Lucas Time

Ethan's been at acting camp every morning for the last week and Lucas has LOVED getting to have a lot of one on one time with me.....

We hang out with these guys A LOT....

 But, his favorite thing to do is to bike the Clear Creek Trail with me.  (I walk).  He is getting so much bigger and does an awesome job riding.....

 He loves to speed ahead, turn around and look at me like I am SO slow.  He rolls his eyes and keeps moving...

 He stops at each and every bench to "take a west".  And just so you know, there are a lot of benches.

 He's also helped me get a ton done around the house.  He loves to feel like he's in charge, so as long as he can direct me - he's good as gold and very helpful.
My favorite part has been watching him with the dogs.  Without his brother here to entertain him, he's been all over these dogs - playing with them, brushing them, feeding them, and just snuggling.

Ethan has LOVED acting camp - and I sure am glad because I think I've loved having this time with Lucas just as much!

Out and About with Friends

Summer is for hanging out with friends....

riding camels.....

feeding Budgies - and watching the biggest kid freak out the most ;)

chasing friends through the zoo....

idolizing older kids.....

climbing in and out...

climbing up and over....

riding carousels and picking out the very best animal....

watching football games done with cars....

entertaining crowds....

giggling and posing....

snuggling and laughing...

hugging and cheering....

riding and steering...

 playing in new places....

In other words, fun!

New Family Members

They now outnumber us......  Humans -4, Animals - 6

Meet Sweetie 

And Tanny

Our two newest shelter rescue pets.  They are so much fun to play with and are getting more and more used to the boys.  We love their noises - especially the "cooing" and have a blast holding them while they eat their celery.  I have also found that this is the best way for Lucas to sit still while listening to books.  He'll sit forever with his Sweetie!

Summer Schedules....

This summer I had a few goals - 1) Keep the boys reading and writing every single day, 2) Be ACTIVE, 3) Get the boys doing more to help around the house and be more independent, and 4) Watch as little TV/Videos as possible

So, we have a simple schedule in the morning to help with a lot of those goals.  Traditionally on weekend days (which are most like summer days), we get out of bed and let the boys watch some TV while we wake up and then get ready - which is always a bit of a fight when they've been able to be lazy already that morning.  I figured this wouldn't work for us, so this summer the boys had some tasks to do first thing in the morning before they could play.  (I'm writing them here so that I can look back next summer and see what worked for us.  It's been a fabulous summer and I think this is a lot of the reason why.)

1 - Eat a healthy breakfast at the table

2 - Write in a daily journal (Ethan writes a paragraph with picture, Lucas writes his name plus a couple of words and draws a picture)

3 - Read at least 20 minutes for the summer workbook and for the library's summer reading program.

4 - If it is not a camp day or weekend, they have other workbooks to work in- pick a few pages.

5 - Get dressed, brush teeth, etc.

Then, they are free to play.  At first I figured they'd want to watch TV or play on the computer, but they seemed to not even miss it.  Instead, we usually pack up to head out and ride bikes - which hits another goal to be active.  Ethan's finally able to ride his big-kid bike he got from Santa.

Lucas loves riding his bike too.  They especially like it if I time them on laps.  But no racing allowed.  It never goes well.  They can race against their own best times.

After a morning of either playing at a park or going bike riding, we head back for lunch and some naps (or reading time for Ethan).  Our afternoons are spent either at the Y (where I'm not allowed to take any pictures - grrr) or at different activities around town - including some cool ones from the summer reading program at the library like this magician, Jeff Evans.

The boys really enjoyed the show- though Lucas was concerned the guy might make Ethan "distappear".  Well, either concerned or inspired, I'm not sure which....
We also like to spend quality time with my parents, and save our biggest adventures for the weekends with Brian - though sometimes we adventure with friends too....

As for Goal #3 - I just started asking the boys to do more, and they do!  I thought I'd have to start some sort of a incentive program, but nope.  All I have to do is ask and be okay if it isn't done perfectly - which works for me - (I can't do anything perfectly!)  They help with meals, cleaning up, and taking care of all the pets.  They really are a big help - more so than I could have imagined.  I also cleaned out/sorted/organized all their toys (sending many huge boxes to donate) and put everything into clear storage boxes so they can see what they have and where it goes.That has helped a lot too.
I think what I've learned this summer is that the more I do to make our morning a scheduled routine - the better off the entire rest of the day is.  It's worth getting up and staying on them to get it all done if it means that the rest of our day can be pretty carefree.  And the more active they are- the better they act and the more fun they are to be around. 
So future self - 1 year into the future self - REMEMBER THIS next year when you want to lounge around and try to sleep in!

Hotels with Kids and Remlinger Farms!

When picking a hotel for our family, we consider a few things....  One - There must be a pool.  That gives us something fun to do in the evening (without leaving) and properly wears the boys out so they can go to bed wiped out.  Two - They must have good wifi.  We put the boys to bed a bit earlier than we are ever ready and we watch shows on the internet with earphones so as not to keep them up.  Three - they must have a good breakfast and lots and lots of coffee.  We don't want to have to go out first thing in the morning - so all must be in-house.  And our hotel  - Holiday Inn in Issaquah - was perfect.  Big, comfy rooms (even a pillow menu) and a very cool dolphin-shaped pool.  In the short time we were there, the boys swam three times.  Poor Brian, but they loved getting to play with him.  

