Sleepless in Babyland

Going to Our Happy Place!

2012-02-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

We got up very early and were on the road by 5:15am.

Does this give you a clue on where we are going? It is the bridge at Astoria! We are on our way to Lincoln City! Yes, we are going to the beach in February!

We stopped at Grandma's in Gearhart for breakfast. It was not as good as it once was, but Lon still loved the chocolate chip pancake. He ate 3/4 of it this time!

Wheeler. I LOVE this photo.

Wheeler. We always stop by to use the restrooms, but have never walked around the town. This time we walked around a bit.

Lon and the bear. We are still in Wheeler

Our first stop in Lincoln City. The beach at the D River. We HAD to stop by the beach as soon as possible!

Beauty Shot of the beach

Mark thought that since we were in town, we would not find any agates. Mark found a good one right away!

After our little walk on the beach, we went to the outlets and got Lon some new pants. His pants seem to have gotten shorter. We got him four new pair of pants, two new pair of shoes and a new pair of rain boots. Then we went to our hotel, checked in and got a late lunch/early dinner. Then we went back to the beach!

Lon played above the water line. He was having fun. Mark and I found some agates. I found a blue one! Then it was back to the room for a hot jacuzzi tub and bed! It was a long and lovely day!

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

We like to do all the silly heart things for Valentines. It is fun.

I got up a little early and made Lon some heart shaped baked chocolate doughnuts. He thought they were great. We had a few extra and we took those to his teacher and the morning monitor.

Lon went to school. His class was having a party at the end of the day to have some fun! They are now only allowed three a year.

The class wrote out papers on what Love means to them and his teacher hung them up. I had to take a photo! Lon's was all about food. Mommy makes him brownies and Daddy makes him hot dogs. My boy is a little foodie in the making.

Working on illustrated the poem they memorized about giving valentines to their pets. It was a cute little poem, about dogs, parakeets and turtles. They basically all ate the valentines.

And the food! They had fruit, cheese and cupcakes! Juice and water to drink. It was really fun. There were some of my tiny cupcakes left over and we took them up to the front office. They seemed happy with them!

We picked up one of Lon's buddies after school and had a great time playing after school. It was a great day. We had fun!

Cub Scout Award

2012-02-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

It was hard to get good pictures. The boys were moving all the time. At the pack meeting on Friday, February 10, Lon got his award for being in third place for the Pine Wood Derby. We are not sure if he will get to race in may or it is just the first and second place boys. I will keep you posted!

Getting his belt loop for Good Manners! They pack had a challenge for a getting it at the December meeting, and Lon met the requirements. He will be getting a Family Travel Belt loop next time!

Our den getting their recognition beads for doing the food pyramid lesson! That was our last den activity. It was fun. I was not convinced when one of them said their favorite protein was brains.

Getting his paper award for third place in the pine wood derby! He was very proud of his certificate!

The burn off energy activity was skating on magazine pages across the floor. There were no winners, it was a free for all! Lon had fun and that was all that mattered.

First Tooth Lost!

2012-02-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

Guess what this is?

It used to be in the mouth of this dirty faced little boy!

He is SO excited for the tooth fairy to come tonight!

Social Saturday

2012-02-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

Sunrise! It looks like a great day!

Today was a very social day! It was SO much fun!
The morning started out with us going down to Tacoma for Drew's birthday party! It was at the Grand Cinema. A great older movie theater. The kids saw an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie and LOVED it. You will notice that the children are all still in their Pjs. It was a Pj party! It was fun.

A wonderful brunch spread was out for everyone to eat. There was fruit, and bagels, candy and popcorn! There was chocolate milks and juice. Everything !

Once the kids were done with the movie, it was present time! Everyone knew how much Drew likes Ninjas and Legos. He will have lots of fun with everything

Cake time! He blew out the candles all at one time. That means his wish is going to come true!

CAKE!

I told him to smile for Grandpa!

Once the festivities were over, we headed home. Mt. Rainer was out and beautiful. Mark pulled over to the shoulder so I could get a good picture. I think it was worth it

We got a light lunch at home and then headed out to see Prachi and Rahul. Prachi got a new car! We had to see that. Reyansch was taking a nap, so we did not stay long. It was a nice visit!

Then we got a phone call from Meagan and Grace! Of course we would meet them! Off to Goosepoop park!

Any opportunity to dig in the sand!

Grace was practicing flying

Lots of practice

Lon was not doing as much jumping/flying

Beach logs!

Back at home, after Lon changed. A quick game of Don't Break the Ice before we went out to dinner.

La Corona! We love that place! It was yummy, as always

Grace was not too sure about the fried ice cream. Lon, he was very sure

Mmmm, yummy stuff

After dinner, we spent some time visiting. Grace and Meagan had to get home. Lon and Daddy got into jammies to watch the Saturday night episode of Lost in Space. They are both enjoying that alot. Lon for the first time and Mark remembering it well. It was a very fun, very busy day. I like those best

Pine Wood Derby

2012-02-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

In our last pack meeting before Christmas, we got our pinewood derby car. Lon was so excited about it. We waited till after the holiday to get started.

Lon and Daddy got started on the 15th of January! Daddy shows Lon how to put the block in the vice so he can cut it into the car shape Lon drew on the side of the car.

Daddy helps Lon with the first cut

Lon did the next cuts all by himself!

The rough cut car!

Once the car was rough cut, we took a trip to Micheals to see about getting some paint and weights. Lon found this car. He thought it looked great. We also got some stickers for the car.

Sanding the car. Lon worked really hard to get it smooth.

We learned something about the paints they sell for the pinewood derby. The red comes out pink. I told Lon it was the primer color and brought out my red paint. Once it was red, Lon put on stickers and I put a coat of matte sealer on it all.

The night before the pine wood derby, Lon and Daddy attach the wheels and add the weights. The car weighs 4.9 ounces.

Ready to go to the derby!

Mark watching another tiger weigh in his car! Lon had already weighed his in at home, so we did not have to do this step

All lined up and waiting to go

Lon is the red blurs racing down the center track!

After this, my camera's battery died. It as my fault, I forgot to change out the battery.

The results! I know you are all waiting for them!

Lon was third overall in the Tiger group, and 6th overall in the pack! (well, 7th, but they had one boy who did not have a car and was given a winning car from previous years to race, but I don't count him)

We are proud of Lon for doing so well!

A Birthday Celebration After School

2012-01-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

Today was a birthday celebration for a kindergarten classmate. It has been awhile since we saw him, but once we were there, everyone remembered everyone! It was so much fun!

Playing in a real playroom before the main activity!

The main activity was the Reptile Man! From Monroe. (see previous blog from last summer, when Lon and I went to the Reptile Man's place). This is the amazing peeing turtle! The turtle had a small accident, and a few minutes later, a giant accident! I was in awe that the turtle could hold so much!

Moving to the back of the room as the snakes come out

Birthday boy with the little crocodile! I petted the croc. Lon would not.

Did you see that, Mom? A crocodile! A real crocodile!

Lon saying he would volunteer to hold the albino python, and telling Issac that he had seen that snake before!

Lining up to hold the snake. Lon then realized what he volunteered for and very quietly left the line. He did NOT want to touch the snake.

Riding the turtle. Yes, this was an approved activity! All the children were allowed to sit on the turtle as he moved around the room. Lon thought it was really fun

CAKE! Lon's most favorite part of any party, right next to the ice cream!

Opening presents!

Lon loves to help clean up!

The Melt

2012-01-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

Today was much warmer. In the mid 40s! The snow is melting fast, flooding is possible in some areas. However, the roads were clear, and we got out of the house!

Getting ready to get out of the house. What is that small boy doing in the background?

Trying to make a snowball to hit his mother one last time. He very much enjoys pelting his mother with snowballs. His mother on the other hand, is not so thrilled with it. Our first stop, and seemingly everyone else's too, was to the grocery store. We are nicely restocked. Lon is trying new things again. Broccoli is a current favorite!

Our next stop was to get haircuts for the boys. Lon was reading a younger boy a story while he waited for his cut.

Getting his shaggy hair under control!

Lon hates his hair in spikes. We all think he looks great in spikes

When we came home, Lon and Daddy thought it would be a good idea to shovel out the snow left behind my car. What nice boys!

It was wonderful my car got shoveled out. We got a call from Megan, she wanted to get out of the house! We met up in downtown. We got there a little early. The town tree is still up, and I finally was able to get Lon's photo in front of it!

Lon thought it was a good idea to pass the time at Eastside Trains! We looked at N gauge trains. They are tiny trains. They would be wonderful to have on Lon's bookcase. To get started it is not too expensive. The power box is the most expensive part. It looks pretty fun!

Waiting. Lon hates waiting. He got to kick some leftover snow. He likes that.

Horray! King of the Hill! We were walking with Grace to the waterfront

A little too close to the water for his mother. I did not bring any other clothes for him

King and Queen of the Rock!

We walked back through town. We stopped at Sur La Table. My regular pattern holds true, if I am looking for something specific, they will not have it. Either it is sold out, or they never had it. But if I got into browse they have super sale items that I can not pass up! They had a Christmas woopie pan for 3 dollars. Who can pass that up? Very fun.

The Gelato place we love is closed till the end of the month. We love Sirena Gelato. I am looking forward to it reopening! Megan had some coupons for free small Ben and Jerry ice creams. So we stopped in there.The ice cream was good.

Grace being goofy

Lon and Grace played music for us. I made dinner of cheese raviolis, with homemade pesto or meat sauce. We had cherry pie for dessert. I love being able to put together a good dinner on the fly!

Lon wearing Daddy's glasses. We played a game of picture telephone. Someone writes down a word or phrase, the next person draws a picture of it. Not showing the original word or phrase. The next person writes down what he thinks the picture is, and passes it to the next person who draws a picture of that. It goes on till everyone has written something or drawn a picture. Then we show the progression! It was really fun! It was a great day, I think we all had fun.

SNOW! Day6

2012-01-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

This is the last day of our snow adventure. The weather has warmed up and the rain has started.

Lon, with a little supervision, made his own breakfast this morning. I plugged in the toaster, but he got the english muffin, (I cut it), butter and peanut butter. He loves peanut butter straight from the jar too! Wonder where he got that from?

The last snow covered Tiki Tim.

The roads were still slick, the kids with sleds were still having fun. We are getting a sled as soon as I can get one! We decided to get out of the house, we needed some fresh vegetables for dinner. We walked up to Albertsons.

Mark and Lon admire this snowman. They used Halloween eyes, they were scary!

The previous Home Depot snowman had been demolished to make way for this beauty. Dreaming of a warmer climate!

Coming back, Lon was not so thrilled to be walking up the hill. He was disappointed that Albertsons did not have a sled.

