Thomas and I had a bunch of errands to run this morning so for him being such a good sport and riding along without complaint I decided to spoil him with a run through the sprinklers at a nearby park.
He thought it was pretty cool and he in fact did it again the next night with his daddy too!
Wednesday we got back to Cloquet and the guys were off playing a round of golf so Thomas and I went to meet Ryanne and her kiddos at the park. I did my best to get Thomas to cooperate and stay for a picture but it didn’t work too well. Jack and Olivia showed him some new soccer moves and then they played in the park for a little bit before we headed home.
Thursday morning we were up and Grandma set up the sprinklers and pool for Thomas to enjoy. He had such a good time running and splashing. Eventually we had to put sun protection on him because he was not about to come inside!
Just to make sure he was good and tired from the days adventures (mom and dad were going to a movie that night) we took him to the warming house to play and see Bristol (Lindsay’s daughter) and Lauren and Charlie (Katie’s kiddos). The picture in the bottom right was from the last time the kids were together in September of 2010-they all have changed so much!
At Grandpa and Grandma Laschen’s we again played in the pool, enjoyed dinner and the Babaganooosh got some snuggles in before our trip back to Seattle on Saturday morning. Some of the pictures below are from earlier in the week but it works!
Another great trip back in Minnesota seeing our family and friends! Thanks again to our parents who help us so much with Thomas when we are home and spoil us all endlessly!
On Monday we packed up and started the journey “up North” to my cabin on Leech Lake. It had been many years, I think about 8, since I had been able to make the trek. I was so excited to show Thomas a place where I have so many memories growing up and Mike was so excited that he could hardly stand it. In fact he took the brunt of Thomas being upset in his car seat he was so excited.
The beginning of our 4 hour road trip started off great, we had a sleeping boy. About 2.5 hours in he woke up and then the marathon of occupying him started. There was more minutes of crying than I admit to share but he finally exhausted himself and went back to sleep for the last 30 minutes of our drive. What can we say the kid believes he is a shark, if he stops moving he thinks it might be possible that he will stop breathing!
Once at the cabin the chillaxing began. The boys promptly got the badminton net set up and started a best of series. Grandma and Grandpa along with Mike and I then took Thomas for his first boat ride. He loved it. After his first ride he told Grandpa that he wasn’t ready to start driving yet, he would do that tomorrow.
Then it was time for dinner followed by the guys going out for some late night fishing. They were able to catch a walleye that we all enjoyed the next morning.
Tuesday the guys were up early to try their luck at fly fishing off the dock. Doc Rock caught a good size small mouth bass and Thomas got his first up close and personal look and feel of a live fish.
After lunch the guys headed off to their next stop and we headed off to see if we could find a beach to play on. We were somewhat successful. We found some sand that was inhabited by flies and that was pretty mucky. Still we explored a little got some pictures and then moved off shore for some real swimming. I think from the pictures you can see it is a toss up who had more fun!
The cabin was so relaxing and it was just as I remembered it. It was fun watching Thomas run in the yard, enjoy his boat rides and chill with us. I even got to see a few bolts of lightning but the big storm I was wishing for didn’t happen.
He finished…he finished…and we couldn’t be more proud!
The past 6 months, have been crazy for us to say the least, but somehow (5 a.m. somehow) Mike has fit in a lot of training so he was able to complete a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. What a huge accomplishment for him.
The morning started off early for all of us as we departed the Laschen’s house at 4:45 a.m. From the time we got to Chicago City, both Daddy and Thomas had their game faces on. We also were able to say “hi and good luck with our 4 other friends who were also participating in the race.
Mike started the race with a swim and after we chased him out of the water and watched him like a flash get off on his bike it was time for us to grab breakfast. Thomas and I went to a little café and shared some eggs and toast. I will be honest I was a little nervous how the rest of the day would progress because Thomas was not a huge fan of standing around and waiting for the race to start and then waiting another 45 minutes for his dad to finish his swim. Thankfully, this was the “worst” of our marathon.
After breakfast we headed back to the truck to see if I could convince Thomas to take a nap. Once he fell asleep I thought I could get him in his stroller and that then I could enjoy some It was a hard battle but he slept for about 25 minutes! Then it was off to the course to catch everyone on the bike, bike to run transition and then run. At this point, Thomas’ grandpa and great grandpa came in for some reinforcement.
After we saw Mike come in on the bike we quickly headed over to watch him start off on the run. Thomas rode along in his stroller content to barely keep his eyes open and try to stay a part of the action! After we gave up on him falling asleep he went with his grandpas to see the water, played in the lake for a bit with me and then went to the park.
Then it was time for the finish! After the weather had cooperated most of the race at this point it was past 1 and it was getting HOT! Both Thomas and I were sweating so I cannot imagine how hot it felt for the triathletes as they were running on black pavement. We were able to see Doc, Miller, Mike, Jacy and CJ all cross the finish line! What an accomplishment! Thomas was so proud of his daddy and could not wait to go to him even if he was hot and sweaty.
