Happy Birthday Zane!

Today my baby turned 3. It just isn't right that time moves this fast! It seemed just yesterday that he was a sweet little man and now he is a talking, walking, RUNNING machine! I know that these days always go so fast.

I made Zane's birthday cake today. In honor of his Thomas the Tank Engine addiction we had a Thomas themed party.

Eating some cake batter

Blowing out his candles on his Sir Topham Hatt's top hat cake. Just try and say that 3 times fast.

This next year with Zane is going to be full of adventures I am sure. My goals this year for him are potty training, shoe putting on and self dressing. It will be wonderful when he is doing that by himself.

Happy Birthday my sweet Zane Elliot!

The BIG 3-0!

Today I am celebrating my 30th birthday. The boys went and got me some rocking presents from our favorite place to shop Costco. I got a new set of Rachel Ray stainless steel pots and pans and a set of glassware. It is wonderful. I love them. Normally I would say that housewares are not birthday present material but I really hate my latest set of pots and pans (cheap non-stick that peeled almost immediately) and decided that I was done with the non stick world. I am going back to stainless where I don't have to worry about what I use in them. Anyway, I am keeping just a few of my non-stick frying pans for egg cooking and pancake making. (Not the cheap and peeling set) I love my boys. They are so good to me. (Lucy too, she just was sleeping during present time) Hooray for wonderful birthdays!

More Mariner's Madness

Last night we went to another Mariners game. It was a lot of fun. We once again took the bus to and from the game which was much easier than driving and finding a parking spot that fell into the "cheap enough for Eric" category. I don't know how the game ended because we had to leave at 9:30 to catch our bus home. I could look it up but honestly I don't really care one way or another. Joanna very kindly let me borrow her Ergo front pack for Lucy and it was wonderful. I might have to seriously consider getting one. Penny came to the game with us (she took a bus from work and then one back to her park and ride). The kids had fun hanging with Penny. Today we are headed to the fair to see how we all did (my photos and the kids cookies). Plus we will get some greasy hamburgers and elephant ears! YUMMY!

Andrew the Red Dragon

Today Andrew started soccer. It was super cute. The soccer program for U-6 in Lake Stevens involves a 30 practice and then a 30 minute game. I am very proud to say that Andrew's team, the Red Dragons, smoked their opponents, the Blue Sharks, 3-0. Andrew had one goal and one assist. He had a great time and it was super fun to watch. There is no strategy at this age, just mob around the ball and try to kick it. Hopefully in the right direction. I forgot my camera so I couldn't take a picture of him in all his gear but I will post one soon. New poll for you all to consider too. I don't know which is my favorite. They all seem fun to me!

***Oh yeah, I also discovered that I am now officially a "soccer mom" I already had the van and the hauling kids around bit down. Now it is to soccer practice and there is no avoiding the term whatsoever. Fortunately I am fully embracing it!

Beach Fun in Whistler

The last full day that we were in Whistler it was very, very, very warm. We decided that there was nothing better to do than head back to a park we had visited and take a dip in the lake. The boys had a great time even if we didn't have any buckets to make sand castles!

A boy and his stick

I forgot Lucy's swimsuit (and swimmers too if I am being totally honest) so she ended up swimming in some bottoms to a dress she has. It was too hot to deny her the water though!

I have a picture of Andrew very similar to this from when he was only a year old. Amazing how my baby has changed!

There was a random stray dog that wanted to play fetch in the water. He was super sweet and friendly. Now why can't Phoenix be like that?

This is the last of my Whistler posts. If you want more pictures you will just have to hop over to my place and check them out yourself! Hope you have enjoyed.

Rock Climbing Wonder Boy

While we were in Whistler we went to this thing called the Adventure Zone. We let the boys ride on this super cool luge sled track that you go zooming down. I rode the first time with Zane and Eric rode with Andrew. I have no idea how fast I was going. I just know that I ended up dumping the sled on a curve and riding the brakes the rest of the way down. I am not at my best going fast or sliding. Kinda a wuss that way. Eric on the other hand fought Andrew to avoid using the brake the whole way down. When he came around the clocking curve they were going 31 MPH. Too fast for me but Eric and Andrew seemed to love it. The next day Eric rode it again with Zane and he only went 30 MPH. He was quite disappointed but Zane seemed to think it was pretty cool after the lame-o turn he had with me.

