busy, busy, busy

well the fox family touring company was busy again this weekend! my mom and joe came for a visit on thursday. we adventured to some areas we had not been to before and had a lot of fun! we started out thursday evening at the keg restaurant in lynnwood for dinner. everything was so yummy!! that evening we came home after dinner and relaxed! on friday morning we trekked up the 88 steps to drop gabe off at school. then mom, joe, grady, and i headed to bothell to check out the country village. the country village is a little jewell just chocked full of fun little boutiques, glass blowers (which felt it unnecessary to show for work on friday!), eateries, antiques shops, and grady's favorite, the toy store. they also have a little train ride and inflatables for kids, but they weren't running that day because it was a little drizzly. the boys and i went down there in october and we were able to check that out then. so we checked out all the little stores and got some huge, scrumptious cookies for dessert! our tummies had started talking to us, so we headed off for a new place to eat some lunch. after being led astray a couple of times by jill (that is what we call our gps), including a visit to the hungry buzzard (nope not a restaurant, it's a trash recovery company), we decided on canyons restaurant. we then headed towards home and picked up gabe from school. after shawn got home from work, we headed to a fish market in everett to pick up some seafood. we had a seafood extravaganza!! we prepared parmesan scallops, n'orleans shrimp, crab cakes, and clams. everything was soooo good! we finished off supper with our huge cookies from the country village and some ben and jerry's chunky monkey icecream! yum-o!! on saturday we adventured to some unexplored territory for the foxes'. we ventured north to the camano island. it is a beautiful area, full of windy roads and mossy trees. we went to a beach and park there and did some hiking and enjoyed a picnic lunch. in the afternoon it started cooling off a little, so we called it day early and did some venturing from the comfort of the armada! and of course, no outing is complete without stopping off for coffee at one of the many little huts scattered all over! we took the long road home through a bunch of little country roads and old dairy farms. the scenery is so beautiful here now, i can't even imagine what it will be like in a couple of months! that evening we got cleaned up and headed down to lynnwood and did some shopping at alderwood mall and had dinner at buca di beppo! unfortunately, we were lucky enough to have the grumpiest and worst waitress i've ever encountered. now, we have been to buca several times to eat and the service and food have always been top notch, but this time the service left a little to be desired. but at least the food tasted good, when it all finally arrived! with that experience behind us, we went home with full tummies, irritated nerves, and tired eyes. on sunday we woke up and went to church and then for a ferry ride from edmonds to kingston. when we got to kingston we headed over to poulsbo, which is about 15 minutes from where we landed. poulsbo was another new adventure for us, so we were pleasantly surprised when we got there and found out it was a little town with a norwegian feel. the main street was lined with all kinds of restaurants and shops. we had lunch, browsed the shops, and of course had to sample the bakery and candy shoppe! needless to say, i'll be hitting the gym hard this week!! after touring the northern part of the island, we boarded the ferry again and headed home. that evening mom, joe and the boys ordered chinese food and played the evening away. while they were busy spoiling the boys, shawn and i took advantage of the free and willing babysitters and headed downtown to a "grown-up" restaurant. we had the most delicious meal at palisade restaurant. it is right on the sound, so the view was gorgeous! we had a wonderful evening, just the 2 of us! we don't do it often enough, but sometimes it is nice to remember what it was like only 6 short years ago, when it was just the 2 of us!! it always feels good to be reassured that without the kids around there is still an "us"! so after spending too much and eating too much, we headed back to reality!! the boys were already in bed, so we just peeked in on those precious little gifts, thankful for them and the opportunity to just be "us" if only for a couple of hours! this morning we woke up, took gabe to school and then off to the airport!! anytime i have to head downtown on i-5 towards the airport, i am reminded how lucky i am to live where we do. the traffic was not as bad as sometimes, but still bad enough for a small town girl. a year ago, i would have never imagined me driving anywhere that had 5 lanes all going in same direction and not being totally white knuckled!! well we all arrived safely. i think mom and joe had fun, but i'm sure the quiet ride home without being serenaded by grady, will be appreciated!!!