Summer Fun

I notice with my last post, I'm bragging about summer like weather in February. Well, it's now 17 months later and now everybody's complaining about the cold. We whine when it's cold when it should be warm and cheer when it's warm when it should be cold. That's a Seattleite for you.

How's this for some climate change? We had on shorts for the sun at the Nisqually entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park, and wishing for coats and gloves once we got to Paradise.



The boys had a great time with their cousins exploring the woods, the soda springs at Longmire, and watching deer feed at the trough outside the cabin.

How's Your Summer?

Apparently we've skipped right over winter here. When a man at the gas station asked me how my summer was going, I had to laugh. It seems true. We took advantage of the sunny weather with a family adventure to Deception Pass State Park.

February Lunch Al Fresco

Everywhere we go, it seems everyone is marveling over the weather. It's been the mildest winter I can remember. The neighbor's tree down the street is starting to blossom and I noticed daffodils pushing up through the ground.


Here's another sign of the weather-- lunch on the deck. It's a rare February day when you can sip your soup and munch a sandwich outside in sunny comfort. It was a great day to play outside.

Hard Hat Area

With RTR's discovery of Bob the Builder, the living room has turned into a hard hat area. Both R and CSR have been really into building with Lincoln Logs the past week or so. So much so, there aren't quite enough logs to go around. At least not enough of the longer two and three section logs. When making the LL kits, who decides the quantities of each size? While we have a gazillion of the tiniest logs, there aren't enough of the other sizes to finish whatever architectural designs these boys have. One time I was at a thrift shop and watched with a little envy as another shopper discovered a huge cache of LLs and quickly bought them. Of course the practical side of me was saying-- better them than me in having to pick up all those logs. Of course, now I wish I had scored the find. But I might change my story the next time I step on a stray log in my bare feet.

IKEA Know-how

How's this for savvy-ness when it comes to putting together (or taking apart) IKEA furniture. As anyone who's ever had to assemble one of their bookcases or some other piece of furniture, the instructions can be a little challenging-- at least for those of us who can't quite decipher the picture-only instructions. Not only did the boys take apart the chair, they also put it back together.

Breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus

The welcome was warm but the pancakes were cold. Our local parks department put on its annual Santa breakfast a couple of weeks ago. CSR and RTR got to sit and visit with the couple of the hour and get their picture taken too. Better than some of our Santa experiences in past years.

Immature Behavior

It seems RTR might be learning some immature behavior at an early age. After a little roughousing with dad and big brother in our bed, it was time for RTR to get into the bathtub. So, after taking off his clothes but before getting in the tub, he runs back into the bedroom, climbs up and puts his hiney next to dad's face and passes gas-- on purpose. Would this be considered immature behavior for a two year old? Is this what we can expect over the coming years as the boys get older? Yikes.

Pitiful

Pitiful. That's how my commitment to updating this blog has been. It's not that I don't have things to add. Of course, most of the time, I come up with my ideas when I'm nowhere near the computer or have the time to sit down and log on. But I guess with the passing of another year, the milestone brings on feelings of trying to do better in the new year and that's what I am going to do. So for the few loyal readers here on this blog, here's to more frequent updates in 2010!

Merry Tape-mas

There is just something about tape. For our boys, it's a must have item for all kinds of things. They're always asking for a piece of tape. Tonight it was the magic for CSR in his stringing up Christmas lights in the living room.



He used blue electrical tape (I kinda wish we had green). I hope the electrical tape is better for the lights than what would have been the other choice-- packaging tape. But we ran out of that this morning. We now have an official tape shortage-- there is no more packaging, masking, double-sided or Scotch tape left in the house.

Potty All The Time

The adventures in RTR's potty training continue. On Sunday, he made it to the bathroom but not exactly on target with the toilet-- mostly going on the floor and step stool. On Monday, he did really well at preschool-- actually peeing in the potty chair two times. Although one of those times ended with a change of clothes due to some unfortunate aim-- which was my fault. The M&Ms are a pretty good incentive as long as I have some onhand. I need to get a bag of them since the supply from the Halloween candy has been used up. I ended up buying a handful from a candy machine at the Senior Center this morning. Now it's on to Whoppers-- from the Halloween stash-- just don't tell the boys.

Potty Training

It's on to a new phase with RTR. He is doing away with the diaper. At least part of the time. After promising for weeks to find the big boy underwear (in the hand-me-down bins in the garage), I finally found them and pulled them out. So RTR had his first run in them today. As incentive I told him that every time he went pee in the toilet he could have an M&M. But I think I didn't make myself very clear. He ran into the bathroom, stepped up to the toilet-- on a stool-- pulled down his underwear, made a "sssss" sound with his mouth and then demanded his "M". I explained that he had to really go in the potty in order to get the candy. He wasn't so impressed with that idea. I never got him to pee in the toilet, but did hand out three M&Ms. I figure it's a first step. Of course, I also had to change his pants two times.

Aloha!

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Maui. Nothing like sun, sand and surf. Mai Tais and banana pancakes don't hurt either (not together of course).

