Since then....

Boys have been getting themselves into all sorts of interesting situations.... This one took some doing to get out of....

We spent lots of time at the Y - especially on the kiddie water slide. That is a big hit. Except that it means that I am standing in front of the entryway to the entire building in my bathing suit. That is not my favorite way to greet people. Whoever designed that entryway needs to re-evaluate the situation.

Yesterday we got to meet our friends at the park, including our friend who is just about ready to have a baby. She kept telling Ethan it was a soccer ball under her shirt, not a baby. Lucas was seriously pondering whether she could be telling the truth or not. But she made delicious cookies, so he was won over.

The highlight of the park was the wildlife. They liked chasing the squirrells especially. This squirrell kept running down everytime they'd go away and then the kids would see it and chase it back up the tree. At one point they were running circles around the tree, chasing Mr. Squirrell. They tried to climb it too, but it didn't really work.

It was great to chat with Dawn and Amy and to watch the kids going nuts together. One of their brighter ideas was to all pile onto the tricycle together. This led to a few crashes, but a whole lot of laughing in the meantime.

And now we are having a lazy day. Lucas has a bit of a fever and we're all prepping for our big 4th of July plans.

Last 3 days of the G-pas...

Saturday we hit all our regular lessons and then were off to the trains! It was fun to take our friends and Grammy and Grandpa with us. We went around and around and around.

Lucas kept doing a mini fistpump when we were done and shouting "Let's do it a-GAIN!"

We rode in every combination possible. The last time around it was pretty empty and the train kept falling off the tracks. That made it all that much more exciting!

Trying to get a picture of the four kids is never easy and this time was especially troublesome.

We also made use of their very cool playground. It even has a train part with a train whistle. That was a big hit. Bigger still was the "Daddy Chase Me" game. That's always the winner.

We headed out to go and get some yummy dinner at A &W when we were done. Interesting service, but the food was really good. We got home and I headed out to the garden to do some work. We have so much lettuce and SO MANY radishes! We also have lots of weeds. Yuck.

Sunday was all about Cars 2. The boys did great at the movie, even though it was a bit suspenseful. Lucas got really squirrelly about 2/3 of the way through and finally fell asleep on me. What a treat! We liked the movie a lot - the spy twist was fun.

At some point, though I'm not sure which morning.... I filled up the boys' water guns and they had a lot of fun squirting Grandpa and Daddy. Lots and lots of giggles.

Of course Grandpa got revenge with the hose, but they all had fun.

Monday was our last day together. To distract us from the sadness, we headed to the zoo. The tigers were a big hit, as always. We've gotten to watch them grow up - so fast!There was the 1st camel ride of the year. Ethan's an old pro.But this was Lucas' first time and he was SO excited and proud for going. My big boy!We watched the big summer show - and it once again starred our favorite dog actor, Harold.And then we headed to the traveling exhibit, "The Scoop on Poop". Obviously a hit with the boys.But the biggest excitement of all, even bigger than the playground, were the newborn clouded leopards. They were two weeks old and adorable. We had to wait in line to see them, and then move through pretty quickly, but it was worth it for Ethan's reaction. He was overwhelmed with the cuteness.So sad to say bye to Grammy and Grandpa, but what a great week and a half! We hope they are resting and recovering! Thanks so much for coming! We had a blast!

Thursday and Friday... Tired Yet?

Thursday we headed over to Poulsbo. Lunch was at J.J.'s fish house and was delicious. The boys were thrilled to get little sea creature toys and both ate really well. That sea air does wonders for the appetite!Next up was a trip to the Marine Science Center to check on all our favorite creatures. I was proud of the boys - they actually touched a sea star!The crab was another story. There was no touching of the hermit crab. They did, however, enjoy watching it scurry back to the water.

A stop at Sluy's Bakery and then over to Uma and Upa's to nap. We adults sat in the sun reading for the afternoon. It was gorgeous and so relaxing!

Friday was Seattle day. We took Grammy and Grandpa to the ferry early, so they could do the tourist stuff while the boys took a nice nap at home. Then onto the ferry we went.

Normally we would walk to Pioneer Square and then take the light rail to Westlake to pick up the monorail there, but I was feeling ambitious (read stupid) and we decided to walk to Westlake. I was amazed at how well the boys did. I only carried Lucas up the big hills and Ethan walked the entire way. They did not even whine! We finally made it onto the monorail and then met up with G and G on the other side to head to the Science Center. We saw all the cool exhibits, including the featured "Goosebumps, the Science of Fear" where I was startled far too many times to be healthy.... But, the highlight (for me anyway) was the Butterfly House. After reading all our books on butterflies and raising our own, it was fun to see so many all together. I was transfixed.We met up with Daddy and started the "short" walk to dinner at our favorite, Buca di Beppo. It was short on the map, but the map did not tell the whole story. We had to go over and under different streets, right next to some big ol' traffic. It was an adventure... and to top it off the restaurant had a 45 minute wait. Oops. We broke out the ipod/droid apps and kept the boys busy while we waited for our dinner. I was not missing this pasta! And boy was it delicious. We had great conversation and then headed back toward the Seattle Center. Problem was, we realized we were not going to make the ferry we wanted. Sooooo.... I begged and pleaded and used the "I'm almost 30" excuse to get everyone to help me cross something off my bucket list....

I'd never been and really wanted to go! It was so cool up there - you could see everything. It was a bit drizzly, but that just made it more iconic-Seattle.

