Home Town Tourists

While Annika is off jet-setting with Bestemor and Bestefar, the reaming three members of the Olson Four hunkered down for a Seattle-based weekend,

Eric got his shingles vaccine Friday evening and felt the effects of it Saturday. (Fortunately, the "get ready to feel like you got hit by a truck" scenario didn't come to fruition, but he definitely didn't feel great on Saturday.) Knowing that Eric would be feeling cruddy on Saturday, Conor and I made plans to go to Archie McPhee (we are slacker parents and had yet to take our kid there!) and then to Molly Moon's for some ice cream.

As an added bonus, we went on our adventure with another family from the kids' school. Playing hometown tourist is great. Playing hometown tourist with friends is even better!! (Thanks for going along with us, Kate, Sophia, and Ben!)

If you've never been to Archie McPhee, you must go there! It's quirky, zany, and altogether goofy! There are pranks galore, silly hats and masks aplenty, and more "why on earth would I have an excuse to need this" items than you can shake a stick at. (Note: Giggles abound at Archie McPhee ... A-BOUND!!) Oh, and did I mention the rubber chicken museum wall? People, you really need to go!!

Our fierce viking boy

Oh deer!

Has anyone seen Conor?

I've heard of chicken fingers, but duck fingers?????
That's a new one to me!

We followed up our Archie McPhee expedition with some much-needed ice cream. It was sunny ... of course we NEEDED ice cream!! The kids happily sat at the window licking their desserts, completely oblivious to the rivers of sticky melted ice cream running down their chins and arms. When spots opened up outside, the kids bolted to the "grassy" area and swings. (The people who designed this ice cream store, really had kids in mind!!) A perfect summer day experience for kiddos, if you ask me!

Conor slurping up the last of his ice cream while lounging on a swing

Woodland Park Zoo Visit with the Minniches

We have family friends who we don't get to see very often. Actually, we have A LOT of family friends we don't get to see as often as we'd like because life is too stinking busy for most of us!! 

One of those families is the Minnich family. We've known each other since I was pregnant with Conor and it has been a treat to have our families grow up together. It seems that no matter how much time passes between visits, it is very easy to just pick up where we left off ... even for the kids.

Once Elaine and I realized both of our families had the same day available (GASP!!!), we booked it and wrote it in pen (YES, PEN!!) on our calendars. (OK, to be honest... I put wrote it in dry erase pen because that's the kind of calendar we use, but it was still written in pen.) 

We did the full zoo circuit!! As promised, the kids got to ride the carousel (definitely a special treat for them.... I'm too cheap frugal to pay for that very often) and had a marvelous time. Meanwhile, Elaine and I stood on the sidelines talking about how middle age is taking its toll on our various joints and eyesight!! HA!!! (Just you wait, kids ... one day, you too might experience vertigo because of riding on that darned carousel!!!) 

After the not-dizzy kids exited the ride, they and their creaking-jointed mothers wandered to the Northern Trail section of the zoo. That's where the grizzly bears, elk, gray wolves, mountain goats, etc. live. The kids played in the "wolf den" (Yes, all four of them did squish in there!) and (impressively) all got out without assistance from the fire department or any other rescue teams. (Elaine and I  ... and our old joints ... would not have had the same outcome.) One of the grizzly bears was ever so kind and even smiled when I took its picture (sure, it probably had a muscle twitch in its lip, but I am choosing to say it smiled. IT SMILED, I tell ya!)

Conor and Grace in the wolf den

"CHEEEEEEESE!"

 

Silly kids with elk in the background

 

The moms

One of the best parts of the zoo is the Willawong Station, where people can feed the various birds that flit and fly around. They are all beautifully colored and most aren't overly shy. No, they didn't smile like the grizzly bear did, but he kids sure did when the birds landed on their arms and started to peck at the feed sticks!!

"Hey, Mom! Look what I found!"

Sheer joy

 

Her pre-teen height helped her reach the birds that were less interested in the flight to her

Conor feeding his green feathered friend

We also made sure to stop by the meerkats, komodo dragon, flamingos, emus, wallabys, zebras, tapirs, rhinos (having a little down time in their indoor bath), ostriches, penguins, and more. We covered A LOT of ground during our visit. (My joints are still in recovery mode thanks to me not wearing my running shoes ... fashionable boots have NO place at the zoo!)

"Hey. Whatcha doing?"

The kiddos riding the komodo dragon statue

Conor the lion conquerer

The one thing we didn't do was re-create the photo of Annika and Ethan at the zoo when they were just on either side of 3 and walked around holding hands in their little kid rain coats. Next time for sure!!! 

When they were so wee

A special thanks to Elaine, Ethan, and Grace for taking the time to drive over to Seattle and spend time with the crazy ol' Olson crew!!! 

Christmas, Holiday Activities, and NYE wrap-up

Well, 2019 is officially here and we are back to real life.... real busy life... real busy, chaotic-at-times life!

