More winter fun

Yesterday morning it was so nice out, we decided to go for a walk.  It's been a long cold winter with a LOT of snow and a lot of below freezing (even below zero) days.  But it was sunny and (relatively) warm so we walked to the park and back.

After awhile Esme gets tired of sitting in the stroller, so our walking slows down considerably. :)

Hopefully we keep having nice warm days like this!

Sledding Party!

For Aaron's birthday celebration Annika requested a sledding party.  With all the snow that we've had and the fabulous hill in our back yard, how would we not?

Here are a few highlights.  Everyone seemed to catch a little air.

Annika

Laurel

Steve

Tanya

Jodie

Aaron

Barb

Eric

Aaron, Esme and Cricket

 Afterward Eric, Steve, Annika and Aaron built a snowman.  I think he looks pretty great!

And then Annika buried Esme in the snow.

Soon it was time for birthday cake and hot chocolate.  Aaron requested a lime coconut cake that he saw in a magazine and we had homemade hot chocolate the way my mom makes it.  So yummy!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Flower Child

Esme was channeling Janice Joplin tonight.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Charlie and Esme sitting in a tree!

After we moved away from Gleason Farms, it seemed that Esme's boyfriend Charlie forgot about her for some older girl next door.  However, now that he's almost three it appears that he's coming back to his senses.  He even shared his Woody (toy - you know from Toy Story - the cowboy!  Stop it!) with her.  If that isn't something...

Hanging out with Mamoo and Papa

Esme got to spend a lot of time with Mamoo and Papa on this trip.  I think they all enjoyed it. :)

wearing Papa's hat

Aloha Esme!

Here are my favorite Esme pictures from the trip.  I haven't seen all the pictures that my parents took, so I'm sure I'll probably add more at some point.

Whale watching

Grandma (Papa) and Grandma (Mamoo) watched Esme one more time so that Aaron and I could go whale watching.  We've figured out over the years that the best boats to go on are the little zodiacs.  They are small enough that everyone has a good view and usually end up way closer to the whales.

A boat just like ours

We have hundreds of pictures from this day and they're all amazing.  The ones that I'm posting are the ones that give you an idea of how close the whales were to us.  There was a group of several males fighting for a female.  They even went under our boat a few times.  When they fight, they chase each other and ram into one another.  The trip right before us saw the fighting and when their time was done and it was our turn the captain took us right to where they were again.  The fight went on for several hours.  I'm not sure it was even done when we finally left.  

Getting ready to ram another whale.

The chase is on!

Look at all the scars.

This was one of them going under our boat.

A beautiful shot!

Just amazing, definitely must do each time we go!