Birthday Recap

This post won't be nearly as exciting as Jenna's but here it is...

On Saturday I celebrated my birthday with the family. It started with a DELICIOUS lunch made by the Mother. She knows how much I love Aussie pies (discovered on our honeymoon) so she whipped some up for my birthday lunch. I don't know the entire process, but it looked hard and the results were amazing.

mmm... pies in the oven

Bear dog and Mom curled up for a nap (don't know why it didn't rotate)

After lunch we trooped up to Grama and Grampas to enjoy cake and ice cream (the cake really should've been for Payton - it was her birthday after all).

 Then off to the hockey game! We had great seats (thanks G&G) for an exciting game that went into overtime - THEN a shootout. Unfortunately, the outcome wasn't in our favor. I think all enjoyed themselves anyways.

Chris took the day off on Tuesday to celebrate my real birthday. We kept it relatively low key with a trip to Bellingham (my favorite place). On our way up we got off the freeway in Mount Vernon and took the long way to Bellingham up Chuckanut Drive. If you're ever looking for a road trip I vote this the best highway in Washington. It cuts through farm land to hugs the water and the Chuckanut Mountains (hills?). On the way we noticed a sign for the Chuckanut Alpaca Farm gift shop. Why not stop? When we pulled in they appeared closed, but wife came out of her house and met us at the car. She opened up the shop for us real quick but apologized she had to run into town for an appointment. She said her husband was out in the fields if we wanted to go out and say hi. We went out into the field and met Walt. He talked to us about his 58 alpacas. Told us stories of hand raising one (feeding her exactly every 3 hours for six months),driving across the country to win blue ribbons, how the economy has hit farmers hard and how he got into alpaca farming. This man had some incredible stories. He came to the US from Austria as a profession skier. Taught skiing all over the country and participated in many world cups. He was an alternate for the Olympics (not this year - he's since retired) too! He said one day on a plane ride from Colorado he saw alpacas in a magazine and decided to start a farm. This man had never even owned a dog - talk about starting from the ground up! There's a lot to be learned from people if you take the time to talk.

Our next stop was Larrabee State Park. One of my favorites when I was living up there. A lot of studying was done out on the sunny rocks. The tide was out so we spent some time poking through the tidepools. I had a mission to pet a starfish - didn't find one though. I guess I'll have to save that for next time I go diving.

 
I got caught looking in the tide pools

We went up to Fairhaven and walked through the shops before having a tasty lunch at Boundary Bay Brewery (another Bellingham favorite) No trip to Bellingham is complete without a stop at Mallards for some homemade ice cream! We leisurely made our way down to the ferry and returned home for dinner. What a great 26th birthday!