Week Recap

We had a busy week this week.  I recently discovered the website seattleschild.com which has every activity for children on a calendar.  I spent a couple hours one night looking at everything and plugging it into our calendar.  It feels good to have some new activities to do with Thomas and Elin.

Tuesday night we went to zoo members appreciation night.  Members were allowed in after hours and there were special activities to do and see.  It was a mad house!  The zoomasium was jam packed with wild children of all ages.  Our 2 year old was on the edge of getting trampled so we took him out of the play area as quickly as we could.  This resulted in a major meltdown soon to be adjusted into seeing the animals and heading back to the play area 10 minutes before the end.  It was fun to see the animals at a completely different time than normal.  We got to see the hippos and lions closer than we ever have before.  Thomas also was brave and touched a corn snake with his daddy’s help.  Wednesday morning we got ready and headed into Bellevue to go to Kelsey’s Farm that was having a special seed planting activity.  After playing in the park for a little bit waiting for Dahlia and Whitney to meet us we headed up to the farm.  After seeing the animals we went and planted a flower and we were spent at the farm.  We then headed over to pick up Mike and head to lunch.  Lesson learned here was that with a  tired kiddo going to a sit down lunch is much easier than a serve yourself lunch at Whole Foods.   A major meltdown was avoided and Thomas and Elin were fast asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot.

Thursday morning we attended Tug Boat story time aboard the Arthur Foss historic Tugboat.  After listening to stories and singing  a few songs we were able to tour the boat.  We were also able to see a police boat, some kayaks and a couple float planes take off.  Thomas loves all vehicles at the moment so he thought this was pretty sweet.  After story time we went over to the park and ran up and down hills until heading back for nap time.  Thursday night there was a bike parade at our neighborhood community center.  We walked over with the neighbor boys to decorate the bikes and then everyone rode in the parade. Thomas was pretty proud of his decked out patriotic wheels.  We in fact have yet to remove all the decorations at his request.  Mike and Elin headed over once she was asleep and she got to wear a princess crown for a photo opportunity.  After the parade we headed inside for a couple games of ring toss, bounce house, and popsicles.  Then it was time for the park and some tire swing fun before heading home. 

We are so excited to have such nice neighbor boys for Thomas to play with.  .   

Professional Photos

Jayme, a fellow blogger,  email introduced me to her cousin who is a photographer from NY who just moved to Seattle.  I got in touch with her, Jennifer Boyle,  before Elin was born and she was going to be out of town until the first part of May.  One thing led to another and by the time we were ready to have pictures taken, Elin was no longer a newborn, so we thought we would wait until later.  

Then a few weeks later, Jenny emailed and asked if we would be willing to do something a little different and take “a day in the life of” photos.  She wanted to build her portfolio and at this point I realized that I was wanting pictures that I don’t have the skill and talent to take.  We were game and Monday night she came over and took a look into our lives of imperfectly perfect chaos.  So much fun to look at the sneak peak, pictures on her blog.  I can’t wait to see the rest.

Thomas was a complete ham, Mike and I slowly warmed up and finally got “normal” after a 30 minutes or so. Elin was her easy going little sleepy calm self until she thought she should have been asleep 15 minutes earlier.  Jenny followed us through getting ready for dinner, dinner, a bit of playing in the basement, the ball field and then getting ready for bed. 

Here is the link, I will post our favorites after we get the complete disk.

Wet Weekend Fun

Saturday was a wet one here in the rainy city and so we headed down to the Museum of flight to check things out.  To really get the most out of the museum you need to go without a 2 year old and read everything.  Not my area of interest, so for me it was nice to walk through read a few things and see what I could.  Thomas liked seeing the airplanes and even got to sit in a Lockheed SR 71 or “blackbird” aircraft.  I crafted a space shuttle for Thomas after he colored it. We then hiked up the stairs and were able to fly (watch it fall) down to Mike.  I guess it is a good thing that I didn’t go into Aerospace Engineering.  The space portion of the museum was particularly interesting.  You could see actual pieces and life size models of “space stuff.”  We were able to walk in a replica of the lab that is at the international space station.  In that replica you can see Thomas looking through the window to see what Earth would look like from the space station.  Pretty amazing.  .

