PEPS Second Time Around 1st Annual Weekend 2015

By Mom of TJB and MMB September 21, 2015

Back: Mommy, Marit (9mo), Melissa, Mira (11mo), Emmett (3), Amy, Charlotte (9mo), Lisa, Elliot (12mo), Teresa, Max (7mo), Renee, Ethan (10mo)
Front: Theo (3), Cooper (3), Alex (6), Hudson (3), Ellie (5)

Sleepover with my Friends

By Marit

12 adults
+8 bedrooms
+6 infants
+4 three-year-olds and 2 kindergarteners
+3 sea otters
+2 ferry rides
+1 awesome house
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36 hours of a wonderful weekend!

big kids

all the kids

all 6 familes

Last weekend, we went camping with Theo's parenting group buddies and so this weekend it was my turn! Mommy and I were in a Mom's support group, called Program for Early Parenting Support (PEPS), which has been going on in Seattle for over 30 years and is a neighborhood based group for new parents. We were one of the first groups for "second time" parents so by definition we are all babies with big brothers or sisters who pick on us. Six of the families rented an awesome eight bedroom 6400 sqft. house on the Olympic Peninsula by Port Townsend called Blue Mountain Retreat. There were 12 adults and 12 kids (all 6 and under). Mommy worked late on Friday and so we didn't get on the ferry until 9:50pm and arrived well after 11pm. We slept most of the way except for on the ferry boat where Theo convinced Daddy to buy him Skittles and they raced from end to end.

The next morning, Theo (and all the other kids) were eager to get up early to explore the awesome house (especially the block room). All the big kids loved the many secret passageways, hidden slides in the walls between floors, block room, Lego room, bike room, wooded trails and roasting s'more by the campfire. The adults loved that the big kids entertained themselves and us babies loved just watching all the action with so many people and crawling around in the living room. There was more than enough supervision and only a few minor casualties (bumps and bruises mostly). We had fun exploring Fort Worden State Park where we walked along the beach and saw three sea otters playing near the kelp and lots of sea birds. Theo and Daddy skipped rocks, collected sea glass, picked up drift wood, explored the World War II bunkers and toured the old light house. On Saturday night, I went right to sleep in the pack-n-play and then Mommy got to enjoy the hot tub and some margaritas with her friends, while Daddy fell asleep on the couch.

family pic!

Today, we walked along the beach at Fort Flagler State Park with views of the Olympic Mountains and Port Townsend. Theo found some dead crab legs that he wanted to talk home but Daddy said no. Theo has started to call Mommy, "Babe," and I don't quite understand why. He's also an excellent back seat driver (literally) and so now Daddy has both Mommy and Theo telling him how to drive back to the ferry dock. To top off the weekend, Mommy spotted an Orca whale while we were on Kingston ferry back to Seattle and it even breached. Now, time to unpack (again) and recover and get ready for Grandma and Grandpa Benziger to come in a couple weeks!

More pics: