Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Washington 2018 - Candice's reflections

During last year's Washington visit, it was the trees that spoke deeply to me. This year it was the mountains - another thing we miss about our corner of the world. And since it was our first visit to the PNW during the Spring in a few years, the crisp and defined peaks really stood out to us (during the few clear weather days, of course).
the view from Greenbank Farms
It was a great trip home this year. As Ben mentioned in his reflective blog post, visiting during a special event (Saralyn and Ryan's wedding) meant that scheduling was a lot more convenient on our end, as we didn't have to coordinate separate visits with extended members of the family. We saw almost everyone we wanted to see at least once, and all we had to do was show up to events! Along with the wedding ceremony, we were also in town for Saralyn's bridal shower and bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner with Ryan's family, and our nephew Amare's 8th birthday party. We also threw Arden a half-birthday brunch the day after the wedding, as she doesn't usually get to celebrate her actual October birthday with extended family.
Amare's birthday party
dinner after a swim at the club
This year we held two friend-gathering events, which meant our local friends had a few options to catch us during our quick visit. We also made a few individual visits, including a meetup with my Canadian cousin Evett and her family at the Skagit Tulip Festival. It was fun to catch up with everyone and watch our kids grow, some of whom hadn't even existed during our visit last year.
our final friends-night
Arden and her cousin Hunter
my sisters-in-law at the bachelorette party
meeting my cousin Evett at the tulip festival
it was fun catching up with Kara in person, for once!
visiting the Broekuis family, who seem to have a new child every time we see them :)
Personally, I had a really wonderful visit. This was the most relaxing trip to Washington for me since before Arden was born, as I am no longer nursing and was able to spend larger stretches of time away from her, including an overnight trip during Saralyn's bridal shower/bachelorette party weekend. It was fun being home for a big event, as there was an overall air of excitement and celebration, and an excuse for things like a mani-pedi afternoon with my mother/sisters-in-law.
mani-pedi day!
Arden visited the castle playgroup multiple times
I also stepped up my videography game this year, filming footage for a "vlog" (which was so long I had to split it into two parts), one of my usual vacation highlight videos, and a wedding video which Saralyn had asked for as a wedding present. I had spent the prior two months researching amateur wedding videography, and I think the final result was pretty decent for my first ever wedding video. While I still don't have the fanciest video equipment in the world, I had recently upgraded my camera and was very pleased with the overall footage and new capabilities, like a better zoom and more visible night shots.

Thanks to our family and friends for hosting us and making time to see us! We had a wonderful trip this year, and can't wait to visit again in the near future.

-Candice

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