See, it was worth it :) Happy 30th (almost) to me!It took us a monorail, lightrail, and 10:30 ferry to get home, but that all was the highlight for Lucas. The boy loves his different forms of transportation.The boys have never ever been up that late, and we paid for it a bit the next day, but what a cool adventure!

Tuesday plus Wednesday

Looking back over the last week, I think I wore out us all. We did a lot. But, we had a lot of great memories and we can all rest up, right? Anyway... back to the story.... Tuesday I had to go to my meeting again, so the boys were with Grammy and Grandpa for the morning and naps. They played lots and lots and even made some s'mores cupcakes. I got home during naps and as soon as the boys were up and ready, we jumped on the foot ferry to Port Orchard.

Ethan liked it for sure....

The boys were mesmerized being so close to the water.But it was Lucas who quietly studied the wave patterns, made the scientific obserrvations, and did not take his eyes off the water the whole time.When we got there, we did a little window shopping and went in search of "A Good Yarn" - a yarn store that is owned by one of Grammy and my favorite authors. We called Brian for directions and he gave us the vague direction to go and so we headed....Pretty soon we realized that it was a bit further than we thought, so we dropped off the boys and Grandpa at the playground and we started hiking.....

It was a bit further than we thought.... like 1 1/2 miles uphill.... But.... we got there and were telling the lady that was working how we had walked from the marina, laughing at ourselves. She went upstairs and came back down to tell us that Debbie Macomber was on her way down to meet us! She heard how far we walked and wanted to say hi. What a treat! She was absolutely sweet- even offering us a ride back down to the water. We declined, but were sure to take a picture.We hiked back, as Grandpa had been alone with the boys for almost an hour. They did the playground, park, and even the beach. And he adopted a new grandson while they were down there. This boy cracked me up - didn't have the heart to tell him to get out of the picture.I was suprised at how much Lucas liked the beach. He doesn't normally like sand- this was big! And dirty.On the way back to the ferry we stopped at the candy shop. The boys picked out chocolate castle pops and ate every last bite. Oops. We decided that we'd wait for Daddy at the park at the ferry terminal. I told the boys they probably didn't want to get wet, but you can guess how this ended....They started out cautiously - avoiding the volcanic sprays of the fountain, but soon they were sneaking sitting in the water, and splashing each other.They ended up soaked, and were miserable walking back to the car, but what fun it was in the meantime. We threw them into the shower and into bed.The next day was a little more low key. I took the boys to classes at the YMCA to give Grammy and Grandpa a little break and to finally use the membership I'd been paying for a month... They enjoyed their classes, though Lucas is still pretty freaked out by new people making eye contact with him. Hopefully going to lots of these classes will make him feel a little more confident in new situations...

After naps our friends came over and we played hard and ate lots of pizza. We also made necklaces. Each one was very different and we learned that Alex has the best attention span of all of them. And nope, that's not the end of the story. More to come.

The G's Are Here!

Friday was the last day of school = exhaustion! But, it didn't matter because as Ethan wrote above, "Grammy and Grandpa are coming!" And then he drew their transformer airplane. They got in late Friday night, we were all asleep, but the boys were in there early the next morning!

We started the morning by admiring our butterflies. You can see that the butterflies release a red fluid called meconium when the come out of the chrysalis - no it's not a butterfly massacre...

We played and played and then were off to ice skating lessons. Ethan continues to amaze me with his perseverance. I am so proud of him. Lucas spent the time making a bus out of the chairs in the lobby and taking us different places. "I take these babies. Fow (four) babies. To da store." The babies cried a lot I think. After that we headed to eat at a local sandwich shop. The food wasn't that good, but the Trivial Pursuit was.

After naps Ethan and I headed to Nadia's dance recital. Ethan loved the color theme and was so excited to see Nadia up there. He brought her some pretty flowers, but was a bit embarrassed after he handed them over. Actually I think he was just overwhelmed by all the tutus. I thought she was adorable.I love this shot - they look like they're at a junior high dance. Love his expression.

Sunday was Father's Day, of course, and so we had to put together a present. Let me introduce you to the dads...Looks just like them... I like that both Upa and Grandpa are looking irritated with Brian....We did church, naps, and then were off to Uma and Upas for a grand reunion after 8 years of not seeing both sides of the family together! The guys were excited to spend some time together!They liked their gifts a lot. We all laughed at the likeness.... We got a great shot of the grandparents and Nana. Special people.This is not an overly flattering shot, but great to see us all together.

The boys loved rough-housing with their daddy on Father's Day. He made a good horsie.Today Brian and I both had to work, so the G's were up for babysitting. They played lots and Lucas even strung a necklace of beads! Proud mama! Despite a bit of trouble getting down for naps, they had a great day. After they woke up, we headed off to the bug museum to get another set of caterpillars... They had some great props there!We made our purchase and then I realized we were pretty close to the Airport Diner, so we went.... The boys loved the airplanes - lots and lots of airplanes taking off and landing today! They weren't too interested in their food until grandpa started flying the spoon "Plane" into the hangar (mouth.) That was a hit.Ethan was all about the cheesy faces.

After we got home it was time to release the butterflies. They were excited but wanted so badly to hold them. Ethan had the idea to get the flower in there.It worked and he was so gentle (Lucas too!). Most only stayed for a few seconds before they werre off.One hung out on Brian's leg for a bit. But this one was my favorite. He just hung out on the flowers for quite awhile, letting us observe.A little bit of magic in the backyard on a Monday night.