That day in Whistler was weird. Zane ended up with a fever and we went back to the condo a little early so he and Lucy could nap. As soon as he went down though Eric and I took Andrew back to the Adventure Zone to do some more stuff. Most of the stuff was too advanced for Zane and rather than fight with him about what he could or couldn't do we just snuck Andrew away for some alone with the parents time. He had a lot of fun. He really liked the rock wall and did amazing at it! I think he impressed the lady helping him because he had no fear of falling. He trusted the rope completely. That makes her job much easier I am sure. Earlier that day there was a little girl who totally refused to repel down the wall and they had to send someone up to get her. Anyway, he decided to do the hardest wall his very first time and the medium difficulty one his second time.

Climbing

Climbing

At the top!

After the rock wall we took him to the "Kiss the Sky" bungee trampoline. He liked this activity although I think it scared him more than the rock wall.

Finally he went into the "Spiderweb." He wasn't quite tall enough to do this one easily and he wore himself out a lot. He did make it to the top though. It looked like fun but a lot of work.


After all that hard work we headed into the Village to go for some gellato. LOVED IT! I hadn't ever had it before and it was wonderful. So much smoother than ice cream and I could eat the varieties that I got because they were all lactose free. (Lactose makes Lucy puke) I couldn't help but think that my dad would have loved it.

I think Eric and Andrew are going to start playing at this rock climbing thing. We are going to see where they will let little kids do it in the area. Sometimes places are funny about kids doing it but he loved it so much and talked about it a lot that we think it could be a fun activity for some daddy/boy bonding.

Party for Gavin

On the way up to Whistler we stopped by Bellingham to go to a sweet little man named Gavin's first birthday party. The boys adore birthday parties even when they are not their own. I think they have fun watching other kids open there presents. It was a very weird day for the weather though. It was cold and windy at the start and then it warmed up a bit when the sun came out. It was a good gauge for the wild weather we had while in Whistler.

Waterfalls, Waterfalls Everywhere!

Our trip to Whistler was mostly about having fun and relaxing but we did find some super easy kid friendly hikes to do with the little ones. We had super strange weather our whole trip. First day was hot, the next three were cold and rainy and the last three were all with varying degrees of sunshine and heat. Strange. I am only assuming that the Seattle area was having similar weather though. When I saw the news at night (you know, before all my Olympic watching) it seemed we were following the same general pattern.

The first hike we went on was to Nairn Falls. It was about 40 minutes each way and the kids did great. The falls create this whirlpool effect from the water force and actually carved out the rock. You couldn't see where the water came from after the falls. If just was in a pool. Pretty neat. This hike was certainly worth it too. The views were beautiful and the weather was fantastic for hiking. I am never too fond of hiking in the extreme heat. Give me a overcast slightly cool day and I am happy. I will even take some rain as long as it isn't too chilly. Anything to keep me from sweating to death.

Nairn Falls

The view from the falls

Our second day hike was to Brandywine Falls. This hike was shorter than the first but the views were even more amazing. This lake was what the falls (and I am assuming several other stream/rivers) created. There is a chance that this lake is also the backup from a dam. We couldn't tell for sure on the way home but it certainly looked that way from the road.

Brandywine Falls

In the process of trying to take an amazing picture I was the ever daring one and crawled under a fence to go "off trail." Eric was concerned that I was going to fall off the cliff but I managed to not hurt myself. I did however get stuck trying to climb back over the fence. Eric had to pick me up off the top part. My shorts got stuck and I saw no way that it was going to end well for me without assistance. Thank goodness for that Michael Phelps diet he has been on. It certainly helped!

Lucy enjoying the waterfalls in her own unique way!

