Weigh-In

Today was Lon's weight check. To see if he was gaining weight, and if not, then there were going to be tests and all sorts of things! First the good news. Lon now weighs in at 20 pounds 4 ounces. That is one pound and a quarter more than he did 6 weeks ago. However, he also grew an inch! (He is now 33 inches tall) That means that his stats are exactly the same. 95% for height and 5% for weight. More fattening up of the baby is in store. Today we tried apple slices with peanut butter on them. Yummy. Banana, not so yummy. Blackberries, really yummy, but very messy. Those need to be eaten without a shirt on. Or pants. I have those soaking. We have another doctor's appointment in early October, another weight check and his 15 month shots.

More Than a Dog and Pony Show

It's the slogan of the Evergreen Fair. It is up in Monroe. A nice drive from here. This is the next to last *local* fair. I love Fair season! We went into the swine barn first (it was closest to our entrance gate). There was a gentleman watching his sow and piglets. He pulled out a piglet by it's little hind leg and asked if Lon wanted to pet him. Lon LOVED it! The piglet squealed Lon squealed, it was really cute. Our next stop was the sheep and goat barn. Yes, mother, Lon had plenty of hand sanitzer rubbed onto those little hands. He is getting molars now, so his finger is always being chewed on. I made sure that his hands were always clean. The pygmy goats are always a favorite. I remember my father teased my mother about getting a couple of pygmy goats, or perhaps a monkey. This is how you know that you are coming into see the sheep and goats.

At one end of the sheep and goat barn they have a giant fan. This was LOTS of fun! Lon really thought that was one of the best things at the fair. On our way to another part of the barn, they had a display of angora goat wool (mohair). Lon was touching lots of it, then rubbing his hair. He was not too sure about it. Next we found the petting zoo! How much fun is this? To get into the petting zoo, they have a bunch of fun things for slightly older kids, you get to pick an apple, dig a potato, gather some plastic eggs, and put them all in your basket then deliver them to the market. At the market station you then get some stickers for your efforts. It is cute, in a year or two Lon will think it is fun, now it was just a long walk. He did grab a basket, but he did not gather anything. The first animal in the petting zoo that Lon got to see was a baby chick. He petted him with one finger. The lady holding the chick was very impressed that Lon was so gentle. She said most of the little guys are not that gentle. Lon is such a nice boy!

There were goats to pet, and a 7 year old very gentle donkey. They also had some rabbits, a tom turkey and some hens, a funky looking chicken, larger piglets than the first one Lon petted, a calf, and some more chicks. Lon loved the area. We washed his hands very well with soap and water, then used hand sanitizer. Even after that Mark kept singing a little ditty he made up about avian flu. We then heard some music. We went to see what it was. Mexican folk dancing, brought to you by La Gan D radio station.

Lon seemed to be fascinated by the swirling costumes, the music. He liked it.

After that we got some lunch.

Mmmm lunch! I had the polish sausage with sauerkraut, and grilled onions. Yummy.

Then Lon had a nap. Mommy and Daddy looked at some horses being shown. We walked around, got some Lopez Island Ice Cream (local). Signed up for all sorts of contests we won't win, but they will call us and tell us of our great prizes if we come in to listen to a two hour talk.

At the fair ground in Monroe, they have Frontier Land. They have the history of the fair building, some totems, they also have the guys doing chain saw carving. Love those bears. They also have the Snohomish tribe selling a salmon dinner, and best of all FRY BREAD. Complete with margarine, and jam. YUMMY. Normally Margarine is not something I ever eat. The only exception is fry bread. Don't know why, but there it is. The other thing they have out in frontier land is the pig track. The Great Alaskan Pig Racers! They are so cute.

Lon woke up when we went into the cow barn. We saw lots of cows. We learned that cows are can also become dehydrated in the heat, and sometimes to entice them to drink they mix jello with the water. Give it some flavor. I do not think that this calf has that problem. Lon thought it was very interesting that calfs drink milk too.

Onto looking at the little people rides. Lon was pretty impressed.

Lon is not quite tall enough yet for the rides, about 4 inches short. But he is certain that next year, he is going to be able to ride all the great rides he saw!

A fun train!

The cars that go round and round in great colors! They go around Dad!

