Fun at Work

We've definitely got a climber....but we already knew that!  Both TJ and I were very impressed (and a little nervous) by this 2 year old's climbing skills at dad's work party this past week. 

 

 

 

 

Now we just have to convince him that when dad's at work he's not playing in bouncy houses all day....he must do some work since he has so many computer monitor's in his office!

 

 

 

 

I Love West Seattle

West Seattle has so much community spirit/pride.  It's part of Seattle but often feels like it's own little city since there is so much going on.
They sell shirts that say "I Love West Seattle" and I think it might be about time for our family to get some.  There are very few reasons to cross the bridge to leave....

A few weeks ago we went to a big festival over here, West Seattle SummerFest.  It was really exciting because Keaton got to go on his first carnival ride, swings! I didn't know if he would like it but he loved it.  So time for him to start saving his piggy bank money for the fair. 

A few days ago we went to a big kids party at the Hiawatha Community Center over here.  They had a band, snow cones, fire trucks and lots of carnival games for $25 cents.  Keaton got a hole in one playing golf!  We came home with a red clown nose, plastic lizard, yellow ball...and way too many empty candy wrappers.

Today we went to the West Seattle Grand Parade.  It started off a bit slow but Keaton stayed entertained by all the police motorcycles.  Over 2 hours into the parade (I thought it would be about 30 minutes) the Seafair pirates came by.  They had VERY loud explosions coming from their boat and a bunch of pirates running wild.  One ran right up to Keaton with a giant sword and a very scary voice and said "I'm going to carve your eyes out" or something like that....I didn't hear him finish because Keaton was SCREAMING for his life!  And that was the end of the parade for us.

I don't know what is planned for the rest of Summer (besides the weekly outdoor concerts and movies and all the wading pools/parks/etc.) but I'm sure we will find a lot to stay busy.

A Diamond in the Rough

Jetty Island is such a special place for Kids....in a not so special place.  Everett Washington isn't much to talk about but it does have Jetty Island (and Uncle Rich lives there too), other than that there isn't much else in this fairly large city.

To get to Jetty Island you get to take a very short boat ride (about 5 minutes).  I'm pretty sure Keaton wet through his swim diaper on the ride over because his spot was very wet when he got up.  Once you get there you have to get a ticket for the boat ride back.  It was a busy day so we were only able to get a ticket for a ride in a few hours....but knew we would have more than a few hours of fun so we took our chances and decided to go standby on the way back instead of using our ticket.  That turned out to be both good and bad. We didn't get on the boat we wanted but did get to ride a special boat back (aka one of the worker boats) with a few other standby passengers and they let Keaton drive.

The water at Jetty Island is VERY warm.  It is ocean water but is very shallow for a long ways out so it stays super warm. Shallow Water + Warm Water = Fun for Kids!  And we got lucky this time because the tide was in so we didn't have to walk FOREVER to get to the water.

 

 

Keaton loves to be buried in the sand so we gave in and buried him...

It was a very fun day at a very unique spot that way too many people know about!  We will be back before summer is over!

Special Lunch

Dad had a really good idea and Keaton got to go out for a special lunch! We never go to restaurants anymore so just going out to eat is pretty special for us.  But this place, The Rainforest Café, is especially kid friendly and Keaton was amazed.

Of course he is the crazy kid that keeps asking "What's that...." and we are trying to figure out what he is pointing to because there is a lot going on here (on the walls, ceiling, etc.) and it turns out its the fire alarm mounted on the wall that he's asking about.  Not the really cool elephants or butterflies or monkeys or fish tank...the one thing that isn't part of the decor.

It's Party Time!

We just got back from spending a week in Fairbanks visiting Becky and family.  Several times during the trip Keaton would say "It's Party Time".  I think the whole trip was one big party for him since he had 2 crazy cousins to play with instead of just boring mom and dad.

These kids sure do know how to party!

 

Keaton was very excited when he saw a totem pole. He became fascinated with them on our last trip to Victoria and I think he will now expect to see then every time he goes on vacation.

 

Riding the train with grandpa...

 

Keaton is very observant in the car and will notice lots of thinks I don't even notice.  He spotted this duck and then wanted to drive by it again to look at it again.  None of us knew where it was located.  But we found the same one he saw at a festival we attended and he was very excited to see the duck again!

 

Having fun with all the trucks, cars, motorcycles, etc. etc. etc.  No shortage of these things in Alaska.  He kept calling Becky's 4 wheeler a "front loader". I don't think I even knew what a front loader was until Keaton taught me.

 

Visiting Santa at the North Pole.  Hoping the Santa picture in Dec. turns out as good as this one did.  Give the kid a candy cane and he'll sit on your lap.

 

Happy 4th of July!  Yes, my cheeks are very red, I went to the doctors the next day and they said I was ok.  And those are not chicken pox's, they are mosquito bites all over my body.  They liked me the best.

 

 

Showing the cousins how to build a truck at Home Depot.

 

 

Showing them how to use tools and fix a bike.  Keaton spent more time on this bike than he did doing anything else.

 

What happens when you party too hard? You pass out!  This little guy passed out as the airplane was ARRIVING at the gate in Seattle.  Slept as I carried him through the airport and then woke up and was ready to go again.  It was a whole new party at home since all his stuff was new again and he wanted to play with it all as fast as he could.