Washington Trip (It felt like home!)

For those of you who read Amber's blog most of these pictures are repeats. (There are some new ones at the very end.) If you want more details of the awesome dinosaur party with a lot more detailed pictures be sure to visit Tate's 4th Birthday on Amber's blog.

At the end of May, the boys and I flew to WA to spend a week with our friends and former neighbors, the Wymans. The flight was direct and about an hour too long. Really though, the boys did great and we arrived around 10:30 in the morning. After a 1/2 hour of arranging car seats, strapping in children, loading luggage, and refilling sippy cups we headed to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. Mikie knew exactly what to expect and Zachary was happy to get some chicken nuggets. Not so sure about the gorillas.

They were also hesitant to get any closer to the elephants.

The night before Tate's party the kids had a movie night.

Once the popcorn was gone, the bowls were used as entertainment.

TATE'S 4th BIRTHDAY PARTY:

Dinosaur Theme

Follow the prints...to find your gear....put on your hat....the party's here!

Tate looks like a real paleontologist!

Even Mikie wore the hat (for all of about 2 minutes). I guess if I want to get him to try new things I just need to write directions on giant dinosaur feet!

Swinging with the dinosaurs.

A nest of bouncing light up hatching dino babies.

They turned their swing set into "Mount Tate". The volcano was a great focal point for the party and the kids loved climbing up/behind it.

The zip line was transformed into a Pteranodon In Training ride.

THE FOOD:

(Amber has better/more picts on her blog)

Brachiosauraus Burgers

Fossil Fruit Salad (bones in the strata)

The left over jello became "Specimen"

Mesozoic Muffins in dino shapes

Jurassic Jello Fossils
The Activities:

Painting a dinosaur

Decorating dino bags

Dinosaur Story Time

Digging up dino bones in the excavation site

Mikie finds a T-rex

Next it was time for a fossil hunt and assembly

While I was snapping pictures and holding Zach, another Dad helped Mikie assemble his raptor.
I guess this is a good place to insert how proud I was of Mikie that day. I really thought he would end up in tears if he didn't get exactly what he wanted (like the right dino in the sand, or the right color of fossil), but he didn't. He was kind and even got excited for Ayden when she was the lucky one to draw the color pink. I'm so glad he's 4 now!

Hunting for dinosaur eggs.

Zachary drug his bag all around the yard trying to find a few eggs.

The Cake:

Mikie shows us which "half" he wants to eat. By the way, when I asked him what his favorite part of the party was he replied: "Eating the cake!"

One of the MANY favors the kids got was a dinosaur lollipop (which was Mikie's second favorite part of the party) and I'm sure it was Zach's favorite as well because once he got his lollipop, he climbed up on the swing set and didn't move for about 30 minutes.

Amber did an outstanding job with this party (again my blog is only a summary...If you are reading this for ideas please visit her blog) and the weather cooperated for the 4th year in a row. It was an absolutely gorgeous (almost hot) day and I was so glad we were able to be there. Thank you, Amber, for allowing us to be a part of your lives and celebrations.

The LOOT:

After the party we loaded the kids in the car for a short nap as we drove to Miniature world. My children were in mini-golf heaven, but Amber's kids barely played 2 holes. Tate did enjoy the gocarts though and then we went to the Olive Garden for dinner.

The next day, we were introduced to the world of geocaching which Mikie enjoyed immensely since it involves numbers. (Amber, we tried it here in VA and our GPS isn't specific enough so we'll probably be buying the junior geocaching one for Mikie).Mikie finds his first geocach and then we went to the Pizza Factory for supper (we missed you Calvin!)

Mikie finds his second geocach and gets so excited when he can trade his toy animal for a ruler! (seriously, what kid trades a toy for a ruler?) He was measuring everything within reach until we got to the next geocach and the thought of blowing bubbles trumped the fun of measuring; so, the ruler was exchanged for a bottle of bubbles.

At the last geocach site (Thanks, Caraugh & John) Mikie held on to his bubbles, but Zachary traded his in for a plastic basketball.

A VISIT TO THE FRIENDLIEST DENTIST WE KNOW:
Dr. Wyman

Mikie did great!

Zachary had a much different experience:

Thanks again, Amber, for watching my boys. I wish I could find a dentist that offers baby sitting services out here :)

DINNER AT THE STELLERS:

Grant shows Mikie his new baby chicks.

What do you think we'll find under here?

Baby chickens!

Summertime fun!

This was one of the first times Mikie has ever held a bat. He kept asking me to throw the ball to him and he actually hit it a few times. While I know he had fun, I'm certain that given a choice the child would choose a golf club over a baseball bat anyday!

Mikie and Grant made some "music" while we waited for our chef to prepare dinner.