This was a fun way to spend a day. Lon enjoyed being out in the sunshine. One of his favorites of the day, that we did not get pictures of, was the Snohimish County 911 dunk tank. He laughed every time the man got dunked. He also got a bag with some color crayons in it and information for kids on how 911 works. He is not old enough for that yet. I figured since he got the crayons, he might as well use them

This is what he drew for me. I will keep this paper forever. Of course, Mommy wrote the caption.

What a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Mark had his birthday party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The guys all played Age of Empires. We had burgers, and dogs on the grill. I made coleslaw and potato salad and a cake. We had tons of food. We had garden burgers for Uncle Vasu. Megan, Gernot's wife (that's him on the end), was there with three of her children. Lon had such a good time playing with Grace. Grace is about Lon's age. Cute little girl. unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the kids!

This is Uncle Chong. He is a rock star. We are letting him spend lots of time with Lon as Auntie Michelle is going to have a son in December!

Auntie Michelle is looking great! Lon will have tons of fun with the new little one.

Uncle Chong and Auntie Michelle stayed after the party and Uncle Chong helped Mark fix the deck. It looks so much bigger now! Even though the squirrels are unhappy to have their runways taken away!

It is so nice to have the deck repaired. We are looking into getting a new deck and we will use the stuff made from recycled pop bottles! Low maintenace is now a key factor for me!

Uncle Chong works really well with an audience. We all pretty much watched him fix the broken deck! He is such a nice guy, even though he tells me I scold him all the time.

Watching Uncle Chong!

After the deck is repaired, Mark opened his gifts.

The secret mission I referred to in July, was finally reveled! On our way to see Kenmore House, my mother and I called a professional photographer and had Lon's photo taken. We had it done outside at Mill Park. They turned out fantastic! I am so pleased. Mom and I went to Kenmore as a cover for the real reason we left the house!

Mark's birthday was fun for all of us.

Next post: The Evergreen State Fair!

Birthday Couch!

I hate my couch. No, hate is not too strong a word. I got it 17 years ago, in the back room at Sears. Basically it was, please take this stuff so we do not have to take it to the dump. The couch was 75 dollars. It was nice for a while. Then we got the dog and it got stained. A slip cover was made which is now rotting away. When I got the flyer from Greenbaum's saying they were having their annual sale, I decided Lon and I would go get a couch, perhaps a chair too. But defiantly a couch. They delivered my couch today! On my birthday! I am SO happy!


Lon sees something out there. The cats are locked up, so is the dog. Something is defiantly up!

Here comes the truck!! Wooohooo!!

They are brining the new couch in the door!

The New Couch! It is green, not brown. really.

Such a cutie, but he really isn't supposed to be eating on the new couch. We now have toys on the couch so bullwinkle can not sleep on the new couch. He is crushed not to be able to be on the couch anymore.

Today is my birthday. I am so pleased to have my new couch and I got presents from Lon and Mark and Miss Sarah, and my sister sent a gift. I know my mother sent something, but it is not here yet. Lon got me some See's candy. Yummy. Miss Sarah gave me hand cream and nail polish and a card I will treasure. Mark got me a back massager. SO nice. Mark showed it to Lon and turned it on his tummy. Lon grabbed it and would not let go! Mark turned it off and Lon bopped him in the head with the massager. Lon got his bath after that. We had Veal Parmesan for dinner. Miss Sarah was able to join us. That was nice. Totally blew my diet out of the water today, but we will try again Thursday! Tomorrow Lon and I are going to the Mediterranean Kitchen for lunch. It was a good birthday. I am still 29.

Lon is playing the picnic basket were we keep the cookie cutters while we are making dinner.

BrasilFest!

This was fun! Miss Sarah, Lon and I went to Seattle Center today to enjoy BrasilFest. We had a good time. The Fest itself was small, but good. They had Fejoada Completa. Yummy. I am glad I got to see a plate before I ordered, it was HUGE for $5.00. I got one and Sarah and I split it. We also got Guarana! Super yummy soda pop! It sort of tastes like a cross between Cherry Coke and Ginger Ale. It is also highly caffeinated. Natural caffeine, not added to it.

Lon did not have any guarana. I tried to give him some Fejoada, but he declined. Even the plain rice.

