ABH vs. AGW

For the past nine years Birch and his brothers have escaped to the mountains for a weekend of brotherly bonding and the smell of the fresh outdoors. For months the boys eat, sleep, and dream of the annual ABH (all-brother's hike) adventure while us mommies dread it's arrival ("dread" might be a bit of a harsh word since it has gotten easier for me with ABH taking place when school is in session and the kids getting older). Anyway, this year us girls decided that it was our turn to have an AGW (all-girl's weekend).

This years' ABH hike took place at Mount Stuwart and AGW took place in Spokane, WA. The boys were missing two brothers this year.

So here we go with ABH vs. AGW:

We ate nothing but the best...

Gotta love that Mountain House food!

A friend came over and taught us all how to make homemade pasta, focaccia bread, and molten lava cakes. Check out our new Domestic Ditto Divas blog for some tasty recipes.

We drank only out of logo adorned water bottles...

Kelly enjoying a swig from his pumped mountain fresh water.
Blayre showing off her new AGW water bottle.

We pampered each other...

Birch taping Brent's heel up after a painful day of hiking.

Julia gave pedicures to most of the sisters.

At the end of a long day hiking/shopping we treated ourselves to a nice dinner...

The boys culminated their hike by a juicy burger and greasy fries.

The girls enjoyed a tasty dinner at Laguna Cafe after a long afternoon of shopping.

We stayed up late...

The nights were extra toasty for the boys since Logan surprised each of them with stocking caps in their alumni college color.

I was just plum tuckered out from all that chatting, shopping, and crafting that I couldn't even make it through our movie-a-thon.

We treated ourselves to an afternoon of relaxation...

Nothing like relaxing in a lake of freezing water!

Saturday afternoon we went to Highland Spa for two hours of heaven. The spa has a spa school in the basement and offers some great deals on discount spa parties. Our afternoon included a foot bath and massage, table massage, hair mud mask, face mud mask, and plenty of time to eat treats and visit with each other. I'm counting down until my next visit.

We were silly...

We were quite crafty...

Brent threw the Frisbee in the water and so Birch and Brent were "crafty" with their method of retrieval---a hiking stick.

The nights were busy with us girls making flower and ribbon hair clips and earrings.

We worked really hard...

Kelly making it through the rough terrain.

Deena breaking out a sweat after purchasing this great rug at TJ MAX.

We thought of others...

Well, I'm sure the boys most of been thinking of others at some point during their weekend away.

Sunday morning Debbie (Birch's mom) organized a great little service project sewing together School Bags for worldwide humanitarian service. We were busy beavers but still have some more work to do to finish our goal.

We took pictures of ourselves...

I call this "ABH Boyz 2 Men" pose.

I just love all these ladies!!!

So there you have it!!! I'm sure both of us would openly say that our weekends weren't quite long enough but that we relished each minute we were together. What a great tradition...one that I am going to keep looking forward to!!

Better Late Than Never

Many moons ago when life was a bit calmer, Alysee celebrated her seventh birthday. I feel bad that a month later it is just getting posted. Our home is slowly all starting to come together since the water incident...but that is another post itself.

Back to Alysee...
Alysee's birthday was a bit unique this year. She was able to celebrate it in Spokane with her cousins. Her aunts and Grannie put together a great party including a cute pink cake. I don't think Alysee even noticed that her family wasn't there singing along to "Happy Birthday."
This birthday was even extra special because Ami and Poppi and Birch and I gave Alysee a week of Ballerina camp lessons this summer. Oh my, she looked forward to it each day. The last day she preformed her little three minute number for all the parents to watch. I'm not sure I have ever seen her so excited.




Another fun gift that we did while Alysee was gone was redecorate her room. Alysee has begged for a pink room for years...well, it still isn't pink but it sure turned out cute! I wish I had a wide angle lens so you could get the real effect instead you will get bits and pieces.

