The Greatest Show on Earth!

We went to the circus last night in Portland and it was GREAT! There were new, inventive acts we'd never seen before, the costumes were outrageous and the clowns were a hoot!

We went in 2006 and it was pretty good. Last night's show was much better, however. The Os were amazed at so many of the acts. Oliver's mouth was agape over the contortionists, the motorcycles daredevils and the strong men. Owen went wild for the motorcycle daredevils! They got SEVEN going at once in the steel ball. It was fantastic. The Os are old enough now to get the clown humor. Bonus! When the trick horse riders were performing, I asked Owen, "Do you think you could do that?" He replied, "If I had training." WHAHAHAHAHA!!!

There were smiles and laughter, ooing and ahhing. Just like it should be.

Watching some of the performers at the pre-show on the floor.

One professional clown and two amateurs.

The Great Owentini!

Circus Peanuts for a peanut at the circus.

The elephants were so much fun to watch.

I wonder if the elephants being sat upon are uncomfortable?

The elephant finale!

The Grand Finale!

Poo is Funny

That's right, poo. Not Pooh, as in Winnie the, but plain ol' poo. Just think about all the different words we have for the offending excrement. Poop. Poo-poo, doo-doo, doody, caca. Fecal matter. Feces. Sh**. Turds. Crap. Logs, bricks, pellets and dump -- all construction oriented. Dooky. BM. #2. Stool, spoor, manure, droppings and dung. I don't think your age matters as long as you're at least old enough to know what it is and from whence it came.

Yesterday, Owen was reading The Lion King to Oliver. Of course, Owen can't actually read yet so he was making up the story according to the illustrations. Or so I thought. Owen was giving quite a dramatic performance and Oliver was red with laughter. I thought, wait a minute... The Lion King isn't funny! I decided to tune in momentarily and here's what I heard:

...and Scar pooed on Simba. Simba took a bath but it wouldn't come off so he had to stink FOREVER...

I had to quickly hide so they wouldn't see me crack up. Laughing at their potty humor would add so much fuel to the fire. I shudder to think. But who could NOT laugh at that. Poo is definitely funny. As long as you're not the one stepping in it.

For more information on poop, visit
http://www.smellypoop.com/facts_about_poop.php.

Eunice Lake Hike

We went for a hike last Sunday to Eunice Lake within Mt. Rainier National Park. It's in the northwest corner of the park. From the trailhead, the lake is 1.9 miles one-way. Tolmie Lookout is another .9 miles where there's an awesome view of Mt. Rainier. We made it to Eunice Lake and started to continue on up to the lookout but it started to rain so we turned back.

There was no way to know if it was going to just sprinkle for a few minutes or turn into a downpour. Since we had the baby with us, we played it safe. We'll have to go back another time and complete the mission! Brian and I estimated we hiked about 4.5 miles total. This was the first real hike for the Os and they both did really well. Owen didn't complain at all. Oliver did have some trouble with his little leg toward the end so we were sort of glad we didn't go to the peak.

Aside from Oliver's leg hurting, we only had one mishap (if you don't count a wrong turn getting to the park) -- a record for the Watkins in Washington! The water container we put in Oliver's pack leaked all over his sweater. Bah! All 32 ounces of it. The good news was that the sweater absorbed nearly all the water so Oliver stayed dry. The bad news was that Oliver had nothing to keep him warm if/when he got cold. Being the devoted mother I am, I let him wear my fleece pull-over. He looked so funny in it with the sleeves hanging down to his knees. Give him a couple of years though, right?

I had two favorite moments. One was when Owen started singing, "We live in a beautiful world" by Coldplay. It was sweet and cool at the same time. Oliver, whose brain is always on overdrive, informed me that a quarter of two miles is half a mile. I doubt I even knew what a quarter of anything was at 6 years old!

And bless Elliott's little heart... he was an absolute angel the whole day. We left the house around 9:30am and didn't get back until around 6pm. He went from his car seat to the baby backpack and back into the car seat without complaint. I think it was about 5:30pm that he signed "all done" in the car and growled a little to let us know he had had it. We are lucky that he is so easy-going.

Oliver kept doing weird hiker-statue poses. Owen joined in for this one.

The crazy hair is a result of smearing DEET all over the boys' heads to keep the mosquitoes off.

Wildflowers next to the lake.

A peek-a-boo of Mt. Rainier from Eunice Lake.

We made it!

Eunice Lake

Happy 1st Birthday, Elliott!

One down and seventeen to go. Woo hoo! We made it through his first year. And nearly unscathed. I wanted so badly to get some really great pictures of Elliott on his birthday. Unfortunately, the rascal won't stand still for more than half a second. I snapped over FORTY pictures and all but this one were blurry because he was constantly walking around. I would have tried to get more pictures sitting on the picnic table you see below, but he started to stand up on top of it so we had to abort mission.

Don't they look sweet?

The next set of photos are an example of something I like to do with the kids when they're little. I'll occasionally take pictures of the things they're into at that time. So here's Elliott playing with some of his favorite toys in his bedroom at one year old.

The Little People Farm. For some reason I saved all of Oliver and Owen's Little People.

He drops the balls into the top of the giraffe and they roll out the leg holes. He's really proud of himself for figuring this one out.

Apparently trying to make a return trip.

Peek-a-boo!

Elliott's birthday was on Friday and we celebrated on Saturday. It was just the five of us with some cake, ice cream and a few gifts. The Os had just as much fun with the new toys as Elliott did.

Oliver really wanted to video and I let him. There was mishap and we ended up singing the happy birthday song and blowing out the candle twice. Elliott loved being the center of all that attention.

We let Owen blow Elliott's candle out since Oliver got to blow Owen's first candle out. Elliott is sporting a custom-made birthday shirt designed by mom.

I really need to take a cake decorating class. So lame!

Click on this one to enlarge it and see if you can read his shirt.

Brian and Elliott reading his new birthday book, Gallop! It's the coolest book ever!

Elliott actually pulled some paper off himself!

This is a fun toy I found at Target. It's a giant gum ball machine he puts the balls into and then there are three ways to release them.

I believe this was Take One. Just look at that grin!

Elliott didn't care too much for the cake by itself. It was too sweet. Once Dad combined it with the ice cream though, he was all over it!

Camping at Kitsap Memorial State Park

We went camping last weekend with Linda, Alex, Vanessa, Mark and Leon. Quarters were close, but it worked out just fine. We shared some meals and some laughs and had a good time just hanging out. All the boys played and had fun. We plan to make it an annual event at various locations.

The park is close to Poulsbo and there was an arts and crafts show going on that we went to. I got a new pair of earrings out if it! There was also a marine science center the Os wanted to visit. It was small, but nice. The weather was warmer than we would've liked, but at least it wasn't raining!

The babies did really well considering the circumstances and they both get awards for being able to nap whenever and wherever. Alex gets an award for keeping the Os entertained.

As usual, I took too many photos. This one is far and away my favorite. This is Leon (3rd cousin to my boys) taking his first crawl while his adoring parents, Vanessa and Mark, watch him with great pride.


And here are some others that I like from the weekend:

Picking blackberries at our campsite.

LaLa and Chunks.

The group going into Poulsbo.

Mark, Brian and the babies.

Vanessa helping Oliver with a craft.



The finished product.

The Os at the Marine Science Center.