We also got to see the Boeing’s 757 Dreamliner up close, although we were not VIP enough to go into the plane for a tour.  It was a fun way to spend a rainy morning. 

On our way back home the traffic was pretty bad and Elin was not a happy camper.  We decided that we couldn’t take the screaming any longer and headed over the bridge to West Seattle for lunch.  After a nice lunch we headed home, still in traffic, with 2 little nooshes fast asleep.  Saturday night we rented a movie and had a popcorn movie night.

By Sunday the rain was gone and we were out playing in the yard.  Again, Monday came much too soon!

Fire and Safety Awareness Day

Fire and safety awareness day was a huge hit for Thomas.  His eyes were about as big as saucers as he looked and got to see fire trucks, ambulances and other rescue vehicles up close.  He even got to sit in the drivers seat and drive his little heart out.  Elin also had big eyes as she peaked out from being wrapped up and under the umbrella.  Each “station” had a different sticker that they put on a passport for Thomas.  After he collected all his stickers he got a safety packet to fill out at home with Mike and I.  He was patient waiting his turn, following directions and using his manners to say thank you.  He looked at all the fireman, medics and rescue workers in their gear and was a little nervous at first.  After a few a few reassurances he was ready to hand out high fives and smiles.  He had a great time and was talking about it the whole ride home.

Zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elin made her first trip to the zoo where she was awake for part of the time.  Thomas as usual had a great time running around seeing all the animals.    This trip made me get so excited to see Thomas and Elin growing up and taking new adventures together. 

Locks…Lots of Fish

On a gorgeous afternoon, Thomas, Whitney, Dahlia, Elin and I headed down to check out the fish at the locks.  There were a lot of fish, so many in fact that Mike and Thomas headed down on Thursday to look again! 

It is so much fun to see the Chinook salmon come in on their journey to reproduce and start the cycle life cycle over.  Their really amazing fish and every time I hear the story of what they have to come from, survive and then return to to reproduce it amazes me.   

Sidewalk/Stella Painting

I tried out a Pinterest idea and made sidewalk paint.  The recipe is paint, water, and corn starch.  It was not as big of hit as I thought it would be, but it was really funny to Thomas to sneak a few brush strokes on Stella. 

Stelly Belly is 4

The biggest most beautiful puppy girl turned 4.  Thomas ran around copying Mike and I saying “who’s the birthday girl.”  He at first answered “Thomas” but soon understood it was her day.  She was also a lucky girl and got to go play with her friends and dog sitter Kristi.  Kristi brought her Danes and Stella returned home happy and exhausted.

After she woke up from her long nap and the kiddos went to bed, she got to enjoy a yummy (very yucky looking) birthday bone! 

She is just starting to act like the “tired, lazy, sleepy” Great Dane’s that people talk about.  She sure acts like a huge puppy and continues to want to be along on every family adventure.  She really is a big pain in the ass, but we wouldn't trade her for any other pup!

Just Elin and Daddy and Mommy

Grandpa and Grandma McConachie Visit

Grandma and Grandpa McConachie had to pick some dates to use the tickets they had already purchased when we all thought the doctors were going to induce me earlier with Elin.  So they picked June 12-18th and then hopped on a plane.

They came in late on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning Thomas was ready to wake them up and play.  We tried to get down to see low tide, but we were a couple hours after and the water had already come up too far to see anything in the tide pools.  Thomas and Grandpa skipped rocks in the water and he and Grandma played in the sand. 

Then we were off to the nursery to see the Koi fish.  Grandma had seen the fish on this blog post and wanted to go see them for herself.  At the nursery we all got a coffee/hot chocolate and walked around seeing the fish, chickens, and plants.  

Then it was home for naps and lunch and I had to head to the dentist.  After dinner we all headed down to the locks to see the salmon and sea lions.   We also saw a train on the tracks right outside of the locks for the first time.  Thomas, Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma all practiced walking on the balance beam…everyone including Thomas “fell off” and he thought that was the silliest thing. 

