Covered Bridges in Washington!?

Yes, indeed, there are.
I was shown by a great friend, James Spencer,
that there are indeed. And I thought they
were only a joy of the east coast. Silly me.
I love covered bridges and think
that they are so quaint and delightful.
While serving in Pennsylvania I grew to love
these monuments of days gone by.
If you want to discover them in WA
click here.

On the Fifth day of Christmas...

...We got our Christmas Tree!!

Each year it is a must to go and cut down our tree. This year was really fun! We got a beautiful Grand Fir out in Carnation. I love real Christmas Trees. They are truly one of my favorite smells and memories of Christmas time. On the way home we also got to see a huge valley full of Canadian geese and white swans. It was absolutely beautiful! I love Washington and its greenness!! It was an absolutely lovely day, the perfect day to get a Christmas tree!!



We also got to sneak down to Redmond Lights. Which is the great festival they do with music and lights in our downtown. Andrea, Mom and I swung down there for about 10 minutes and got to hear a bag-piping group and see a huge hot air balloon that they kept lighting up in a big field. It was SO magical. I could've spent all night walking around with all the beautiful lights and music! But then we headed to our Ward Party at Church. It was a wonderful evening. Especially when Thea, our dear friend, came out as Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer! She is so great!

On the First day of Christmas...

..my family gave to me...

A night in Seattle watching a Christmas Carol and looking at Gingerbread homes! This is a WONDERFUL family tradition that I treasure! We go and usher at the ACT theater and then get to see the play for free, quite a deal. The play is always amazing every single year! Then we took a jaunt down to the Sheraton Hotel where they have an annual Gingerbread House Contest. This years theme was Classic Movies. My top 3 favorite were: Muppet Christmas Carol, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Charlie Brown Christmas. What a wonderful way to start December. I even got to wear my Grandma Cahoon's old fancy shoes for the classic evening! I just love the olden times and this night was a celebration of them from the classic story of Scrooge to the Christmas cheer of Gingerbread homes decorated and glistening...so wonderful!!

The Great East Coast!

I just got to go on a once in a lifetime trip. Thanks to my very hard working and wonderful father! We got to see NYC, Baltimore, Williamsburg, Monticello and DC. Some of the greatest cities of America! I absolutely love visiting these early sites of America, we got to see and learn so much while we were there! Every time I think about being an American I just get chills of gratitude. It is amazing how our nation was founded. I could just not get enough of these great cities! I loved walking till we could walk no more! This was an incredible trip never to be forgotten!

Highlights:
NYC- Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, St.Paul's Chapel at Ground Zero, Brooklyn Bridge, Strand Bookstore (where Julie goes to in "Julie & Julia), Going up the Empire State Bldg., Riding the Subway (and spotting 3 rats), Seeing Mary Poppins in the old Ziegfeld Follies Theater, walking through Central Park, eating Magnolia Bakery cakes, BUSY Times Square.
Baltimore- Evening boat ride and dinner with dad, wearing crab hats, the book fair, free art museum, Hiking up the first architectural monument in America with mom, riding in my very first taxi, staying in the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in for 1 night.
Fort McHenry- We ran over here right before they closed and I am so glad. It was so neat to see the site where the star spangled banner was inspired from. I loved seeing this sight and picturing how that day would have been. Pretty miraculous!
Williamsburg- Walking around with costumed people, Going to an evening of dancing, harpsichord playing, and pirates among us! Watching live theater events acting out the events of early Williamsburg, eating at Kings Tavern Inn. This city was SO fun, I would go back any day!
Monticello- Going to Thomas Jefferson's home. This was Incredible!! His home was so neat and it was amazing to see his gardens. They were huge! And it was wonderful to hear more about him.
D.C- we were here for 1 night and morning. We went to the monuments at night which was very fun, I think I have decided my favorite is Thomas Jeffersons. But I do so enjoy them all. Then in the morning we ran to the American History Museum, Natural History Museum and then mom and I ran to the Art Museum (of course) it was wonderful!!!!!

I Love America!!!!

the Best Ice-cream stop!

Thenos Dairy

We have an ice-cream shop here in Redmond, WA, that is the best! It is an old Dairy with a plastic cow out front. They create cantaloupe, pumpkin (my favorite!), and eggnog...so delicious! It is a must if you ever come to visit!

The Seattle Library

Books and books lining shelves...red hallways...
slanted walls and stairs...incredible heights...
the seattle library was quite the artistic feat!

"Whatever will be, will be!"

This is one of the songs the little duet played at the Restaurant we ate at in Leavenworth. Mom was singing along with it! She told us that Uncle Harvey hates this song, so she dedicated it to him. The spanish singer was awesome, we think Matt should follow in his footsteps :) It was so much fun to have live music as we ate! I think that makes a restaurant the best when it has live musicians playing for you!

A Friday in Leavenworth!

So, we also went to Leavenworth last weekend! All of last week they were doing an accordion festival. I thought it would be a blast to go so we went on Friday and heard some great accordion playing, ate Goolash? at a restaurant called Andrea's while listening to live music, tried on hats at the hat shop, went and got gingerbread, walked and enjoyed artwork, got toys (me-a puppet king, andrea-beanies!) and just had a blast being together! It is such a fun little escape because it feels like you have gone off to Germany or Switzerland but you are only 2 hours from home!

Drive into the Hoh Rainforest

This little video is of us driving through a part of the Hoh Rainforest! We just loved all the Moss! We hiked through an area called the Hall of Mosses! It was a lot of fun, it felt like Lord of the Rings! We kept thinking an elf or dwarf should appear amongst all the green!

The most BEAUTIFUL state in the USA!

For the past 3 days I have had the opportunity to explore the western most point of the most beautiful state in the USA! The Olympic Peninsula of Washington! My mom, little sister Andrea and I got to explore, hike, see, meet and watch the most beautiful things! We drove out to Cape Flattery and Tatoosh Island, Neah Bay, Forks, La Push Beach, the Hoh Rainforest, Lake Crescent, Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountain range, and to the Dungeneus Spit. We stayed in the Makah Maiden Bed and Breakfast with a Native American who sang us a song while drumming on her handmade drum. We saw Bald Eagles, Deer, Chipmunks, Puffins, Seals, LOTS of seagulls, starfish, and a big banana slug. Flying kites in the windy sky at La Push Beach was a blast! We hiked through amazing canopies of moss, white logged beaches covered in smooth stones, over board walks, and into forests of millions of trees. We had so much fun being together and seeing so many incredible and amazing sites in the Northwest! We truly do live in the most Beautiful state in the USA!!