In Mike’s words “When I got there in the morning I was nervous but the atmosphere was great and I was excited to start the race. The swim took longer than I thought it would, but I felt good. Once I got on the bike, it was great to ride through the countryside. The wind picked up a little which made things more difficult, but thankfully the weather was still cool and overcast at this point. Got to the run and felt more tired than I wanted to be. After the sun came out and it was getting warmer with every mile I really started to feel drained. In the end, I didn’t get the time I wanted however I finished and felt like that was an accomplishment. It was great to have support from my family and friends that were at the race.”
Once we got back to the Laschen’s house we caught more pool time and Jeff and Kathy hosted a BBQ for everyone to celebrate a job well done!
After having another successful (no being “that baby” on the airplane) trip to Minnesota, Mike and I are wondering when our good “flyer” is going to give us a run for our money. He in fact was awake all but the last 20 minutes of this flight, talking, looking at books and out the window, looking at the people who would pay attention to him.
Once we got to the Laschen’s house he was ready to go. He took his 30 minute cat nap as a recharge and was ready to play.
Mike and his dad got up early to head to Kinnikinnick River to fish. Mike didn’t catch anything but his dad caught a brown trout and 2 small mouth bass.
Thomas and I spent the morning and early afternoon with Tiffany and her kiddos, Ben and Hallie. I was so excited to have Thomas play with these two and thought it was going to be great….it was great but you will notice a theme in the pictures “Thomas with not gentle and sticky hands.” Hopefully the next time we see them Thomas will have learned a little more and Ben and Hallie aren’t afraid of him stealing their stuff from this trip
Thomas also took a very big digger on our trip. It was about 3 seconds after I said to Tiff that he was going to get a bonk because he was running around without a care in the world like a crazy man. As Thomas and Hallie were standing on the truck (right above on the right) and he decided that he was big enough to get down without her or my help…then SPLAT! 
I think the biggest hit for the kiddos was the Woodland Themed room. There they could crawl, run and explore ant tunnels. They played again in the water stream and they all took turns trying out a turtle shell.
One of our last pictures was finally a good one with everyone looking! What a fun day of learning and playing at the Children’s Museum!
The heritage in our neighborhood is very strong. Everyone likes to tell of their Scandinavian roots and who they knew and from where. I have read in our Guide to Seattle that this stems from long ago when commuting across the water was difficult, thus leaving each neighborhood with a very distinct “feel.”
Ballard has an old fishing town feel. Maybe you have gotten that by all the posts on the locks and ships we see around our house. The neighborhood hosts Ballard Seafood Fest and we have heard a lot of great reviews so we thought we would head down and see what it was about.
What we found was that there was a lot of YUMMY seafood. Thomas also was nice enough to let a salmon eat him so his daddy could take a picture next to it! Stella as always was a celebrity and everyone thought she was “Lilly.” We will make this an annual event as long as we are living in our neighborhood.
Our day started off heading to a 10 mile trail race in preparation for Mike’s upcoming triathlon. After we saw Mike off on the trail, Thomas and I spent the rest of the morning together with a stop at Starbucks and a park. Then we headed back to wait for Mike to finish his race.
Then it was off to see the Pirates land on the beach. Thomas fell asleep about 5 minutes before we parked, but the exhausted little guy slept in his stroller until we got to the “Pirate beach.” Mike and I unknowingly parked 2 miles away from the Alki beach so we had a scenic walk along the water. Once we found the right spot, we decided to sneak in and grab lunch while we waited for the pirates. Thomas and I ended up walking down and seeing the boat land and a few pirates. Thomas wanted to keep his distance from the pirates and I can’t blame him you never know when they will steal your coins. Then it was time for lunch and then our walk back. The view on our walk was amazing as we were in West Seattle and were directly across the water from downtown Seattle. The anchor in this picture was recovered at the bottom of Puget sound, they do not know to what ship it belonged to.
Thomas loves his lawn mower and he also loves ice cream. I thought this was too funny as he continued to “mow” the lawn with cone in hand!
We spend our Nation’s birthday exploring Discovery Park and Fort Lawton that still remains on the property. We went on quite the adventure as neither Mike or I had been to this park before. It turned out to be a scenic walk and Thomas loved picking up sticks and running down the trails.
Fort Lawton was a bunch of vacated buildings on a lot of land. In the middle of the field there was a large American Flag. 
We finally made it to the beach. Thomas was very excited and we were able to keep him dry for about 3 minutes once we arrived. He is such a water boy! Seaweed and other slimy stuff is no match for his desire to be in the water.
After beach play we headed back to the car we had a very sleepy boy! Once Thomas was in bed Mike and I enjoyed a nice dinner of ribs to celebrate Independence Day!
We are currently painting the inside of the house. When we bought the house it was a mix of wood and painted (white) doors. We decided to finish the job and paint the doors and trim. We are also painting the window sills white to match. Boring and A LOT OF WORK! 
Thomas has been a great helper and after he watched for a couple days he wanted in on the fun. I did too and I let him get MESSY!
We now have a beautiful piece of artwork on our fridge!
