A Boy and His Toys

Benjamin, like most three year olds, loves toys.  Unfortunately, when flying to visit grandparents there are normally not an overabundance of toys to play with.  Thankfully my parents long-time friends have a 4 year old grandson and dropped off a few things for Benjamin to use while we were there.  The small blow up bed and Spiderman sheets and the Hot Wheels tricycle (with added buttons and sounds) were both a HUGE hit!!  Thank you SO much, Gail and Steve!
Benjamin loved the Spiderman sheets and would curl up in them each night and say "oh, wow.. Spiderman is on my bed!"

My parents have a small guest house/room across a small, tiled, outdoor courtyard.  Benjamin would ride the trike from door to door as if going to work each time we had to cross from one house to the other.  Of course, he left the trike right at the doorstep so if you weren't careful you would trip over it but it was pretty cute to watch him ride between the houses.

A photo of the boys with the bike

 And Benjamin posing with our rental car and his new prized possession.

We also took it for a daily spin around the complex.   He LOVED it!! 

And after all that playing he would crash in my bed and I'd transfer him to his Spiderman bed.  Spidey doesn't beat out Mommy....yet!

Water Fun

Interestingly enough, most of the water parks in Arizona are "seasonal" and only open in the "summer" even though while we were there the temperature was close to 90 every day. It definitely felt like summer to us,but unfortunately it wasn't the summer "season" quite yet.  I suppose it makes sense since most of the people who would go are probably in school but still, it seemed a bit strange that most of the water parks were closed.  We did find a few fun public spray parks which were actually perfect.  Fun + Free = Perfect :) 

 Josie enjoying a very rare treat of McDonald's happy meal after a bunch of running through the park.

 Every afternoon we hit the pool and normally the ride there and back in the golf cart was half the fun.  This was after the swim with the kids all wrapped up in their swim robes.

Arizona Children's Museum

 It was so hot a few of the days we were there that we looked for indoor things to do during the heat of the day.  The Arizona's Children's Museum was a big hit... and actually highlighted how sorely our own Seattle's Children's Museum needs a major overhaul.
Both kids spent a lot of time in the art room.

 The tricycle run was really fun.  Here they are together...

And then Benjamin wanted to try out his own ride.

 Fast moving hands

 Josie in a fabric castle

 They had a really cool climbing feature that went up really really high with a ton of different things to climb up and down and explore.  Josie and Benjamin near the top in a cool, flying bathtub

Over The River and Through the Woods

To Grandmother's (and Papa's) house we go!!  A couple weeks ago we escaped the week of record setting rain and headed for some sunshine to visit Grandma and Papa in Arizona.

The kids were amazing travelers.  They really always have been.  At first I thought Josie was a great traveler because she slept for most of the journey whether it was by plane, car or train.  And I feared how travel would look like once Benjamin came around but I have to say that they are two of the best kid travelers I know.

They are always excited for a new trip or adventure and rise to the challenge (they get that from me) and they pull their own weight plus some and don't take anything too seriously (they get that from their dad) The combination is perfect.  It does help that Josie has 3 European trips under her belt and Benjamin has 1. Last year around this time, just before he turned 2, we headed to Germany and France.  Since he was still under 2  he never had his own seat and was classified as a "lap infant." Now when our flight time is under 3 hours and we all have our own seats it is "almost" like we are in first class.

Their true travel spirits were revealed when we arrived back in Seattle a week later and we didn't have a ride home from the airport.  Our plan was that as soon as we got off the plane I would sprint to the train (link light rail) and then transfer to a bus and take it back to West Seattle and then hop in the car and return to the train station to pick up the three weary travelers and all of our luggage.  The only trick is that the kids had to walk to baggage claim, wait for the bags and then walk 1/2 mile + to the train all after several hours of traveling.  We had extra baggage than normal because Marty had a whole suitcase of work stuff.  This meant that each kid not only had to walk with their backpacks but also push/pull a suitcase themselves as Marty had his carry on, a booster seat and a huge suitcase.   They were CHAMPS!!  And because there was a delay in the train I was on they actually beat me back to West Seattle on their own bus!   They really are rock star travelers and I couldn't be more proud!!  So... where to next??