Light fixture from IKEA
My sister-in-law Annie made all these cute vinyl ladybugs to go all around her room. The saying "Butterfly Kisses and Ladybug Hugs" fits just perfect too.
I can't remember where I got Alysee's bedding but I love it!
Ladybug crib bedding from Target
Curtains from IKEA

I had this idea while Alysee was gone at her cousins to put together these cute digital scrapbooky framed pictures. I LOVE them!!! They are all framed in black and line the back of her wall.

Chloe - 11 mos
Sisters

When Alysee came home we had our own little family party. She was in birthday heaven!

What can I say about this pint-size girl? She started out as just a little thing seven years ago. Our smallest baby at 5 lb 5 oz and 18" long. For the first month or two she wore doll clothes and people were scared to hold her in fear she might break. She hasn't gotten much bigger in size but boy is she full of personality. WOW!! As she has gotten older her bi-polarness seems to have tamed itself. Alysee is a great sister to Chloe and loves to haul her around. She still loves to pretend play school, church, family, etc... She loves to read, draw, write stories, and is always creating new little habitats for her stuffed animals. Oh yea, she loves to collect little things. In fact don't tell her this but while she was gone to her cousins I took the liberty to sort through some of her treasures and weed out the garbage. I was lucky because she was so excited about her new girly room that she hasn't even missed the disappearing treasures. Alysee is a great student and especially loves the social aspect of school.

Sure do love this girl!

Blessed by the best...pass it on

Mid August our family was treated to a few days with Birch's mom's side of the family--the Harvey's in Newport, WA (right on the Pend Oreille river). The reunion was held at Bear Paw Camp. The location was AWESOME and the facilities were perfect for our large group of 64.
The reunion's theme was "Blessed by the best...pass it on" -- it was a tribute to two wonderful grandparents that now have a posterity of 102. It had been years since our family had attended a reunion so many faces were new to us.

Coop enjoying his licorice/fruit loop bracelet that he made.

I think the kids consumed more candy of the four days that we were all together then they do on Halloween. One of the highlights was Tulua's Store. The kids each were given a chain bracelet and then given the challenge to do good deeds for others. When they did something they were rewarded with a bead to add to their chain. Then a couple of times a day Tulua's store would open and the kids could "buy" things with their accumulated beads. The kids stocked up with candy and all sorts of Dollar Store type toys. They were in heaven.
When I think of the Harvey family a few things come to mind...VERY competitive Rook tournaments, ping pong, and lots talent. I think Grandma Harvey might have played Forrest Gump back when...Birch and his uncle played a tough game against Grandma Harvey and Blayre. As you can see from the picture Birch is dying at Grandma and Blayre's little victory dance they did each time they made a point.

Tyler loved playing tennis with the other cousins.

One night we all got to participate in the family talent show. We were hard up for an idea until the afternoon before we left for the reunion the kids all started coming upstairs in their superhero customs. Within a few minutes I found a cute and cheesy song called "Superhero Medley" and so we all ended up lip syncing to it.
We had two spidermans (Tyler and Alex), Alysee as Wonderwoman, Nate as Superman, Coop as Bateman, and Chloe was Robin. Birch and I were the singer people.

Alysee and cousin Lucy had a fabulous time in the outdoor swimming pool.

All the boys got to make marshmallow guns while the girls made cute little paper bag scrapbooks.

One evening we brought out our water balloon launcher and instead of launching water balloons, all the leftover candy was launched. Aunti Tami did a great job flinging that candy.

As you can imagine the kids went crazy...kind of like a pinata on steroids.

Chloe flirted with everyone but made sure that they kept their distance from touching her. She has such an infectious smile.

Nate and cousin Addision enjoying their dinner--these boys LOVE being with each other.

The meals were all super yummy and very well divided. One of the aunts put together a schedule so each meal had a chairman and then a committee of helpers. It was a great way to get to know other relatives. There was even a commercial dishwasher so clean up wasn't even too painful.

Aunti Blayre is well-loved by ALL the cousins. These girls couldn't get enough of her.

Lastly, Birch and Chloe showing off their reunion t-shirts. I especially love the apron that I came home with that also sports of the reunion logo.

We had such a great time and we're looking forward to 2011!