Birtthdays, Birthdays...

We spent my birthday weekend in Olympia. I took Friday off from work, and Josh skipped school, so we could take the ferry from West Seattle to Port Orchard & drive down the scenic route. It was beautiful in that grey Seattle way...

Friday night we met Marney & Gage and Brent, Michelle & Sarah for dinner at Anthony's - turned out to be a somewhat disappointing choice food-wise, but it was great to see everyone. (Well, everyone but Dan, who was exploring the possibility of life in Wisconsin... sigh.) After dinner, we braved the rain for an hour or so to check out Arts Walk.

Since it was also Noah's birthday weekend, we spent Saturday morning celebrating his 1st birthday. It's hard to believe it's already been a year! It was great to spend some quality time with Ryan, Izzy & Noah, and to watch Sam & Noah getting to know each other. Part of the reason I wanted to spend the weekend in Oly was to see what it would like to live there again, and seeing them made it very tempting! It's been far too long...

Ryan, you can NEVER tease me about my invitations again!

On the pro side, the amazing Wagner's Bakery...

Finally, some shots of Noah!



Introducing Noah (and Izzy) to some classic Fisher Price...

Josh makes his own birthday hat.
Sam charms some new folks... or simply begs to be taken home by them instead?

We spent Saturday afternoon looking at some houses - nothing great... and then had a MUCH more successful dinner at the fantastic Lemongrass... followed by a less than impressful Sunday morning brunch at a new crepe place.

Sunday afternoon, we met up with my old friend Keli - who has had 2 kids in the time we've been gone! Her daughter is just 2 weeks younger than Josh, and they really hit it off... It was *really* good to reconnect after so long.

Mia - looking so much like her mother!

Max!


Josh keeps asking me when he can see "his friend Mia" again.

Recovering from the cold & mud with some hot chocolate at the Urban Onion.

As always, we didn't get to see everyone & everything I had hoped, but overall, it was a really good weekend - and a good reminder of the pros & cons of living in Olympia!