We partied hard with neighbors for New Year's Eve this year, and it was perfect - no need to dress up, tackle crowds, or spend big bucks - add to that great friends who are also neighbors, and it's a win/win.
Kevin and I kicked it up a notch this year for our annual visit to Santa with dinner at Hamanasu followed by a night at the Hyatt! We've been waiting to make this a bigger deal (add the overnight piece) for a few years, but this was the first year we felt the kids were old enough for it - and it was sooo much fun!
...ain't always easy, but we had a fantastic holiday anyway 😉 Per usual, we joined my family in Leavenworth for an extended holiday weekend and Kevin's parents joined us, too.
Kevin is in Europe for two weeks and while I've got a whole lotta EVERYTHING going on right now, I thought a new kitten might be the perfect addition to the madness..
There aren't many people who love birthdays as much as George, which makes celebrating him especially fun! George has been talking for a while about a Chuck E Cheese birthday party (thanks YouTube channels 😏) so we finally gave in and everyone had a great time.
The Lauckner kids are back to school and I'm back to being officially over-scheduled. 'Tis the season! Abigail went back the day after Labor Day and the boys went back earlier this week. Below are pictures of everyone's first days, if you'd like to see.
We attended our first concert as a family last weekend and had so much fun -DMB was the perfect band and the Gorge was ( obviously ) the perfect venue ✨
It appears I'm getting cheesier with blog titles in my old age. Every few years my birthday falls on Schwingfest. Since I can remember Schwingfest has always been an annual highlight for me and this year was especially great, celebrating The Tacoma Swiss Club's 90th Anniversary!
After a weekend full of celebrations, Abigail turned 7 yesterday! We celebrated with breakfast in bed, got her the robot she soooooo wanted but now wants to return (because it doesn't cook for her 😂), then had Gma and Gpa + Uncle Victor and Auntie Catherine over for dinner last night.
Again! We had so much fun at the pool for Abigail's 6th birthday that she decided to have her party there again this year (although this time we scored the pool closer to our house) .
Boy is it hard carving out time for a long blog post these days. This summer has been packed full of fun but this is the first opportunity I've had to share about our trip to New York. Late this spring Kevin was in the midst of planning two trips: a fishing trip to Alaska and hiking trip in The Enchantments (which we're actually packing for tonight!) With all his summer adventuring, he thought it would be fun for Abigail and I to plan a girl's trip. The destination was easy - with Auntie Anne, Uncle Ian, and the cousin in Jersey + Godmother Susie in NYC it was a no brainer!
We've discovered a sort of family sub-culture this summer that we're totally digging - we spent this past weekend at Camp Don Bosco family camp and had such a great time!