Toddler Tumbling

My son has limitless energy, with all the excitement of Summer activities we have been out of the house a lot which is great. Charlie has started to think that is becoming the new normal so he gets pretty grumpy if we don't leave the house. For this reason, Max and I started exploring some Toddler tumbling classes. We knew Charlie would love it and it would be a great way to get those wiggles out. We found out that a couple of gyms will do a free introductory class. We have already taken a free class at The Little Gym, and Gymboree. Next week we will have a free class at Westside Dance Academy

These are pictures from the Little Gym. It was so much fun and we were glad that we went on a Saturday so Max could join us. Charlie was one of the youngest in the class but he could do a lot more than the other kids (proud parent moment) his somersaults were exceptional and his strength while hanging on the bar was above average. 

After the free class we thought it would be a fun thing to continue with it but it would turn out to be nearly $22 per 45 minute class. Yikes. We may reconsider when the weather starts to get rainy again but in the meantime Charlie has just as much playing at a park for free. 

Note to self...

This is a to do list to remind me of want I should have already blogged about but haven't

• Father's day pictures
• Charlie's tumbling
• Living in a house for 8+ months (our family's record thus far)
• Charlies words and other cute developments
• Independence Day
• House projects (mailboxes and #3 yard work) 

In the meantime we are trying to make the most of our summer, We realized that in the past, our summer started in April when we went to California and this year it didn't really start until June. So we've felt a little jipped (gipped? jipt? spell check has no suggestions) but we try to make the most of what is left. We have some fun adventures planned in the future.   

A weekend in Seattle

We got to go up on another trip to Tacoma to spend time with my brother's family. This time, my cousin Stephanie was there with her family! At first it was going to be a girls and kids trip with Elizabeth, Stephanie, me and our little ones. We then found out that Seattle Fire Department was doing a practice employment test and Max thought that would be a great opportunity for a step up when they test in October. Since Max was coming and Stephanie was already up in Tacoma we drove up Thursday night and brought Todd (Steph's husband) along with us. We got there in the evening and all the kids were in bed so we put Charlie down and had a short visit with James and Elizabeth before we all went to bed. 

 In the morning everyone woke up, except for Charlie. Steph and Todd and Elizabeth made an amazing breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Yum! Charlie slept through the morning commotion but woke up in time to get a cold plate of food. 

We cleaned up and played around the house and in the front yard until noon when we left for the zoo. No trip to Tacoma is complete without visiting the Point Defiance zoo. I think I've been there more than the Portland zoo. Max didn't come with us to the zoo because it was the same time as his practice test in Seattle. 

Cousins and Second Cousins!

We tried to get them to pose on the log, Charlie didn't understand why he had to sit still...so he didn't

Checking out the Sharks

we got to see a baby tiger and a baby leopard. 

My adorable nieces climbing on the snake!

Of course we had to stop off at the carousel. 

We came home and had a fun time playing in the front yard in the kiddie pool. Todd and Steph prepared an awesome meal of BBQed burgers. 

After dinner we put the kids in bed. Max and I did our Insanity workout in James and Elizabeth's newly cleaned out carport. It felt good to be outside! After our workout and showers we played cranium with all the adults. Loads of fun!

The next morning after breakfast, Steph, Todd, Max, me, and our kids all went to the Pike Street Market downtown Seattle. It's a great big farmer's market. We had fun looking at all the levels of shops. We ended up getting a large donut , that we all shared as a family, fudge, and a sea otter card, just the necessities right? 

I liked this umbrella art downtown Seattle. 

 After our parking meter expired, we drove a couple of blocks to meet James and Elizabeth at the Space Needle. Max had never been to the space needle, so we explored around it but when we found out that it was $22 per person to go to the top we decided to stay on the ground. Luckily there were plenty of fun things to do in the area. One of them was playing in this great fountain.  

My boys sure love being in the water.

I love these handsome boys!

