We like our checkered picnic basket—settings for four to have mac-n-cheese, grapes, and juice.  We even wear some clothes when we pull out the “good” plastic.

We had to head over to the island today to get a few things for the party, mow the dandelions at the cabin, and what the heck—spend as much time in the afternoon at the the local fair. 

SO FUN!

 

I think I will quit our home, move to Whidbey just so I can learn to hula with this club.  So graceful and beautiful!

I want move like this!

 

The midway only had a dozen rides, but it was candy land for the kids.  Wesley was excited about the ship that he could fly and shoot from.  I wanted to add a bit of machoism to Wesley’s latest reports.

 

The best part of these sort of adventures is seeing the pure delight on my children’s faces.  Kyla and Piper loved the swings.

So much so, that they did it again. 

 

Wesley wanted to go on the trucks until he realized that he wasn’t on the flying gun ride (it’s a logical fallacy we are working on). 

 

There were fun shows to watch—like the guy who padlocked a chain around his straightjacket. 

 

We explored every single building of the fair (the kids got to fill their fair passport with stamps everywhere we went) and I found the pig judging hilarious.

 

What does one judge pigs on?  How good the bacon is? 

Turns out, that’s pretty close.  The best in show is the one that is the one most ready (and not overly) for butchering. Yeah, no kidding. 

 

The fair is only 4 days long so we will need to figure out how to get Dwayne to join us next year.  And you should come to!

We had a birthday party for cousins on Saturday, with best friend on Sunday, and then two more birthday parties on Monday.  The kids were exhausted, but had a huge streak of FUN!

Thanks again, Tad!  Batty Birthday!

 

Sarah has equines and had a Horsey Birthday. All the kids got to ride!

Our good friend Isaac had a birthday and we might have had kinda of a good time. 

Okay—it was fantastic!  I got to do a lot of the face painting, which I love.

The Lion King himself!

 

His little brother is always a superhero. 

 

Sus did Wesley’s snake.  He loved it.

 

Kyla likes her tiara and jewelry.

 

Sus turned Piper into an antelope, at her own request.  Two jaguars and a lion around, and she wants to become prey? 

 

Susanne and I ran out of kids to paint, so we turned on each other!

 

Unfortunately, we had to stop at Target on the way home.  I held by butterflied face up high.

& P are turning the big “1” and “3”  this month, so we got to go to the big Cousin Birthday Bash for a Bountiful Brunch and Cake. (Julie’s blog covers this very well.)

Wesley looked the prettiest. Isn’t that the greatest sandbox?  The benches fold down to make  cover.  Keith built it himself!

 

There’s always lots of fun to have at the cousins’ house!

 

Seriously—how many kids can bring together a mohawk, lilac dress, painted nails, and dinosaur underwear thjs well?!

 

One should always attend any party Julie is hosting.  Her goodies are amazing!  Look how pretty the birthday cupcakes are. (As are her kids.)

 

If you give a kid a cupcake…

 

…you’ll want to pull out the camera!

 

Happy Birthday, P & C!

(Yes, Dwayne does spoil me, but to balance it out, I was pressure washing the front deck in the rain at 9pm—after the kids were in bed and I had a craigslist buyer come by.) 

Dwayne wanted a destination location for a romantic weekend away, and he found a little hotel called the Davenport.  He didn’t tell me where we were going before we headed to the airport or even once we were in Spokane.  Turns out the Davenport is a 4 Diamond hotel in the heart of downtown with more history than ballrooms (which is to say, a lot). 

The Davenport Hotel is a regional landmark and masterpiece of the acclaimed architect Kirtland Cutter. Its public spaces inspire visitors. Grand rooms like the Spanish Renaissance lobby or the Hall of Doges, Spokane’s oldest and most exquisite ballroom, draw tourists and architectural aficionados alike. Such extraordinary features have helped the Davenport Hotel earn a prized spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the hotel’s renovation in 2000, owners Walt and Karen Worthy spared no expense in having the hand-painted frescoes, ornate woodwork, and European-inspired marble meticulously restored. Yes, that is real gold leaf around the lobby hearth, and the fireplace remains lit year-round — a hallmark of Davenport hospitality since the hotel opened its doors almost a century ago.

We danced (to our own music with no audience) in the empty ballrooms. 

 

The hotel was wonderful, blah, blah, but what we really love is all the history and restoration.  The fact that this hotel was almost demolished in 1985 is cool, but that it cost twice as much and took twice as long to restore it as it did to originally build it really turned us on.  That’s probably why we married.  We just want to build bigger and better, and appreciate when other people do. 

The Hall of Diogenes was moved by crane from it’s old location (totally torn down) into a prime position near another ballroom.  We likey.

I didn’t remember to take pictures of our room because there were so many other things to enjoy.  So many highlights, the best was the Champagne Brunch on Sunday morning.  I had extremely high expectations of this, and they were surpassed.  The chocolate fountain is still making me drool. 

Maybe we will return to celebrate our 50th!

What we do when we have four days without kids:

*Walk all around River Front park

and finished up by getting Dwayne queasy on my favorite midway rides.

 

*Walk miles around Manito Park, going through the Rose, Lilac, Japanese, Perennials gardens as well as the conservatory.

 

But our favorite was the formal Duncan Garden—if God couldn’t make Dwayne a pharaoh, he really should have at least made him an earl.  We lusted.  Why do we even have a yard if it doesn’t look like this?

Hey, look, a pergola!  (We likey.)

 

*Drive around trying to find the building that has the gorgeous bell tower.  Turns out—it’s the county court house!

 

*Stop by one of the ten golf courses to whack balls (that is a generous term for how I hit golf balls) on the driving range. 

 

*Go to art galleries and fairs in Coeur d’Alene.

 

And, my favorite, eating wild salmon and rice pilaf covered in champagne huckleberry sauce.  And watching lots of episodes of  Life on Netflix while snacking on milk and cookies from room service. 

It is so good to be loved by Dwayne!

We visited the zoo today and the baby jaguars were out—all three of them.  The lion quads are getting big, but these triplets are still all milk-drunk happy to be attacking ivy and each other.

 

As for me, I brought a crabby dinosaur with us.  At happier moments, he would run ahead swishing his tail around. 

 

We haven’t had a bad day at the zoo yet.

How does our family spend a lazy Sunday afternoon at the beach?

Dwayne naps, reads, naps.

 

Kyla becomes an artist and scientist as she explores the area for minerals and clay.

 

Wesley ditches his pants (and underwear) to get more of his body dirty. I had to choose this picture very carefully.

 

Piper can still out-dirty Wes even with all her clothes.  She found clay and a little stream, which is all she needed to turn herself into a gray elephant.  (Note: I didn’t get a picture of the final transformation, just the hands and feet.)