Leading up to Christmas was (needless to say), also busy, but in a different way. The pace was less frenetic and rushed than it is when real life is in place. We got to sleep in (most days) and set a schedule that fit our hopes and dreams... ok, enough waxing poetic!

Per our typical "gearing up for Christmas" activities, we decorated a gingerbread house, baked more cookies and treats and a small country could eat in a month, wrapped presents, made treats for the kids' classroom parties (see oranges below), and listened to so many Christmas carols that they played on a loop in our dreams!

Right before they started Christmas break, the kids participated in their school's annual Advent/Christmas concert. They did a great job and sang their little hearts out. Conor had the added bonus of playing the xylophone during his class' performance and proved to be quite the xylophone player ... xylyphoner? xylophonist??  Annika even wound up with a surprise solo performance during the band's portion due to the other flutist being sick that night. It is one thing to get up in front of the entire school and parents with your class to sing a song, but it is a whole other thing to get up in front of that huge group and play something by yourself. Huge props to her for that! (Side note: It didn't even phase her ... she has nerves of steel!)

On Christmas Eve, the kids (once again) found themselves in front of a very large crowd. Conor portrayed Caesar Augustus in the parish's nativity play and Annika was an altar server for Christmas Eve mass. The church was packed to the gills, but (once again, again) the kids were amazingly composed and did a great job at their respective tasks.. 

After church, we came home to a lovely dinner that Eric made (thanks, hon!!) and had ready for us as we walked through the door. Our family tradition for Christmas Eve dinner is to have breakfast for dinner? Why? Because it is easy and there's very little clean up!! Duh!

We made sure to put out cookies and milk for Santa, read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" together (another family tradition), and made our way to bed ... very much excited for the next morning to arrive. 

Needless to say, Christmas morning was a bit chaotic, but in a good way. The kids were brimming with excitement, and Eric and I weren't far behind. We were all spoiled by the generosity of others and are deeply touched by the thought put into our gifts. Around noon, Eric's folks came down from Whidbey and joined us for Christmas, Phase 2, which included more presents, playing dice and card games, and a lovely family dinner.

Conor was VERY excited about Santa bringing him signed copies of one of his favorite book series.

Pokemon shirt for the win

Eric amongst the Christmas chaos

Annika was thrilled to receive another book in one of her favorite series, too!

Eric opening a present from Santa

Yup! She's excited!

Pretty sure the hit of the day was the Nintendo Switch we gave to them as a combo gift

Annika opening her gifts from Bestemore and Bestefar

On New Year's Eve day, the kids and I headed to Snoqualmie for our annual day o' tubing. Unfortunately, Eric got hit with a stomach bug and wasn't able to join us. We missed him greatly and wished he could have been there to enjoy the snow with us! The sky was blue, the snow was perfect, and the temp was cold without being frigid. Aside from Eric not being there, it was an ideal day on the mountain. (Although, I'm pretty sure the kids considered calling CPS when I suggested we hoof it up the hill instead of taking the magic carpet every time!)

Last year, Annika was the only one of us to stay up until midnight and rang in the new year with her stuffed animals all wearing homemade party hats. The idea of her having to do that again this year basically guilted us into powering through until midnight and staying up with her. Conor opted to go to bed around 9 with the request that we wake him up 15 minutes before midnight. Clad in our jammies and party hats, we rung in the new year together at home and watched the Space Needle fireworks display on TV. By 12:01, we were all heading to bed longing for sleep. 

Eric had to go back to work on Jan 2, so the kids and I had a few days to fill on our own. We made a trip down to Tacoma to visit our dear Fr. Fred and swing by Johnson's Candy ... because we apparently didn't have enough sweets from Christmas! We had a marvelous time chatting with Fred, who very kindly fed us a lunch of waffles and peanut butter! We also made a trip up to Whidbey to spend the day with Eric's parents. The kids played outside between rain squalls while Eric's mom and I sewed fabric card holders. Eric's dad even made me an AMAZING growler holder.

Of course,we had to put them to use after making them!

Seriously!! How cool is this thing????

On the day between our out-of-city trips, the kids and I hunkered down at home and caught our collective breath. To ensure their brains didn't melt too much over the break, I challenged them with a few STEM projects and they had a blast! First, I handed them marshmallows, spaghetti, 3 feet of yarn, and 3 feet of tape and then challenged them to make marshmallow structures with the provided supplies. Then, they were challenged to create structures (using supplies of their choosing) that would protect a dropped egg. Impressively, both kids' eggs survived the drop... of course, Annika made a "champion" sash for her egg and now we aren't allowed to eat it! :D

Our final holiday celebration was going to the holiday lights display at Woodland Park Zoo. Each year, there are more things to see, and we often find ourselves playing "I spy" with the new additions. The lights were lovely (no surprise) but the big hit for us was the shadow wall that we discovered this year. Basically, there was a wall that was painted with glow in the dark paint that we stood against (facing the wall) and then a staff member would flash a REALLY bright light toward us. When we moved away from the wall,we could see our silhouettes left (temporarily) behind. So stinking neat!

From our family to yours, we hope you have a peaceful and fun-filled 2019!!