Fun with Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty

When Alaska Airlines released some incredible winter fares back in early December, Aunt Patty jumped on them so she and Uncle Bill could get some sun and see family on the weekend of their 25th wedding anniversary.

(At $101 roundtrip, we also seized the deal! We'll be making a family trip up to visit them next month.)

We had Bill and Patty with us on Thursday last week, when we took a long walk and ended up at the park to play.

 Genia and the kids were also lunching at the park. Violet and Owen thought it hilarious to go down the slide on their tummies.

Following what's become a tradition, Aunt Patty and Cora made cupcakes from scratch. Here are their lemon butterfly buns, from Cora's English kids' cookbook, with homemade lemon curd. Yum!

Bill and Patty spent Friday and Saturday with other family and friends, and Sunday through Tuesday with my parents wine-tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley. On Tuesday night, we met up for a family dinner on their actual anniversary. We also marked my birthday, since we hadn't formally celebrated with my family yet.

I was so proud of my girls at the restaurant! They were so very well-behaved. Cora colored and did Uncle Bill's straw wrapper-inchworm trick, where you make the scrunched-up wrapper "grow" with water.

Violet also stayed busy coloring, eating, and being sweet. She is still such a great and (overall) easy child. I remember this being such a hard age with Cora, and restaurants were stressful, but not the case with Violet.

Tuesday night was meant to be Bill and Patty's final night, but a big snowstorm in Seattle meant their flight Wednesday morning was canceled. Bonus! We had a great day together Wednesday, with Uncle Bill doing some minor projects around the house, and Aunt Patty putting together a delicious pot roast dinner. With Cora at Pioneer Club in the evening, we went to the Patios area of the mall.