Everyone came swimming that night - and the kiddos all had fun in the pool until they were turning a bit purple and headed in for bed.  We knew it had been a long day and the next day would be longer, so we put the boys to bed in hopes they'd wake up somewhat rested.

The next morning the boys were sporting some awesome hair as we waited for the pool to open.

Both kiddos were in goofy moods after our delicious breakfast (and the boys ate free!) and were excited to get into the pool one more time.

There was a cool little courtyard with some fun landscaping that apparently made a great concert stage and we were treated with quite the concert.  As was anyone else whose room happened to be next to the pool.

The boys' swimming skills have totally taken off.  Both of them can swim independently now, though Lucas needs rescuing every now and then.  He really enjoys doing bobs though - and thinks they are the greatest "trick" ever.

Next it was off to Remlinger Farms in Carnation.  Such a cool place- perfect for our boys right now.

Lots of little rides and even a cool pedal car track.  In which I earned my keep by pushing Lucas the whole way - several times.

They had a cool steam train that took us all around the park - and even through a dark tunnel - which the boys thoroughly enjoyed.

I love getting to do rides, but most of these were sized for just the little guys-  including this mini-ferris wheel.

There were a couple I got to go on - again and again.  My favorite was the spinning barrels.  I took Ethan on and spun as fast as I could.  He was laughing so hard and kept banging his head - he couldn't keep it up.  I was exhausted by the end of it, but will treasure that memory with him.  We all loved the pumpkins  - up down and around.

There was a giant petting zoo, and a hay jump that the boys had a lot of fun in- until they realized they could not get all the hay off of them.

I enjoyed throwing the boys into the hay jump.  Very therapeutic.

The pony rides were a hit with Ethan and Lucas but not so much with Cole.  He refused.  Lucas was happy to take his place in line and loved his pony Peaches.

Ethan was a fabulous older cousin and took Cole on several rides with him.  The canoe float was a neat one - though Cole was most excited about the floating ducks.

They also had an old school bus and fire truck that Lucas LOVED playing around in.  He was a hoot - acting out entire scenes for us.  I love his imagination.

As the park closed, we headed to the market for some ice cream before we left.  I got Cole a chocolate cone and he learned that while chocolate makes a giant mess, it truly is better.  We said our goodbyes after playing for a bit and headed out.
We decided to stop for dinner along the way and agreed that Remlinger Farms would definitely be a "go again" destination for us.  So much to do and for a very reasonable price!  What a weekend!  We were all worn out and easily went straight to bed, though I sure was missing those fancy pillows!

Shopping, Falls, and THOMAS!

I've been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and so I've gotten behind around here and aim to catch up!  A couple of weekends ago, we headed up north to a fun-filled weekend - determined to make the most of the weekend with Brian, and the last bit of visit with Brian's side of the family.

We started out by doing a little shopping at the North Bend Outlets.  Our favorite store there is, of course, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  And there we ate our morning snack - a caramel apple.  

The big hope of the day, was to get everyone new shoes from the Skecher store.  And we did.  Brian refused to put his on, but the rest of us changed right away.

Next stop was Snoqualmie Falls - so pretty, but a little underwhelming since we couldn't hike down to them and there wasn't really a visitor center that we found....

But still, something to check of the life-experience list.  And they were beautiful.

While we waited for Grammy and Grandpa and all, we ate at a cool 50's-ish Diner - and had some amazing milkshakes.  And delicious burgers.  And then we really felt like taking a nap, but onward we went.

We crossed the street to the Railway Museum for "A Day Out With Thomas".  And boy were the boys excited!  The first stop was taking pictures with Sir Topham Hat.  Who was more than a little odd.  Especially his dance moves.  Lucas was a little scared and insisted Brian go with them.  Which made me giggle.

They had a fast moving little train going back and forth while you waited for your Thomas ride.

And then it was time for pictures with Thomas.  Their official picture turned out really cute (this isn't it), but this gets the point across.  They smile so much better for the professionals.

A bounce house, tattoo station, and tent full of train sets filled the afternoon, and then it was time to head over to Thomas.

I didn't get any real great pictures on the train itself.  Lucas and I sat by ourselves in the middle and he was just plastered to the window the whole time.  Except when Thomas stopped to go the other direction and the conductor made us yell, "Let's Go Thomas!"  And Thomas listened.  Lucas really liked that.
It was hot - really hot, but the boys had fun climbing around on various train parts and playing.

Pretty quickly after our train ride, the boys started to show that it was definitely time to move on.  They were hot, tired and had done everything there was to do and then some.  We headed out, but not before stopping in front of this huge log.

We also got to wave to Grandpa who was on the next train (he got his ticket later than ours).  The day was a very cool experience - the boys were thrilled to have "met" Thomas, though Ethan was certain to make sure we knew he realized it wasn't really Thomas and Sir Topham Hat.  I'm not sure I'm okay with him growing up, have I mentioned that?