We walk down the street, and when we left, the tree was still tall. When we came home, the tree was no longer as tall. I am glad it waited for us to pass under it. This is the biggest problem now, the freezing rain is causing the snow to be super heavy. Trees are coming down all over the place! At our house we are not in any danger from trees falling on the house. At least I think we are okay!

Natasha got her bath today. That was pretty much the fun we had today. The rain started coming down and we stayed inside. Lon and Daddy played computer games, I made French Onion Soup. Lon tried it, then had a peanut butter sandwich. Tomorrow our snow event should be over. The car should be able to get out of the driveway, and normal life will resume. Until the next big snow storm, forecast for about a week from now.

SNOW! Day 5

2012-01-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today was not our best effort. The wind was blowing, the temperatures never got above 32 (freezing). It was just not as fun as it was a couple days ago! BUT we did some things!

Lon worked on painting his pinewood derby car. We got word late tonight that the derby is postponed due to weather. We will have one incredible car!

Tiki Tim, picture 1

Another Epic Lego Naval Battle!

We did do some playing in the snow. It just kept coming down all day. It finally stopped about 7pm. I think it stopped, I can't see it anymore!

We gave the cat a bath. He was not amused, but he is fluffy now. It gave us something to do!

The birds are hanging out,waiting for Lon not to finish that sandwich!

Tiki Tim, picture 2. These were taken only a couple hours apart.

The weather is supposed to warm up, maybe on Saturday now. They revised the forecast again tonight. Earlier it was supposed to warm up tomorrow, but they now say more snow and only up to 36. As an added bonus to look forward to we are going to get wind, rain and then in 9 days we have the same computer model again, showing more snow coming. Another big storm. Probably the same one that is in Juneau or near there today. We are going to try to enjoy it and have a good time with it. There really is not much else we can do!

SNOW! Day 4

2012-01-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

Today was the day of the BIG snow. The weather people have been saying that we would get RECORD amounts of snow! Prepare to be housebound for DAYS! Well, no not really. We did get snow, about 4 or so more inches. A fun amount, not a crippling amount.

Bear says Hi! Snow is good

Winter Wonderland

Can't tell I shoveled the driveway.

Sweeping snow off the back deck

He is having fun. Really he is!

Such a good helper

King of the Mound!

We came in and warmed up by making cookies! Lon was in charge of sprinkles.

A little playing with Legos after lunch

Today was the day for packages! Our first package of the day was from Miss Lindsay. She sent us wonderful Moosemeat, and a bit of salmon. 5 pounds of burger and two (TWO!) roasts. All still frozen solid and now happily in my freezer till we eat them up soon. Our second package was from Theresa in CHINA! Lon got a t-shirt and candy and a panda trainer chopsticks. I got a calendar, Beijing Kids Magazine, two decals for New Year and (AND!) a meter of beautiful silk! I am not sure what I am going to do with the silk yet, but it will be something wonderful! It is so pretty.

Then it was time to go back outside! We can only stay in for so long before we get a little nuts.

We walked and played a bit then we went back home, the wind was starting to pick up and it was COLD!

A beauty shot

I liked the way this looked.

We got an idea to make real snow cones. From snow. (Thank you Julie Griffith!) We scooped up some snow and added the cherry lime syrup I had left from summer Italian sodas. It was yummy!

Then it was time for dinner. I made fried chicken. Lon ate some of it! And liked it! Happy Mommy!

SNOW! Day 3

2012-01-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

This morning we were hoping that the school district would cancel school. Last year it seemed they canceled school when snow threatened. This year they did not cancel school while it was actively snowing!

School was not canceled, it was two hours late start. It was snowing when we started our walk to school

The little Home Depot snowman we passed on the way.

Can you see our footprints from when we left? Almost all filled in

Lon did not stay long at school. Two hours. I had just enough time to get some work done when I got a call from the school telling me to come get him. Lon made a quick snowman at school. He wanted to be sure that Grandma saw it.

The Home Depot snowman, with more snow on top

Lon admiring the work I did. I learned two things from doing this. One, my driveway is HUGE and two, I really need a proper snow shovel. After the admiring was over, Lon and I had another snowball fight. He did great on the walk home. I know he hates it. But now he can tell his future children that HE walked to school up hill, in the snow, both ways. And it will be true! To get to Lon's school from here, we go down the hill, take a left up the hill. Of, course we reverse it on the way home. Which makes it up hill both ways. Lon did not get the significance of this yet. Someday I hope he will.

We came in after Lon beat me in snowball fighting, again, for some warm up hot chocolate.

School has been canceled for tomorrow. We are supposed to get historic levels of snow. We will see, the amount of hype is high. This makes me think it might not be much. We will let you know tomorrow !

SNOW! Day 2

2012-01-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

Yep, it snowed again today and never got warm enough to melt what we already had. It was cold last night, about 24 here at the house overnight. Today school was closed to MLK day, so there was no problems. Mark went to work in the morning, but was home around noon.
Lon woke up to a new hoody!

Lon wanted to wear his new hoody while setting up an epic battle between the Black Pearl and the Queen Anne's Revenge

The Black Pearl, he built this ship yesterday. In one day. All by himself.

Shooting the cannons off! Lon would fire, I would get a chance to fire back. He won the battle.

Then it was back outside for some fun in the snow. Lon was disappointed that the snow had frozen overnight. It was not mushable, no snowballs could really be made.

He had some fun moving snow around.

Starting to get a little cold. We went back inside and Lon had a warm up bath. We had lunch and watched the new snow fall.

Lon got out the Spirograph. I found the 1986 version of the toy at Goodwill. I wanted one when I was a kid. Lon thinks it is so cool. It is. We drew some pictures today, some for us and some for Grandma. We used colored pencils instead of pens.

After I got dinner started, Lon and I went out side for an epic snow battle! Lon was so happy to throw snow at Mommy. He thought that was the best thing. He would laugh like crazy every time he hit me with snow. The rules were he could run up and hit me with snow, but I had to stay where I was and throw the snowballs at him. He won the snow ball fight

He would run when I threw a snowball, made it harder to hit him, but I got a few hits in.

We found the snow shovel in the garage. The walkway is clear and just a little of the driveway.

We came inside and I finished making dinner! Homemade pizza. YUMMY!

Now we are just waiting to see if we go to school in the morning. IF we do have school, we are walking up the hill.

SNOW! Day 1

2012-01-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

Snow is forecasted till Wednesday. YIPPEEE! We are having lots of fun with the snow. We don't have to go anywhere, we have enough food, we can stay home and play! The biggest reason we do not drive in the snow is that the snow compacts on the roads, around here they do not plow, they do not sand or salt or put anything on the roads. Also, the people who have four wheel drive think they are invincible and the laws of physics do not apply to them. It is easier to stay home! BUT this does not mean we are not having fun, we are! LOTS of it!

About 9am. Lon ate as little breakfast as he could before he ran outside!

Big snow! It is heavy snow.

Tiki Tim is not impressed with snow on his nose

Happy Boy

The crows waiting for something, anything we want to throw for them!

Catching snowflakes on his tongue! These are the good kind, January snowflakes. At least according to Lucy VanPelt.

Snow angel!

A break from being out side to start on the Lego Black Pearl.

They like the snow. Really.

Lon had a nice warm bath before starting the Pearl. We had lunch and then were ready for some more outside fun!

The snow is getting deeper

Going for a walk

Getting ready to toss a big hunk of snow on Mom. We walked down to a classmate's house, but he was not home.

Helping me shovel the walkway

Snow Paints! Grandma sent these for Christmas. They make fun dots in the snow!

Back inside for hot chocolate and more working on the Black Pearl. And Mom wanted to at least watch the second half of the Packers/Giants game!

Bingo Night

2012-01-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

Friday night was Family Bingo Night at Lon's school. It sounded like fun. Costco pizza, sodas, raffle tickets for baskets and only 3 dollars to play all night!
Lon and I had a lot of fun.

Lon marking off his free spaces. He wanted to be prepared. It was chilly in the lunch room. We both kept our coats on

Some of the raffle baskets. Even though we bought a few tickets, we did not win any of them. Which is normal.

Mommy got a BINGO! and Lon picked out the fire engine. It makes very loud noises. VERY loud. Lon wanted to win a bingo on his own, but he did not. The cards seemed to be against him.

Lon and I had pizza. We talked to some classmates that came by. I did not charge my battery before we left, so there is only one more photo. We missed the blackout bingo prize by one number. They called out the number I had after they verified the black out for the Nintendo DS. Lon wanted that. Once we got to the black out ticket, there were not many prizes to pick from. There were some home crocheted little girl sweaters, I got one of those for Grace. I know I would be sad if the things I worked hard to make were left behind.

Lon wanted to see how the bingo number thingy worked. He went up and asked if he could see it work, and they let him. He thought that was fun. It was.

Millennium Falcon

2012-01-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

We made Lon wait to start the BIG lego Santa brought him for Christmas. The house had to be cleared of Christmas stuff so we would have enough room. There were lots of reasons to wait. Until there were none. We let him start it yesterday after school.

Opening the set. It is huge. 1254 total pieces. The biggest lego he has ever built. The recommended ages are 9-14. I was not going to do much helping. This was HIS toy and Santa thought he was old enough.

Carefully following the directions. Taking his time.

Lon did bag 1 and 2 on Friday afternoon. I told him he had to take a break for dinner. Then it was time to relax. We did not have to build this all in one day. He was good with that. He was getting a little tired.

On Saturday afternoon, we had a friend come over to visit and help build. It was the boys deal, no parental involvement.

Daddy watching Lon build. Lon wanted Daddy to watch, but not really build.

Showing me how it works. He got it all built all by himself. He did not make mistakes he did not catch. There were no fits thrown while making this!

Do you see how cool this is?

Lining up the mini figs, except for Han Solo. He is in the Falcon, ready to pilot it away at a moments notice

Doing some playing. We are going to get some fishing line and I am going to hang it up from his ceiling. We think that would be very cool.

Fitness Poster!

2012-01-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

Lon asked me if I would send in a photo or two of him being active and doing something fitness-y. He told me his PE teacher wanted the pictures. I was not sure what exactly she was going to do with them, but I sent in two photos.
THIS is what happened to them!

Pretty nifty! A high gloss poster.

Lots of other kids sent in photos, and these were the ones chosen. I am not sure if the poster will come home with Lon at the end of the year or they stay with the school. I will keep you posted. Can you find Lon's photo on the wall?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon we went over to Uncle Chong and Auntie Michelles. The kids were playing very nicely together. While Michelle worked in the kitchen, the rest of the adults made Mandoo. Dumplings, in Korean. Michelle had already made the filling and the wrappers were all set, so fill them we did. Michelle told us we did a very nice job making dumpling. She cooked them in a soup with rice cakes and we had them for dinner. TASTY! And we got to take some home with us! YUMMY. The reason we have no photos is that Mark and I both forgot our cameras!
Sadly, the holiday rush and excitement caught up with Lon and he got sick. We went home, Mark and Lon stayed home. I told our friend Cheri I would come over to her New Year's party. I went for about an hour and then came home and cuddled up with Lon till he fell asleep. Then Mark fell asleep. I watched the fireworks on the Space Needle, then I went to bed! Lon was fine when he woke up. I thought he would be.
Today we started taking down the huge amount of decorations I put up for Christmas. All the boxes are now in the living room waiting to be filled. I will get it all back to normal by Friday. It did not take a day to put up, it will take a little longer to take down and put away properly.
In the middle of bringing up boxes, our neighbor came over with dumplings! Chinese dumplings, not sure of the Chinese word for dumplings. I need to learn that. We took a break and devoured them!