I need to mention one last thing about the hiking in Canada. The trails and the state (are they considered states there?) parks are kept immaculately! The bathrooms were wonderful even though they were just outhouse types. I was fully comfortable using there facilities. Here I am always a little leary of the outhouse type things. They never seem super clean. These ones though were sparkling clean and didn't even smell. I wondered if it was due to the Olympics coming but that seemed a very long time to keep things sparkling. I am choosing to believe that they just care for there parks and trails much better up there.

Fun with Grandma Meow

Grandma Meow (pronounced Mao, like the Chinese guy) went with us on our trip to Whistler. She was an absolute hit with us all. The boys are thrilled to spend as much time with Grandma as possible and she was a super help with the kids. Since we were staying in our time share we had a kitchen and prepared most of our own meals. Very kindly mom took care of the kids in the morning and let me and Eric sleep. It was wonderful. I actually got a vacation.

Grandma even brought a new Thomas game for the kids to play. They really liked it and it provided some fun, easy entertainment for us all.

Zane in particular loved having his grandma on vacation with him. I literally was not allowed to do anything with him all week long. Only Grandma would do. It was very cute. Zane has such a strong personality and it was interesting to see how far he could push grandma until she had had enough. Pretty far. Every once in awhile he would step over the line and then get in trouble but for the most part he was just a happy clam hanging with someone who adores him.

All in all Mom was a great addition to our vacation. Hooray for traveling with grandparents!

Olympic Dreams and the Michael Phelps Diet

In case you were unaware, Vancouver, Canada will be hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010. Whistler will be the proud venue for all the skiing/tubing/Nordic-type sports. There was stuff everywhere about the Olympics. You all should know that I am a devoted lover of the Olympic games. There is something too cool about being able to say "I am the best at _____ in the world." Maybe I think that way because I am in no way, shape or form athletic. I am very impressed with people who are. Whistler will have a medal ceremony spot for several of the events in the mountains and we got to see where they will be having it. It is amazing to me the years of work that goes into these games. I guess when the world is watching you have a tendency to put forth your best effort.

Here the boys are pretending to be bobsledders. (Crazy people by the way) The building they are standing in front of has all the information about the winter games. It had schedules, maps, photos, postcards, stickers and lots of other random stuff. It also had a curling stone. (a recent obsession of mine during the last winter Olympics. I sat and watched that darn sport for hours each afternoon) Those things are ridiculously heavy!

My boys pretending to be on the medal stand. They had CD's painted like Olympic medal for you to pose with. Too cute!

I have been OBSESSIVELY watching the summer Olympics that yes are going on right now. I love to watch the Gymnastics, Diving, Beach Volleyball and Swimming. Unless you live under a rock you have all heard of Michael Phelps. Well my friends, we were watching the coverage of the Olympics and in one of their little lead in pieces to a race they did an interview that asked Michael Phelps what he ate in a day. He told the reporter that he ate an astonishing 10,000 calories a day! And he still struggled to keep weight on. The fact that he swims for almost 6 hours a day certainly would burn it off I suppose. HOWEVER! Eric only heard/absorbed the 10,000 calorie portion. Now he has declared himself on the "Michael Phelps" diet. The goal: have a body like Michael Phelps. The method: eat 10,000 calories a day.

I think that he will be reaching his goal any day now!

*** In case you think I am mean, I did have Eric approve these photos prior to posting.

Back From Whistler!

Tonight we got back from Whistler. We had a wonderful time on our trip and got to see a lot of really cool stuff. I plan on giving snapshots of our trip. No chronological blog post from me this time. I hope you all enjoy them.

The trip home tonight was very long. It took us 3 and a half HOURS! to cross the border. That was no fun at all. Fortunately, Eric and Gene had fixed my cigarette lighter in my car and the boys got to watch some movies on our portable DVD player. Even if we hadn't had the player they did great though. Who would have thought that it would take that long to cross the border though. I mean seriously!

I was so pleased to see all the votes on this latest poll. Just you wait! Since embarrassing pictures of Eric was the top winner I have a couple of doozies for you. Plus some super cute ones of the kids. Until tomorrow when all the "real" blogging will begin!

