May Days

Leapin' Lizards
Mother’s Day this year was so much fun. Jeremy and Henry really spoiled me and treated me so special (not unlike any other day of the year). The night before, Jeremy promised me a breakfast in bed of fresh fruit and yummy baked goods. However, when morning rolled around, Henry jumped in our bed and loudly announced that he would like pancakes. So, pancakes it was!

We spent the rest of the day visiting all the Grandmas and stopping off for lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Toward the end of our meal, Henry was restless and began playing with some toy cars and small rubber lizards that we brought for him. Henry decided that throwing the lizard at Mom would be fun. On his first attempt, he over threw me by about 2 feet and the lizard landed in a plate of food of the family seated directly behind us! They laughed it off, as did the rest of the immediate restaurant. I asked Jeremy what we should do. He replied, “First, let’s pay for their meal, then let’s get Henry a sports agent.”

Speaking Too Soon
Wednesday Jeremy and I thought it might be fun to take Hank to the Dinosaur Park for the evening. We told him to pack himself up and get ready because we were taking him to see the dinosaurs! All the way there he kept asking if he would see the “Sharp Tooth” (Tyrannosaurus). He was naming all the dinosaurs he knows and we even made a little song about them too. As we pulled up to the park, we noticed a special function was going on and that the park was closed to the public. Jeremy and I had the privilege of explaining to a 2-year old the concept of “closed”.

Dinosaurs: The Sequel
Friday morning Henry and I headed back to the Dinosaur Park. This time when we pulled up there were around 8 elementary school buses. Again, I feared we wouldn't get in. This time I was going to do whatever I could to sneek us in. But, it turns out I didn't need to. We just had to share the park with lots of roudy elementary school kids. Can anyone say fun?

Liar Liar!

The Great Serpant
Henry is a liar! A few days ago, my alert neighbor and Henry's crush, Michelle, notified me that there was a snake under my car in our driveway. Hearing this, Henry got all excited and just had to see the snake. It ended up being a very small, very fast water snake (about 12 inches long, and as big around as my pinkie finger). So, picture two women, shreiking at this fast and slithering thing and a 2-year old trying to chase it. Well, this beast was far too crafty for the three of us, so help had to be called in for the job in the form of Michelle's husband, Paul.

Paul reluctantly arrived on the scene only after we exaggerated the size and aggressiveness of the snake. After he finished laughing at us, he quickly gathered up the snake and brought it over for our inspection. I tried to get Henry to pet it, but he was having NO PART of that! He recoiled and clung to me for dear life. I even touched it a few times to see that if that would coax him. Nuh-uh!

After thanking Paul for "saving our life", Henry and I went back inside the house. Henry then immediately went to his cubby where he keeps all his rubber and wooden snakes and played with them for the rest of the evening.

The next day when Jeremy got home, I overheard Henry telling Jeremy how he "petted the snake" and he "caught 'em". I corrected him and told him that he didn't even want to touch the snake. However, Henry insisted he had "petted" that thing. I've also heard Henry and Michelle talking about the events of that day and every time, he says he helped Paul "petted the snake" and "get 'em".

The great snake hunter


Looking for more snakes?

Vay-Cay

The Aviator
So our little trip to Seattle this month marked Henry's first time on an airplane. He loved the airport and all the people and planes! Honestly, we could have probably just spent three days there and he would've been thrilled. Once we were on the plane, Henry made fast friends with Joan, the flight attendant, and scored on treats, drinks and several winks! He mostly looked out the window and said, "We go real fast!"

The Great Northwest
Well, the weather was wonderful for us in Seattle and we hit the streets and sights immediately. Henry was super excited that there was a train "up high in the air" that ran by our hotel (the Monorail). We walked the town and took in tons of good food.

The boys at the Space Needle

Waiting on the Monorail

Riding on the Monorail

Boys Day Out
I was busy with a day-long conference on Friday, so Jeremy and Henry hit the town together. Although Jeremy tried to keep Henry in the hotel room as long as possible in the morning, once Henry saw I had my shoes on, he insisted that he get his on too. They visited the Seattle Center first, looking for our favorite breakfast place. Jeremy was sad to find that it had relocated and changed up their menu and they wouldn't be open until 12:00. They then walked on down to the waterfront to tour the Aquarium. Henry was facinated with the otters and the sharks. Next, it was clam chowder time! Although Hank wasn't too impressed with Seattle's finest soup, he did like the complimentary oyster crackers. They next walked Pike's Place Market and watched all the vendors setting up for the day.
Something at the Aquarium caught his eye

Jeremy & Henry at lunch on the waterfront

Henry and the famous Pike's Place Market Pig

See-at-l
There was more fun to be had the final days of our vacation. We hung out at the Seattle Children's Museum where Henry got to meet Bob the Builder face to face. (He wasn't impressed.) But he did enjoy the interactive Bob the Builder display of kid-sized construction trucks and tools for him to use. We stayed and played until Hank could play no more. He fell asleep on our way back to the hotel. He slept and slept, and snored and SNORED!

