Part 3 - Easter in Pasco!

The next day was a very busy day full of fun, treats and eggs! In the morning we went to an Easter activity at Aunt Carol-Lynn's Ward. They had a yummy breakfast, games and crafts for the kids and then an Easter egg hunt. The kids all got tons of candy!

Howie and Holton

Jessica and I bought the girls matching shirts!

Shayla and Tia decorating cookies.

Jaidyn and Mateya painting flowers

Howie, Tia and Holton

See all our eggs!

Howie, Brynnlee, Holton

Check out all the candy!

After the ward party we went to my cousin Andrea's house for lunch and more Easter fun. Her boys were busy with baseball in the morning as well as my other cousin Jeremy who's son had his first day of t-ball. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, Jessica and I hid tons of eggs in the backyard for the kids to do another egg hunt. There were 11 kids altogether including Ella who was about 6 months old. There were tons of eggs but the kids found them so fast and they each got another bucket full. They were so excited. After the egg hunt we had hot dogs and salads for lunch and then made our way over to Aunt Carol-Lynn's house to dye eggs.

Kaden (t-ball) and Ryan (baseball) in uniform. The Egg HuntYou would not believe the amount of eggs we dyed! I think altogether there were about 16 DOZEN hardboiled eggs to design, decorate and dye. My girls were so excited because they usually are lucky to get 4-6 eggs but they got at least a dozen each! The kids all had tons of fun and so did the adults!

Tia - check out the huge bowl of eggs beside her, and that wasn't even all of them! Mateya holding EllaWhen all the eggs were decorated we decided to follow a Selman family tradition and go egg rolling. I have done this every Easter since I can remember. It is very simple, we decorate our hardboiled eggs and then find a fairly steep hill to roll them down. We have races to see who's is the fastest or who's will last the longest. Everyone was excited to try it out so we loaded up into several vehicles and headed off in search of the perfect hill. At first the hill seemed a little too small and it had a fence at the bottom, but once we got going everyone had a blast. It even ended up in an egg fight. It was so fun! I'm sure it will end up being a new Beck family tradition too!
Ready, Set...

...Roll!

Are you sure that's an egg?

Bet you can't get us through the fence!

The fight begins!

Kaden - he should have picked on someone his own size!

Poor Kaden getting the egg out of his pants! He was such a good sport.

We ended off the day eating dinner at Eatza Pizza. It's 'all you can eat' pizza with a games room/arcade for the kids. We were all tired but still managed to have lots more fun. Then it was time to get our worn out kids back to Jessica and Luke's house for bed!

Silly girls!

This pizza is so yummy!

Ryan helping out Holton.

Thanks so much to Aunt Carol-Lynn & Uncle Scott, Jessica & Luke, Andrea & Mike, Jeremy & Heather and all the kids for everything!!! We had SO MUCH FUN, we didn't want to leave! The girls already can't wait to see all their second cousins again! Next Easter is going to have to be pretty fabulous to out do this one!!!

Part 2 - Pasco!

On Wed morning, I rented a car and started out on the 4 hour drive to Pasco with 3 kids, no DVD player and a printed out map of a portion of the way. I thought I knew the way ... just straight on the I90 the whole way.

WRONG.

After seeing a sign to turn off south to Yakima, I got a feeling that maybe that's were I should be going. I kept driving and saw another sign saying Spokane --- miles (I can't remember the exact distance). I decided I was probably going the wrong way and so I turned off at the next rest stop. I called my cousin Jessica to ask directions. She wasn't sure so she would ask her husband and call me back. There was a big map on the wall by the washrooms but it didn't say "You are here" so I had no idea where I was. Just then a guy pulled into the rest stop so I asked him to point out on the map where we were. He was so nice. We realized I should have turned off to Yakima, about 20 mins earlier, and then he pulled out his maps and found an alternate route for me to take since I had already gone so far. Luckily there was a secondary highway not too far ahead that would be almost as fast as the other way. I was really grateful for the kind stranger who helped me otherwise I might have ended up who knows where! After about 5 hours we finally pulled up to Jessica and Luke's house. They even had dinner waiting for us! The kids were so happy to be out of the car and I was too!! I decided I might have to splurge and buy a DVD player for the way back to Seattle just to keep my sanity!

