Ocean Shores

It was such a nice day last Saturday in Olympia that we decided to go to the beach in Ocean Shores. Where it was cold. Whaaa! But it usually is out there. We're just always surprised by how cold it is. I wasn't in complete denial though. I brought jackets. Hallelujah!


Elliott surprised me. He wasn't scared of the cold, the sound of the surf or the water/waves. He would've walked right into the ocean if I hadn't held his hand the entire time. Brian helped Oliver and Owen build a sandcastle.

Done with baseball... for now.

Baseball is over for the boys, but not forgotten. They look forward to the next season. Here are some pictures my friend Annie took.

Oliver - Reading and Scootering

Oliver has come a long way with his reading over the last year. He's reading so well now that I'm surprised when he gets hung up on a word, as crazy as that sounds. The other night he read a Skippyjon Jones book to Owen at bedtime. It was so cute I had him give a repeat performance on camera. You'll need to turn up your volume to hear him.

The next one is just for fun. This is how Oliver rides his scooter -- cracks me up!

Milestones abound!

At 10 months old, Elliott is walking about 95% of the time now. He can bend over to pick things up off the floor without falling over and stand up from the floor without grabbing onto anything. I guess I'm okay with him walking already since it's summer and we'll be outside so much. I don't really want him crawling around on the ground. Also, he has his first tooth!

We are all very proud of Owen. He is riding his bike without training wheels! He's been able to ride a straightaway for awhile if I got him going, but he finally learned to get himself going yesterday. He was so determined. He said, "I'm capable of doing this. I'm not giving up." And when he realized his goal, I could swear he grew a whole 2 inches and gained 5 pounds. It was beautiful!

Member's Night at the Zoo

I took Oliver and Owen to a special member's-only night at the Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. They have a new kid's area that recently opened called Animal Avenue. It has new things to play on and new animals to see. New animals include:

• Ring-tailed Lemur
• Black Lemur
• Damaraland Mole Rat
• Golden Orb Weaver spider
• Goliath Bird-eating Spider
• Antilles Pink-toed Tree Spider
• Emerald Tree Boa
• Green Tree Python
• Western Bell's Hinge-back Tortoise
• Pancake Tortoise
• Ornate Horned Frog
• White's Tree Frog
• Hour Glass Tree Frog
• Surinam Toad
• Long-legged Desert Ant
• African Emperor Scorpion
• Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
• African Cichlid

There were also stuffed meerkats in their Meerkat Manor. The live meerkats are not on exhibit yet and someone has a sense of humor. We laughed and it lessened the disappointment. Overall it was a really nice time. The weather was great, the boys behaved themselves and I didn't have to push a stroller! LOL

The mandatory sitting upon the beautifully carved bench out front.

Leapin' Lemurs!

The cool new spinning toy.

Snailiver

Now that's a goatee!

Video added

I added three videos from Oliver's concert. They are within the post titled "End of Year Kindergarten Concert." They are about 2 minutes each, I think. So cute!

Father's Day Photos

We had a lovely Father's Day today. The weather was awesome, Brian let me take pictures of him with the boys, we had a picnic and went for a hike through the forest. We topped off the day by having dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.












The next two photos happened to be taken just as Brian was taking a swift kick to the crotch by Elliott. It's a good thing we're done having babies! ;o)

End of the Year Kindergarten Concert

All three kindergarten classes put on an end-of-year concert for their families. They were forced to wear garish sailor's hats for some reason. They sang several songs. Each song had a sign language component. The kids were all so cute. Well, most of them anyway.


I felt sorry for a couple of them who had obvious stage fright. They cried hysterically. One boy completely freaked me out because he was stock-still except for his eyes. His eyes kept crossing -- sometimes one eye, sometimes both. I honestly thought he was about to have an epileptic fit or something. I watched him intently for a couple of minutes, panicked and ran to check with his mom that he was ok. Apparently that is his coping mechanism in uncomfortable situations. (He's really shy.) Interesting.