Thursday we got a late start and once we were off we headed to catch the ferry to Bainbridge Island.   Thomas had a great time driving a race car with Grandpa on the boat.  Elin was a little unsure of the wind as it was hard for her to catch her breath.   Once on the island we went to Battle Point Park to let Thomas run around before heading to lunch.   After lunch we headed down to the marina to look at the boats before heading back home. 

Mike and I had convinced Thomas and Elin to babysit their grandparents and we grabbed dinner and picked up dessert in our neighborhood. Thomas took Grandpa to the park to play and Elin and Grandma snuggled.  Thomas, Elin, Grandpa and Grandma were all ok, the only one pacing was Stella.  She didn’t settle down until Mike and I got home!  Good thing we were gone for a couple hours, she was fast asleep as soon as we got home.

Friday was another busy day when we headed down to the Pacific Science Center to explore.   Grandma Nancy wore Elin so that I could play, explore and take pictures.  Thomas ran around and couldn’t get enough.  In the pictures below he is playing with the wind tub and beach ball and looking at himself and Grandpa’s distorted pictures in the health exhibit.  There is also a picture of Grandma wearing Elin.  Funny thing is I asked her earlier in the day if she thought people were looking at her like Elin was her daughter, she said no not with you with.  About 3 hours later sitting at Starbucks, she was asked how old her baby was, and had to share the news that she was Grandma.  Too funny!Thomas and Grandpa played with the digging arm picking up and dropping little balls into a big pit.  Grandma was the safe one once we entered the dinosaur exhibit.  You could see his grip get tighter by the second around myself, Grandpa or Grandma as we walked through both the dinosaur and insect exhibit.  Brave little guy never once cried or said anything, his grip just showed us how he was feeling.  Then we snuck up to the café to grab a quick snack before our 1 o’clock tickets to King Tut.  The exhibit is currently on its last tour in North America and we couldn’t pass it up.  The tickets are sold out (we didn’t know) but a few had freed up and we grabbed them. It was very interesting and as we walked through we all took turns showing Thomas the old artifacts.  We read as much as we could and took it all in before Thomas politely asked “all done outside please mama?”  So we finished up our adult time and headed outside. We headed over to City Center and looked at the line for the Space Needle.  IT was far too long so Grandpa vetoed standing in line.  We grabbed lunch and then letting him play in the International Fountain.

He and Grandma were having a good time playing in the fountain.  When the water went down Grandma snuck up to the front to let him see it, the fountain surprised them all and both she and Thomas got soaked!  I had packed a second set of clothes for Thomas but not for Grandma!   Then he and Grandpa took a turn together.  You can see them in the bottom right corner of the big fountain picture. Elin woke up and also saw a little sun after she ate.  She looks so cute in her much too large sun hat. Then we headed home to wait for Mike to get off work.  Where we had dinner and then after Thomas and Elin went to bed Mike and I snuck away to listen to some music and meet a friend at the bar. 

Saturday the boys headed to home depot to get their stuff and start on the fence.  The rest of the day was spent between working on the fence, going for walks/bike rides and snuggling with the kiddos. 

Sunday the Fathers had requested a day of fence building, golf and a crab dinner.  So that is what they got.  They worked on the fence and then we watched golf and had dinner.   The new fence still has to be stained, but what a wonderful difference it makes.  We no longer have chain link fencing on the front gate and back alley.  It also makes the back alley hard to see from Elin’s bedroom window. 

Monday we made a family trip to the mall to get some new “in between clothes” for me, find a dress for Elin’s upcoming Baptism and get Thomas a few new shirts.  I don’t know how in the world I would have ever gone shopping with the 2 nuggets, wait I wouldn’t have, so it was crucial to have 4 extra hands along.  After getting home and Thomas and Grandpa drove back and forth to “Minn-e-fo-ta” in the car.  Too quickly the cab came and Grandpa and Grandma were headed home.  I thankfully had 2 sleeping kids as I was exhausted from the last few days of fun!   Thanks for stickin with me til the end, this post was a long one!