Fun at the Seattle Children's Museum

More fun at the Seattle Children's Museum

Something Smells The third night we ordered in some Thai food (again, Henry was not impressed.) So, Jeremy ran and picked up a slice of pizza across the street. This slice of cheese pizza was so laden with garlic that you could smell it coming, I swear. To make a long story, short, has anyone ever smelled a 2-year-old running around a confined area such as a hotel room working up a sweat after he's eaten garlic?

Hotel fun

Even more hotel fun

The Emerald City The last few days of our trip were dedicated to Hank since he'd been such a good sport riding around the city in his stroller. We visited the Pacific Science Center and hung out at the Seattle Center just running around and playing at the small carnival where the World's Fair was once held.

"Going real fast" in the Seattle Center Park

Pacific Science Center Dinosaur Exhibit

Pigs can fly!

Tired, cranky boy

Hungy boy

Driving at the fair at the Space Needle

Driving at the fair at the Space Needle

Zoorific!

Beasty Boy
Friday the 27th, Henry and I loaded up and went to the Hogle Zoo with my friend Sara and her daughter Madeleine (9 mos). When I told Henry we were going to meet Sara at her house, he immediately got excited. Then he began talking about dinosaurs and named every character from The Land Before Time (LBT) series. It then dawned on me that he thought we were going to visit CERA, the Tirceratops, from the LBT series. I had to quickly correct him, but he insisted that we were off to see a dinosaur. Imagine his disapointment when we arrived and Sara, not CERA, answered the door! Henry's disappointment quickly faded when he discovered Sara has two dogs (a huge Malamute who Henry called a "Woof" and a black lab mix who Henry dubbed "Max"- after our Max). As a matter of fact, for future reference, Henry insists that all black dogs are "Maxes". Next, off to the Zoo where Hank knows his way around quite well. We ran, not walked, to the elephant exhibit, the bears and the zebras. Henry's favorite was the very, very humid and stinky Reptile Room with all the snakes and crocodiles. He ran back and forth for about 20 minutes to each window that held any snake. After my hair had completely frizzed out and Henry was drenched in sweat, we called it quits and went to visit the African animals.

Artsy-Fartsy
Here is one of Hank's latest creations. We fingerpainted this week and practiced our colors. Busy, Busy, Busy
On Saturday, Henry and I made the trek up to visit Grandma JoAnn and Grandpa Brent. Grandma had just cleaned the house in time for Henry to wreck it completely! He played at the park, chased bubbles, watched movies, hung out in the dog run and threw decorative rocks in the creek. (sorry, Mom!)

Fun at the park

The dog run

Hot
Sunday was hot. There's no other way to describe it. It set a record for the month of April. True it was only 86 degrees, but still, when you're not used to that weather so early, you must take the necessary precautions...swim trunks, swimming pool and popcicles (in that order).

"Look at me!"

Water baby

"Do I have something on my face?

Un-lucky Charms

Tragedy and Other Things

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams...is 3000 West
Well, folks, I have no new pictures for you to view of my handsome husband and my beautiful child. You see, Sunday, tragedy hit our family in the form of a broken camera. It all started innocently enough.....The three of us were outside working on the yard when we decided to take an impromptu trip to the store. When we returned, I remembered that I was going to take some pictures of Henry outside before we left and I knew I had taken our camera outside. With all the shuffle and commotion, I left the camera on the bumper of the truck. I neglected to pick it up before we loaded up in the truck and headed down the street for the store.

Once I realized the camera must have been on the bumper for the ride, we immediately loaded up again and went hunting for it. As we turned onto 3000 West, there, gleaming in the sun, was the smashed remains of our camera. Luckily I had just emptied the memory card so no images were lost. But we did lose the camera and the memory card.

