Sammamish Summer Part 2 - Lambert Family Reunion

Cousins arrived to the lake house a few days later and we had five, fun filled days together. We celebrated Paco's birthday (a little late), spent lots of time at the lake, visited two parks, and fit in a few different crafts. It's a rough and tumble group with all these boys, but every year they seem to become better friends with less adult oversight needed - a dream come true!

Golf ball hunt for Paco's birthday!

The cousins were all excited about the donut tower cake - Happy 61st Paco!

First time out to the "Dragon" park on Mercer Island. It was a fun, new place to explore

Paco pulled some old sparklers out to play with

Play time at the elementary school playground

Swimming at the neighbor's pool

Sophie led us all in an edible craft she learned at summer camp - campfire cookies!

Home Depot craft kits with the dads

Picking blackberries

Making tie dye t shirts, messy but fun!

These cousins can never get enough boat time - they love the tube!

It's always fun have cousins around to play with

Sammamish Summer Part 1 - Planes, Trains, and Kids Quest

Off to Seattle!! We always love escaping the Texas summer heat for the cooler Northwest weather. On this trip we wasted no time and went straight from the airport to our first activity - seeing Thomas the Tank Engine at the railroad near Snoqualmie! We didn't pay to ride on Thomas because tickets were crazy expensive, but it was exciting for the kids just to watch the train leave the station. This was his last day in town and we were glad to catch him before he moved on the the next city. 

The kids love when we fly out of Love Field in Dallas because there is a Dunkin right past security, so if we aren't short on time, we normally stop for a pre-flight treat

Beautiful views of Rainier on our flight in

Always nice when we can get an extra middle seat so Griffin doesn't have to be a true lap child

I was the only one not wearing blue - oops

Charlie is our primary train lover and was so happy to meet Thomas

Totem pole with Grandmari

KidsQuest is always a great activity for those inevitable rainy days. Plus the kids are always up bright and early ready to go somewhere with the time change so this was an easy morning activity!

Dallas Summer 2021

We had a week in Dallas on both ends of our Seattle trip this year. The front end was full of time with friends, mostly swimming because what else do you do when it's humid and 100 degrees?? Texas is hot, hot, hot in July and we are glad there are so many water activities to keep these kids entertained. 

Hello baby big eyes

Making friends with crickets at our lunch stop

We sure love naps

The Jack Carter pool is always a must when we visit in the summer. The kids had a blast splashing and swimming for hours. Davey started out nervous, but then out of nowhere gained an extra dose of bravery to do all the things - waterslides, flo rider, high dive, and even swam to the bottom of the 12 ft pool to retrieve a friend's googles. Way to go little dude!

Grandpa always makes for a comfy spot to sit

Fun day at little elm beach with friends! The kids were slow to warm up to each other after a year of covid isolating but soon bonded over digging out a "hot tub" and turning Dave into a mud monster.

Poor Charlie got a good sunburn on his face even though we applied sunscreen multiple times

We love using our ASTC pass to visit the Perot downtown! 

Mischievous little monkey

Legendary dinner at Pappadeaux's with friends: They gave our reservation away to other groups multiple times. After sitting out in the Dallas summer heat for two hours we got to scheming.  Despite assurances we would not be bumped again, we were, to an online reservation made by someone from our own group. We stole our own spot just to prove to management what was happening 😂 After that our entire meal + dessert was comped. Worth it? Debatable. But it was delicious. And free. 

Video: Dallas Summer Fun 2021