april wrap up: brandon's visit and azalea's tooth adventures

we just finished a really fun five day stretch with my brother in town. he hadn't been here since last april (but we've seen him a couple times in minneapolis). it was so fun to have him stay with us again. he is truly the best brother/uncle i could ask for. my kids adore him and the feeling is mutual. i love watching them together. 

he arrived wednesday afternoon around lunch time. ashford and i picked him up from the airport and then went straight to "the boar's nest" in our neighborhood for bbq. 



it's my brother's favorite place, so we were happy to oblige his request :) we stuffed ourselves then went home for a bit before picking up azalea from school. she was thrilled to see him and even gave him a drawing that she made in school that said "i love unkie brandon" she did all the spelling herself and it was adorable. azalea had her ballet class in magnolia, so we took her. i actually got to watch the class for once because brandon stayed out in the lobby with ashford. we came home and grilled chicken and veggies for dinner. it was a late night for the kids by the time they went to bed.

thursday morning, azalea's very wiggly tooth finally came out. she had been up for about 40 minutes, had eaten breakfast, and was sitting on the couch watching tv when she said "mama! my tooth came out. let's look for it" i was confused at first, but it turns out she legitimately lost her tooth! we couldn't find it anywhere, soooo i'm pretty sure she must have swallowed it. oops! she was a little worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't know to come, but i assured her she still would :)  

we took her to school and then met up with our friends vanessa and ewan at the zoo. it was brandon's first time going to the zoo, and meeting them! we spent the morning there looking at the animals and having lunch. it ended up being sunny all morning, so that was a treat! 



we hung out at home for a while, then picked up azalea from school. my brother wanted to let her pick out a belated birthday gift, so we all went to a toy store. she was so excited! ashford fell asleep in the car and slept all the way through our shopping trip, so he wasn't too happy when he woke up on the car ride back. azalea picked out a ball and those velcro "mitts" for catching, and bubbles. the kids have been enjoying playing with both outside. 

i made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. we gave the kids and bath, got them down and then thatcher, brandon and i watched "superbad" on netflix. such a stupid funny movie - i can't remember the last time i saw it!

friday morning we took azalea to school (poor girl missed most of our fun during the week), then brandon, ashford and i went to mighty o donuts. it was his first time there. then we went to gasworks park and enjoyed the view and some velcro ball :)



 ashford and brandon both napped in the early afternoon, so i got a little work time in and relaxed. in the evening, brandon, the kids, and i took a bus to the uw campus to go to a baseball game. we met thatcher there after work and we had a fun evening watching baseball, and eating hotdogs and nachos. it was such a beautiful night, we really lucked out. the kids lasted about an hour and a half before getting antsy, at which point we decided to leave. that's the perfect amount of baseball for me too ;) 



it was another late night for the kids, but they loved the adventure. ashford kept calling it "the baseball thing" he also cried because he thought he would get to play. 

saturday morning we headed out for a day trip to tacoma. we hadn't been there yet and we thought it would be fun to take the amtrak train. first we took a bus downtown to the train station, 

then the train ride to tacoma was about 40 minutes. it was really fun! 

we were hungry when we got there, so we went for lunch at a place called "the swiss". the burgers were so good! we walked around the uw tacoma campus for a little bit then along the waterfront. 

tacoma is such a cute little city! so many beautiful historical buildings with restaurants and stores in the them, cool bridges, museums, and all on the water. i loved it! 

we knew there was a donation-based children's museum downtown, so we decided to check it out. it was pretty small, but we were there for over an hour and the kids had a blast because everything was new to them. before it was time to head back to the train station, we stopped at a coffee shop called "anthem" for some snacks. both kids fell asleep on us while we waited for the train to arrive to take us back. ashford even slept the whole ride back too! then it was one final bus ride from downtown to get home. we were all pooped! we made a late taco dinner, the kids watched part of a movie, and we all went to bed. 

sunday morning i drove my brother to the airport and then met up with my manager susan who is in town visiting her daughter and son-in-law who just had a baby. we met at a coffee shop in beacon hill (in the southern part of the city, which i never frequent, so that was fun!). it was so nice to see her! we caught up on life and talked a little about work too ;) the rest of the afternoon thatcher went out and i hung out with the kids. 

now it's may (whoa!) and my father in law durant is coming in just 3 days!