Happy Easter - 2013

We had a wonderful Easter celebration at Oma and Opa's this year. True to form, Oma had the table beautifully decorated with Spring and Easter.  Not to mention another delicious spread and 5 FIVE homemade cakes for dessert.  We were definitely spoiled.
Josie got a couple new Easter/Spring dresses that she was so excited to debut on Easter morning.  Here she is with one of her chocolate Easter bunnies.
Benjamin demanded that he wear something special to the celebration as well.  He decided he wanted to be a super hero.  So here he is below with his "cape" which is actually Josie's apron that she uses in her play kitchen.  It's tough being a boy, the second kid, when your older sibling is a sister.  He handles it well, though.

Below a partial shot of the nicely decorated table. 

After candy and treat filled basket searching and some lively conversation, Stephanie and Tyler took the kids out on the boat for a bit.  The day was gorgeous, sunny and warm.

Ready for launch

Tootling around the lake

And last but not least a photo of two of the five (FIVE) cakes.  Delicious as always.  And as an aside on a personal note, I think I'm addicted to Easter candy!   Between the Whoppers Robin Eggs and the Cadbury Mini Eggs I must eat my year's allotment of sugar in the weeks leading up to and after Easter.  Even as I type this I'm eating some Cadbury Mini Eggs that I bought after Easter for half price.  It was a large bag and the clerk ringing me up said, those are really good.  I agreed.  Then he said, that should last you awhile.  I replied... or maybe not!!  Thankfully both of these are only available at Easter otherwise I would be in trouble.

Egg Stress

 Our annual tradition of dying eggs continues.  I have to say it is a bit less stressful then last year but still quite stressful with 8 cups of brightly colored permanent dye just waiting to be spilled onto the floor or somewhere else in the kitchen.  In hindsight we should have done it outside with plastic cups.  The weather was so nice that day, it would have been perfect.  But, we all survived and thankfully only the eggs ended up with color.

It is really difficult to get a photo of both kids.  One or both are normally blurry because it is so hard to stay still.

The final product

As I mentioned above the weather was really gorgeous and so we took went up to the junction for dinner and and the first spring/summer trip to Husky Deli for ice cream. Benjamin obviously had chocolate.  It was so funny as we were walking back he would stop to take a bite/lick of ice cream and then walk a few steps and then take another then a few steps.  And Josie just being  coo coo crazy :) 

Short,Sweet and Sunny

 Last Monday, Marty had a video shoot up in Bellingham so the kids and I decided to make a day of it, skip school and spend some time up with the Wiley's.  Our first stop was Little Cheerful for breakfast.  We hadn't been there since I was pregnant with Josie.  Fun, yummy breakfast and a bit of posing on the side

Once we got to Kim's the kids ran straight upstairs to the bonus/toy room.  Benjamin started in on his tower and Josie had fun with all of the fake kitchen stuff.

 After lunch Kim had the great idea to stuff plastic eggs with goldfish crackers, gummies and cereal and then hide the eggs.  Between the stuffing once, hiding and finding (4 or 5 times) and eating the snack at the end this took up the majority of the afternoon as we waited for Jon and Drew to get home from school.

 And the sun came out.  So much so that Josie stripped down to her sundress and I had to put sunscreen on the kids.  First time this season.

 Stuffing the eggs.  Such intensity.

Josie reading to Kim and Jon.

 A happy, sunny, cheerful bunch

 Drew was a big hit with all of his boy toys.  Benjamin was in absolute heaven.  He has asked just about every day if we can go back up to see Auntie Kim.
Thanks so much for the fun day in the sun, Wileys!!  We will definitely be back.