Flowers, Friends, Fun

Yesterday afternoon Jay and I took a walk to the park. I couldn't resist photographing a couple things along the way...

Lush, green, beautiful ivy - healthy and "spring-like" with its new growth

The rhododendron bushes around our condo building are bursting with beautiful, colorful, HUGE blossoms. The azalea bushes are also in full bloom (but I didn't take a picture of one of them - sorry).

Jay, I apologize in advance for these two photos above, but a Mom has to do what a Mom has to do to protect her little one from a potential sunburn. I forgot your baseball cap at home and borrowed one of Elorie's sun hats today for our walk around Greenlake.

We decided to stop about half-way around the lake at the playground for snack time and swing time. I sat you down next to Audrey while I dug out your snacks and the camera. Audrey was a hungry girl today. When you were offered one of her crackers she would reach over and take it from you and stuff it into her mouth. Audrey, you were hilarious today. Girl, you are SERIOUS about your food. One time Jay had a bite of one of "her" crackers in his mouth and she reached over and touched Jay's mouth trying to "get it back." And after a bite of her cracker Jay decided Audrey should just get out of the way so he could reach the cracker bowl so he gently but persistently placed his hand on her shoulder/chest and pushed her onto her back so he could lean over. Neither one of you cried or whined since your Mommies were right there supervising, but it was pretty funny witnessing your time together today.

Above: Walking, happy, 15 month old Elorie

Above: Audrey - who turns 1 tomorrow - happy and clapping in her swing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!!

Above: Jay - serious, but happy and content in your swing

You've been busy cutting teeth this week. Your bottom middle teeth have been in for months and now the tooth on the bottom right poked out of the gum early this week (making for a total of 7 teeth in - 3 on bottom, 4 on top). You're still a bit more fussy than usual so I took another look in your mouth tonight and it seems you are working on three more - one more on the bottom and two molars (or are they your eye teeth?) on the top.

The three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend is upon us and we're staying here at home this year. Not too much is planned which means lots of family time and cleaning/organizing/playing will happen.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Road Trip Weekend

Matt, Jay and I left Thursday afternoon and traveled to Chelan. We stayed overnight at a hotel with a beautiful property that had a gorgeous view of Lake Chelan. This is the view from our hotel room balcony.

It was a beautiful evening so we decided to take a dip in the outdoor pool before dinner. Jay still isn't a big fan of swimming pools, but we'll keep dipping him in them when we have the opportunity.

Jay is doing a really great job of drinking out of cups. He is one of those easy babies that doesn't mind drinking out of whatever is offered - a bottle, a sippy cup, or a regular glass cup. But as you'll see from the pictures below, his absolute favorite cup to drink out of is a regular drinking glass.

The next morning we enjoyed the hotel's continental breakfast and off we drove to a town called Mansfield - a very small farming community that really is kinda out in the middle of nowhere in north central Washington. Matt met with a business client while Jay and I explored and enjoyed the small town.

Following our time in Mansfield we drove to Quincy and met with friends. We had lunch and visited with them and Matt did a bit of business with them, too. We had a great time. Late that afternoon we traveled to Grandma's house for the weekend. My brother Scott and his wife (Mandy) joined us for dinner Friday night, too.

Saturday morning we enjoyed a lazy morning visiting with each other and playing with Jay. My Grandma (Dad's Mom) joined all of us for a celebratory lunch (a belated b-day celebration for Great Grandma S and me and an early b-day celebration for Jay). What a special treat for Jay to enjoy time this weekend with both Great Grandmas, Grandma, and Aunt Mandy and Uncle Scott!

Jay and Great Grandma G

Jay, the cupcake tree presented by Grandma, and Great Grandma S

Jay started out kinda timid with his birthday cupcake as you'll see from the below pictures, but it didn't take him long to figure out the really best way to enjoy a cupcake - forget the hands, lean down and take bites out of it!

The after effects... a sticky, crumby mess

Grandma (my Mom) gave Jay a John Deere tractor as one of his birthday gifts. He loves it!

Saturday night Jay enjoyed some special time with Grandma as she read to him a bedtime story from one of his favorite books. (see below photos)

Afterwards Jay enjoyed crawling into a new fun space in Grandma's living room. The table has a glass top and he enjoyed looking up through the glass to see Grandma watching him from time to time.

Jay with his 1st birthday gifts from Grandma

And this morning we couldn't resist taking a few really funny and cute pictures of Jay. He decided to crawl up and onto the dishwasher door for a little "sit" and exploration.

He liked showing off his birthday bib for Grandma... (it actually is a set of three bibs that are reversible with six different designs for various celebrations throughout the calendar year that Grandma gave Mom for Jay)

And what a silly guy he was as he played with his spoon putting it into a mug of water!

I'll end this blog post with a small video of Jay enjoying his birthday cupcake mess...

Farm Animals

My friend Katie and her little girl Audrey came over for lunch today and then we visited a local park/farm that has animals you can see and pet. We saw...

Sheep
Goats

A Cow

Horses

Chickens

Ducks/Geese

Rabbits

And a pig - but I didn't get a picture of Joy the sow.

We didn't stay terribly long since it was hard to know if the kiddos even cared all that much about our outing, but we had a nice time exploring the park/farm and we're looking forward to visits in the future. It is especially great that all of it is FREE! (Donations appreciated.)

The park had a terrific picnic area and even a small playground. When Jay needs to run off energy in the future, we'll definitely take him there. Lots of room to run on the paths and play. And the best is that it is less than a 10 minute drive from where we live!

As we left the farm I captured this picture perfect pose of the sheep.

I'm going to end this post with a video I took Tuesday night of Jay crawling down our hallway. I realized I better capture his crawl on video before he starts walking. At the rate he is standing and cruising, it won't be long before he takes his first steps.