Category: Out and About

Well, it’s been 14 years since I last seen her. She’s gotten married, has moved around the county (not as much as I have though!) and she’s even traveled the world a few times! She was my maid of honor when Gino and I got married and today I got to see her and introduce her to Isabel. We had an awesome time together and hope to get together again soon…maybe even a cruise! Enjoy!

Carla, Isabel, and I along the beach in Edmonds.

Last night we loaded up the car and headed out to the Pierce County 15th Annual Fantasy Lights, a 2 mile drive along Spanaway lake. Enjoy!

The entrance area.

Old car.

Happy Holidays.

Toy train.

Along the lake was Santa and his ship with reindeer and elves.

Flying saucer.

Candy cane lane.

Snowflake arch and glowing tree.

This tree was gorgeous!
(Same tree from above photo; just closer.)

Happy Birthday Jesus!
This was on private property and was the highlight of the “drive” for me!

Candles and holly.

Leaving the park.

A lot of the photos didn’t turn out so well, because we had to keep the car moving but we did stop a few times to get a few great shots! Hope you enjoyed it, we all had a fun time driving through the park, listening to carols being sung over the radio, and spending time together. Merry Christmas!

Again this year we headed over to Lighthouse Christian Church to the Fall Fest. Unfortunately, we arrived “late” and Isabel only got to play one game and watch a magician. It was rather disappointing for all of us…

Getting her cheeks painted.

Ready to go!

Together we watched the magician.

Isabel didn’t seem interested in the guy and his “tricks”…

She spent the time dancing in the aisle!

Today our church did a free-community family carnival at the locale junior high school. Isabel had so much fun and was asking to do more and wondered if we were keeping games from her!

Isabel decorating her “goodie” bag.
She wrote her name and then added stickers to the outside.

Getting ready to slide.

Bean-bag toss…she gets really close!

Ducky grabbing and she got three!

Bowling and only got one pin.

Potty basketball. She liked this game…
hope it doesn’t give her any ideas for the real one!

Barn toss.

Face painting…a flower.

Carnival clown.

Balloon animal of a hummingbird;
later Gino made a dog and tried to make an elephant too.

We attended the 20th anniversary of the Spring fair (it was a record breaker too…118,557 in attendance) for the first time. It was a whole day of adventure with tons of things to see, lots of things to do, and tons of fair food! Enjoy!

Isabel’s first fair game and she won the “BIG” prize all by herself…

A duck! Later in the day she won another duck and she calls this one the “momma” and the other one is the “baby”, because it’s smaller.

After walking around for about an hour trying to find a kiddie ride for Isabel to ride on. We ended up playing another game…and she won at this one too!

She caught a fish and won a prize…

A turtle…just like “Crush” in “Finding Nemo”.

After this game, we again walked around some more trying to find a ride Isabel’s size and then realizing all the really long lines were for the kiddie rides! We decided we didn’t want to spend the whole day waiting in a line, so we walked through all the exhibits and saw crafts, artwork, and lots (lots and lots) of animals! We saw miniature horses, pygmy goats, llama’s, pigs, chickens (didn’t know there were some really gorgeous chickens!), ducks, roosters, cows, rabbits, baby turkey’s, and miniature donkey’s. We even got to see the DockDogs preform, which Isabel thought was very fun and entertaining!

After walking around seeing all the animals, we headed over to the giant Ferris wheel hoping to get on board. Unfortunately Isabel was to short to ride; even with an adult! You can’t tell by the look on her face but she was so upset that she couldn’t ride. Bummer…maybe next year!

On our way out of the fair grounds I happened to notice a building sign that read “kids crafts”. I was curious and we entered inside and realized this was the place we needed to start our day at! The building was full of crafts for kids (most were FREE) and learning areas for them to explore. Isabel had a blast!

Spin art with a Frisbee!

Before…

After.

After the spin art we headed over to a table and Isabel made a bracelet with beads and a rice shaker necklace. There were other tables with other things to do as well, but we were so hungry and tired we didn’t get to see or do them all…maybe next year…

Music tree.

Next year we’ll have to find this building again and do all this stuff first…maybe…I did overhear a lady say that at that moment it was her first “break” in the crowd all day. So maybe it was good we did this last, we didn’t have to “fight” the crowds…

This past weekend we spent over in Eastern Washington with friends and family. On Sunday, it was Gino’s cousin, Jeannie’s birthday, so we spent the afternoon visiting and celebrating. Linda Jean and Jeannie made loco taco’s (to hot for me – I had some VERY YUMMY Mexican meatball soup! Thanks Jeannie!) We all had lots of fun and Isabel enjoyed the time getting to know her cousins.

The birthday girl and Isabel. When the cake was set on the table, Isabel actually thought it was her birthday! The look on her face was priceless; wish I would have gotten it on camera!

…so we re-lit two of the candles and let Isabel blow them out
(with the help of Abeni).

Cousins:
Shiloh, Chyenne, Abeni, Ezekyel, and Isabel

Cousins:
Silvie Jr. and Gino

Playing Wii with cousins.

Wii bowling with Abeni and Isabel.

Yesterday, we headed into Seattle for a quick stop at Gino’s office.

Isabel “sewing” in the back.
She will sit and “sew” for hours!

Isabel and Daddy heading into the office.

She looks a little worried…even though she’s rode in an elevator before.

Just this past summer Seattle built this gate leading
into the International district. This is looking east through the gate…very cool!