The Dog Ate My Home Work

Okay, after more than a month of not posting anything, I'm trying to get back in the saddle. The absence isn't because of a lack of anything noteworthy to blog about. But here's a recent incident. CSR got the idea to build a candy house using some of his Halloween loot. So while I was off at a meeting TSR and CSR got out the graham crackers, frosting and candy. CSR might follow in his dad's and grandpa's engineering footsteps. He put together a pretty good house... a lollipop tree, a Kit Kat bench, gum drop berry bushes. But then disaster struck. While home alone, the dog, Abby, munched down the whole thing. The only things we found were the lollipop and the paper plate the house on which the house was built. CSR was crushed. I was quite shocked-- the house had made it through one night and much of the day with little attention from the dog. Apparently when you let your guard down, that's when this dog strikes.

Scouting A New Location

Another sign our boy is growing up... he's joined a Tiger Cub Scout den. We're still learning the scouting lingo and such... including taking a trip to the Scout Trading Post (supply store) for a uniform shirt and lots of patches! CSR and Tyler went on their first Go See It on Sunday, going to a park for a little hike and checking out the local wildlife.

Fall Prevention

Today's the first day of fall according to the calendar. But you wouldn't know it by the thermometer. Today it was up to 90 degrees-- unofficial temperature recorded by the car themometer-- warm enough to take a backyard dip. While CSR was lobbying for me to get out the kiddie pool, I didn't think that the wisest use of our water. So they got a little sprinkling instead. And of course after getting just wet enough to cool off, both boys promptly abandoned the sprinker and decided it was more fun playing in the dirt. Some muddy buddies.

I've Been Working on the Railroad

This is how RTR and I spent our morning... working on the railroad. He found a train bridge in the garage and insisted (in his 2 year old way) that I needed to bring more train-related items outside. So out came the trains and tracks for some sidewalk engineering. He was quite caught up in making the pieces fit together and making the various engines and cars move along the tracks. He even took an interest in figuring out where to put power poles and signs. Definitely more fun than pulling weeds.

First Day of First Grade

After days (weeks?) of anticipation (mine), the first day of school arrived for CSR. His expression in the first picture pretty much sums up how he felt about the whole thing. I can't believe I got such a lousy picture. Anyway, CSR wasn't too thrilled about returning to school. He started complaining yesterday of a headache and stomach ache and fell asleep before dinner. I figured it was just nerves. He still wasn't very perky this morning, again us assuming it was just the usual reluctance for new situations. There were some teary moments as we got him settled in his new classroom and said goodbye. Since it was a full day, we couldn't do our new tradition of having ice cream for lunch. But since CSR asked me to, I came back and had lunch with him. He has a great teacher! She seemed to really understand what was going on. At lunch, she reported that he had a great morning and is a hard worker. Not sure if she already knew this would be a good idea, but she put CSR next to one of his friends from his class last year, so that was a comfort. I should have known something was up though when we went to Molly Moon's for ice cream.


He wasn't all that excited and then didn't want the rest of his ice cream (lucky for me he ordered a flavor I like). So after a full day of school, we figure it out-- he's got a fever. A dose of Tylenol seemed to help. Not sure what this will mean for the second day of school though. Stay tuned...
P.S. RTR was quite happy about CSR's first day of school. As the picture shows.

Look Ma, I'm on Top of the World!

We have a "little" construction project going on in our backyard. Tyler decided after months (years?) of debate to go ahead and build the boys a club house-- isn't that the right name for a boys' version of a playhouse. It now has a roof, with shingles waiting to be installed. CSR got to climb up to check out the view, and of course RTR had to do the same thing. They waved to a couple of neighbors driving down the lane too. The only risky business came when the boys got a little too close to the edge. Do 2 year olds have very good depth perception?

CSR got the idea last week to hold an open house when the club house is done. I hope he knows that it's not like a birthday party, where gifts are customary. Although we will probably make a cake. Also, CSR was telling Tyler the house number. Talk about down to the details. There are also some paint chips CSR picked up at Home Depot.

Cheap Ways to Entertain the Troops

Here's a cheap way to entertain the troops... take Metro downtown and then catch the new Sound Transit light rail train. We rode it to the end of the line and back for just $3.25 price of our Metro fare. Not a bad deal. Of course the doughnuts we had before the journey were another story.

All (Green) Thumbs

We've expanded our agricultural horizons by planting a bigger garden this year and thanks to the recent heat wave, it's going gang-busters. We harvested our first mess of beans and peas last night. Also started pulling up some carrots-- including some fascinating Rainbow ones. Our lettuce grew faster than we could eat it... and the last of it sadly went to seed. For lunch today we ate some of the peas and carrots. Sauteed green beans on the menu for tomorrow. Our pumpkin vines are crawling all over the yard, crowding out our sunflowers. Also, our three tomato plants look like tomato trees. Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy some good home-grown tomatoes very soon-- if I can keep the kids from eating them right out of the garden. Also, tried growing corn for the first time. Several ears will soon be ready for picking too.