Beachy Birthday

Noa's birthday was last week and we celebrated over breakfast with friends in Puerto Sherry.  We really enjoy this area as it has restaurants by the water, a comfortable beach, and great views.  It was a pleasant, clear morning - perfect for breakfast outside with friends.

Starting the day with some cafe con leche (coffee/espresso with steamed milk) with the waves lapping the shore behind you: perfection!

Oh, and did I mention that we ordered the fresh squeezed orange juice?  It's mighty tasty, but you definitely get lots of pulp!



Here's the man of the day with some of his buddies.  Left to right: Robbie, Chris, Bryan, and of course, Noa.  And no, that wine was not for breakfast…those are a couple of his birthday gifts.

This is Ruby with her newest BFF, Keira.  They are about a year apart in age and so fun to watch together, with their little conversations, giggle fits, and imaginative play.

We are lucky to have some Washington connections out here.  Chris works at the hospital with Noa and his wife, Laura, and I were buddies back in Washington.  It's nice to walk this road of excitement/uncertainty/newness with them as we navigate our new surroundings in Spain.

 After breakfast, we enjoyed the beach with the kiddos.  Ruby and Keira had a blast playing in the sand  and running around.  Since it's not tourist season anymore, the beaches are less crowded and the girls had plenty of room to play.

This was when Ruby was pretending to swim in the sand.  Crazy girl!

I entertained Mila and tried to keep her from eating sand.

And, then there's the obligatory birthday selfie with Noa.  It was such a peaceful, relaxed morning with him and a nice change of pace from the contact unpacking and errand-running.

It may have been a low-key birthday celebration this year, but I think Noa really enjoyed it and we'll remember it fondly in years to come.  

A Check Off the Bucket List

Washington is such a gorgeous state.  Any opportunity to check out it's beauty is a win for us.

Last year, Noa worked with our mutual friend Mark (who happens to be a pilot) to plan a double date where we would take a plane from the Bremerton Municipal Airport to Friday Harbor (one of the San Juan islands).  The plan was to fly over the Kitsap Peninsula, greater Seattle area, and Olympic National Forest to the San Juan Island.  We'd eat dinner somewhere in downtown Friday Harbor and then head back to Bremerton. We had it all worked out, but then there were last minute issues with the plane and the date fell through.  Major bummer.

Fast forward to this past Friday and we got a do-over.  Lucky us!  

We met up with Mark and his sweet wife, Trish at the airport.  I loved the plane that was on reserve.  I don't remember the specific model, but it was a vintage-looking Cessna that reminded me of a candy bar.  

For the ride there, I sat in the back with Trish.  We were the official photographers of the trip.  :)

It was a perfect day - warm, clear, and ideal for a plane ride.  Once we were buckled in, we jetted down the runway and up, up, up in the air!  It was pretty exciting!

The ride to Friday Harbor was full of local sights.  Seattle, of course:

Mt. Rainier (this picture does not do it justice at all!):

The Ballard Locks:

The Boeing Factory, which has the largest building in the world (by volume):

And the finally, the San Juan Islands:

And we spotted Friday Harbor (downtown pictured):

We easily landed on Friday Harbor and walked 10 minutes to downtown, where we dined on the water with views of the ferry.  But, time went by quickly and soon we had to head back to the plane, but not without a pit stop for ice cream first.

Yes, good times for sure.  That was some great ice cream.

This time, Noa sat in the back with me.  We took off just as the sun was beginning it's ritual sky painting in the evenings.

For the ride home, we flew right by the Olympic Mountain area.  We were not disappointed by the views. Of course, the photos don't quite do it justice.

Leaving the San Juan Islands:

This is the Dungeness Spit (the longest natural sand spit in the US; over 5 miles long):

And lastly, nighttime views of Bremerton:

Super Weekend

It really was a super weekend.  First, some of my local friends threw me a sweet little "sprinkle" for the upcoming baby.  It was held at a local coffee shop and we had the most amazing strawberry cake, fancy coffees, and laughing about name ideas.  The ladies even voted on their favorite name as a group (shhh…I'm not telling yet…since we are still undecided).  Baby girl and I received some very thoughtful gifts and I felt so loved by my friends. This little one is lucky to be born into such a welcoming community of people!

