Mother's Day

Well, I must say, this has been a great Mother's Day weekend! We actually celebrated on Saturday so as to avoid the crowds. And oh what a time we had!

We headed to Snoqualmie first thing to take a train ride. One of my friends has told me about this train ride and we actually tried to make it there when Tina and Kora were here in April but I didn't have the address or any other details to go by so we didn't get to do it then.

We boarded the train at the Snoqualmie Depot and headed to South Bend. It was a nice ride and we saw some beautiful scenery. I must say, I was a little shocked at the condition of the interior of the cars. I know they do a lot with this train so I guess I expected it to be in better condition. But, considering this whole museum and railway system is run by volunteers, (and that some of the cars are pushing 100 years old) I guess I'm impressed with how well it looked and, more importantly, ran!

Me, Sydney and Quinn on the train. It was so funny, Quinn kept asking where the seat belts were!

I just love this picture of the girls looking out the window.

This is a shot of Mt. Si from train. We did get a few shots of the girls and I with it in the background when we were in North Bend, but there was a car dealership across the street from us and some power lines that kind of took away from the photos. Oh well.

We departed the train in North Bend so we could look around there. More specifically, we wanted to eat at Twede's Cafe. What can I say about Twede's?! I didn't know anything about it, other than it was the dinner in Twin Peaks, before I sat down to write this. Now that I've seen the web site and it's history, well, it makes me sad. This place was filthy dirty! It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years upon years. I could already feel the food poisoning hit when we walked in the door! With such a great claim to fame, wouldn't you think that they would want to keep it up a little better? And that's another thing, all of the Twin Peaks memorabilia was hidden back by the nasty bathrooms. And they looked as though they hadn't been cleaned since they were hung up. So sad! But, we ventured in anyway - and survived! We ended up ordering some fries, a cinnamon roll and their famous cherry pie. I thought it was all mediocre at best and most definitely over priced. It was such a disappointment and I defiantly don't recommend going inside to eat if you're ever in the area! Maybe a nice picture by the mural outside would suffice. If you can get the people that are digging through the garbage to step aside that is.

Back on the train we went. We went past the Snoqualmie depot and over the Snoqualmie Falls. We stopped just past the falls so that we could see the 300 foot drop. So pretty! I was a little disappointed again as I thought we were going to be able to SEE the falls when we stopped. I never saw them and we walked the whole train from front to back looking. The disappointment didn't last long once I looked at the rest of the scenery!

Next stop was P.F. Chang's in Bellevue for some lunch. The girls slept all of 10 minutes in the car so we had some drama here and there but it was manageable. Since we were right across from Lincoln Square, we decided to take the girls to the bowling ally K.C. and I had gone to on our anniversary. They had a blast! It was a lot of fun and they actually picked up on it pretty well. Even did better than K.C. and I at some points during the game! SO fun!

Quinn, getting her bowl on! We didn't plan on going bowling when we left the house so didn't pack any socks for her. Gross, I know. Thankfully she's not old enough to care at this point.

Sydney, getting her bowl on. Too stinkin' cute I tell you!


The final stop on our outing was the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful this place is! In fact, it's my new favorite place. The girls and I went there with one of our Mom's groups on Thursday. I knew we'd be back this weekend to show Daddy. I wish I had known about this place before we had our Family pictures taken! It blows Lake Wilderness out of the water, no pun intended! And once again, the work of volunteers helped make this place possible for me to enjoy. These pictures I took on Thursday:

And these pictures we took on Saturday.

We definitely had a big day but it was so much fun! I enjoyed every minute of it - even the parts that disappointed me!

During our day I received an email from one of my friends asking if I could provide a meal to a family in need. After enjoying a wonderful day with my family in places that people had volunteered their time and energy to create, how could I say no? So I set up a Sunday delivery. I thought Mother's Day was an appropriate day since the family consisted of a single father and three daughters. They don't have a mother to take care of them. The father had surgery on Friday and, by the looks of him, was in a lot of pain. The family is being helped by Vine Maple Place, which is a great organization. I always worry about donating to certain charities. You just never know if the people who actually need the help are getting it. There are so many people in this world that take advantage of 'the system' and take all that they can get. Heck, I'm related to some of them! But, I think this place helps to weed out those types of people so I don't mind 'doing business' with them, so to speak. We've done several things with them through both of my Mom's groups so they are an organization I'm comfortable with.

Anyway, first thing this morning, after Daddy, Quinn and Sydney made pancakes:-) we cleaned up and headed to Costco. We got a few things for us and enough stuff for a yummy meal or two for the family and then dropped it off to them on our way home. I was telling the girls about what we were doing and why. I'm trying to teach them that we all need help sometimes. Quinn needs help wiping off after she goes potty. Sydney needs help reaching things. Mommy needs help picking up the house. Daddy needs help keeping his sanity while living with three females. Etc. And that we should do what we can to help other people. Quinn really wanted to help me take the food to their door. She felt bad that they didn't have a mommy. She talked about them all the way home and has even brought them up a few times again. We talk about how the daddy had surgery so his tummy hurts and the food we took them will help his tummy feel better. We talk about the little girls who don't have a mommy to cook for them and whose daddy doesn't feel good so we made them feel better by taking them dinner. She even talks about the fact that we should have gotten them cookies for dessert (we went with the fruit bowl instead). Such a sweet, insightful little girl. What more could a mommy ask for?

This Mother's Day is going to be tough to beat! But, I'm looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring!

We hope all of you Mother's out there (and you Father's that have to be the Mother too) had a wonderful day!

Hugs and Kisses to all!