times last week and knew that you were relishing in your time with your daughters. Sounds like she is getting everything in order for that precious little boy. Fun times are ahead!

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  8. So glad you had a wonderful trip with your Girlies!!!

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  9. Ahh sounds like you had a great trip and exciting to be preparing for your little one.

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  10. The trees are lovely and I love the rainbow. I love IKEA and haven't been in a few years. Baby clothes....so much fun! The tulips are beautiful and I'm glad you went to see Beauty and the Beast with them. Now that was an awesome Spring Break.

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  11. Well this has been an exceptionally cold and wet Spring here in Washington State...oye. A year ago we had the windows and doors open because it was such a warm April...go figure. Glad you had fun with your girls. My daughter and I can't make it out of the Navy Exchange without buying something for little Addy especially when they have their 40% off sales. I just got back from Eastern Washington yesterday and hadn't gotten my brain back to participate in Hodgepodge. Lovely views at your place.

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  12. You remind me so much of myself when my first grandchild arrived....giddy,crazy in love with life and reminiscent! It only gets better too! But be careful....before I knew it I now have 6 under the age of 7....once they started, it never stopped!!!! My old bones are having a hard time holding all that love at once....but I manage!

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  13. I'm glad you had such wonderful time with your girls. Treasure those memories!

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