Christmas Vacation 2013: Spokane

Hello 2014!  Before I can get too excited about the new year, I need to finish recapping all of our holiday fun! I love blogging & documenting the going ons of our little family, but I do have to say that it was nice to take a brief break!  I truly lived in the moment and soaked up every bit of family time that I could. As a stay-at-home-mom, you are never "off the clock", but during our visit with family I actually felt like I was on vacation!  A blissful TWO AND A HALF WEEK vacation.  There were loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, & friends everywhere to offer their helping hands.  Each of our loved ones mastered their "vroom vroom" & "beep beep" sounds while playing with our sweet little Liam.  I also enjoyed going potty all by my lonesome self.  And showering without little hands pounding on the glass door.  And eating dinner slowly (with a glass of wine) instead scarfing down my food to eat as quickly as possible to keep up with my toddler; who likes to spend 5 minutes tops in his high chair.  It was pure bliss!  Enjoy this little glimpse into the craziness that is the Simpson Family:
Celebrated my grandpa's 94th birthday!  He has a cellphone and still drives;  ninety four looks pretty darn good on him!

Christmas #2 was December 26th in Spokane! (will be recapping our 1st Christmas in the next post... 'cause who likes to do things in order?!)

Liam got to spend time with two of his cousins, Linnea & Hadley (just 2 months older), whom he absolutely adores!!

The next day we drove to my parent's lake cabin in Spirit Lake, Idaho.  We stayed cozy up at the cabin for a whole relaxing week.  Liam loved helping Pops & Dada make real fires!

The lake was completely frozen over!

So of course, we went sledding on it; gotta keep Pops in shape!

Liam prepared for battle and was thrilled to learn that these 

balls of snow are in fact called "snowballs"!

We took a trip up to Schweitzer which is the mountain I grew up skiing on!  I can't wait 'til next Winter when we will put Liam in his first pair of skis!  We took his 1st chairlift ride which was bitterly cold....if you can't tell!  "He'll see it later; his eyes are frozen."

Liam pretty much spent as much time outside as possible!

Conor & Liam celebrated a Seahawks win in their new matching jerseys!

Liam got in some more cousin time at the carousel with Kanyon (4 months older)!  They were a little unsure of one other, but will surely be best friends in no time.  

 We drove back to Spokane for a couple days to see as many friends as possible!  It feels like there is never enough time to do it all.  He did however have the opportunity to meet his future best friend / girlfriend... / wife...? Madison!  He was so sweet to her and even shared his toys.  :-)

And on the last day of our visit, my mom & I went to the historic Davenport Hotel for a spa & lunch day!  It was the perfect way to wind down our trip and such a treat to have that special time with just my mom.  I'll take a glass of champagne, warm fluffy robe, and a fire in the serenity room any day! (no picture of this since you most certainly don't need a cell phone while being pampered)

Our time in Spokane was absolutely wonderful.  I love that city and would really like to move there, tomorrow!  Conor may or may not be warming up to the idea...  For now, it's a pipe dream....but I'm going to keep on dreaming!

Next up is a recap of our time in Montana which was equally as much fun!  I am definitely not done talking about Christmas even though it is almost mid-January!