the great wheel

before the thelens left we went on a family date out to dinner and to do the seattle great wheel. the great wheel is a giant wheel that sits over the water and you go around in a little enclosed cart thing. beckett loved it. matt and heath were neutral. i am proud to say, i did not have a panic attack... i only considered it. i don't know why rides like this freak me out so much, but they do. don't even get me started on the one at california adventure. it's like a metal cage of death. anyways, it was nice to have some thelen time and i took some terrible pictures... my camera is no beuno in the dark. 

family selfies are hard. also... heath's face?! ha!

kirkland parade

on the fourth we started the day with the kirkland parade! we almost didn't go because we were lazy bums, but the weather was a little overcast and not too hot and not too cold and pretty perfect, so we decided to rally and meet everybody down there. it was a very good choice! i'm so glad we went. beckett loved it! he waved flags and was really serious about the national anthem and got bead necklaces and inhaled way too much candy. plus, just going to watch misty's dad, brian watch the parade was reason enough to be there. he is the most enthusiastic parade watcher. it's wonderful. he especially loved the uni-cyclists, who were pretty impressive. whitney and quinn got down to the parade site very early and saved everybody very good (really... like the best) seats! thanks friends! it was a great way to spend our 4th of july morning!

doh! nuts!

jenni really needed to experience the magic that is mighty-o doughnuts, so we headed into seattle (cramming the carseats into my tiny backseat was only a little dangerous) for a breakfast treat. jenni has a good friend from hawaii who just so happened to also be visiting seattle, so she met us with her daughters and geri came with her girls too! after delicious doughnuts, we headed over to the park to try and burn off those sugar highs. yeah right.

bella is five!

in late december, bella turned five years old and we just got to celebrate her birthday with her the same weekend as beckett's party. i can not believe that she is five. first, that is just a pretty important and ginormous age, but second, we already lived in seattle when bella was born! how can this be?! time flies when you're having fun, i guess. anyways, bella had a very cute olivia themed party at the bus stop. everybody wore red, white, and black... except gianna who was dressed like a pink pig! please don't be too disturbed in the photo below when you see gianna dressed as a pig and eating a pig in a blanket... like a cannibal! thanks for the invite to your party, bella... it was a really fun time!

happy birthday bella, lookin' good at 5!