Family photo op

Also, right next to the fountain was the Seattle Science Center and our OMSI pass got us in free there. We didn't think we would have time to go because we needed to get back to our car before our meter ran out and Charlie was exhausted. But Elizabeth told us about this awesome butterfly exhibit they had there, where butterflies fly all around. That sounded really exciting to us, we were right there and it was free so we decided to take 20 minutes and go see the butterflies.  We weren't disappointed.

The cocoons.  Some were breaking out as we watched.

We wished we could spend more time exploring the whole museum because it looked pretty amazing but Charlie was about to pass out so we decided to go back to the car and start the drive home. Charlie was more grumpy than usual so we had to make some extra stops to let him wiggle but we eventually made it home.

And yes, I do feel guilty that I have more pictures of butterflies than my adorable nieces.
Also, thanks to Elizabeth and Stephanie for making it such a great weekend.

Monkey Friend!

Random event worth documenting!

Let me preface this event by saying that our next door neighbor is a mechanic and he brings more business to his house than we'd like. (For this reason he is in the process of moving out and we are searching for new tenants.) Just over a week ago he was working on a big camper that was parked right in front of our house, we get a little irritated when this happens. Charlie and I were looking out our front window and we saw someone ( we weren't sure if it was a man or a woman at the time) come out of the camper with a diaper wearing monkey on his/her shoulder. We saw our other neighbors come out to see the monkey so Charlie and I decided it would be a great opportunity to get up close with a monkey. 

 He was eating a McDonalds french fry!

It turned out that the owner of the camper (a woman, it turns out) raises monkeys, (It was a certain species that I had never heard of) This particular monkey was named Sena and was 16 years old. She was soft and friendly. We were told that these monkeys and two year olds  were very similar and lo and behold Charlie and Sena had a lot in common besides being in diapers. 

 Charlie wasn't that interested in touching the monkey, he mostly wanted to play with whatever the monkey was playing with, it was pretty crazy, just like two little toddlers playing together.

Anyway, this is probably a once in a lifetime experience when you have a monkey come to visit you at your house, so that's document worthy right?

Father's Day

That's right, this post is nearly 2 weeks late. I've been meaning to do it for awhile but got stuck with getting some pictures off Max's phone that I need to use for this post. Anyway, I still haven't solved the picture issue but life must go on and I need to catch up on all our busy summer adventures.

I'm loving celebrating Father's day for Max because A.) he is an amazing Father B.) He should always be celebrated for just being himself. and C.) It's so fun to make him feel spoiled.

Father's day did not go according to plan, however, Max ended up celebrating the epitome of being a father. Max woke up with Charlie as he usually does on Sunday mornings while I was downstairs making a delicious and healthy breakfast of Cream of Wheat with fresh strawberries. A family favorite in our house. Max fed Charlie some milk and shortly after, Charlie threw up on Max. Charlie seemed pretty healthy and had no fever so we figured it was just a reflex and called it good. We ate a nice breakfast together then got ready for church. As a small gift for my boys, I got them matching ties. Max has wanted matching ties since he knew we were having a boy and I was having a hard time finding somewhere that sold them. Also, as an early Father's day gift we splurged and bought our first TV a couple weeks earlier.
Charlie seemed Healthy enough to go to church and it was Stake conference so we figured it was a good idea to take him. After church we came home and it was time for everyone to take naps. We love our Sunday afternoon naps! Charlie had a good long nap but when we woke up he was burning up with a fever of 103 degrees. He gave him Tylenol then he just cuddled with Max watching movies while I barbecued for my boys. Charlie never sits still and watches movies. Max enjoyed holding his baby boy all afternoon. I made some great burgers. As we were sitting down for dinner, Charlie decided to throw up all the fluids he had previously drank. He still ate a little bit at dinner. Max enjoyed his barbecued burgers. That's all I can remember because it's late and this all happened so long ago!

So the pictures that I was trying to get off of Max's phone were of my boys in their matching ties at the temple where we went last Sunday. Just try to imagine...pretty adorable.