All Fours

This is what Lucy has been doing for the last few days. Crawling is really in our future. We keep telling her to stop it and now I think Andrew feels like she really shouldn't be up like that. He tells her to knock it off too. She will be crawling very quickly whether we tell her to stop it or not. I will have to take another look at our baby proofing. I haven't had a baby in this house yet and it always amazes me what they find to get into.

Wrestling Fun with Daddy

Tonight Eric spent some time playing "DD's" with the boys. This is Andrew and Zane's favorite activity on Eric's days off. I am constantly amazed at how tough they are willing to be while wrestling. They don't spend a lot of time crying (Eric plays pretty rough with them) because they know he will stop playing. It truly is a "rub some dirt on it, you'll be fine" kind of moment.

Eric and his wrestling opponents!

Hey! When is it my turn to wrestle too! Don't just leave me out because I'm little!

A mini wrestling session for Lucy!

All in all they had a great time. Oh yeah, if you look really close at Lucy's mouth in the middle picture you can see two little teeth starting to poke up. Look close though, they are easy to miss!

My New Blog Poll

So I have added the blog poll feature to this blog. Vote for whichever answers you want. I think your feed back is fun. The poll is located right next to this post.Vote, it is your patriotic duty! Or at least your duty as a loyal blog reader! Plus, I don't know who votes for what so you can choose any answer without me knowing. Try it, it is fun!

Two Teeth Officially

Lucy is now the proud owner of two bottom teeth. The first came in Saturday and the second came in sometime last night. I can pinpoint it because I heard her crying randomly for a few minutes each time on 4 separate occasions last night. It was a frustrating evening for everyone. But now the little lady looks so sweet with her new teeth. Hopefully she will hold off now for a few weeks before thinking about cutting any more!

Front Yard Photo Shoot

The kids and I spent some time in the front yard this evening. I decided that the light was just right for some picture taking. Hope you enjoy!

Zane showing off his handsome!

Toothless Wonder No More!

Today I noticed that Lucy has officially gotten her first tooth. She has been working on it for about a week now and I am so glad that it has finally broken through. She has been really miserable and cranky (at least for her). I love the toothless look in babies but a sweet little tooth poking up is awfully fun too.

In other tooth news, Andrew told us this morning that one of his top teeth is hurting him and it feels kinda wiggly. I think it is the tooth that he damaged when he fell at Costco (he was 2 at the time, it turned kinda gray and the dentist told us that he could lose it sooner than normal). He has been given specific instructions to not swallow it if it comes out. Otherwise the tooth fairy will not be able to come and he has a super cool tooth fairy pillow to use.

This week has been super busy. We spent each night this week at our church's VBS program. Andrew got to participate in the big kid area, Zane was in the preschool (where I was working) and Lucy hung out in the nursery. Eric helped with the kids games and was generally helpful. It was amusing to me how scheduled Lucy is. At 8:10 each night a worker would come and find me and tell me that Lucy was requesting her mommy. Apparently her stomach is on a very firm schedule. I thought it was amusing and the workers were shocked. Apparently she would be fine all the way up until 8:10 and then practically on the dot she would start wailing. Since that was about the only time she was cranky they knew that I would be the only solution.

This week will be busy getting ready for our vacation in Whistler. We are looking forward to it but I have a lot of work to do this week to get ready. Wish me luck in getting it all done!

A Two for One Special!

Lucy is currently cutting teeth. Both bottom middle teeth. At the same time. She is understandably crabby. It is so hard for me to deal with her right now. She is usually such a happy baby and right now she is completely miserable. Lucy is not one to be shy about letting us know how she is feeling either. When she is upset (tired, cranky or hurt) she will shriek at the top of her lungs. Not my favorite. I will be so happy when these teeth come through all the way. Poor little girl. Both sides of her gums have little spots/holes where the teeth are coming through. The left tooth is a bit more spotty than the right but they will both be in at the same time. I guess I should feel fortunate that she is doing this before we head off the Whistler next week. Hopefully I will have my happy baby back by then! I will post pictures when they are through enough to be caught on film!