Woodland Park Zoo

Last Saturday after my family left to go back to Wyoming, Michael and I took the boys to the zoo for the first time. We were all pretty exhausted so we didn't get there until around 4pm, but we still had a good couple of hours walking around looking at the animals. Owen is still kind of small to really get it. He noticed the hippos and the elephants, but he's not really sure what to think of it all. He really enjoyed himself when he just got to run around.

This was the first time we used the backpack to carry Owen around.

Mommy with Jack in the Moby!
Having the time of his life!!!

Watching Grass Grow

A few weeks back with the help of my brother Ryan we thatched and aerated the lawn. After that Michael laid down new top soil and grass seed. We had been waiting to see new grass for about a week and Michael was getting a little worried that it wasn't going to take. Then we went to the ocean and came back to this...


Everyday the grass is getting longer and longer. I can't wait until it's really established so Owen can play in the yard again.

Not everything with the yard has been a success though. We tried to transplant this azalea because it was too close to the fence. Oops!!!

I do have tomatoes and zucchini growing though. I'm so excited!!! The last time I tried to grow zucchini the bees just wouldn't pollinate it so I didn't get any. Weird!!

Toddler Bed

A few weeks back when Owen had his fever we let him sleep in bed with us and then while we were out at the ocean he slept with us again part of the time. Today he wasn't feeling so hot so he slept with me in our bed. Also the other night when Michael told him it was time to go to bed Owen started walking towards his room, but then stopped turned around and went to our bed and pointed at it. No, no we are not going to make a habit of this. We are thinking he is ready for a bigger boy bed. Not a twin bed just yet, but a toddler bed. The nice thing about toddler beds is you just use the crib mattress so we don't have to go out and buy a new mattress yet. The picture above is the bed that I just bought online from Wal-Mart. It's super cute and it will go with the dressers I have for the boys room. I actually went ahead and bought 2 of these beds so they will match since Owen and Jack will most likely be sharing a room eventually.

The Grey Gull

We stayed at the Grey Gull in Ocean Shores. It's a bunch of condos that are rented out. We had a poolside room that was just great. It had a king size bed and two hide-a-beds in the living room. We also had a full kitchen. It was really great for the price. We were only about a 1/4 mile away from the beach too. Michael and Owen walked it, but I stayed at the condo to take care of Jack. We are definitely going to take the boys back there. I didn't really get to utilize the kitchen and I would have liked to. We might go next August, hopefully the weather will cooperate. It would be fun to just relax, go in the pool, go down to the beach, build sand castles, run in the waves and just enjoy being there.

Good Morning Sunshine!!!

Ocean Shores

On Tuesday the family had another full day in Seattle, but I opted to keep the boys home. Owen only had about a 20 minute nap on Monday when we were out and about so I wanted him to have a down day to rest. They went to the Aquarium, Pike Place Market, on an Argosy Cruise and a Ferry. Another VERY busy day!

On Wednesday we left for a couple days at the ocean. Surprisingly it was beautiful when we got there. Too bad that didn't last the whole trip. The first place we stopped was of course the ocean. Owen and Daddy had fun running away from the waves. We were really hungry so we left to get lunch. The rest of the day was filled with going to the little shops in town.

The next day was gray and yucky out. Jack kept me up most of the night so I was in a pretty sour mood all day. Exhaustion brings out the worst in me! We did drive over to Westport for dinner and that was nice. Except the ride back was filled with tears from everyone...except Michael. Poor guy!

Full Day in Seattle!

While my side of the family was here from Wyoming we wanted to take them to all the normal tourist attractions here in Seattle. Our first stop was the Museum of Flight. My Uncle Cliff is one of the tour guides there so he gave us a private tour. The picture above is at the start of the tour. We picked a really great day to go to the museum because the Blue Angels were flying in. We even got to see the pilots walk into the museum after they landed. They looked pretty nice in their uniforms.
This is my cousin Rhonda and her two kids Dillon and Tiffy goofing off in the kids area of the museum.
This is about the only happy moment Owen had all day. He was coming down with something so he's wasn't in the best mood.

