Mother's Day 2019

Each year I get to celebrate this holiday brings me so much joy!  I remember the year's when this holiday brought me sadness wondering if I would ever get to be a mom and here I am with 3 kids!! Each one unique and special, each one came into our family at the perfect time, and each one so incredibly loved and wanted.

This year was so much fun! I started my morning off with coffee and then went out to clean up some of Ragtime's paddock, when spring hits and the weather is nice I have a lot of catching up to do with cleaning up all the poop.  I spent a good amount of time out there and then finally came in, took a shower, and then got ready to go.

We went to Bainbridge Island to check out the Bloedel Reserve, a fantastic garden that has been on my wishlist to visit for years!! We finally made it happen thanks to the agreeable weather = not raining!!  The gardens and landscape was so much better than I imagined.  We got to go on a 2 mile walk around the property, check out the residence, and take in some breathtaking views. Séamus did fantastic in the stroller, the girls were troopers with the walking, and it was all just so very special!!

Once upon a time this was a Sheep Barn.

As usual I wore the ideal walking shoe: birkenstocks 😆 so I had to walk slowly.

Ellie found her favorite flower!

We saw baby ducks and lots of frogs and dragonflies.

There were Oxalis all over and we talked about fern fronds.

Never could I have imagined how good this life as a mom was going to be!

I got so much inspiration from here and cannot wait until we move (who knows when that will be) and to implement some of these beautiful ideas into our next property.

This was at the "Christmas Pond" and probably my favorite area of the whole property.

Once we left Bloedel we drove into town for lunch.  My first choice ended up being a Bar and since our kids are under 21 we had to go somewhere else.  My second choice was only offering a Brunch Buffet which was not what I was hoping to eat.  So my third choice was across the courtyard and we ended up at a Thai restaurant.  We chose to skip the wait and eat outside which was just perfect.  It got a little chilly but it was great with the kids and the mess of rice they made.  Our food was delicious and we were sitting right at the harbor which was so cool!

After lunch we went to a super cool park for the girls to run around and play.  All three kids got to go on the swings and Ellie made a friend, so she was off playing whatever it is kids play these days.  Finnley loved wandering around and checking out all the things.  Thomas and I got to sit on a bench with Séamus and just soak up all the parenting goodness and chatting.

Once we were done with the park we made our way home.  We stopped for Ice Cream on the way, the kids fell asleep so I went in and got all the ice cream: two waffle cones, Guinness Ice Cream for Thomas and Salted Caramel Ice Cream for me, and two cups of Vanilla with Sprinkles for the girls.  I wish I got a photo of my carrying all four ice creams - skillz y'all! We woke up the girls and they were so pleased to have ice cream shoved in their faces.  We finally got home and I got changed and made my way out to work with Ragtime and ride her as well.  It was an absolutely spectacular day and I felt so loved.  Ellie kept telling me it was my special day and she was just the sweetest!!

I hope you had a special day celebrating the mom in your life!

♥ Ashley