Of course, I could not get them to look at me at the same time. So I had to post two pictures.

It was so much fun to be back in our old stomping grounds watching the boys play again. We all really miss our friends!

This was such a cute picture of Zachary that I snapped at the top of Holley's steps.

Holley, thank you so much for cooking for us and inviting us over. We loved exploring your farm and visiting with you. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture with you while I was there.

Amber,

I'm so blessed to have you in my life and to be able to call you my friend. I learn so much from you and treasure every moment we get to share whether it be in person, on the phone, or through the computer. We had so much fun just being with you guys! Thank you for opening your home to us for the week and for everything else you did/have done/will do for me and the boys. We love your friendship and pray that someday we'll be able to live closer to you all.

Trying to catch up

I realize I haven't blogged in a very long time and we've had many trips with hundreds (not exaggerating!) of pictures to post. I'll get there eventually...my goal was this week, but more likely it'll be next week. Here's a few events I needed to post about before starting on our WA/CA/Disneyland trip.

While at Target one afternoon, it was quickly approaching nap time and Zachary was, as usual, hating the entire shopping experience and making it very unpleasant for everyone around us. I scanned the aisle we were in and grabbed some monster truck stickers which he promptly latched onto and we ended up purchasing. On the way home, he fell asleep clutching the stickers and when I transferred him to his crib he continued to hang on to them. I snuck back in to snap the picture of his "BEBE" in one hand and the stickers in the other .

Here's a video of Zach singing his ABC's and this video is his donkey kick flip.


Over Memorial Day weekend, we needed to drive to Virginia Beach to pick up some precious cargo. Our good friends down in Jacksonville, FL agreed to transport a ride on Grave Digger monster truck, which we found on craigslist, to VA beach while because they were headed there for a work trip. We knew it wasn't going to fit in my mini-van so we decided to make it a weekend trip and loaded up the boys in Michael's truck. Zach's car seat would only fit in the front which meant that Mikie and I would be riding in the little 1/2 cab. We managed to squeeze in and hit very little traffic so we made great time. To keep them happy we rigged up the DVD player. You can see from the pictures that Mikie had a "front row seat" for his movie and Zachary had to look up a bit.
The screen was seriously less than 10 inches from his face.

Zach's spot wasn't so bad, until the sun started shining right in his eyes.


The beach was the first thing on our list, but I didn't have the camera with us. It was such a pleasant surprise to have both boys enjoy the water this year. We spent a long time holding their hands and jumping as the waves crashed into us. That was my favorite memory and I'm sad I didn't get a single picture of it! After the beach, we had dinner with Carrie & Lenny and the boys and then enjoyed the boys' favorite past time....MINI-GOLF! It was another glow in the dark 3-D course with an ocean theme.

No scary volcano eruptions on hole 18....just a hungry shark.

While we were putting Mikie to bed, Zachary climbed under the covers and snuggled in. I decided to let them stay that way and see what happened when I turned out the light. They talked for a little bit, Zach wiggled around a lot, and Mikie kept telling Zachary to lay still so they could stay in bed together. I gave them 15 minutes and said if he wasn't asleep by then he would have to get in his crib. Well, wouldn't you know that he fell asleep next to his big brother with only 2 minutes to spare. I couldn't leave him there though, because I know I wouldn't get any sleep always worrying if he would fall out of the bed. So, I moved him to his crib and promised Mikie when Zach was older we could try it again. It'll be so fun to go on trips in about 1/2 a year.

The next day was filled with more anticipated fun: 2 more mini-golf courses!

The first pirate themed one was so perfect because Mikie had just finished his Pirates Past Noon Magic Tree House book.

What Michael did at least a half dozen times to retrieve the boys' balls that were "accidentally" dropped into the water.

Course #2 was the Jungle Mini-Golf.

By now it was close to noon and getting very hot! We found the cutest little restaurant only a block away and enjoyed our lunch on their patio. We provided the neighboring tables with a "dinner theater" as we managed to spill not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 glasses of liquid in about a 10 minute span. Thank goodness it was time to head home after that experience!

The next day, after church, we went to the Christian Youth Theater's production of The Little Mermaid. They always do an outstanding job with the set, but the lyrics to every song are almost inaudible.

Mikie really liked the sea horses.

On Memorial Day, Michael's parents, sister and her two kids came down to spend time with us. It was threatening rain all day so we decided to take the kids bowling!

Zachary was so cute, he'd pick out a color of ball, someone would carry it for him, he'd roll it off the ramp, stand there and watch it hit the pins, and then turn around and gallop back to us clapping his hands saying "Yay, Zachary."

Zachary and Grandmommy!

Time for Granddaddy to help Zachary try for a strike.