These dumplings are so yummy. They were warm and wonderful! Thank you, Chen!

Now I am going to start our dinner of pork, red cabbage, sauerkraut, and applesauce. I still do not like black eyed peas!

Lego Camp

2011-12-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

One of the best things Santa brought Lon was signing him up for Lego camp! It was a mini Lego camp. Three afternoons during break from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. Lon was so very excited about it.
Today was the last day and he wanted me to come in a little early so I could see the walker he built. I did.

The walker. The instructor told me that Lon built it very differently from everyone else. She also said it worked better than everyone elses. NICE.

Playing well with others.

Getting ready to battle.

Battling Legos!

Sorting out the pieces during clean up

The last circle. After clean up the instructor goes over what they were taught and helps them remember. Lon had a great time during Lego camp. He can't wait to go again!!

Merry Christmas, 2011!

2011-12-26T00:17:00.000-08:00

It was such a fun day!

Proof positive that Santa exists and was here! Cookies and milk are gone and the carrot has been nibbled. Not to mention the packages in red with snowman ribbons on them. Mark did not think Lon would remember the ribbon, Lon did comment that this year he was much better at undoing the ribbon than he had been in the past.

PRESENTS!

He thinks he knows what this is! Santa has come through when Mommy said it was impossible! Santa ROCKS

It is! It is!! The Millennium Falcon! He is SO excited!! Love my little geek!

Presents have been all opened, it took about an hour. Now it is time to build these legos!

Special Pancakes for today! With the red and green mini chocolate chips.

Look Mom, I have already built part of my space station lego! I LOVE this!

He got a chirpy whistle. It sounds pretty cool for a whistle. I sort of even like it. He took a break from Legos to play that.

Our dinner about to go into the oven!

Our table. Rob did the lettuce leaves and Mark did the water glasses.

Our dinner is done and ready to serve! So I did. It was a good roast. Mark is happy we have leftovers this year.

I did not get any photos during dinner or as we were sitting around the table talking.

Grace and Lon playing Legos after dinner.

It was a wonderful Christmas Day.

Santa Preview

2011-12-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

Lon took a very long time to fall asleep. Long enough for me to get the kitchen clean and scrub the floors. I doubt anyone will notice the clean sparkly floor though!

One very well loved family! The red ones are all from Santa. We know Santa only brings packages in red paper with snowman ribbons. It is his thing.

Sleeping. Finally. Trying to sleep very lightly, but not really doing it. I am sure he will be up SUPER early. This is so much fun

The Christmas cake, and coffee. I have the coffee already to go in the machine, I think we might need it. I think I might be as excited as Lon is, well okay, no one is that excited. And yes, that is a Christmas clock. It chimes Christmas carols!

Christmas Lights

2011-12-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went out to see the Christmas lights around town. Not too many pictures of Lon in this blog, just some nice light displays.

It blinks too!

This is the house that has its own radio station! The lights are synchronized with the music. It is wonderful!

Mark and Lon taking video of the house

A house near Holy Family

We got home and Lon put out the cookies, candy cane and carrot for Santa and his reindeer!

Gingerbread House

2011-12-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today was also the day we made the gingerbread house! We had one we did not make from last year, but sadly, it got broken in storage and it was a little damp too. Even though it was stored in two layers of plastic. Teach me to get one at the after Christmas sales! We ran up and got the last one they had at Albertsons.

Sorting all the candies. Even though the gingerbread was not workable, the candy was just fine.

Doing a test run of where the little person, snowman and tree should go. Yes, the house is all hot glued together. The frosting stuff just does not work well or hold as fast.

Adding the decorations to the cookies.

It is starting to look like a gingerbread house!

His finished work. Since we used hot glue for some of it, Lon would tell me where things should go and I would glue them in. It was fun.

Molbaks

2011-12-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

We had plans to meet up with friends today. We were going to Molbaks to look around and get the boys pictures taken with the poinsettia tree. Sadly, those plans fell through. This did not mean that Lon and I would not go there anyway. We did. It was fun, just not as fun as it could have been!

Lon picking out pieces he wants for our New England Village set. We did not get them, yet!

Lon doing what he does best! Being goofy!

The annual photo with the poinsettias. I like this year they put white ones in the tree. Only on one side though, so those who do not want them can have photos without.

Lon was trying to tell me I needed the raccoon figure. It would be really fun to have it. It would, but not right now. It was fun seeing all the great stuff at Molbaks, even though we did not buy anything. They did not have my snowman bird feeder. I am still looking for that!

A visit from Miss Lindsay!

2011-12-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

Last night, Lon and I went to the airport to pick up Miss Lindsay! She was stopping in for a visit on her way from Hawaii to Alaska. We are so happy she stopped by!
When I woke up, I thought we should do something fun, but still restful. Not having to go out somewhere. Lon wanted to have chocolate cupcakes for Christmas dinner. I just got a cake pan that made cupcakes in the shape of trees. While the younger ones were still asleep, I made the tree cupcakes, and got pancake batter ready.
While we ate yummy pancakes, the tree cupcakes cooled enough to be frosted.

Working hard on make the cupcakes look like trees!

We have LOTS of sprinkles!

Our trees! Can you tell which two Lon made?

Trying to get a good picture of Lon and Lindsay, Lon is being goofy!

A good one! We are so happy we got to spend the day with Miss Lindsay.

Our cookie tray 2011

2011-12-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

Cookie trays this year! Cookies we made, rugelach, 2 batches each with a different jam (apricot and raspberry), Mince tarts, pecan tassies, princess tassies (marzipan and raspberry), Indian spiced, almond joy, coconut haystacks, marscapone cookies (again, two jams), gingerbread stars and girls and boys, chocolate peppermint bonbons, pick me up drops, pistachio coins, Christmas biscotti, date moons, russian teacakes and baklava. Whew! and they are ALL good!

find a cat

2011-12-22T18:12:00.001-08:00

Can you find the cat?

Snowflake Lane

2011-12-20T22:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Lon and I went to Snowflake Lane at Bell Square. It was fun! We left the house around 6, the festivities started at 7pm. I knew parking would be an problem. I briefly considered taking the bus, but it would be after dark and with Lon I did not think that was the best idea.

Yep, they have it snow there!

Watching the snow come down as we waited. We were not sure what exactly we were waiting for.

Here they come! The drummers!

Letting us know where the drummer was going to have to walk up, and to stand clear.

Christmas Characters parading down the sidewalk. This might not be the best photo, but Lon wanted me to show the characters. They gave him a candy cane tootsie pop.

Rudolph's nose blinked! Mommy! It blinked!! He loved that. And yes, it was super crowded.

Watching the drummer

They were great drummers. They drummed along to a classic carols. We were singing along with the ones we knew.

My very own little drummer boy. I got him a cup of hot chocolate for on the way home. We went to the Nordstrom Espresso stand that is close to the back parking lot. The barista was very nice to Lon.

Korean Night

2011-12-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

I was terrible with pictures on Sunday night. We went to Michelle's for Korean night (last month we were here for Polish Night) All I have is some good memories and a full tummy!
Michelle outdid herself with all the yummy food she had out for us. We had Korean short ribs

What as left, not much, after dinner. The pot was full. They were very good. Ginger and ginko, carrots and mushrooms

Only a little bit of the green onion and shrimp pancake. I love that. Mark says I need to learn how to make it. Maybe Michelle will come and teach me!

And the best part! Playing with Kayla. She loves to be tossed around as much as her brother!

At our next International Dinner I will take more photos, even some of Lon. The kids had macaroni and cheese. Silly kids, they missed out

Big Presents for a Little Guy

2011-12-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

On Sunday afternoon we stopped by Prachi and Rahul's to drop off the BIG present for the little guy.

The box is bigger than he is! He does not really know what to do with it- yet

He figured it out! Ripping paper off presents is FUN

His first Trike! A Cars tricycle. With a basket on the back. Lon needed the basket, he loved to haul things around.

Lon and Reyansh played with Reyansh's letters. Lon was telling him which one was the A.

We had a nice visit. We did drop off some presents for Reyansh's parents too. But not as big. I hope the little guy will get lots of use out of the tricycle.

Christmas Train

2011-12-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

This morning we set up the Christmas Train. With Expansion pack and new track. We bought a bunch of track and we used all but two straight pieces.We could have used them, but I thought the train may have been out too far into the living room. We have a side rail that we can park part of the train on and then have other trains move around. It is wonderful. Lon can not keep away from it!

All the boxes, ready to be set up.

Bringing me the trains, after we got the track all set up. Just like the big picture on the back of the fastrack box!

Unloading the cars and the engine

Waiting not so patiently for the train to get on the track

IT WORKS! HI train!

Lon the Christmas Train Engineer!

Christmas Tree 2011

2011-12-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

On December 9, after school/work, we got our tree!

Having a good breakfast so he can do well in school! He loves having hot chocolate in his snowman mini mug. Lon makes me coffee in the big snowman mug. He likes it when we have things that match, just one is Lon sized.

Okay, how about this one?

This is the one I want, right here! This ONE. A nice 7 foot noble fir. It smells so good

Daddy showing Lon how to drill the hole in the bottom of the tree so it sits right in our stand.

Concentration

Using the drill all by himself!

In the house, all set up

Just the lights! I had to go get two more strands of lights on Friday night to get it done.

Saturday morning, Lon and I started putting ornaments on the tree! Lon was a big help

Admiring his progress

All that is missing is the tree skirt and the train around the bottom! That happens in the morning. Now I am just going to enjoy the tree. The tinsel and candy canes were the next to last things to go on. I put the homemade Angel on top and we were done!

Christmas Mailing

2011-12-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

I wanted to get all our Christmas gifts away sooner rather than later. Today was the day. The boxes were ready, I sealed them all. Made out the customs forms for two of them and loaded the car while Lon was at school.

I thought about going while he was at school, however, I have not ever mailed our Christmas packages without him. (well, since he was born anyway) This year was not going to be different. I put his Santa hat in the car, along with a new thing I found at Target called a grab and go pack. I picked up Lon at school and off we went to the post office. The parking lot was PACKED! We got a cart, but it was on the small size. This did not make Lon happy. He could not ride in the cart. This was on the edge of tragedy.

He got on with things. All the while thinking how he was going to get into that cart!

