Wicked-8/7/2010

Still playing catch up-

Nate's mom was super nice and bought his 2 sisters and me tickets to Wicked!  I have been wanting to see this show for years and could not contain my excitement.  We went to lunch at The Olive Garden first.  I think this was the first time we had all done something like this together.
The Ohio Theatre was so neat!  It is old and has such a classic charm to it.  We had great seats and the show was PHENOMENAL!!!  I will go every year if possible.

Scavenger Hunt with the Crowley's

Back in August, I thought a Scavenger with the Crowley's was a great way to help them learn how to get around Columbus.  I came up with some clues to some key places and then set the boys off while us girls waited at the park with a pic-nic.  I told Nate to not help unless he needed to to Chase could learn the area.  It ended up taking them WAY longer to get to the park!  By the time they got there, it was closing and we were getting kicked out (who knew that could even happened)  We snapped a quick shot, loaded up and headed back to their place to eat our pic-nic dinner.

 You can't live in our ward without knowing where Golf Point is.  (It's an apt. complex where half of our Ward lives for you non-Ohio peeps)

 The closest grocery store, Kroger

 Local Movie Theater

 of course, the Temple

Seattle Day 8

This was the day of the Big Mitchell Family Reunion!  It was such a blast to see so many relatives in one place.  Some I have not seen in many, many years.  There have also been quite a few additions throughout the years; this was the first time Nate met many of them.

 

My Mom's Siblings and Mom

 Silly Pic

 The Whole Group!!

My Aunt Cindy asked me to be in charge of coming up with some "Minute to Win It" games for the 10 siblings.  Oh what a treat it was to put together and then watch.  My Aunt Pat was def. the star of the show.  She somehow got the plate of Vaseline stuck to her boob, and then had no idea it even happened.  There was not a dry eye in the bunch from laughing so hard.

 Aunt Pat and the plate of Vaseline on her boob

 My Mom

We ended the night back at the church to have dinner and finish up our 5 Crowns Tournament.  We started with about 30 players and it got down to a table of 4, with my cousin Spencer winning the last round.

It was so great to be home for a WHOLE week.  We crammed a lot in and saw a lot of people.  Seattle will always be my home and I am so proud to have such a pretty place to come "home" to.

Day 6-7

We didn't do much on day 5, so I will skip to day 6.  This was the day my sweet sister joined us.  We planned a day-o-fun in downtown Seattle.  Our first stop was Paseo.  I saw them on the food network.  They were voted the best sandwich in the US.  I still crave it!!!  It was THE BEST thing I have eaten in a few years.  Wish they shipped.

Next we headed to the Locks.  This is where the salt water and fresh water meet.  Boats have to be checked in and the water level is raised/lowered, depending on if they are coming or going.  Pretty neat to watch.  We also saw the salmon run there.  Tons of fish jumping!

My mom then asked if I had ever seen the Edmonton "Troll under the Bridge". I had not, so we drove around until we finally found it.  It was nothing like I was expecting, but WAY cool.

Our next stop was UW campus to go rent a canoe and get out on the water.  Again, something I had never done, but loved every minute of it.  The weather could not have been better.  Many laughs were had on that little boat!

True to Seattle fashion, we got stuck in BAD traffic on the way home, but made it just in time for the Brown Family Dinner.  This was the first time in many, many years all 5 kids were together.

Nate, Josh, Branden, Kirk, Tawny, Mom, Trinette

It was so fun to reminisce and laugh out loud at our comical childhood.  We also made plans for the next day.  It was just for the Brown Kids (and my Mom).  We could not decide where to go, so we all compromised and decided to stay home and have a day of outdoor games, just like the "olden" days.  After dinner, we headed to Target, Home Depot and Dicks to get some supplies.  We were going to play baseball, badminton and washers.  It was so much fun.  As kids, we played baseball in our front yard with all the neighbor kids many, many times.  I just tried to soak up every minute with my kooky family.  We had so much fun.  We may all have changed over the years, but some things never change.  Tawny still looks funny batting, Kirk is teasing in the back round, and my team always wins (JK).  Needless to say, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

After our Brown Kids Game day, we cleaned up and headed to part 1 of the family reunion.  To be Continued...

Seattle Day 4

We got home fairly early Tuesday morning.  It took us awhile to decide what to do.  It was a day with just Mom.  We finally decided to head to Bellevue.  We have many ties there, so it seemed the logical choice.  We first went and walked around Bell Square, which is a huge mall.  My dad used to work in a Jewelery store in the mall, so we as kids spent many hours there visiting dad.  We had a little lunch, ran into my ex-boyfrield (so awkward) and did a little shopping.  We then headed across the street to the new Lincoln Square.  It has a theater, bowling alley, and an arcade.  We played  a few games.  My mom and I even won at Deal or No Deal.

We then headed to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens and walked around.  It was nice to pretty much have the whole place to ourselves.

We ended the day back in Snoqualmie at the infamous local bowling alley.  My brother made us some Sahara pizza and we ate and played.  Todd and Lindsay joined in as well.  There's nothing like keeping track of your own score-good thing I learned how to in high school PE :)