At the Beach

On day three of Anna's visit we went on a journey to a large forest and the beach. Anna had been craving a NW forest so we tried to find a good one. We decided to stop at Tillamook Forest on our way to Tillamook cheese factory and the beach. We went to the forestry center where Max and I had never been. Another free and exciting outing!

 After exploring the forestry center for a little bit, we went outside for a nature walk and to throw rocks in the river. 

 And then, those two adorable kids started holding hands and didn't want to let go. Form the look on their faces, I would think they were pretty excited about this.

 Exploring leaves, they still didn't want to let go of each other....

The cutest ever.

 June was a natural at throwing rocks in the river, Charlie wanted to dive in...makes for one nervous mama on the rocky shore.

 After exploring part of Tillamook forest we went and stopped at a grocery store for lunch then onto the cheese factory.

We watched them make cheese, ate some samples, and ate some delicious Tillamook ice cream cones.


And then, to the best part of all. We went to the beach expecting rain and mentally preparing ourselves for cold wind and being completely covered. We were pleasantly surprised with, perfect weather, partly blue skies (much more optimistic than saying partly cloudy right?) and the whole beach to ourselves!

Charlie loved running into the water and he probably wouldn't have stopped running if we didn't make him. June would walk up to the wave then run when it got close. After Charlie was playing in the water for a little bit we noticed he kept tripping, we realized his feet were probably numb so it was time to take a break in the dry sand. We went through this cycle about 3 times. Each time he started tripping when his feet got numb. 

 After some great fun hours at the beach, we decided we needed to get some food. First we were going to stop by Captain Dan's Pirate Pastry shop because it was closed when we went to the beach for our anniversary but it ended up being closed again. Weird random beach hours. Oh well, we will have to try a 3rd time some day. We then went to Mo's for some clam chowder and a view of the sea otters.

 After dinner we walked on the pier to get a better view of the sea otters before the long drive home. Luckily the babies did pretty well on the drive home despite being a little sleep deprived and it being past their bedtime.

On the last day of Anna's visit we decided to go to the zoo, mostly because Anna wanted to see more sea otters! Apparently the Oregon zoo has sea otters and river otters, which I never knew the difference. We got a good look at the river otters and a couple of other animals before a horrendous cloud burst. We then saw some sea lions and the area where the sea otters would be but they must have been hiding since it was so rainy.

 We decided to leave a little early since we were all soaked. This left us enough time to go to the Original Pancake House for lunch before the kids had to take naps and then we had to take them back to the airport.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I didn't have a voice at all this day? I started to lose it when we were driving back from the beach and it was pretty much gone by the next day.

We got back to the house and let the kids take quick naps while we cleaned up a bit. Then we woke them up and it was off to the airport to see our good friends leave us. The drive to the airport was a whole other exciting (stressful) experience. The freeway was completely backed up so we found an alternate route with the GPS. It turned out that all of the power was out in NW Portland including stop lights. This caused a lot of traffic and we were both worried Anna would miss her flight. We would have been happy to keep them another day or two (or more) but it would have been pretty expensive to change the flight and she had gone days without seeing her husband, (and June not seeing her dad) so she was pretty excited to be reunited as a family. After being stuck in traffic for awhile, Anna decided to say a little silent prayer, immediately the traffic lights worked where we were and traffic started moving... This girl has powerful prayers, (she is the same friend that fasted and prayed for us after we had two miscarriages and what do you know, along came Charlie...) Seriously we couldn't have been blessed with a better friend. Anyway, we made it to the airport just in time, she was also blessed with not-too-long lines and after a good sprint, they made it onto the airplane and had a whole row to themselves.

We really feel so blessed to have such amazing friends, and a great prospect for Charlie's future wife. We will be happy to have Anna's family visit anytime and we hope to have Buck come too in the future.

And let's not forget about all these amazing photos that Anna took!

Also, if you haven't read about the first half of Anna's visit, keep reading below.