He tried riding on top for a bit, it was not all that stable. He asked me to take him off.

Getting bored. The line moved fast, we spent as much time at the counter adding postage as we did in line. We could not do the self service since we had international mail.

Grab and Go Pack to the rescue! Stickers, crayons and a little coloring book! These things are wonderful. I am going to look for more of them.

FINALLY able to get into the cart! He got to ride it to the drop off point. He said next year we have to get the bigger cart. Don't forget Mom!

Our Christmas packages are mailed and on their merry way! Now to move on to Christmas baking. Check the cookie blog for more cookies. I will post us making candy on this blog. I made butter toffee but since the humidity was so high it is more or less a carmel. I have to remember to check the weather first!

Decorating Lon's room!

2011-12-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today, among other things, we decorated Lon's room. Put up his tree and all the other trimmings of Christmas for his room! It is so nice he is big enough to help with all this now!

Putting his ornaments on his little tree. These are his ornaments. They do not get mixed in with the family ornaments. These are the ones he has picked out or been given. When he has his own place these will go with him. We give him one or two a year. Some he outgrows, like Pooh and Little Einsteins, but he keeps them in the big box for when he has kids. (His idea)

His Alaskan Nativity on his dresser.

Then I pulled out the new lamp that Grammalyn had sent for him. She did not want him to wait till Christmas. This is a VERY cool lamp. Lon loves it! The train runs, and makes noise. It is wonderful. Lon knows it is not a toy, but it is still super cool!

Putting up the advent calendar that Great Grandma Yetka sent.

The finished tree. Lon was very pleased with everything in his room this year. Yes, I also put on his Christmas bed spread!

A Glowing Bounce

2011-12-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Josiah's birthday party! A glow bounce at Pump it up! A glow bounce is a later at night party with glow necklaces and bracelets worn by the kids and bouncing in low light. It was lots of fun!

The craziness before the bounce!

The Air Hockey table! It is still as fun as Lon remembered. He was good and did not stay there all evening.

Low light and glow jewelery. Lots of fun

Kids moving fast. This is not Lon, I missed that picture!

Group Photo

The cupcake cake! It was very good. A marshmallow frosting, and good chocolate cupcakes.

Apple Juice

The birthday boy is happy. He was smiling all the time, except when I snapped this picture

Not the birthday boy!

Frosting face! George is adorable

Opening presents! Lon loves this part. Even if he is only watching.

Lon had a great time. He stayed awake and was not grumpy for the whole party. He went to bed and was asleep within 10 minutes of being home! I hope he sleeps in tomorrow morning

A Good Deed on Saturday!

2011-12-03T23:20:00.000-08:00

Lon and Daddy were outside raking leaves while I was getting things done on the inside of the house. I look out the front door and this is what I see!

Mark and our neighbor getting the mail box area cleaned up!

The children were helping!

The good deed of the day, helping keep our neighborhood looking good!

Advent Calendar

2011-12-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, the mailman brought Lon an Advent Calendar from his Godmother. A Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar. STAR WARS LEGO. Lon was so excited, two of his favorite things combined with Christmas! He was so excited. He kept looking at the box, turning it over, reading all the stuff on the back. I would not take the tape off the front, I was worried the temptation to open a door would prove to be too much. All he talked about going to bed was, he was going to wake up early to open day one. He did wake up early.

This is so cool. Look at the Death Star! It is all wrapped up like a present. That is funny.

Okay, not going to wait any more! I gotta open door one!

These doors are tough! I do not need help, I can do this!!

It's a ship! How cool is that! A little transporter!

This is so cool. I gotta get up early tomorrow, too!

Our Day Off.

2011-11-29T17:10:00.000-08:00

Today, Lon and I went on our annual trip to the mall! Santa pictures, some little bits of shopping, etc. It is turning into a very fun tradition for us.

Santa Picture preview! Yes, he wanted to wear the antlers with the little hat. He thought it was funny. The wonderful outfit is from his Grandmother. He looks so good in it.

In front of Williams Sonoma! Santa was wonderful as always! The elves who work with Santa recognized Lon. That was fun. We had a good time looking at all the fun things in Williams Sonoma

This window was in front of a store we had never visited! It is called Once Upon A Time. It has wonderful things for smaller children. The under 5 crowd. They have a few things for bigger kids. The things they have in there are beautiful.

LEGO STORE! Lon had a wonderful time looking around the store. Telling me which ones he wanted. He wanted to get some of the missing parts. The Lego cashier gave him a bin, told him to fill it with what he wanted. Lon put in the one piece he wanted. The payment method is by the bin. The cashier told him to just fill it up! He figured it out, and filled it up.

After our shopping, we had a bit of money left. We told the bell ringer that we would be back when we were done. I am pretty sure he did not believe us, until we came back!

See's Candy. They know Lon there too! Lon changed his shirt so we could go to lunch.

Time for Lunch. I wanted to go someplace nicer, but Lon very much wanted to go to Pizza Hut. We did go there. Lon ate all the pizza.

We had a wonderful day! As soon as I get the Santa Pictures, I will scan them in. They turned out very nice. Antlers and all.

Ornaments

2011-11-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

While Mark went to the gym, Lon and I brought up most of the boxes for Christmas decorating. In one of those boxes Lon found an ornament kit I bought last year at an after Christmas sale. He really wanted to try it. It is a vinyl ornament, they have colored pencils to decorate it. You carefully brush water on the colored pencil and it turns into paint! Then, a black marker to trace the lines. I did the water and the black lines. He was so proud of how his tree turned out!

Hard at work. Trying to do his best work.

Lon's finished tree. He signed his name to the back

I am trying to get some more blogs in this month, so there might be lots more tiny blogs like this one.

It's Begining to Look Alot Like....

2011-11-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

Today and yesterday we put up lights. It was not raining yesterday so up to the top of the roof I went! We got the gutters cleaned out too! Today we finished up the garage and the porch. All we have left for our outside decorations is the luminarias.

I am going to take the bright white lights off the garage.

Lon helped me with the lights around the windows above the garage. He wanted to go up on the roof, and if he stayed next to the house, I let him. He was so happy to be up there! He plugged the lights into the extension cords, and I plugged them into the wall. He held the lights up, so there was slack in the line while I stapled the cords to the house. He was a big help. He told me when he was 9 he was going to staple the lights in, but not before. Good boy!

This beautiful wreath is from Theresa in China! It is by far the pretties wreath we have ever had on our front door! Thank you, Theresa!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

Seems like this year is no different. I did not get a chance to take many photos. I think next year I am going to give Lon the task of taking pictures. There might be a few more than there are today.
It was a great day. Plenty of food, good company and cooperative weather!

Our table. Lon made some wonderful decorations. He did the two turkeys and the leaf rubbings. He learned how to do leaf rubbing at Tiger Scouts.

Dessert, coffee and cider bar. We did have a pumpkin pie, but it was still in the fridge. There is now very little left

The turkey turned out SO pretty. It was very tasty too.

We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

Happy 5th Birthday, Brian

2011-11-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

Brian turned 5! He celebrated his birthday at Kidz Bounce out in Preston. It was a bit farther away for us, but it was worth it! We had a great time.

The cake I made for Brian. A nice vanilla cake. It was a half sheet, with a Lightening McQueen cake on top. Just a little bit leftover.

Brian loved his cake!

The boys had a little bit of time to chat before the other guests arrived.

It was time to BOUNCE! Up and down and all around. On all the houses. This place was NICE

Sliding down! Weeeee!

Having so much fun!

Lon found the pneumatic tube system. The soft little balls fell out into a crate near the wall or right over the center of the room. The kids could try and catch them there. Lon LOVED this. He played on it for a very long time, gathering up the balls, feeding them in, watching them go. Then doing it all over again.

Pizza time! The kids got a chance to eat, then some more time to play before the cake

I went on a couple of the inflatables with Lon. The obstacle course is much more difficult when you are a big person. The slide part was worth it! It was fun

Group photo. Now it was time for cake. After cake, we had to go home. Lon could have played with the tube system for much longer or bounced some more if I went with him. He did not want to go home. We all had a great time at Brian's 5th Birthday party!

A New Hat

2011-11-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

It is not as if we are not doing anything, we are! But it is just either I forgot the camera, or it is just everyday stuff.
A day or two ago, Lon saw this hat at the grocery store. He had to have it. I had to buy it for him! Too cute

He loves his new hat

A sock monkey hat! I think Gigi would approve!

Halloween!

2011-11-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

Lon was looking forward to Halloween. Halloween fell on Monday, and they had a harvest party at school. This year I was able to make treats for the class. I made mini cupcakes and deviled eggs. The children did not eat many deviled eggs, the parents who were there ate all of them.

After we helped the kids get their costume adjusted, they had a parade through the school, through the gym and back to their class rooms. Lon was a fine looking Marine.

Snacks at their desks. Lon pretty much had cupcakes and the lollipop. Lon got a ghost lollipop on his trick or treat down town. A Tootsie pop with tissues over it and a face drawn on with black marker. Lon wanted me to make those for his class. After I dropped him off on Monday morning I got the pops and tissues and made one for each of his class mates and some siblings. We really were not supposed to bring candy, but it was Halloween!

All the yummy treats!

When the party officially ended at 3:15, the parents who were there got to take their children home early! I bought Lon a See's Halloween candy, he was thrilled with it!

Inflating giganto pumpkin! Watching it fill with air

The annual picture with the pumpkin! And the second year with our big black cat!

Pouncing like the cat!

Our house all decorated!

Lon was starting not to feel well so we did a shorter version of our trick or treat route. I took this one and only photo of him trick or treating since the pumpkin o lantern was so creative. I am going to try that next year.

Even though Lon did a shorter version of his route, he still got an enormous amount of candy. The split it up between our friend in Afghanistan, the navy, a college student and him self.

He had a fun night, then stayed home sick for the next two days. Poor little guy.

Halloween's Eve

2011-10-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today was a BUSY day! We made the mini cupcakes for class tomorrow, boiled the eggs to make deviled eggs in the morning, got the pot roast in the crock pot. I had some left over cake batter from making the mini cupcakes, so I made a round cake for Lon to decorate anyway he wanted.

He wanted to wear his ghost towel over his jammies. I had a bunch of frosting left over in the freezer and he might as well use it up!

Picking out the right tips to make it just the way he wanted it

The first time it was finished. I helped Lon make the swirls.

There was more frosting! There must be more decorating to do! I think there might be more frosting than cake.

Pumpkins carved to Lon's specifications. Two years from now, I think I will let him carve them all by himself. Not sure I want to give him a knife just yet.

Our little pumpkins!

Then it was time to get ready to go downtown. I read about downtown trick or treat in the little local paper. It was 3 to 5 pm today, and noon to 3 tomorrow. It was not raining and it sounded like fun!

Lon is ready to conquer the treats!

