Easter Weekend: Eggs, Chocolate and Gemstones...girls favorite things...

Easter Weekend ( I know I am a little behind!) we did egg hunts with the girls on base. Gracie was the lucky winner too! Then while Molly went to her own Easter party, the younger girls hung with us and colored eggs. I wonder if this is how it will be in years to come. It seems the older they get the less time I get to spend with them, even close to holidays. It sort of makes me sad they are getting so big now.

 

Easter Sunday we scheduled ourself a tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory and the made a last minute plan to visit the Scratch Place. 

Theo Chocolate is chocolate manufacture in Freemont, WA. They are the only fair trade and organic chocolate manufacture in the US. The tour was a child's and well any grown adults dream. As soon as you get close to the building you can smell the chocolate and I was already having little umpa loompa dreams of a chocolate waterfall. When you enter the store there are mounds of chocolate, all for you to enjoy, in front of their chocolates and chocolate bars. I am sure I could have stayed there all day, but we were warned to not eat the chocolate yet, to save ourselves for the tour and boy I am glad I did. The first part of the tour consist of sitting down and listening to a basic lesson in fair trade practices and how chocolate is made. There are lots of pics and LOTS of chocolate to be had. We were able to taste chocolate that was made from different beans from all over the world. The bean is actually ferminated for over two weeks and then left to dry out. And because of the transportation issues it can take up to four month for Theo to get their much needed yummy cacao beans. 

Then we begin the best part of the tour where we get to see the chocolate being made. There are no umpa loompas here or a chocolate waterfall that mixes their chocolate, but that didn't stop us from having that moment they did in the movie when they were running through the fields of candy. We were shown how they roast the beans and how they taste. They are an aquired taste, I really liked them, the girls not so much. They are very nutty in flavor. Then we were shown where the beans are crushed and then mixed into the huge mixers. My favorite part of the tour was when we were able to go and see where they make their confections. Oh MY AND OH SO YUMMY! What I found so interesting about this tour was that they are a huge supplier especially locally and yet most of it is done by hand. All of the mixing of the ingredients into the chocolate, like nuts and cherries, is all done by hand. It was really quite impressive. 

By this time was the end of the tour, all of our checks were red with chocolate happiness. If you are wanting to see the tour make sure to schedule it out, they do book up weeks in advance. Here is the link to check it out: http://www.theochocolate.com/our-story/

Cacao Nibs

Yummy Mounds of Chocolate

Cacao Beans after they have been roasted

The Huge Mixers

Gotta Love those hair nets.

Yummy! Where the confections are made.

Gracie had one with marshmellow. 

How do you think it was?

This is where they hand mix the ingredients into the chocolate. 

After having such a wonderful tour, we had planned to eat lunch, but I think Chocolate was our lunch. So we all decided to head back to the Scratch Place. This place is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable places that I like to be with my girls. We can stay there for hours and I still have to drag them out. There is something to look for that is different every time too. There are Scratch Places all over the world but this is the only one in the US and I feel very lucky to be so close to this wonderful place. If you are local and want to check it out here is the link:Scratch Patch USA

If you haven't been before, it is a place that you can go and look for gemstones and polished rocks. You take your shoes off at the front door and grab your rose pillow to hold your treasures. There are water fountains and relaxing music on too. I think that just walking through the rocks and the noise and feeling of them beneath your feet is so therapeutic.  It is just a calming place to be. I can't wait to take the girls back.

I don't have to many pics. I just enjoy myself to much here. :) 

Can you tell she is totally relaxing. 

Baby JuJu loves to swim in the rocks. 

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2010

Well here they are FINALLY my tulip pics. I wish I could say that I got more, but really I didn't. First day there is was very bright and very hard to get pics of the girls and the second day I barely snapped but a few pics. There were three other photogs clicking away and I knew for sure that they were going to get something great. I plan to post their pics as soon as I have them all edited and ready to post from them. I promise you they are GREAT.

So if you are ever planning a trip to Washington State, I say come in April. The weather is still a little rainy but not as cold and the TULIPS are out. Washington State is the worlds largest producer of tulips, hard to believe. It is amazing to just drive among rolls and rolls of colors so bright and beautiful. The girls just love it.

The tulips are already gone for this year, but there is always next. It will be quite the celebration too, welcoming home Travis too. I can't wait!

This is my very favorite of the pics that I took this year at the tulips. Technically there are somethings wrong but with my mommy goggles on there isn't a thing.



My favorite purple tulips.













Tippy Toeing



Typical Hunter look




Amazing Colors...



I just love this kid.



Possibly my second fav this year of mine.



I decided to play around with some presets in Lightroom and like the effect that I gave this pic.



Well I am told that these pink tulips smell like cotton candy and the orange ones smell like peanut butter.



Gracie said this is her favorite.

Don't do that...oh...wait it is okay!

So our first part of spring break was spent trying to do things around the Seattle area that we haven't done yet. We are running out of time with Travis deploying for his long term and then when he returns, we will be moving, at least I hope so.

We decided to head on down to Pike Place Market and find the Bubble Gum wall. I had heard about it and recently seen pictures but it didn't prepare me for the hypochondriacs worse nightmare. Imagine if you will wall covered by other peoples CHEWED up gum. Yep you read that right ABC gum. Remember when your mom used to tell you not to spit it out on the ground or stick it places, well that "mom rule" doesn't apply here, no way!

We started by stopping off and clearing the shelves at Bartell of all their gum. Then heading down to the market. I have to say Pike Place Market is one of my very favorite places in Seattle. There is so many things to see and do. I have been several times now and still haven't seen everything. We do have our favorites; we always stop at the flying fish market, Beechers Cheese, and Seattle Best. Of course there is Seattle's Best all over Seattle but this one is a ton of fun with diner style seats that are available to sit on.

So with a gallon of hand sanitizer in hand we found our way under the market to this rainbow ABC world...the gum wall...

Molly's serious face cracks me up and I love her hands on the girls head.



Yes, I made her drink bleach after this.



Ewe...



Making a pretty design.



Even JuJu gets into it.



Molly putting on her 1 millionth piece of gum.



Yep, leave it to Hunter...



DON'T YOU DARE!







Little Runny making her mark.



This is the before shot.



Having fun. I love them.



Uh oh...Gracie' s bubble popped!



We had a lot of fun as you can tell. This is a must see if you are ever in the area.

Finally Editing and just the beginning...

So now that I have finished my workshop and spring break is over. I am editing pictures like crazy. I am trying to learn my way around two different editing programs. It is hard, but I am finding that technology has its benefits. I have Clickinmom tutorials and so many website to read to help me find my way. Of course there are always all of my photog buddies too. I am pretty sure they are tired of all of my questions.

Okay so to get you guys all caught up I am going to have several post over the next few days. The newest and most exciting for me is my new logo and watermark. I will have to eventually get around to using all of them on my photo blog too. But for now I want to update the family blog, especially with Travis currently deployed. I know it lifts his spirits to see pics of the family, even if he was here when I took them!!

These pics I took while doing my workshop and while I didn't use the for my workshop, they were too cute to not include and show off!

Sweet Molls...

I just love that little smile!

My little runny.

Baby Grace

Possibly one of my most fav pics of JuJu

Look at those Baby BLUES!

Always something to say.

Another one of my favs of Molly.

Gracie is the only child left who will willingly smile for me.

Another blog or two tomorrow. My goal is to be completely caught up before this weekend. We are off to find vampires and werewolves in La Push and Forks!!!