So instead of pictures of our plucky family, this week I offer you the artistic musings of Henry! I have posted two art projects he's recently completed at school.
The Accidental Ebay-er
On Monday night, I noticed the house was quieter than usual. I knew better than to cherish this silence - I suspected either Henry or Jeremy (or even worse, the combination of the two) were up to something. And it was most likely messy and distructive. So, I did a quick sweep of the house to assess the situation. I immediately found my son in his room plowing through books and puzzles. (What an angel!) I then set my sights on my husband. Why was he so quiet? What was he doing?

First, I checked the bathroom - nope, nothing there. Then I heard the faintest "click, click" sound coming from the office. I walked in to find him frantically minimizing the internet window on the computer. He swiveled around in the chair and I could see the embarrassed look on his face. All I remember next was his incoherent rambling about how he didn't mean to bid on ebay, and he "accidentally" won his bid. It turns out Jeremy bid on an Edge Chip to upgrade the horsepower and torque on our truck.

I won't tell you how much it cost, but Jeremy insists that I tell you he saved our family $445 by getting it on ebay. For the record, I think this is the second time Jeremy has "accidentally" won his auction on ebay. Boy, is he lucky or what?

Weekend Fun

Great White Hunter
Saturday, Jeremy was up before sunlight for the turkey hunt. From across the field in Deep Creek he spied a group of three large birds and he just knew he'd found his "Tom". He crawled to the grouping on his belly, slowly and methodically as a hunter of his skill would do. However, once he was within a few yards of his prey, he noticed they were plastic and "spinning on rods". Jeremy had just spent the better part of the morning inching his way into someone else's turkey trap. You have to wonder what the other hunter was thinking the entire time as he watched Jeremy carefully attack the "prey".

Good Morning?
Friday, Henry and I fixed eggs together for breakfast. You can tell from the pictures that at first he wasn't too hip on the idea. However, once he figured out that he actually was allowed to break the eggs, he cheered up. You can see the progession of his mood in the pictures below.

Seven Year Itch
This weekend marked our 7th wedding anniversary. Jeremy convinced me that the traditional gift to mark the 7th wedding anniversary is the gift of meat so the two of us headed off to a movie and later, a yummy steak dinner. I'm hoping that the somehow I can convince Jeremy the 8th year tradition is Hawaii.

Back to dinner -- whenever Jeremy and I go out to eat, one of our favorite past times is to watch couples on dates and try to figure out which date number they are on (i.e., first date, fifth date, etc.) So you can imagine my excitement when we walked through the doors and discovered it was Prom night and dozens of overdressed high school kids were waiting to be seated too! It was our own little personal Prominade! That 30 minute wait was over way too quickly. (Did you know that powder blue tuxes have made a comeback in a big way?)

Henry: Self Portrait
Here's Henry experimenting with the camera on his own. Looks to me like the kid's got skills.


Games People Play
Sunday night we headed out to our back yard to play a little croquet and bacci ball. (Heads up, Henry's a cheater. Big time!) When Henry wasn't lobbing the solid, heavy and bruise inducing bacci balls at us, he was swinging the croquet mallots around. Sounds safe! Henry also enjoyed hanging out in the dog runs, sitting in Bat's dog house and barking at us. I'm sure the neighbors had a great time watching us.

Spring has Sprung

Out and About
Since the warmer weather has invaded, Henry's goal from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm is to have his "shoes on" and be outside. We have to be extra creative in the morning hours to keep him in until the sun comes up. Typically, he enjoys taking his Mummum (me) and his wagon for a walk to the park (he knows the way), or planting his collection of rubber snakes in our bushes. We kick his many soccer balls and "go fast" (run) up and down the sidewalk.

Endless Love
Henry sure can pick 'em. First his Aunt Traci, now our neighbor and my good friend, Michelle. He absolutely must visit her every day to ask her "Shell, watcha doin'?" Sometimes he just stares at her and smiles. We haven't broken the news to Michelle's husband Paul just yet, but I think he's caught on to the money trail left behind from the endless supply of cookies she offers to Henry.

Most Egg-cellent
We had the best Easter! Although the three of us were under the weather, we still were able to enjoy our weekend activities. On Saturday, Henry went to the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt at our park. And can I just tell you...the kid cleaned house! We did cheat a bit and have several dry runs prior to the actual event, but still, Henry's got skills! Sunday, we took the dogs to Deep Creek and hiked for a little bit. We then got to visit with most all of the Grandparents. Later, Henners went on three more egg hunts and, again, made a steal. That night, we barbecued with our neighbors and played lawn games.

Fun at the park

Hanging together