Starbucks was among the local businesses participating in the festivities! Every business that was involved had a flyer in the window, so we only went to those. The banks were participating, but only on Monday.

Some business owners were out on the sidewalks handing out the candy

Some you had to go in to the shop

Some people really got into the spirit!

Back at home, back in jammies, sorting through the haul! There were very few candies that Lon could not have (too chewy) and very few he did not want. He had a great time. We spent over an hour and a half walking all over downtown Kirkland. It was fun!!

A Sunny Fall Saturday!

2011-10-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a nice day. We had no real plans for the day, but we did not want to stay home! We thought walking around downtown sounded like fun, and it was! We started out at Lake Side Jewelery store, getting the very last of my gems set.

The cow and coyote were getting into the Halloween spirit.

We looked the the Christmas Chalet store. We all liked the musical snow globe. What you don't see in the photo is the train that goes around the base.

Beautiful carved candles. We were wondering if Cousin Laura could make these... Mark is showing his hand next to it to give her a scale.

We walked around the bead store. I will go back there, later. We went to Sur La Table too. Love that shop, but we did not buy anything. Say a glass sushi ornament that was really cute.

He still likes climbing on the bunnies!

Our next stop was Zeke's Pizza. We all enjoyed the pizza. Lon ate about as much as I did!

Spending time in Kirkland with Lon always includes a trip to Eastside Trains. We bought the expansion pack for our Christmas train. I know, way early.

Another fun statue. Lon read the plaque. Fine Feathered Friends. Good Job Lon.

Daddy wanted to look more at a rock shop, so Lon and I walked over to Marina Park. Lon, of course, ran around on the beach. He did not get wet!

He was thinking about it though. There was this leaf in the water. Wouldn't it be cool to see what it looked like out of the water and up close? Well, it might, but we do not have a change of shoes for you. So, no.

Our last stop was Sirena Gelato. They had two seasonal flavors, eggnog and pumpkin pie. I was not sure about pumpkin pie. It was very very good. I got a hand pack pint to take home! Lon had Oreo and cappuccino. Since I was taking pumpkin pie home, I had pineapple and coconut, Mark had coconut and mango. They were all very wonderful.

We had a fun day downtown. It is good, sometimes, not to have a plan.

The Farm at Swans

2011-10-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today Lon did not want to go to school. Well, until I told him it was early release day and we could go up to the Farm, see the animals, get a pumpkin or two, and have some fun. But if he stayed home we could not go. He got up, ate breakfast and we were on our way to school!

After school, we went directly to the Farm. I took one wrong turn, but we found it just fine. Once we got there, our first stop was the hayride. Today was no charge for the hayride. They would go and drop people off at the corn maze entrance, we just went along for the ride. It got cold on the wagon! I bundled Lon up in my coat. We love hayrides.

Next year we will do the corn maze. This corn is actually high enough to be a maze! It is in the shape of the state of Washington. The paths through the maze are the roads of the state, the intersections are marked with town names. It is pretty cool.

We went to see the animals! They had kittens. Lon really enjoyed petting the kitten. He liked that the kitten's ears curled up like horns. This kitten was CUTE!

The furball Lon is looking at is actually 5 three week only baby bunnies. So tiny, so cute. Bunnies are adorable, and I love looking at them, but we are not going to get a bunny as a pet. Ever.

The tractor beckoned. Lon was trying to see if he could take the brake off and get it started. He wanted to take a ride!

Running on the hay. I am not sure what those hay rolls are called, maybe just hay rolls.

Rubber ducks to push down to the other end. Water is not really as much fun when it is cold, but it is still fun.

Upstairs in the hay maze. Lon ran the hay maze 11 times. ELEVEN

Lon loves this slide.

At the end of the slide

We took a break for some hot cocoa and a cinnamon roll. I had some hot apple cider. Lon tried it, and liked it! Lon drank all his cocoa too. He said I really should put lots of whipped cream on his when I make him some more of it at home. And sprinkles.

A sluice box, of sorts. It was a smooth run. They did have gold pans and a pond, but it was really cold. He still wants to do more gold panning.

These slides are so cool! They are bouncey and fun! Three different lengths, Lon rode down all of them several times.

Lon in the slide.

On our way to pick out a pumpkin

I got one Mom! I will carry it back to our wheel barrow. Lon picked out 5 pumpkins. Two to carve and three little ones for his wooden decorations. The ones we got in Virginia when he was very little. Yes, Mom, we still love them and put them up every year!

Our happy little pumpkins! And since they were from the Farm, they are fresh and inexpensive! They do not weigh them. When you check out your pumpkins, your cashier looks at them and tells you this is a 3 dollar pumpkin or a 5 dollar pumpkin. All ours came to 18 dollars, total. I liked that.

We put the pumpkins in the car. We had to bring the wheel barrow back, it is the nice thing to do. We saw a rainbow!

We had to take one last look at the piglets! 5 days old! Lon still loves piglets. There were 9 piglets with their mother.

Love this photo. There was no noise. Maybe he was just yawning.

The two Highland cows.

Lon named them Hamish and Claire. Hamish after the Highland cow in a book from his Godmother. Lon does not think this cow has ever eaten toffees though. I have no idea why he called the other one Claire.

It was time to go home. We spent almost 3 hours on the Farm. Seeing and doing everything we could. On the way home we were both hungry, so we stopped at McDonalds. Lon said it was because I am awesome. After we got home and unloaded the car it was straight into the bathtub for Lon! He did his homework, then off to bed. He had a busy day. He told me it was not a good day, it was an AWESOME day. He really likes the word awesome.

To find out more about the farm, and get directions for your own adventure go here: http://www.thefarm1.com/

Dr. Maze's Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy! Some of it was super fun, other parts, not so much. The not so much part was when we dropped Daddy off at the airport. He only takes one business trip a year, and this is it. We were already missing him when we pulled away from the drop off area. We drove to Crossroads, dropped off our mail in ballots. Lon wanted some Cold Stone ice cream. I got some too, thought it would be good. Pineapple frozen yogurt, and I mixed in raspberries. It would have been good if it had a pineapple taste to the frozen yogurt and was not grainy. Lon said his was really good. We got home about 15 minutes before Auntie Michelle, Brian and Kayla came over for the super fun part of our day!

We went to Dr. Maze's Pumpkin Patch. It used to be known as the South 47 Farm. They are back to having a corn maze, pumpkins to buy and the hay ride. Lon still loves the hayride. We parked pretty far away, and we saw someone pushing back a wheel barrow. I told him I would be happy to take it back for him. He was happy about that! I loaded up the children and pushed them to the farm. All the kids rode, not just Lon. Since I was pushing, I could to get that photo! Lon really liked that ride.

We bought tickets and got in the long line for the hayride. The kids would wander away and come back. We had to wait two rides to get ours. About 40 minutes. That was a long time for little kids! But they were good.

In front of the John Deere.

Lon likes these silly things, but then again, so do I! It was just hard to catch him smiling, the sun was in his eyes

With the pumpkin people

Pumping water ROCKS! Why, I am unclear.

A small maze for the kids that the hops did not grow to cover. Notice how when Lon got stuck he just went through. He would not ever call 911 when he was lost in a corn maze. (there was a family that did just that a few days ago.) Just go through the corn!

FINALLY on the wagon! Having fun watching the farm go bumping by

Pumpkin picture!

The stunted corn maze. It really was a lousy summer!

King of the Hay Bales!

We left just a little bit later. Brian and Lon played cars. Kayla had a little nap before dinner. I made spaghetti and meatballs. Salad and bread. It was good. We had a great day!

A Tiger Scout Visit to Fire Station 27

2011-10-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

I scheduled a GoSeeIt to the fire station today! It was super fun for all! ALL of the scouts in my den were there, plus two extra from another den. A nice amount of boys.

Getting a look at the ladder truck. Those are SUPER long and SUPER cool!

Looking in all the compartments of the truck. We had some great tour guides! Mo, he is the one talking now, he kept the boys interested!

Back of the ladder truck, that is where they have the hose.

Inside the ambulance. They learned about what the ambulance does, transport sick people to the hospital.

Lon drives the pumper truck. When the first showed the boys the trucks, Lon knew which truck was which and what they did.

Group Photo. I used this one on the little thank you note we took up to the fire station in the afternoon. (with a plate of brownies!). Yes, I used the line Chipmunks in Diapers. All the boys cracked up with natural smiles. Gotta love that

Learning the back of the ladder truck is another driver. The truck is so long it takes TWO people to drive it

They let all the boys test drive the back of the ladder truck!

They all got to try on helmets, and coats and tanks. Lon could not wear all three at the same time. It was too heavy!

Learning about the light that makes all the lights turn green. The boys all thought that would be cool to have that on their cars.
We all had a great time.

Thank you so much to Fire Station 27 for a wonderful, informative morning!

Happy Birthday, Jonah!

2011-10-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon we went to the Kid's Quest Museum for Jonah's birthday party! There is so much to do and so much to see there. Sadly, we had not been there for a while. It was all new again to Lon.

Happy Birthday Jonah! He is up in the tree house, and he found the stash of pirate costumes!

Schoolmates playing with the water and boats. Creating serious water pressure, opening and closing the locks.

Another water table. The kids can build pipes to move water all over the place. They can also move it all over themselves. I forgot to bring a change of clothes for Lon. One of the pipes he was working on, got moved and water just poured out all over him. He was soaking wet. I ran over to the OshKosh store and bought a new shirt and pants. He could always use a new pair of pants!

He was still dry enough here to play the drums.

A little movie with music

Group photo, Lon in his new clothes. At least he is dry.

The cake!

Lon found the pirate costumes too! We has a great time celebrating Jonah's birthday. Thank you for the invitation!

Ist Grade Jag-a-Thon!

2011-10-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

This afternoon was the big fundraiser for the PTA. The kids ran in circles for almost an hour, there were prizes for who raised the most money and who ran the most laps. All sorts of fun stuff!

Warm ups!

A water break after running 2 laps!

To give you an idea of how big the course was! It was a long long way around. The kids were really pushing themselves hard to get those laps in! (I took this picture when the kids were done running, just to give you an idea of the length of the course)

Lon keeps running! Run run run

A victory stretch! Lon had a personal goal of 12 laps and he did it!

Then he did two more!

Well deserved water! He had lots of fun

After they were done running the kids got a breakfast cookie and a juice. A little rest, then back to school, for an hour and a half!

Cars 2 Event, again.

2011-10-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Lon had so much fun at the Cars 2 Tour, when I found out it was going to be at Alderwood again today off we went! This time we met up with a friend! Made it even MORE fun!

Do you think this is going to be fun? Yes, it is going to be LOTS of fun! We will do everything I did yesterday. You will get lots of fun stuff!

Spinning the wheel again. He won another beach towel. I think we will give that to a friend who could not be there!

This time I got him to laugh! Sometimes he gets a really odd face for photos. This time, I just said squirrels in underpants. This is a very funny phrase if you are 6.

This time it was chipmunks in diapers. Gotta change it up!

Finding the hidden messages. This is something new we did today. I made Lon read all the messages, and he did.

Waiting to see if our name is drawn for the Cars 2 movie voucher. If we won, we would have gotten a voucher for the movie. It is okay we did not win, we already pre-ordered the movie.

Lon showed the girls the American Girl Doll store. They were amazed they could play with some of the dolls. They had a lot of fun. It was a good day.

A Cars 2 Event

2011-10-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I heard that there was going to be a Cars 2 tour, and it was stopping by the Alderwood mall. Sounded like fun! The event ran from 2pm to 6pm. We did not skip school, we left directly from school up to the mall! Lon and I had a great time!

We waited in line for a while, it was not too bad. At our first station, we got a bag with a Cars coloring book in it. The next station was a plinko game, Lon got a color changing pencil. This was followed by a spin the wheel game. Lon won a beach towel, they let me play and I won the color crayons to go with Lon's coloring book!

The cars! What we were really waiting to see!

Lon's mood pencil! It changes colors as you hold on to it.

Just a few more minutes of waiting!

Lon had his photo taken in front of each and every car. Then he tells me he is going to explode if he does not find a bathroom NOW. We ran into Macy's! The men's room was right by the entrance. Thank you Macy's! Then we came back and played the Disney Radio game, Lon won some stickers there. He played a bean bag toss game, for that he got a matching game

Playing a matching game on the big screen. He did very well

That was the Cars 2 Tour. Lon had a great time. We will post the photos with the Cars as soon as we get them from the on line site. Maybe tomorrow.

In the Disney Store! Lon had never been in a Disney Store. It was an amazing, almost overwhelming place for him. We did not buy any toys this time. We were very good.

Lon was very good, he let Mom look around the American Girl Doll store. (which I loved, and got some wonderful ideas, the new dolls from 1853 are wonderful. The clothes! I can not wait to make some!) To give him a little reward we went to Cold Stone Creamery. Lon likes the ice cream there. Me, not so much. He got just what he wanted. We went to the Godiva store and Lon did not like it. This is not the good candy store, Mom! I like See's much better. We took their samples and said goodbye.

We saw this on our way home and as soon as I came to a stop light, I took a quick snap. It has been a long time since we have seen a rainbow!

Last Friday Market till Spring

2011-10-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Today was the last Friday market till winter is over. This year's market was a struggle, the location was bad, the promise of going over to the old spot at Juanita Beach never happened. I hope next year the Market will be back at the beach and all the vendors who struggled through this year will be highly rewarded next season.

Mark bought be some Italian plums. I love those little things! He was buying fruit while I was chatting with Pete from Pete's toffee. He makes the very best toffee! www.petesperfecttoffee.com

Concord grapes. Lon has never had grapes with seeds. He is not so sure that those are the grapes for him.

Lon was able to get a little pumpkin. They tried to give him a big one, but he wanted a teeny tiny pumpkin. It was a perfect pumpkin in shape, just very small. SO cute. He made a paper hat for the pumpkin and it is now decorating the half wall.

When we came home, Lon went back to work on his river. I was not sure what he was really doing. It seemed very important to him. It was equally important that I not look at it or try to help.

This is what he made. I am super impressed. He did this all by himself. He said that he wanted to make this look like a real Civil War Battle. Perhaps he was paying attention to all those things I told him when we went to a couple battlefields last spring.

All by himself. His Grandfather would have been so proud.

Repitle Zoo

2011-10-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

We have been back and forth to Leavenworth alot this summer. Every time we pass a place called the Reptile Zoo. On the way back from Plain, Lon said he wanted to see the reptiles. Monday, we could not go after school, but today, we could go! So we did.

It is just past Monroe. On Highway 2.

The first thing I noticed was that it was very warm inside, and there was not a pleasant smell. The place was humid and stinky! Lon really wanted to see it, so we stayed. It was 11 dollars for us to see all the reptiles.

Alligator! I was not sure if it was alive or not, until it moved it's head! scary!

ONE big snake! Lon was not so sure about that snake.

the Black Mamba was trying it's best to find an escape route. I was very glad to see it was a heavy mesh on top!

The turtle wanted to get out too! Mr. Turtle wanted to see if Lon had any food.

Iguana! He bounced his head up and down at us. I have no idea what that means.

Bye Bye Turtles! It was fun visiting you!

Our next stop was a fruit stand we keep passing. It is in Sultan. Stockings market and Mott's fruit. Family owned and run. Nice.

Lon looking over the corn. You can not peel it back to check it. You have to buy it on faith. Which we did. 4 ears. Lon wanted to weigh it. It weighed 2 1/2 pounds.

Lon carried our basket, corn, a small basket of blackberries, a wee pumpkin and two Sultan sweet onions. They also had honey and jams. Those we did not need this time.

This field is right beside the stand. They grow their some of the produce they sell right there. How cool is that?

It was a wonderful day for adventure!

Red Ribbon Assembly

2011-10-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

I got a flyer a few days ago from school saying there was going to be a Red Ribbon Assembly at school. I did not realize what big doings it was going to be. They said some police would be there and a surprise "person". This event was HUGE. There were DEA agents there, canine units, hazmat units, police cars, motorcycles and an Astar! LOTS of things going on!

The kids had to start off in their class rooms then go out to the parking lot. The parents who stayed for the assembly were waiting in the parking lot. I am really glad it was not raining!

McGruff, the crime dog, was introduced as going old school. Way back to the 80s. I felt very old

The special "person" turned out to be Blitz! The Seahawk! High energy bird! Lon is right in front of Blitz getting a high five.

McGruff greeted all the kids too

The Astar flys over! Later on, the helicopter landed out in the field!

The kids all went inside to hear the talks and watch the movies. Staying drug free is the goal! Anna kept looking back at me and waving

The trucks and cars were moved around while we were all inside. They were all open and the officers were explaining everything to the kids. Answered all questions. They were very nice

The K-9s. Lilly and Cory. Lilly is the lab and she is 6. Cory is 2 1/2 and a German Shepard.

Badge Guy

This is the only way I would like to see Lon getting out of the back of a police car!

A little one and one with McGruff

The Astar. It was fun looking at it. Lon said he would rather take a ride than look at it. Well, so would I!

All done. I had just enough time to go home, charge the camera a bit. It was running out of batteries. Then go pick up Lon and get on with our next adventure!

The Battle of Plain

2011-10-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today we went to see a Civil War Re-enactment. In Plain, Washington. There were not any battles here for the Civil War. Plain was not even on the map then. That would take another 50 years to happen. BUT this did not stop the re-enactors from doing a wonderful job, and having a great time!

We saw this lovely lady as we first walked in. A question formed in Mark's mind that would bug him all day. Yet, he could not go up and ask them. I eventually did that for him. Yes, they do use the Port-a-Potties in the hoop skirts, They prefer the handicapped ones, as they are wider. They back into the facility. They wear split drawers so it is simple at that point. Now, you have more information that you ever wanted to know. For more general knowledge go here: http://www.wcwa.net

Scout!

Flying Colors

Firing of the Confederate Cannon! So cool, yet so LOUD!

Calvary. The colt is being led around the field to teach him that the noise is nothing to be scared of. He does not seem scared as he is eating a bit of grass.

The Confederates advance! They had representatives from Virgina, Alabama and South Carolina. I knew the Alabama flag (mainly white), the South Carolina flag with the palmetto in green on a white field. A lady next to me asked what the tree was for and I told her it was for South Carolina and they still have a palmetto tree on the state flag today. She said it was still weird.

Lon watches the battle unfold from a great vantage point. I looked at the crowd, if this was back east, the crowd would have been overwhelming, I am sure. This was very much more to Mark's liking!

Back with Mom, watching the battle

The Union was defeated in this battle. The next battle they will win. They take turns.

Some of the ladies placed a cross and a wreath on the field for ALL the war dead. The bugler played Taps. It was very nice

Lon talking to a child re-enactor. He had some interesting stuff!

Now for some movies!

Watching the Federals leave the field

President Lincoln was walking through the grounds. He shook Lon's hand and called him a good Lad. Thank you, Mr. President

Lunch Time! We brought a picnic lunch. Mark was sad he brought lunch, they were selling roasted turkey legs. He was torn, but he ate the food we brought with us. I think he should have had the turkey leg!

Would you like to make a rope? OF COURSE!

Twisting, Twisting, Twisting!

Now Lon has a new rope!

Hello, Lad ! I remember you from the battle. You look like a nice boy

The colt is deeply asleep. She even was doing a little running in her sleep. I told Lon she was alot like him, moving in her sleep!

Lon found a baby to play with, he loves babies! She looks like she likes him too

The telegraph wagon. It had a message coming in. Did you know you can go on the internet and send telegraph messages?

In a coon skin cap. Lon said he felt a little silly.

That was the end of our day in Plain, watching the Civil War battle. We keep passing something called the Iron Goat Interpretive Center. This time we stopped. It is a rails to trails trail head. There are lots of trails starting out from here. The history was given on a series of posters. It was fascinating. I took pictures of all of them so I could read it all later!

A pit stop in Index and we were on our way home. It was a wonderful day. The weather could not have been better, it was alot of fun. I will be looking to see if there are any more reenactments coming up in the spring! This was the last one for the year. Snow is forecast for Tuesday night in Leavenworth. Not sticking or staying, but snow is coming.

Sam's Skating Party!

2011-10-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Today Lon put on roller skates for the first time. He wants to try it again!

Lon started off holding Daddy's hand or mine and the wall. Toward the end, he was close to the wall and holding it on and off. He did fall on his bottom-alot!

Taking a little break. The pizzas were ready, so he had a little bit longer break. Then back to the rink!

Moving along the wall. By himself. He kept trying!

Cupcakes and ice cream! Yummy.

Happy Birthday, Sammy! 6 is a good age to be!

Opening the Lego we got for Sam. Looks like it was a a hit!

Lon found the air hockey table. He loves that game! He and Mitchell played for a while. I doubt they kept score. Mitchell may have, but Lon, not so much.

We had lots of fun celebrating Sam's birthday. I am so glad we got invited!

A Little Side Trip on the Way Home!

2011-09-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Instead of going straight home from camping we decided at the last minute to go to Smallwoods! I did get some more marianades and salad dressings. We got some apples too!

Mark feeding the geese. I don't like feeding the geese. I just keep remembering Karen feeding the geese at the marina and they are not nice. I think I did get it in the photo of one of them biting Mark!

Llama! Pretty and they are so gentle in taking the feed from your hands! I fed a little to them. I turned around to a goat and an alpca on the other side of the path to feed them. The goat and the alpaca were talking to me. Mainly, give us more food, but make sure you give less to her! As I was feeding a little handful to the brown alpaca, the goat girl tried to eat my sweatshirt! I really liked that sweatshirt too! Lon was a little out of sorts at the petting zoo. Not sure why, but after we left that part, he worked it out and was much better

I took Lon inside to wash our hands. On our way out of the bathroom we saw the store cat. I think her name is Maggie or Katie. Not sure which. She is a very nice cat. Lon petted her gently.

At the other end of the field, they had a small birthday part going on. As part of their entertainment, they had the pumpkin cannon fired twice! SO much fun! Little pumpkins fly HIGH and go very very far. It was fun to see

We walked through the pumpkin patch barn into this lovely landscaped area. It looked very familiar. It was landscaped by the people from The Fruit Stand on the Corner. Across from the 59'er Diner!

I made Lon pose for a tremendous amount of pictures with the pumpkins!

LOVE this one!

One more good one!

Lon loves those cut out things. Do they have a real name?

We drove into Cashmere to have lunch before going home. We tried the Mexican place, Casa Grande. We won't be back. It as okay, but not really good. We will try another place next time! Brian's Pizza is still a good.

Last Campout of the Summer!

2011-09-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Summer was officially over on Friday, so we went camping! We enjoyed the Pine Village KOA in Leavenworth last time, so we went back up there! The weather was only slightly cooler!

Waiting for Brian and Kayla to come and play!

Putting up our new gazebo. This one was very very cheap. Mark wants to get a nicer one for next year. (oh, and if you did not realize it, Karen that was a Christmas hint)

Our campsite all set up. I liked the gazebo!

Watching the fire as the sun set

Brian and his smore. He loves Smores!

The weekend we picked was also the Autumn Leaf Festival! How much fun is this going to be! Instead of the KOA breakfast, I saw the Lion's Club was holding a breakfast at their park in town. Gotta support the local charities! The breakfast was great. 2 large pancakes, 2 eggs, ham, sausage, coffee and milk! all for $5! Lon ate his pancakes. To top it all off, parking was free. I asked if we had to move the car when the breakfast was over, the very nice Lion told me he would not tell, leave the car here. Save yourself the 10 dollar parking fee! extra special nice!

We were walking down the main street of town, we heard a voice. Young man, would you like to water some of the flowers? Water! Lon was so happy to help! He really enjoyed that. When he was done he wanted to know if G.G. would have been proud of him. Of course she would!

At the other end of the main street of town, they had bouncey houses set up. LOTS of them. Lon had a wonderful time bouncing with Kayla and Brian.

They had a climbing wall set up too. Brian tried it. Lon said he wanted to wait till he took the class at the Y.

There were two tries up the wall for your money. Brian did not want to try it again, so they let Chong try it. It is harder than it looks. Uncle Chong did great!

Waiting for the parade to start. I really wanted to see the parade! I had to get a hat for Lon and some sunscreen. I should have been a little better prepared.

Color Guard and marching band from Fort Lewis (or is it Joint Base Lewis McCord now?) Lon saluted them since he is a tiger scout now. He was so proud of himself

It can't be a Bavarian Village without those long horns! They paused every so often and blew them. I can imagine they are very heavy things!

FLOATS!

A remote control dog!

We were all hot and tired and decided it was time to go back to the camp site for lunch. Kayla is studying the tiger cookie. They were yummy!

While Michelle and I went to the grocery store to get some more water and garlic bread for dinner, the Dads and kids rented a cart! They had a great time. It was a serious workout for the Dads! After we got the groceries put away, we all went for a swim in the pool. That was fun. I got into the hot tub!

Playing in the grassy common area! We did not bring the ice cream maker this time. (sad)

Just roasted marshmallows after our pasta and meatball dinner! Marshmallows are so yummy! The clouds were starting to roll in, it made it a warmer night. Sleeping was good that night.

While the Dads were breaking camp the next morning, we took the kids to the KOA breakfast. Lon and Brian are climbing the big hill while they wait.

Pancakes still rule!

Can you find Brian and Lon! Playing in the woody area behind the campsite

We had lots of fun camping. We are sorry the summer is really over. Looking forward to next summer. Our first camping will be back in Leavenworth in June while Mark goes rafting!

Tiger Scout

2011-09-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Lon is a tiger scout! His new uniform, we need the hat yet, but he is all ready to go to his first meeting! He was so excited
Oh! And anyone want to buy some popcorn?

Good Fest

2011-09-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

After Kayla's very fun party we went home, thinking we were going to have a quiet night in. Well, no. Meagan called and said she heard there was something called Good Fest happening at Redmond Towne Center. So I made a triple latte and got Lon redressed and off we went to meet Grace, Meagan and Gernot!

Spinning the wheel at the REI booth. Lon won a sticker. It was towards the end of the day, so there were not so many prizes left. But Lon was very happy with the big sticker

Mini Golf. We really need more practice. Toward the last of the 9 holes, Lon was getting better at holding the club and swinging.

Waiting for Grace at the fountain

Meeting one of the dogs in the reading with Fido booth. Lon loved spinning the wheel. He got a grocery bag. We were waiting in line for the train. Grace, her Mom and Dad and baby Samantha (who was visiting) met up with us in line. Lon REALLY wanted to go on that mini train.

Meagan and Baby Samantha

Samantha was very interested in Lon's balloon. Lon was so happy to finally be on the train. The kids got the car they wanted to be in. It was fun. All around the shopping area.

Grace got a temporary tattoo. it was pretty cool. They put on the outline and colored it in with markers. Lon did not want a tattoo. He saw the Geodes. THOSE are way cooler than any tattoo!

Lon was so proud of himself for opening it by himself!

The crystals inside his geode.

The show was pretty much over. We went to look at the toy store. Lon and Grace made a new little friend at the play table. They were all so nice and polite to each other. I was proud of Lon.

Grace and her parents (and baby Samantha) came home with us for dinner! Meagan got the kids some very interesting plastic modeling compounds. If you let it out in the air, it will dry hard, but if you keep it covered it should stay moist enough to remold. The kids were having fun with that stuff! I got out the big box of cookie cutters for them to use.

Playing Airplane. Lon was the pilot taking Grace anywhere she wanted to go!

I made beef stew and macaroni and cheese for dinner. The macaroni and cheese was a new recipe, cook the pasta slowly in milk, add cheese and bake a little bit. Really tasty. 30 minutes total! We always have fun with Grace and her family.

Happy Birthday, Kayla!

2011-09-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Kayla's third birthday party! SUPER fun time!

Brian was VERY interested in the cakes. I wanted the cake to be pink, but it turned out more of a peach color. It worked.

Sneaking a taste of the frosting!

King of the play structure!

Climbing trees!

I think this means summer is over.

So much fun! The parents got a great workout!

Princess Kayla, getting ready for cake

Blowing out the candles

Chatting with friends.

We had a great time in the park celebrating Kayla's third birthday! It was alot of fun!

Swimming Lessons at the Y

2011-09-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was Lon's first after school swim lesson at the Y. He was nervous. I am hopeful. He lost confidence over the winter, I don't want that to happen this year, so we will continue lessons through the school year too.

On our way into the Y, Lon spotted a wild bunny eating the grass on the side yard. He wanted me to take his picture. So I did.

My goofy boy getting ready to go swimming

The two polliwog classes together getting their safety instructions

Back Starfish

Getting some instructions on how to move the arms to float right

Making new friends

Attempting a front star fish, he did get it, more or less. The roll over, no, not yet

Getting better at kicking! Next week is another lesson and I think he will do great!

Meeting Friends, Old and New, at the Beach

2011-09-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

One of Lon's friends from Baseball class was back in town for a little while. We were all going to meet up at Juanita Beach after school. Very fun. I forgot Lon's swim suit, so I made him take his shoes off and he went where ever he wanted to go. I did not want his Darth Vader shoes to get wet!

Our classmate Anna! She is in our class this year too. Yay!

Even though they have not seen each other since they were very little, no problem! A boy to play with. All was well.

Everyone liked playing near or in the water!

Having lots of fun digging in the sand. They even got into a sand throwing fight, having lots of fun doing it.

Anna's mom helped Lon shower off a little before we had to go home. Lake water does not smell very good. When we got to the car, Lon took off his clothes, except his underpants and put all his wet clothes into a bag and we went home. Lon ran up to the bathtub. I put the clothes in the wash! It was very fun playing on the beach after school. Lon had a great time.

First Day of First Grade!

2011-09-06T23:05:00.000-07:00

Lon barely got any sleep at all last night he was so excited! He woke up early too!

I made him pancakes. He ate about 2, and his chocolate milk, so he did have a good breakfast

All ready to go, lots of first day supplies. He is wearing his new Darth Vader light up shoes, and his brand new shirt for school.

A little bit of nerves, but he shook it off quickly

His classroom

What kind of mother would I be if I did not take a picture through the window?

A special day present for Lon! The balloon is from Grandma. It is red, his favorite color!

3:30pm and he is released! And best of all, Daddy is there too! Mark took off early so he could be there. Such a good Dad!

A great first day! And now Daddy just said we are going to Dairy Queen for a mini blizzard! This day just keeps getting better!

Eating his mint oreo blizzard. I got a mini turtle and Mark got a mini banana! All were truly yummy!

He just noticed the balloon and the present.

All sorts of great stuff Mom! This is so cool, you are the best Mommy ever!

All of his stuff, two mini figs, two playmobile figures holding the German cones that the kids get there for the first day of school and a little bit of chocolates.

Lon had a good day at school and no homework today. He had to read something he said and play for an hour outside. Both of those things were easily accomplished. He read his level 1 Berenstain Bear's book, and then he went and ran around the backyard. He went to bed on time tonight too!

Labor Day

2011-09-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Or Labour Day, depending on where you live! We had our last barbeque of the summer on Sunday. Megan, Gernot, Grace and Ben, and Chong, Michelle, Brian and Kayla came to enjoy the last of the summer with us.

Pushing Uncle Chong in the hammock. So much for resting!

The little pool, it was great to cool off there and an even better place to refill the water guns!

Such a cute picture of Grace!

Gernot did find a place to rest!

Cut throat games of hangman! We had lots of fun with that game

When Lon was jumping in the pool, Grace was there too, and she wanted a Barbie if she could jump in just like Lon. Well, I try hard to keep my word. It helped that this perfect barbie set was on sale too. Barbie it turns out can squirt water out of her hand. That might be a really fun power to have!

Lon and Grace eating Fruit by the Foot. Lon discovered he liked it at Grace's Grandma's house. I have to get more for him.

We had a fun day with everyone. Made the last pasta salad of the summer, had a wonderful barbeque, even if we did forget to cook the corn! We dusted off the old Italian espresso pot too! The kind that perks on the stove. That was really fun to make little bits of espresso that way.

School starts on Tuesday!

The Fair on Friday

2011-09-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday afternoon Lon put himself in his bed at 5:23 in the afternoon. Hmm, and he went to sleep. Something was not right. When Lon woke up about 2 hours later, with a fever. I knew. Poor little guy. We pulled out the hideabed and slept downstairs. Lon was very worried we would not go to the Evergreen Fair in Monroe. He woke up telling me he felt great, really. I made him eat breakfast, he was fine. He was not running a fever at that time. So we gathered up our 6 cans of food and off we went. The fair was free to get in if you brought in three cans of food each! It was a win-win!
Today's adventure was so Lon could ride the rides. As many as he wanted as much as he wanted in the allowed time. We bought a wrist band, it was 25 dollars. It was a good deal for us, all the rides would have totaled 62 dollars if we paid for them with tickets. Good deal.

The swinging chairs! Lon loved those, flying high. His favorite ride was the voyager. It is a simulator ride, but that did not photograph well. He rode it 6 times

Smiles all around!

The Shrek adventure. Lon did not like the shakey bridge way up high. He did it, mainly because he could not turn back, but he did it. Once he got down the slide to the ground he told me in no uncertain terms he was never doing that again!

This was a fun ride! Lon did the slide three times!

Lon had fun sliding. The first time, the second and third time he hit the rails toward the end and tumbled a little. But he did try it again after he tumbled the first time. I was proud of him for that. The reason he did not try it again after the third time was he needed to go home!

If you don't want to watch the video clip.

Teacups! I can not wait for Lon and I to go on the real teacups at Disney!

Wiggly Worm Roller Coaster. Lon loves the roller coaster! He rode that one twice.

Another wiggley snap!

Shave ice break! We needed to get something to drink and something to eat too!

Corn Dogs are always good!

We found the pony rides. Lon can ride the pony till he weighs 120 pounds. Which means he will be in his early 20s.

The photo stop. yes, I got the photo. They have been having some great photos of him the past couple of years.

We walked around a little while, looking for something for Mommy to eat. But we wanted to see the new calf. Less than 2 weeks old. What a cutie!

We went back to the rides, did a few more --the last slide and voyager. Then we went home. Lon was starting to fade. He was tired and starting not to feel good again. On the upside, Lon had a great time!

Meeting and Greeting

2011-09-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Meet the teacher day! Find out who is in your class and have a nice little barbeque!

Lon, telling his new teacher about Legos. What else? I think she is going to be a great teacher for Lon and they are going to have a good year. Only 4 other children from Lon's Kindergarten class are in this class. I am not sure how I feel about it. Probably 50/50.

Lon got his hot dog from our Albertson's friend Terri. (They provided the fixings for the PTA picnic.) He ate his hot dog very quickly and ran off to play. We sat with James, and his family. It is nice they are in our class this year. When James finished his food he was off playing with Lon. They had fun.

When Daddy came home, Lon wanted to ride bikes. Daddy tried to help Lon ride without training wheels. It will be while, I think, before that happens. Or it could be tomorrow. But the training wheels are off.

YoHo YoHo! A Pirate's Life for Me.

2011-08-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am making sure that Lon knows Mommy keeps her promises. I also need to make sure I don't make HUGE promises I can not keep! While Lon was struggling with Headsprouts and jumping in the pool, I promised him a BIG Lego if he did both. Well, he did both. Maybe I was thinking he forgot, but no. There is no forgetting the BIG lego promise.

The Queen Anne's Revenge. The great part about this Lego is that it is a real ship. They have confirmed the find of the Queen Anne's Revenge off the North Carolina coast. This is going to be a teaching tool!

Putting the finishing touches on the ship. Lon built it all by himself. I helped him with one part he could not wrap his hands around, but that was it. He did it all !

SO proud of himself. And rightly so!

Looking at the ship. Most Legos I let him rebuild and re purpose. This one I am keeping up, intact on his shelf. He said that would be good since it was alot of hard work.

Blackberry Picking

2011-08-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today I was hoping the blackberries would be ripe! Well, they sort of were. We went to Big Finn Hill Park. We had never been there before, it is a nice little park. We will have to go back with a picnic lunch.

This was the most ripe blackberries in one place in the whole park.

Lon is not impressed with the thorns. It was fun to get out of the house and do something, but this thorn thing, not so much

But he did get into a rhythm

8 cups of berries! Yummy!

and what we did with them.

We went up to Albertson's to get some cilantro we forgot to get for dinner. One of the nice ladies that work there suggested we go out back of the store, the berries there were ripe and pretty good. And very easy to get. We did not have a bucket with us, so she gave us a bakery bucket! Super nice. We were having lots of fun getting super easy berries. The canes just hang over a ledge. They looked great, we got another 8 cups of berries in about 1/4 of the time. Lon came up to where I was picking and said he was really sorry. For what young one? He went over to the car to get a little snack, and as he was getting out, he accidentally locked the door behind him. So we were locked out of the our car. We walked back into the store and told them our car was out back till we could walk back and with the spare key (yea! Spare key!). The super nice lady who told us about the blackberries (Terri) offered to give us a ride home. How nice was that! I took her up on it, and Mark was already home and cleaning his car in the driveway. He gave us a ride back to the car. It all worked out. And now we know an easy place to get berries where I won't get so chewed up by vines!

Weekend Update

2011-08-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

We just had the best weekend! We were invited to spend the weekend in Leavenworth with Grace's family at her Grandmother's house. It was so much fun. We started out Friday making Lasagna for our part of the weekend cooking. I also made a pan of brownies. What is dinner without dessert. Sadly, because I was so busy making food for the weekend we did not have time to eat lunch! So when Daddy came home to pick us up after work, we were hungry! Since we needed to be on the road sooner rather than later, we stopped at McDonalds.

mmmm, chicken nuggets!

Quickly back on the road! When we got closer to Leavenworth, we saw some free range turkeys. I like turkeys

We stopped in downtown Leavenworth since we were a little early. We found some places to visit next time that we had not seen before. Lon and Daddy washed their hands. It says it is not safe for human drinking. Maybe it is for the horses

That night was fun, we got to Grace's Grandmothers. Lon and Grace were up till 12:30am. Yes, 12:30 am. I was tired. Lon did not seem tired at all. He said he could have stayed up later and why could I have just put in another movie and let them watch it? It was time to sleep. Really.

The next morning we got up. 5 of us went for a morning walk. Megan, me, Grace, Lon and Grace's grandmother. We walked to the club house. We did not know it was the First Annual Upper Wenatchee Watershed Festival. What a great time the kids had! The river truck was so cool, the loved that. They loved learning about fish habitat and catching little smelts.

Fun with the river truck

Then we found the very best part! Down by the river, two fish and wildlife biologist were down there to show the kids the bugs that live in the river. They were fascinated. They looked at bugs. Being the only kids there, the biologists spent all the time in the world with them. It was private lessons! The kids were thrilled!!

Looking at some bug and getting to learn more than Lon ever thought about river bugs

They gave Lon the big net, he had his socks and shoes off already, and he caught more river bugs.

Looking for little fish. I am not sure they found any.

We walked back up the trail to the club house, went through the clubhouse looking at the little informational booths, we got a rain gauge! Then outside we got a book for a woody scavenger hunt. Find alot of what was out there and get a prize! Since Grace and Lon were some of the first kids, they got their pick of prizes. Grace got a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book and Lon got a monkey hat. We all think it was a bear, but Lon thinks it is a monkey. SO it is a monkey. We then heard they were having a free salmon barbeque for lunch. We had asked the guys to make us sandwiches for lunch, but decided on the way home to eat the sandwiches for lunch the next day. It was a free salmon barbeque! They had grilled salmon, watermelon, potato salad, spinach salad and cake! Did I mention it was FREE? amazing. The food was all really good too!

We went home and got our swim suits, after lunch Megan, Gernot and Mark went on a hike to Hidden Lake, and Grace, Lon and I went to the pool.

SPLASH! We had a great time in the pool. I got in the pool with the kids. It was very much fun. Lon and Grace both learned how to jump into the pool. With and without their life vests. They jumped in at the 5 foot level without life vests, just so long as I was there to make sure they were okay. It also clicked with Lon on how to do his torpedoes from the edge and start swimming! I was SO proud of him!

By the time we were done swimming, the festival was over and they dumped the ice on the grace. Lon and Grace thought it was really fun.

We walked back to Grandma's house and about 15 minutes later, Mark, Megan and Gernot came back from their hike. We talked about it, and decided to go down the river in a tube. I had never done that before! It was very fun. Although I think next time I would like a small paddle so I can make it to shore just a touch easier. I relied on Mark to get me to shore, and he did a good job when it was time to get off the river. It was supposed to take an hour to get down from the bridge, but it was more like 45 minutes. I enjoyed it very much. Lon and Grace were playing well with each other and Grandmother. They cleaned up their messes when they were done. Grace and Lon did not fight at all the entire weekend. It was impressive.

We put the lasagna in the oven when we got back from the river. I am glad I made two pans of lasagna. There was barely any left. Same with the brownies. We played Apples to Apples after dinner, it was fun. Then it was time for bed! The next morning we went to the pool again and Lon showed off what he could do. Daddy was impressed. Then we had to get on the road and go home so Mark could get to work the next morning. The engine light came on and said the coolant was too hot, but we think it was because the car was baking in the sun and not moving for two days. The light went off after we were driving for a bit, but we will get it checked out in the morning. Mark will take my car to work and I will take his to the shop. It is going to be a busy week! School starts next week!

Lots of Lasts

2011-08-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

This morning was our last day of swim lessons for the summer.

We made mini cupcakes for the life guards and instructors. They were so much fun this summer. Lon picked out the blue sprinkles.

Lon is looking good! He may get this swim thing yet!

I did bring a couple of extra cupcakes to share with the kids around the pool. The verdict came back yummy

TY!! Ty was able to spend one last afternoon with us. He goes back to China this weekend. We are going to miss the little guy!

Lon announced that he and Ty would be my minions for today. They are sorting out the birthday confetti, taking out the 50! from the mix so we can use it again. This was Lon's idea. I let him run with it.

I sent them outside! It was too pretty a day to stay inside. With much giggling they tried to be sneaky, quietly turning on the water hoses. They did not think I would notice once they both got soaking wet. They were having so much fun spraying each other, spraying everything. I did get them to water my blueberries, roses and raspberries. That was a win for me!

Talking about the finer points of spraying water

Back inside to dry off for a bit. Playing Legos.

We heard the ice cream truck, twice. The boys waited. And waited. They played in the front yard. They found the holes for the old fence. They waited. We still could hear the music, so they waited. Then we could not hear it anymore. It was highly disappointing to them that the ice cream truck did not come. I am disappointed too.

I made the boys impromptu pizza. I had two pieces of Na'an and some sauce, a little cheese and we were good to go! Na'an pizza is really yummy!

Back outside for more sunshine and water fights.

Lon and Ty hugging goodbye. We will miss him greatly. I hope he has a great time in China! Looking forward to seeing him next summer!