Thanksgiving week

We went to a Christmas Tree Farm before Ashley flew back to Texas for Thanksgiving so we could pick out a tree as a family.

Autumn insisted this was the perfect tree for her and that Ashley should pose next to the perfect tree for Ashley.  Levi wouldn't cooperate and pick out a tree to take a picture next to.

The little ones loved having a tree on top of our suburban.  We were so busy singing Christmas Carols that we tried to drive into our garage with it tied on top.  Thankfully there was only minimal tree damage.   

Thanksgiving day - Levi waited patiently at the table for food.  All of the other kids were playing but he was hungry and ready to eat.  

Ashley's birthday

On Ashley's birthday, she celebrated by going to church with her friends and taking them cupcakes.  She wanted to wait and go to the Cheesecake Factory with us on Friday.  After dinner on Friday, Ashley and I went to watch the 2nd Hunger Games. It was opening night so I was one of 5 people in the theatre who were over the age of 21.  It was actually a really good movie and we had fun.

Autumn saw this sweater in the store and insisted that she buy it for Ashley's birthday.  

David had been searching for an all wheel drive vehicle for Ashley and he finally found one.  She loves it and it drives very well for an old car.  David is having fun driving it until Ashley has her license.  He hasn't driven our car for a while now.  We needed to get her a vehicle before she has her license so she can practice on something smaller than a suburban with an automatic transmission.  It would be hard to teach a new driver how to drive a standard on these hills. 

Our life

We have moved and I should have appreciated our apartment rooftops for its flat space.  I cannot let Levi ride his bike in our neighborhood because the hills are too big.  He rides his bike in our home right now and that's about it.

A picture of Autumn's room after the movers left with Autumn playing with her friend Sophie.  Every room looks like this and it is extremely overwhelming.  The movers unpack the boxes and just leave the contents where they can.  I might prefer everything to be kept in boxes.

We don't have a playroom right now so I put a bunch of toys in the the storage under the stairs.  

 We rented ski equipment for Autumn for the winter season since she is taking weekly lessons starting in January.  Levi insists they are his ski boots and screamed when Autumn put them on for the picture.

Picture at our neighborhood park.  

The kids play in the extra boxes all day long.  

They were not happy when the movers came back to pick up the extras.

Pumpkin Patch

Autumn's class had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in Issaquah.  David was able to take off and come hang out with us.  It's wonderful to have David's office so close to home.

Horseback riding - Autumn and Levi both loved the horse rides.  Autumn's teacher speculated that we must feel at home with the horses since we're from Texas.  I wanted to explain that Texans don't ride horses everywhere, but she knows David hunts and has a large tractor so I'm pretty sure its pointless.

Train ride - They wouldn't go on it without me

There were goats, chickens, and rabbits to feed and pet.  

We accidentally let a goat escape and had to chase it down.

 

 Rope swing

The coolest playhouses.  There were 3 complete playhouses with slides.  We should have had this in our backyard in Sunnyvale.  It wouldn't fit in our current backyard.

 Autumn's classmates posing on pumpkins for pictures.  Levi was very jealous that he wasn't included so he insisted on a picture of himself.

Halloween

The weekend prior to Halloween we went to a Green Halloween Carnival in Issaquah within walking distance of our apartments.  The kids dressed up as Beast and Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Levi refused to wear his Beast mask and it was so cold outside but Autumn would not wear a jacket (I had to force her to wear an undershirt)

Garbage Truck - Levi loved sitting in it and the man in charge told him to honk the horn.

Autumn and Levi on a stage dancing to Thriller.

We started moving into our new house on Halloween.  Our neighbors delivered a box of Halloween goodies for the kids.  Autumn was thrilled! 

Trick-or-treating on Halloween night - We went with some friends in their neighborhood and received tons of candy.  We'll find out next year if our neighborhood is good on Halloween.

Issaquah Salmon Days

The annual festival in Issaquah is called Salmon Days.  It's huge and takes up downtown Issaquah for the whole weekend and has all of the typical festival fare.  However do not call it a festival to the locals - Ashley mistakenly said this among her classmates and they were offended and all of her classmates corrected her.  Salmon Days is a huge deal.  There is a a salmon hatchery in the middle of Issaquah and during Salmon Days you can see the huge salmon swimming upstream - The festival celebrates the salmon swimming upstream.  It's actually really fun and much better than anything we've gone to in Dallas.

Downtown Issaquah is about a 1.5 mi hike from our apartment so we walked downhill to get there.  We stayed about 7 hours and the walk back uphill after a long day was brutal.  Levi fell asleep in the stroller and Autumn passed out while David was carrying her.

 Petting farm - There were goats, sheep, pigs, kittens, etc.  Ashley disappeared to sit with the kittens while Autumn and Levi wanted to feed the goats.

 Right across from the petting farm is a booth to schedule a trip to a family nudist park (white tent in the back).  There are so many things we've seen here that would not be encountered in Texas.  Ashley was horrified.

There was a band playing the kind of music you would expect at a pacific northwest festival.  Levi danced his heart out.  He danced for at least 45 min while we sat and watched.  Notice the old lady in the background with a hula hoop.  She had to be 70 and danced with her hula hoop the entire time we sat there.  This is not Texas.

Both little kids went on a horse ride.  I have a picture with Autumn on the horse but it's still on Ashley's phone.  The bulk of our pictures were taken with Ashley's camera but I haven't gotten them yet.  That's why there are no pictures of Ashley here.  She was here and loved it.

The week after Salmon Days, Autumn's class had a field trip to the hatchery.  She loves her school.

Zoo

We got a membership at both the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and the Cougar Mountain Zoological Park in Issaquah.

Woodland Park Zoo

There is a farm section with farm animals and tractors and we spent a ridiculous amount of time there so Levi could drive the tractors.  He cried when I eventually made us leave.

There is a merry-go-round here.  Levi cried again when we couldn't do it over and over again.

Kids obstacle course with a rope swing at the end.  Everything we do here is so fun that Levi throws a fit when we make him move to something else.  This is the reason why we can only do half the park at a time because we're in every section a crazy amount of time.

The zoo has multiple little cave cubbies that the kids like to climb through.

Cougar Mountain Zoological Park

 The birds would scream when the kids would scream.  They thought it was hilarious.  Thankfully the zoo was dead or it could have been really embarrassing.  They screamed a lot.