But he made it for it with other snacks.
There were two ladies in the typical costume of Bahia, they were seeking donations for the fest and also giving out wish ribbons. In Azul, Verde, and Amarillo. (Blue, Green and Yellow. I may have spelled the colors wrong...) You tie the ribbon around your wrist with three knots and make a wish with each knot. Once the ribbon falls off naturally, your wishes will come true. I enjoyed the fest, I will go back again next year. One of the bonus features for me was that the lady who was selling the guarana, gave out business cards for a Mercado do Brasil. It is on the Ave, and I can get to the U district without having to mess with the freeways! Super bonus! I will defiantly be going there!
The space needle. It is the dominant feature of the Seattle Center. There was a gaggle of Japanese women tourists. They spotted Lon! A cry went up and through all of them. They were very excited to see him. They took alot of pictures of him and them. The light turned to cross the street and we all had to run across to make the light. They were very funny. They did not speak much English and I know almost no Japanese. Lon will be in lots of Japanese scapbooks!

A bonus! We found a place to make a smashed penny! Lon has another one for his collection.

One more bonus, for all of you who have read the blog for a while will remember the great and lamented Dr. Suess hat. We lost it a long time ago. Since the Children's Museum shop is in Seattle Center, we stopped in. They had ONE left, and it was on sale! yea! We have the Dr. Suess hat back!! I am so happy! I will have photos of Lon modeling the hat once it gets cold enough. It was 87 today so I was not about to make him wear it for photos!

I figured we were close enough to the Market to go down there to get a present for Mark's birthday. (Saturday) He likes something called Lanjager. I think it means walking stick in German. It is a smoked sausage. The ONLY place that was closed in the entire crowded Market today was the German Meat Market. Of course! So we did not get anything there. There might be a German Market on the eastside, I will look. The Market is really crowded. I forgot how many people go there during the summer. A nice sunny summer day. Not going back there till October!

We had one more mission. Since we were on the waterfront, I could easily get to Boricchini's bakery. On Rainer. They have the best baked goods, and a deli and gelato. Mark loves the Pistachio. The last 6 times I have been there, no pistachio. Rats. This time, they had it! Yes! One of the first times I brought it home, Miss Sarah was over and asked what he was eating and he told her frog spit ice cream. She tried it anyway. So now she calls it frog spit ice cream and will share it with Mark. They also have a new thing, 24 flavors of soft serve ice cream. Of course, they ran out of the soft serve with the person ahead of us in line. It takes 20 minutes to get a new batch going. We needed to go home, so alas, no soft serve. Not like we suffered, we had pan au chocolate, cherry croissants, a sugar donut for Lon. Found out he preferred the croissants. He has good taste. We also got Mark some black bread. After all his birthday is coming up!

Baby Rocker

When I was very small, my Uncle Eddie gave me a child size rocker. After seeing how much fun Lon had with my Mother's rocking chair, I got my little one out of it storage place. When I turned it over, I found out it is Amish made. Nice. Lon is having such a good time with the rocker! I have put it in his room, in front of his book case. (well, one of his bookcases at any rate) It makes it look like a nice place to read.

It is good that little rocker is being used again.

Mystery Solved!

The mystery duck that arrived for Lon's birthday. I had no clue on who sent it. Well today the mystery was solved. I got a beautiful art piece from my PEO Secret Sister. In her wonderful card she mentioned that she sent a silly duck for Lon's birthday and she hoped he liked it. He does. Now the mystery is solved. I am glad I did not get around to calling the candy store in Cannon Beach, as that would ruin my surprise coming in February when we reveal our secret sisters and get new ones. I am not going to think about who it is either. I hate it when I know the surprise ahead of time.

Snohomish on Saturday!

We went up to the self proclaimed Antique Capital of Washington today. Snohomish. Mark stayed out of all the shops-- they are too crowded for the stroller.

Lon liked being out in the sunshine.

I just looked at some good stuff, and was amazed at how much in price things have gone up since the last time I went to an antique store!

We ate lunch at a place that advertised itself as Family Friendly. We like that. We were out in their courtyard. It was such a nice day.

A little bit before we were going to leave a very large black cat stopped by. From Black Cat Antiques. They were having an adopt a black cat day. They had KITTENS! oh my, they were so very very cute. I really wanted to take one (or 6) home. However, I know that the beasts I have would be highly put out bringing home another new baby.

This building has an advertisement in the upper window for the Washington Ghost Association. Mark thought it was amusing. I thought it was too.

This is behind the VFW hall, and next to the Kla-ha-ya Park.

An easel set up in the park.

One tired little man. We are about to go home and Lon thinks it is a good thing. He was so tired. It was a nice warm day. He slept all the way home and then took a nap once we got home! He walked around pushing his stroller. We wore him out. He had a good day, as did we all.