I never envisioned myself as one of those moms who boo-hooed at events like this. Normally, I don't. But one of the songs was "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." This is a song adapted from the book Chicka Chicka ABC. I read that book a thousand times to Oliver as a baby and toddler. They started singing the song and didn't get that far into it when I have this FLASH of Oliver sitting in my lap at about 9 months old wearing a white t-shirt, a diaper and his brace on his feet. I'm reading/singing the book to him.

The flash ends. I look up at Oliver singing a song I used to sing to him and I totally lost it. I mean really. Not just misty. Not a restrained tear or two. BUCKETS of tears were streaming down my face. It was all I could do to remain in my seat. I wanted to run out of the room.

Oliver could see me from the stage and did well to maintain his composure. Finally though, my blubbering got to him and his eyes welled up. I thought, Oh no! Look what I've done now. I willed myself to stop crying so he wouldn't go to pieces up there. I was filming the whole thing for Pete's sake! I don't even know what I did to stop to crying. I think I had to look at the other kids or think about baseball. ha ha ha

If you know the book, the photo above is the part where it goes, "Oh no! Chicka chicka BOOM BOOM!"

The last two photos are (1) Oliver with his teacher, Mrs. Fettig and (2) Oliver's girlfriend, Chun Hui. (She's the one who drew the picture of the two of them under an apple tree sometime around Valentine's Day.)



The final selection in the concert was the cutest, most appropriate song they could have sung. It's called "First Grade."

5 Year-old in a 12-month Shirt

His excuse was, "Well, it was in my closet."

Clever Relief from Teething

I noticed Elliott's pacifier tucked into his bottom lip for the first time a couple of days ago and thought it must have happened on accident somehow. But I keep seeing him with it like this and I realized finally that by tucking it under his bottom lip, the pacifier is putting pressure on his bottom gums. It looks absolutely ridiculous, but whatever works!

Owen at Five Years Old

Elliott's First Steps

He's been thinking about it. I could see it in his eyes as he cruised around the walls, the coffee table and from sofa to love seat. He's been standing unassisted for a few seconds here and there. He had even taken a few tiny baby steps without really realizing it. But yesterday, at 9 months of age, Elliott finally took those first REAL steps! And we were all there to witness it -- mom, dad and brothers.

Happy Birthday, Owen!

Yesterday, Brian took Owen to his first Mariner's game. He wants to start a tradition of taking the boys individually to a game each year for their special birthday present from Dad. Safeco Field has lots of fun things to do and see. Owen got to play in the Kid's Zone and Brian weaseled some sweet seats in the cafe that overlooks the field. The cafe seats are reserved for people that have the really expensive tickets but Brian didn't know that when he went in. He and Owen had already ordered when the server asked for his voucher and to see his tickets. I can imagine the look on Brian's face! But the server was cool and said they could stay unless someone showed up with the right credentials. They got lucky and nobody showed to claim the seats!

Brian and Owen in front of the mitt sculpture.

Owen in the cafe.

Owen brought luck to the Mariner's -- they ended a losing streak!

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We celebrated Owen's 5th birthday today at a new place in town called Charlie's Safari. It was loud and rowdy -- perfect for a bunch of little boys! The kids played for about an hour before we had pizza, cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches and gift opening. Then the kids played some more before we decided to call it quits.

Owen, Luke and Oliver

Oliver

Owen and Luke

The birthday boy!

Owen and his friend from preschool, Ethan B.

I love this photo because you can see the two boys in the background blowing along with Owen.

A face only a mother could love. And even then it was tough.

I had a monkey on my back throughout the party.

You can tell Owen was ecstatic to stop for a photo with Mama.

Dad gets a big smile though. Humph! Must be that Mariner's game yesterday.

Oliver was so excited to give Owen his gift. He was doing his jig that is easily confused for the pee-pee dance.

Oliver's gift was two super-soakers. Look at that fiendish face!! He can't wait to use those bad boys.