Birthday Weekend at the Beach

This weekend I turned 31. It was a special treat that my parents offered to let us join them at the beach for the weekend!

We started the weekend off with some pizza and games! 

Saturday we spent a little time off exploring and getting the kids some treats. 

And some pool time with daddy!

Bina helped decorate my cake! 

Then Peter snuck me off for a little bit to a restaurant we hadn't visited in many years, maybe even 12 1/2 to be exact. This was our last stop together before Peter left me for college so there is definitely some nostalgia to the location.  

And then we returned to the kids for the evening. 

The next morning was my birthday and my mom spoiled me all weekend with my favorite foods. Strawberry waffles for breakfast! 

It was proving to be a beautiful day! 

Unfortunately someone wasn't having a good day, I swear there is one every time we go someplace. Mal was down with a fever and had kept Peter up most of the night with a tummy bug. But he was doing somewhat better in the morning, even if he didn't look like it from this picture. 

Eli couldn't wait to get down to the beach. In total he walked about 5 miles with grandpa this day! 

The guys returned with 11 sand dollars and Eli was quite proud 

After some rest and getting the fever to break, we were able to get all the kids on the beach, including Mal! 

Then it was a yummy dinner complete with my childhood favorites - fried chicken and macaroni salad and my mom seriously makes the best cakes! 

It was a very fun and relaxing weekend. For the first time in MONTHS, I was able to take a couple naps and just chill out!  And by the end of the weekend Mal was feeling mostly better! 

I am hopeful that this next year will be a really good year for me!

Foster Pup #26 - Gin

Well the puppy train is in full effect right now as we go from puppy to puppy in the home. This week we had an older puppy in our home by the name of Gin.  

Gin came in the house super scared as most of the pictures I got of him show.  He wouldn't even come out of his kennel the first night. 

The next day he was still not a huge fan of me and wanted to hide. 

Eventually he started really warming up to the kids. He definitely loved them even if he was still a bit shy around us adults. 

All that to say, it only took a couple days for this shy guy to become a fully rambunctious puppy.  With all the chewing and jumping one expects from an older untrained pup. While he loved the kids he was also a bit rough with them so we decided to take him back a little early which worked out well as they were able to schedule him for his neuter before puppy adoption day.  Sorry Gin!  

Foster pup #25 - Cola

We had a sweet little foster pup stay with us last week. She was quiet and easy going and loved the kids!  We were also spoiled because she looked like an adorable fuzzy little teddy bear.  

To not give the impression that it is always sunshine and roses though, she did get herself in a bit of trouble when she ripped up a diaper all over the house - yuck! 

Otherwise she was a very good girl and we had fun with her. I knew based on how much interest her picture was getting on the facebook page of the rescue that there would be a line out the door for her and she would have no problem finding a family and that was correct!  Have a great life little teddy bear Cola! 

Whistler Part 4 - Ziplining

Last year Peter and I went on an awesome ziplining excursion and knew for certain that was something we wanted to repeat again!  Since we brought some extra family along on this trip we also brought along those brave enough to try it - Peter's brother and dad.  It was a very cold morning but so gorgeous!  We also had the added perk that a professional photographer was out there with us so some of these photos (all the really good ones) are cred of thefulltimehobby on instagram! His work is amazing and I think we lucked out all around! 

After arriving at base camp and getting into our gear and doing the safety talks we were sent off on snow cats to climb the 20 minute or so drive up the mountain! 

The view from the top was amazing and even the guides said that the views were amazing on this particular day. 

In total there were 4 ziplines. The highest, fastest, and longest ones in Canada and they were a blast!  It was fun to go up there this time without any fear about what was to come as we knew what to expected. It was all just fun! 

Whistler was a wonderful family vacation! We are thrilled we had the opportunity to return up there with more family this time and I know great memories were made with the kids!  I would highly recommend a family trip to Whistler for others.  There was no shortage of things to keep the family busy and overall it was a reasonably priced trip, which is hard to do with a family our size! I am sure we will return someday!