The next 2 days we just stayed at Jessica's house and played. Shayla and Tia had school so my kids played together with Howie until they came home. They live on an acreage and the weather was beautiful. The kids even got to go in their hot tub.

Holton and Howie play fighting. They would punch each other (not hard), fall down and then get back up and do it again. It was so funny! Such boys!
On Friday afternoon (Good Friday in Canada) we took the kids into town to a children's museum. It wasn't nearly as good as the one in Olympia but the kids had lots of fun playing together. My Knight in Shining Armour.
We played at the children's museum for a couple of hours and then went to a park to let the kids get some fresh air.

Mateya and Shayla rock climbing.

They made it to the top! Tia HowieLater we went to my Aunt Carol-Lynn and Uncle Scott's house for dinner. Two of my other cousins and their families were there as well. It was really great to see everyone after so many years!

Seattle Trip - Part 1

At the beginning of April we went to Seattle for the Jump Competition/Convention with the girls' dance studio. We had such a fun trip! Here are some of the highlights:

Holton's first time on an airplane! He was very excited! He did well for the first hour but then started to get restless. He was able to walk up and down the aisle to see his sisters and dad who were sitting 9 rows behind us. Luckily it was only a 1 1/2 hour flight.

Our Limo ride from the airport to the hotel in Seattle. It was cheaper than a taxi because we shared it with one of the other families from dance.

The next morning we rode the Monorail to the Science Centre. Mateya woke up in the middle of the night with a fever but we decided to go anyway. Mateya sat in the stroller most of the time. We had lots of fun.

Jaidyn and Roxy. Their duet won 3rd place overall for 10 and under.

While the girls were doing this...

...Cyril and Holton played! They kept each other busy with all the fun things to do in Seattle.

Mateya and Jaidyn with Thayne Jasperson from So You Think You Can Dance -Season 4Jaidyn with a ballerina named Katy. She was Jaidyn's favorite!Jaidyn with Nick Lazzarini from SYTYCD - Season 1 winnerOn Monday (April 6) Cyril had to fly back home because he was starting a new job. We had planned on staying from April 2 - 13 and since our trip was already booked we stayed the extra week without Cyril. We visited with Don and Abbi (Cyril's brother and his wife) for a few days and then drove out to Pasco, WA to see some of my family.

The kids playing in front of Don and Abbi's house in Olympia, WA.Eating homemade icecream! It was yummy! I took the kids to a Children's museum in Olympia. It was small but the kids had a blast! It wasn't very busy so we had most of it to ourselves. I so impressed at all the things they had to do for the kids...the best children's museum we've ever been to! It was definitely a highlight of their whole trip.
Jaidyn doing her grocery shopping.
Mateya getting some fruits and veggies.
Jaidyn and Holton making a delivery. Mateya and Holton watering the garden.Oh no, Mateya's been injured!Dr. Holton and Dr. Jaidyn to the resue!Checking in at the Dentist's office.

Jaidyn checking my x-ray for cavities.

Holton the construction worker.Captain Mateya.Loading up the ship.
Making sure everything is working. A super fun water table. They made paths to race rubber duckies.
After the children's museum we walked over to the Washington State Capital.

The kids had fun running around on the green grass. There was still tons of snow on the ground in Calgary.

Holton and Jaidyn dancing by a beautiful cherry blossom tree.

We went back to Don and Abbi's for dinner and to spend our last night with them. The next morning we left for Pasco. We had such a fun holiday so far! It was so nice to be able to spend time with my kids, enjoy the weather and also to see Don and Abbi. Thanks to them for putting up with us for a few days!