Vacation from our vacation

Our weekend in Pebble Beach left us in need of some R&R. Luckily, we had planned a trip for Charlotte's spring break to Alderbrook Lodge on Hood Canal.  But mama got sick from the Pebble Beach plague! After 2 days resting in bed, she rallied and we headed off just a day late. After a fun ferry ride, we arrived to our 2 bedroom waterfront cabin. We basically just ate delicious food and relaxed for 3 days- swimming, beach combing, reading- just what we needed. And Charlotte tried all sorts of new foods: fried oysters, raw oysters shucked fresh right on the dock, mussels, crab, and of course sticky toffee pudding.

Pebble Beach Passover/Easter

The whole Seattle crew flew down to Pebble Beach for a last hurrah before the house gets sold. Charlotte could barely tear herself away from the soft white sand. We had a short but sweet Seder. And an Easter egg hunt. And a birthday party for cousin Abigail. And a baby naming for the twins. Jam packed! Charlotte loved playing outside with Julia and Hattie and her cousins. Plus we had a ton of wildlife sightings: deer, prairie dogs, sea lions, otters, red winged blackbirds, and woodpeckers! It was sad to say goodbye to the house, but rodents in the ventilation system, a sleep strike by Nathaniel and croup for Eleanor made us all pretty happy to get home to Seattle.

Spring birds

Spring has sprung and our bird feeder is busier than ever. Charlotte has become an expert at bird identification: chickadees, bushtits, juncos, nuthatches, stellar jays, finches, and our favorite, the northern flickers.

Up up high

Living right next door to a playground has many perks. We are not yet terribly excited about bikes or scooters, but Charlotte loves to climb, all the way up to the top of the climber. Then she just stays there and chit chats. For a while.

Purim!

This year was Charlotte's (and Matt's) first Purim Carnival, and it was pretty exciting: costumes, face painting, balloon animals, singing, bouncy house, and of course hamentashen. The whole family including the twins joined as well.

Finally, Ballet

Charlotte has been waiting for this day for a long, long time! We received our leotard and shoes for Chanukah from Titi way back in December, and had to wait all the way until February to start classes at the studio down the street. Since classes are on Friday, Poppi is in charge of taking Charlotte to class. He's just a little bit excited :)

A New Year

Fully recovered from our flupocalypse, we had a fun New Year's weekend at a sweet little cabin in Gig Harbor with our friends and their kiddos. Charlotte was the oldest, so she preferred the company of the adults to the little ones for the most part. She also made great strides in her canine friendships with Rita (chihuahua) and Charlie (chocolate lab).

We also filled up vacation time with some play dates with our besties and aquarium time.

Now we're back to our regular routines of school and work, but even a regular old day with my girl is special to me. Daddy went out with the boys Saturday night, so we had girls' night at the Broiler, our neighborhood spot. Selfie!