Our next stop was the Space Needle where the adventure really started. We decided to just pay for the valet parking that's right at the base of the Needle so we wouldn't have to walk far. My Aunt Linda decided she would help with the kids so she got Owen out of the car. That's when things took a turn for the worse. Somehow she got her finger slammed in the door. It looked really bad so my Dad took her and my Uncle Lee to Swedish to have it looked at. They ended up being gone the entire rest of the day. My Aunt found out she broke her finger and she had to have nail removed and 4 stitches.

While my Aunt was off at the hospital we continued with our tourist fun by going to the top of the Needle. Jack and Ga-Ga were down at the bottom because Ga-Ga was in a wheelchair from her recent knee replacement and didn't feel like going up. Besides she's been to the top a number of times. She watched Jack for me since they don't allow strollers up at the top and that would have been a bit difficult trying to hold two babies. Owen wasn't too thrilled with being up there. He wasn't scared, but he wasn't happy either.

Later on after we visited the International Fountain we finally got Owen to take a nap in the stroller. It was funny we had two strollers and a wheel chair to push around. Thankfully we had enough people to push them all. After the fountain we went to the Pacific Science Center and hung out for a little bit and then went on some of the rides over by the EMP. We finally got the call that my Aunt Linda had been seen and was all finished up at the hospital. We met them over at the valet parking and got in the cars to go home. Michael was sweet enough to have dinner all ready by the time we got home. And if that wasn't enough action for one day after dinner we went down to the Redondo pier and walked the boardwalk. Too much fun for one day!!!

Shy Smiler

I love it when Jack smiles. It's just melts my heart. Pardon the baby talk on my part I just can't help myself.

Talking Back

At the BBQ Owen and Eden (Eden is my third cousin) were having a talking contest with each other. It was so funny!

Backyard BBQ

Okay the reason I haven't blogged in a while is because we had family here from Wyoming. I will post about all the adventures we had this last week soon, but first we had a BBQ at my parents house so everyone could just hang out.

Owen riding on his radio flyer that GG picked up at an antique store. So cool!

Pa having some Jack time!

Uncle Ryan having some Owen time!

Aunt Linda having some Jack time too!

This was taken in Wyoming in May of 2007. Owen and Jack make the same face when they sleep. I love those chubby cheeks!

The Coolest Sandbox EVER!!!

We have been wanting to get Owen a sandbox for a long time now, but I just kept missing the one I wanted on Craigslist. My mom has always wanted to get one of those sand & water tables for her house so she asked my dad to start looking on Craigslist for them. He came up with a way better idea that a normal old sandbox. My mom and dad's backyard has these two raised garden beds so he decided to use one of them as the sandbox instead. Check this out...

Dad decided to make an awesome old truck. He went and bought lawnmower tires and they actually move. Owen is still so obsessed with wheels it's ridiculous!

The steering wheel is another lawnmower wheel. Dad's not finished yet either he's going to attach light switches and turn knobs to the dash so Owen has lots of stuff to play with.

I love that he cut out the front and back windows. He's just so clever!

This truck sandbox also had an awesome engine. It's a V8 (made with V8 cans). It's so cool, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Dinner Date

My how date night has changed!!! About a week ago we had dinner at Micah and Kim's. When Owen was born they brought us dinner and a movie so we told them we would return the favor when they had a baby. We weren't able to do a movie since Owen goes to bed early, but we brought them Greek food from Spiro's so I think that made up for it. It was so nice to sit and chat with them and see how Andy has grown. It's so exciting that we are going to grow as parents as well as having our kids grow up together.

Visitors

A couple weeks we had lots of visitors at our house. Uncle Rick, Aunt Michelle and cousins Avery, Cooper and Paige came over to meet Jack for the first time. The next day Aunt Becky came over with cousin Samantha for a visit too. We LOVE visitors!

From left to right - Avery, Uncle Rick, Jack and Cooper

Owen trying to kiss cousin Samantha!