While visiting the Seattle area, another favorite thing for the kids was just playing with their cousins, and they did a lot of it! One day, toward the end of the day, Scott and I were talking and he said something like, "I feel like I've barely seen the kids today." Even though we were all in the same house, they were either on the trampoline in the back or riding down the hill on the dead end street in the front on bikes or scooters. Here is a picture of Reese, Shaun and Elisabeth on scooters in front of my parents house.
Did I mention all of us 5 siblings were able to make it out for a bit? This is my oldest brother Luis. His birthday was a week out so we gave him an early celebration. He requested a minion cake from Despicable Me, and a fruit pizza. I made the cake and mom made the pizza. Here are some pictures from the party day.
This is one of our family favorite party games. You divide into two teams, everyone has a small balloon or two and you race to sit on them, one at a time, to see which team finishes first.
We only got to see Fred and Robin's family for a couple of days because they had another family reunion, which is why you won't see them in the remaining pictures. Something all of the Garnica's have in common is our love of good food. So we made some good food and we ate out a few times at some really yummy restaurants. Here are some of the adults at Mayuri, an Indian restaurant. This was my first time doing the Indian buffet.
We went to Seattle one day, mostly because Charles wanted to ride a monorail.
We also walked through Pike Place Market while in Seattle.
And we saw the Troll under the Bridge in Fremont area of Seattle.
Whenever we go we have to eat at Mongolian Grill. It's amazing! This was another adult trip plus Jane who needed to come :). Speaking of Jane, one day while playing around in my parents house, Janes' elbow that had been
dislocated before got dislocated again. I had seen it corrected a couple
of times and had asked the doctor how to fix it myself and so I decided
to give it a try. I said a little prayer for help, held the outer elbow between my thumb and index
fingers, positioned the palm face up with the arm outstretched and then carefully
bent it back upwards towards her as I felt/heard it pop! Hooray it was fixed! And thank goodness because they are always (this is our fourth dislocation in the family) a screaming/crying mess from the pain until it is corrected. Kinda hard to think under that kind of pressure; so grateful for the guidance of the Spirit and the peace it brings.
Last year Scott took Elisabeth kayaking at a park near my parents house and they decided to do it again. You can rent a kayak for an hour for $20, so we rented two and after half hour one of the adults with children would bring the kayak in and switch and let the others have a half hour turn. I didn't go this year. I have a little fear of water. Maybe next time....maybe.
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| Luis and Angelo |
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| Scott and Elisabeth |
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| Becca and Blake |
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| Luis, Bella and Charles |
We finally caught Annabelle's grumpy/stubborn face on camera! Ha! She does this fairly regularly :).
Scott put up new drapes in the dining, living and office.They look great!
One day all the cousins decided to have a stand/sale out front. They sold lemonade, rice crispy treats, fruit snacks, fruit leathers and otterpops. They were out there all day. I didn't think they'd make much, if anything, because we live on a dead end street but to my surprise and their delight they made about $20. We have very generous neighbors :).
Scott and I had our ten year anniversary while we were there and so that evening we went to the Seattle temple to do sealings and we ate dinner there as well. I forgot my temple recommend at home, but thankfully our bishop gave the temple a call so that we could still go.
On the way home we drove four hours and stopped at Fred and Robin's house who live in the tri-cities in Eastern Washington and stayed there for a night. I loved this sign Robin had up on her wall on the main floor. When the kids are looking for something to do or are bothering each other she tells them to go look at the "Bored Board". :). I loved it and I made one for my kids once we settled into our home in Colorado.
We had so much fun being with siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Most of us all stayed in the same house, and my little sister just lives a mile away so we got to spend a lot of time together. And that's it on our trip for this year!
