NEW PLACES TO TRY OUT

Within the past couple of years there have been some new places that are popping up. To start off with there is the Costco, Home Depot, Red Robbins, Mizu, Trapper Sushi which came up about 2 years ago. I like all but the Trapper Sushi which is IMHO overpriced and not good service. I am all about getting good to great service if I am going to shell out our hard earned money.

This year it is a place called 272 in Covington. The price is moderate, food and service is really good. Next on my list to try out is The Swinging Arm. I hear that it is a good place to eat. Then I heard through the Maple Valley Grapevine is that there is a new Target to be built in Covington. I am happy about that as I really don't care for driving far. Takes up just about my whole day when I do.

BREAKFAST, BIRTHDAY PARTY, PLAYDATE AND SLEEPOVER

That was our day yesterday and in that order.

We started off the morning with breakfast at Black Diamond Bakery mainly since it was close to the Bounce It Up where the birthday party was held. While at the Bakery we met with Olivia and her dad Andre as they were on their father/daughter date. We found out a couple things from them. One is Olivia will be in Mimi's class next year and her little brother Jack will be attending the same pre-school "Wonder Years" as several other kids in our neighborhood. Michelle who runs the school is a former grade school teacher and also taught at Glacier Park. She hails from SaMo High (Santa Monica High School) and her husband Jason also teaches in the Kent school district and he graduated from Venice High School just a couple of block from our old neighborhood in California.

Michelle and Jason has two sets of twin Owen and Avery the younger ones, then there i Kate and Ethan who are Mimi's schoolmates.

So next year Micah (Shad's lil' sis), Bailey (Blake's sis), Jack (Olivia's lil' bro) will be going to Wonder Years along with Ada whose big brother Owen will be attending Glacier Park for the first time (kindergarten).

When breakfast was done, we all headed over to the Bounce It Up. It's a new bouncy place that recently opened up and the kids love it. I love it because it is all contained to one room except for the party room. It really is not set up for the big kids, just the little ones. None the less, the kids have a great time running around just getting their sillies out.

Mimi was happy to be wrestling with the boys. Even though she is older than they are, they are a bit taller or at least the same height. It was Xander's 5th birthday party and he greeted everyone at the door with a huge hug and would exclaim "It's my birthday!!!!" That just cracked me up. All the kids there were mainly the kids from the neighborhood. That meant Erin was there also and Mimi was quite pleased as they had not played together all summer.

The pizza was quite good too. Found out about a place called The Swinging Arm in this little shopping strip that the Bounce It Up is in also. I had seen it before but never tried it out because it is a bar and grill and did not know if kids were allowed. Found out that kids are allowed and the food is good which the pizza that came from there is. Then I found out that the crust that is used to make the pizza comes from CJ's bakery across the highway. CJ's is a well known local bakery that makes delicious cakes and such so everyone orders from them.

While at the birthday party Mimi and Erin were making plans for a playdate. So that is exactly what they did, have a playdate first at our neighbohood park, then at our house till it was time to go to Elsie's for the sleepover.

Rhonda thought that with the moving, gymnastic practices and her working, the girls did not get much of summer fun so she invited Kalani and Mimi over for a sleepover. All the girls are on Summit Gymnastic team. Kalani is more of Emma's age and friend and Mimi is more of Elsie's age and friend. Still the younger one enjoyed themselves pestering the older ones.

Rhonda prepared a delicious French stew for all to enjoy.

SHIRLEY AND MIMI

Taken at Angie's house last night. By the end of the evening they were
so wound up that Mimi started a conga line going with Shirley in tow.

LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN

Mimi is happy to be playing with her boys once again. Yesterday was spent with Shad the both Shad and Blake. Today it was Blake. All is well and good in her little world again. Tomorrow she will go to Xander's birthday party then in the evening she will be spending the night with Emma and Elsie along with Kalani (Emma's friend and another team mate). Come this Sunday, dad and I are planning to take her to the Mariners game via lightrail of course. It is going to be Franklin Gutierrez free jersey day for the kiddos. That should be exciting. Then it will be one more week of vacation. In some ways I can't wait but on the other hand I am going to miss not having her around all day. My baby is growing up way too fast for me.

GAME NIGHT

We arrived home around 6:30 in the evening and still the kids wanted to play together. It was also the night of the BBQ for her karate class at Lake Wilderness. She really was looking forward to it. But since we came home late and the weather is starting to get yucky (cold, windy and raining), I really did not feel up to going. So we bypassed that activity too.

Instead she scarfed down her dinner and headed over to Shad's house. Blake got wind of what was going on and decided he wanted to ditch his grandpa (a huge deal) who is visiting from out of town and go play with his friends. This boy really hates to miss out on any kind of fun. Can ya blame the little fella?

By the time 8:00 rolled around, it was time for the gang of friends to break up and go their separate ways.

Mimi has always liked card games but now she is getting into playing board games and really loves the game of Battleship. Also found out from Coach Kelly that there is a Pirates of the Carribean Pirateship game that I wanted to get and have yet to find.

So while I was out walking Butch, Mimi and dad played games till it was time to hit the sack. Butch was kinda tuckered out too after his romp with a new friend by the name of Roxy. Roxy is a puppy St. Bernard and she is just a smidgen bigger than Butch. But then again, who isn't?

AT THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Although we did not go inside, this was another photo op.

RIDING THE MONORAIL

As usual, we can never go into the city without riding the monorail to the Pacific Science Center which is where we had lunch. We were famished!

The kids really wanted to go to the Children's museum there but due to the lack of time, we bypassed it. Also they wanted to go on the rides at the amusement park but we bypassed that also due to the same reason. Not enough time.

Finally found the place called Little Shanghai and we purchased a cute pant outfit for Mimi. Unlike in the past years where she did not care for any Chinese outfit, she loves this one and wants to wear it all the time. Surprise, surprise!