labor day weekend 2016

the 3 day weekend is over and almost every child in america has started kindergarten except mine. haha! we still have 6 days to go over here. here's how our weekend went down...

saturday we spent a couple hours at the mall in lynwood. i really wanted to get some fall hand soaps from bath and body works (#priorities) and thatcher wanted to take the kids to the lego store. he bought them a couple small sets to build and i'm not sure who was more excited, them or him. haha. 

ashford refused to take a real nap in the afternoon after falling asleep in the car for 10 minutes. classic! so we mostly hung out. in the evening, we went to our friends vanessa, matt, and ewan's for dinner. we haven't done a family dinner with just our two families before, so it was really fun! they grilled chicken kabobs and we brought a couple sides and thatcher made a pumpkin maple cake for dessert. the kids were suuuuper wound up there (they always are when the 3 of them are together), so it wasn't the most relaxing night, but we all had fun. 

sunday we got up early and hit the road by 8:45 to drive up to bellingham. we've been there a couple times before and it's such a fun spot for a day trip. thatcher looked up all sorts of activities for us to do. the kids did pretty well in the car on the way up. our first stop when we got into town was rocket donuts.

 after donuts (and a massive scrub down), we walked around fairhaven which we had only driven through in past visits to bellingham. it's such a cute area!

 next we headed to the beach. there was a game of kayak water polo going on, so that was cool to see!

we also got to see a seagull dive into the water, grab a crab, and bring it up to shore and eat it! so wild!! 

checking out the empty shell after the seagull left. 

next we headed over to downtown bellingham for lunch. we went to a brewery called boundary bay, which was super kid friendly. i was still pretty full from my donut and latte that morning, so i got a cup of smoked salmon chowder and a hummus appetizer. the food was really good! 

after lunch we got in the car and headed to whatcom falls park. the kids played on the playground for a few minutes and then we walked the path down to the falls. there were actually two - one was natural and the other was a man made structure. it was really pretty there! 

finally it was time for our final stop of the day - apple picking! we drove a ways to an orchard. part of the drive was around whatcom lake, which was really pretty.

jones creek farm is a small family-owned orchard in a beautiful spot with tons of apples to pick! they had all sorts of varieties i had never even heard of and they encouraged us to sample as many as we wanted, so we did! have you heard a type of apple that's pink on the inside called pink pearl? they are really cool! the kids enjoyed picking apples off the trees, then played on the tire swing and see saw. 

 

we were all ready to head home after a full day. the drive back was a little less pleasant (ahem, screamy), but overall it was a great day! 

by monday we were all starting to drag. thatcher, ashford, and i have had a cough/cold for what feels like forever, the kids were being crazy and fighting, and i realized the 4 us had been together for 3 days straight without any real breaks (for the grown ups). luckily we got out to meet up with our friends mark, tina, and their baby daughter emily. we hadn't seen them since last spring and emily has grown so much! we met at a park near their house and then went out for pizza for lunch. it was so nice to catch up with them and hopefully we will see them sooner next time. i'm bummed i forgot to take any pictures. 

we've got play dates lined up all week, our last week of "summer"