Oh, and if you are wondering what we are all holding, they are chocolate bar favors that say "she."  They were super cute and lately I'll take as much chocolate as I can.

The next day was Sunday, but not just any Sunday….SUPERBOWL Sunday and the hometown heroes, the Seattle Seahawks, were playing the Denver Broncos in NY.  We hosted some (and by "some" I mean around 25) of our friends at our house.  Everyone arrived decked out in Seahawks gear…the 12th man* was in our living room for sure.  This wasn't a typical Sunday, for sure.

I didn't get a ton of photos, since I was watching the game and wrangling Ruby, but here are a few I collected throughout the event.

We had a halftime football game outside:

Ruby got into the spirit, even if she isn't smiling for the camera.

There was a surprise birthday cake at halftime too.  Mmmm..cake….

Most, but not all, of the crowd represented here:

Sorry for the blur on some of these photos…they are iPhone pics, so the quality isn't great, but you get the idea.  The Hawks ended up winning by a landslide, which kept everyone's spirits high throughout the day.  I'm glad we got to share the momentous occasion with some of our local besties. Oh, and no, we aren't forgetting our Patriots (who are still #1 for Team Juloa), but the hometown team comes second in our books.  What a treat to be here when they won and won big.  Go Hawks!

*for those of you unfamiliar with this term, read all about it here

TWO!

Note: I'm backdating a few posts since we've been traveling and then without Internet for a week.  Time to play catch up….

Saturday was Ruby's second birthday.  I'm not gonna lie, I was brought to tears this week thinking about the fact that my "baby" is turning two years old (I'm thinking that part of that is due to pregnancy hormones, but still).  This birthday is somewhat of a milestone, considering the fact that I was scared to death of the 1-year-old stage.  I mean, the baby thing isn't too bad once you get the hang of it, but 1-year-olds are walking, starting to talk, but can't quite communicate, and the tantrums begin.  I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to get through it.  There were days that were super challenging with Ruby; days that she fussed all day or was extra needy.  But, overall the past year was pretty awesome with her.  She has been a great 1-year-old, which gives me a lot of hope for this next year.  Both Noa and I just adore her personality, her full belly laugh, and watching her figure things out.  No, the tantrums are not over and we still struggle to communicate at times, but it has been worth it.  And now, to make it to two, we are celebrating the person she has become so far and the person she is developing into.

This year the party was truly for her - I picked a theme based on her preference (pumpkins - she's always pointing them out wherever we go) and I invited her little friends to share the special day.  All the kids seemed to have a good time and I know we really enjoyed visiting with their parents.

Here are some cute pics from the day's activities:

Ruby and Annabelle had fun decorating pumpkins together.

Valentina found some snacks.

Speaking of snacks, here's the food table. I kept it simple with finger sandwiches, veggies, fruits, and other finger foods.  I also had food pouches for the little ones.

Mr. Handsome Ben…what a looker!

We filled the living room with orange balloons for the kids to play with. 

And then it was time for cake!  Ruby liked this part much better than her first birthday where she cried at the cake part.  This time she smiled and blew out both candles!

Presents!

As you can tell, she really liked this part.  She's getting very good at opening up the wrapping paper and then reacting to her surprise.

Afterwards it was more playtime.  Amelia approved of the new toys.

Meanwhile, the other kids took advantage of the wagon.  Ben and Melanie got the wagon game started.

And then these two had a turn (notice Ruby is wearing one of Valentina's shoes!)

We tried to get a kid pic, but one of our littles was an unwilling participant.  Still, it came out pretty cute and at least the birthday girl is smiling.

Happy second birthday, Ruby!  We love you so much and had fun celebrating YOU!