family vacation!!

Wanting to take a vacation somewhere warm, fun and relaxing but being totally broke is quite a challenge. Unless of course your friend's mom invites your family to come stay at the 'best B & B in Washington State," on a lake just outside Seattle. If that happens to you, take her up on it! We were smart enough to do just that, and our first family vacation was fantastic.

It started off pretty stressfully, taking 2 toddlers on an airplane

But within 3 minutes of getting to the house, both girls were stripped down to their birthday suits and in the little pool on the deck. And not long after that (ok, maybe a day), a neighbor stopped by with presents for the girls including identical little doggies to walk

There was plenty of splashing around in the lake, though in small doses.

<- don't the girls look happy??!

Those water wings Natasha is wearing were a recommendation from a friend and the coolest thing ever! It's actually a U.S.Coast Guard approved life jacket

The blue floaties are not USCG approved, but were perfect for relaxing on the water

They were also pretty good for ridiculously cute photo ops, as you can see

And there was a park just up the street that had some fun things to climb and play on. But the biggest hit at the park was the rocks.We went there pretty much every day, and it was all about the rocks.

Most of our time was spent playing and relaxing around the house (why on earth would we ever leave?!)

Daddy booktime in front of the fireplace

But we did venture out a couple times.. Once to go visit our friend Lanny at work at the Woodland Park Zoo

And once, on the one rainy day we had in the middle of Seattle's heat wave, to go visit the Children's Museum next to the Space Needle downtown. (it started raining about 5 seconds after this picture was taken!)

And all too soon, it was time to head home. We found out our flight was 1 hour + delayed when we were checking our bags, and discovered that Seattle has the best planned airport on the planet. There is a children's play area (designated by a neon teddy bear I'd noticed on the way in), that is full of soft-padded climbing toys for the kids to run around and climb on. And, directly across the walkway is a bar! I don't know if we would have survived the wait with 2 toddlers that missed their naps in any other airport.

A gazillion more vacation pix are here