Oh crap....we are doomed!

American Girl opened their store in Seattle.  Well, actually Lynnwood..but that is considered their "Seattle area" store.  Before this, the closest store was Los Angeles.   This was great for me because that was waaaay out of the way!  Lauren was perfectly fine browsing through her catalog when it arrived every so often, not even aware that there might even be such a place to actually walk trhough and browse. 

Scareeeeeech.....imagine the sound that a record would make if you stop it instantly!!  A few weeks ago, our neighbor Jen and her daughter Hazel took Lauren to visit The American Girl Store!  Lauren came home and told us all about this magical doll store.  How they had a salon that did the kids hair and the dolls hair.  How it was humongous.  How it had special little hooks in the bathroom stalls to hang your doll while you shopped.  How it had this and how it had that.  She was insistent on Bart and I seeing this larger than life dream store. So this weekend, we loaded up, Lily in tow,  to see it for ourselves.  Of course she was right...it was HUGE.  It really did have the hooks for the dolls in the restrooms..along with someone who swept the floor and wiped down the sink after every person used it.  We did see the girls getting their hair done just like their dolls and while we walked around the mall, we felt like we were in a different land.  Their were girls with dolls everywhere! They all were wearing clothes to match their dolls.  They had carrying cases and everything else imaginable.  So you know what....we too caved and bought Lauren and her doll matching pajamas.  We succumbed to the pressure.  But you know what...she was walking on air as she left that store...happy as a clam.  Even Emma broke a small smile at how happy she was.  That is monumental since usually she only gives out eye rolls of disgust to anything "babyish" that Lauren does! 

Meeting a Flickr friend...

A few years ago I met this crazy guy named Pete Ark on Flickr.  I am not a huge Flickr person,  I use it mostly to host my images and link them to my business blog.  However, a lot of people used to use Flickr to comment on others pictures and then after time would become friends.  Some still do but a lot of people moved to Facebook.  One of the great things about Flickr is a lot of people put their 365 projects on there.  Pete is the king of the 365 project.  He has some really amazing shots and loads of followers.  He is like a Flickr celebrity of sorts!  ROFL!!  Anyways...after talking back and forth and then becoming facebook friends..we got to meet in real life.  He is from Southern California and he and his family were traveling to Vancouver BC this summer.  They flew in to Seattle for a few days before heading up to Canada...so we had them over for dinner!!  It is so crazy to meet someone you only know from the internet.  For goodness sake..he could have been a mass murder who was going to come to our house to chop us all up.  OK..well maybe I have seen a few too many Dexter episodes.  I actually have lots of other internet friends who are personal friends with him and could vouch that he was a nice guy! Plus, I am pretty sure he was not going to drag his sweet wife Jane and their adorable little girls to come harm us!!  In fact when we met..it was like we were old friends!!  The girls all had a great time together and we got to show them a little bit of Seattle! 

Be sure to check out his Flickr images HERE!!

Pete giving me the evil eye.  Photographers like to take pictures..not be in them!!!  LOL!

His lovely wife, Jane.

All of the girls..they were fast friends!!

Jessie..loves to pose!!!

Sydney..not wanting to pose..at all. So instead she just kissed her mom.

Fine..if my mom won't kiss me I am going inside!! 

Enjoying yogurt at Zoe Yogurt across from Greenlake.

They are very interested in what Emma is saying.

Visiting the Troll in Fremont.  Pete was taking a shot of them!

To end the night we went to Kerry Park.  This is where EVERY ONE goes to take a picture of Seattle.  It was hilarious..when we got there, there were tons of photographers with all their fancy cameras and tripods.  It is serious business up there.  Stopping by here was not planned at all..so Pete and I just took some hand held shots for fun..it was actually kind of comical.  We probably looked like a couple of beginners.  HAHA!! Not to bad for hand held with my 50mm. ;)

What a fun night!!  Pete and Jane..thank you for all the gifts.  The great bottle of wine from Denise's winery.  The little gifts for the girls...and the best thing...one of Pete's books of his 365 project!! It is hysterical and we all enjoyed looking through it!!  Next time you will have to stay longer! Oh wait...better yet, maybe next time we will come to San Diego to visit you guys!!

BFF's!!

Best friends forever....

I am not even a cat person...

..but this one is pretty cute!!  While we were visiting Christy, Lauren got to play with her new kitty.  OMG..this thing was so spunky.  It was zipping around everywhere.  Lauren was in love..she got to play with it for 3 days straight!!  

I can totally imagine this thing saying...

"Umm..who are you, and what is that big, black thing coming at me??"

"Maybe if I act like she is not there she will go away."

 "OK, this one looks harmless..I will divert my attention to her."

"Hmm..you are still there."

"Seriously, you are freaking me out..go away!"

"Great...back to making this one happy."

 "I am just going to ignore you and hope you leave."

 "ignoring..."

"still ignoring..."

 "Maybe I should attack her."

 "Except that I am a small, little kitten."

 "Now I am just going to pout..."

"Forget it..I am going to sleep!!!"

The Enchanted Forest

Yep..I told you I was going to show you some pictures from the Enchanted Forest.  This crazy little theme park along the 1-5 in between Salem, Oregon and Albany.  It is seriously so ghetto, but my kids love it.  When I was a kid, we would go to it every summer.  Now they feel like they should every year too.  It has a storybook path through this shaded forest that has it's own little handcrafted Disney stories along the way.  In fact..I am not sure why Disney let's them even have this..LOL. They boast that the park has kept it's handcrafted feel throughout the park...which is definitely a true fact.  I promise you NOTHING has changed since I used to go through it when I was a child!  They even have the same oversalted popcorn in the water show.  :)