Girls Weekend 2013

My best friends and I had an epic weekend staycation before all the babies are born.  It was just what we needed for Mother's Day this year.  Here are some fun pictures of us before and after our chocolate tour at Theo Chocolates in Fremont.

Entitled "Ladies in Waiting (for Chocolate)"

I call this one "Booty Call"

Guess which 3 of us had a little too much chocolate on the tour?!?!

Salish Lodge Get-away

Darren and I enjoyed a night away from the boys at Salish Lodge.

A huge thanks to Grandpa Hales and Cheri for taking the boys, and to our friends Clint and Kacey for the sneaky shenanigans after dinner.

BEWET Banquet at Tillicum Village

Today was the end of the year BEWET banquet.  They have been trying to be more family-friendly and so this year we took an Argosy boat over to Blake Island to visit Tillicum Village.  It's a native american experience based on the early Indian settlers of Seattle.

The boat ride over was fascinating.  Austin clonked out right away and so I got to just sit and listen to the historian talk, while Darren ran Trevor around the boat looking at everything.

Once on Blake Island, we had some hot steamer clams and went inside to our seats for dinner and a performance.  Trevor loved watching how they cooked the salmon over open fires inside the longhouse. Austin woke up right before dinner started, which was perfect timing.  Dinner was amazing!  The performance was good too, but I didn't get to see much of it because it was too loud and scary for Austin so we spent most of our time walking in the hall.

Following all the festivities and a brief BEWET meeting it was dark and time to head back home.  We stopped on shore to light a lantern in honor of Natalie, one of the guides who passed away suddenly this year.  All in all, it was a wonderful experience and something we'd like to do again if out-of-town guests come to visit.

Wallace Falls State Park

When a friend of ours was unable to use the cabin she had booked, she offered it out and we jumped at the chance to have a night alone with just the two of us.  We sent the boys to Granny and Grandpa's house and made the drive to Gold Bar, WA off Highway 2.

Our cabin at Wallace Falls State Park was so cozy and we enjoyed a relaxing night in.

 In the morning we went on a 2.7 mile hike to the top of Wallace Falls.  I don't really like hiking, but the scenery was AMAZING!

See what I mean about the scenery...Amazing!

 

When we finally made it to the Lower Falls lookout I was tired, but it was beautiful.

I love that Darren captured this picture of me.  It looks like I was deep in thought, and I was.  I was thinking, "maybe if I hold really still Darren will forget I am here and continue hiking and pick me up on the way back down."

The Middle Falls were very impressive and by this time I had resigned myself to the hiking experience.

Next up was the Valley Overlook.  It was a cloudy and slightly rainy day, so we couldn't see a whole lot, but it was still very beautiful.

It was here at the Valley Overlook that I decided to take a rest and read a book.  The best part about having a Kindle is that I can read from a 800-page book at the top of 2+ mile hike without carrying an 800-page book up the mountain.

While I had a peaceful moment to myself, Darren continued the hike another half mile or so to the Upper Falls and here is what he saw.

Darren and I had such a wonderful time together.  When you have young kids you are so busy you sometimes forget why you fell in love in the first place.  It's nice to have weekends like this to remind you.