Christmas Break - Burke Museum

We went to the new Burke Museum.

Then, we headed over to U-Village for lunch and a little climbing on cows.

New Year's Polar Bear Plunge

Cecily decided that she wanted to do the Polar Bear Plunge this year.  Considering that her "comfort zone" is 69-71 degrees I didn't think she'd actually go for it. But I forgot about the draw of water for this girl.  She went for it and she loved it.

We got there about 15 minutes before the official plunge, that's Cecily pre-swimming in the water.

Parker was not-so interested in going in.

The, as per tradition, we destroyed our gingerbread house.

Christmas not to plan

Parker woke up Christmas morning with a slight fever.  He was okay, but when he ran out of steam half-way through opening presents we knew he wasn't feeling well.

So, rather than spending the afternoon at the Need's, we had a quiet afternoon at home.

Cecily didn't hate it.

Parker missed most of it.

We finally realized that he wasn't going to be better enough to go for dinner, so Keith & Cecily headed over to Woodinville and the two of us hung out at home.

Parker went to sleep and I had left-over Christmas Eve pizza and watched White Christmas.  All told, it wasn't too bad as Christmases go.

Christmas Break

It's finally time for Christmas break!

Cecily opened a spa and painted my fingernails.

Weekend getaway

We needed a break, so I went on Groupon and found a deal on a random hotel in Silverdale.  It was so great to get away and spend some time together as a family.  (Editor's note: as I write this on day 14,000 of COVID-19 quarantine, my past self apologies to my current self for thinking that going to a soccer game every weekend was some sort of huge hardship)

The kids LOVED the free breakfast and the swimming pool.  Months later, they still talk all the time about "when we went to the Best Western Plus".  Seriously, I have heard them say "Best Western Plus" more times than I have heard them say "Walt Disney World"

The hotel is right on this little inlet, so we wandered down the waterfront and threw rocks in the water.

On Saturday, we drove to Poulsbo to wander around town.

This is how we dressed to go to dinner, we're fancy in this house.

No School Day

No school days = Jammies and reading all day long.

Labor Day Party

We threw together a last-minute Labor Day party.  We had a great turn-out and it was really fun.  At some point, we made a 6-at-a-time rule for the hot tub, but I'm not at all sure it was followed.

End of Summer

Parker didn't want to pick out his clothes today, so he let Cecily do it.  He's wearing a long-sleeved shirt under the sweater and it's going to be 80+ out today, whatever.

End-of-summer doughnuts

Leavenworth Vacation

It was obscenely hot in Leavenworth the entire week, but that didn't stop our kids from hanging out in the hot tub 24/7.

Our favorite part of family vacations is hanging out with the cousins, and going on adventures with Auntie Denise, who is way more fun than Mama.

Our last day, we headed down the highway a bit to a petting farm.

We got to feed goats, sheep, and a peacock.

It's not a family vacation without attempting a photo of all the grandkids.