Visit from Grandpa, Pig Out, Loon Lake

Dallin's dad came to visit two weekends ago. He spoiled us, but he especially spoiled Everett.

Joel, Staci, and Rachel drove on over for the occasion. We had a couple of family dinners and get-togethers. 

 Saturday most of us spent the evening playing mini-golf and eating at Shakey's Pizza. Dallin was only one over par and I was three over.

Everett thought helping his grandpa get the air out of his air mattress was hilarious.

As part of getting ready for the baby to come, we have been going through baby items and clothes. This giant package showed up at our doorstep from my parents after my mom bought every piece of baby girl clothes at a garage sale. Thanks Mom!
Everett didn't want us to put the nursing pillow back away because he found use for it as a bouncing/rocking horse.

I have been amazed on two recent occasions to discover that Everett had organized his toys by type. Here he has even separated the farm animals from the wild animals. And he put the blocks in colored rows separated by type of block (for the most part). I don't know if he knows he did that or not, but it is pretty cool. (Also, you can see him building a Jenga/Domino tower).

Devon and Whitney came with us to the Pig Out in the Park at Riverfront Park this last Thursday. Though it would have been in the spirit of the festival, we resisted the urge to sample the glazed doughnut burgers, cornbread cake, fry brick, doughnut fries, or deep fat fried: Twinkies, candy-bars, caramel apples, etc. We opted for some delicious gyros instead. Music played from three stages and a couple of street guitarists. Booths ranged from "Are you a good person? Take the quiz now." to politicians vying for votes. Whitney and I stopped to look at the booths selling little girl tutus and tie-dye onesies. Too fun. This candid shot I took with my phone made the bridge beam look bent.

 

My coworker invited us out to her cabin at Loon Lake again this last Saturday. Everett started calling her husband "Grandpa". He didn't seem to mind.

Wedding, Babysitting, Park, Reading, Lake

D: Gordon's wedding was fantastic. The boys managed to behave themselves through the ceremony and had a fun time running around afterwards. Everett has learned the word "Fish", and there was a Koi pond. He kept wandering over there, pointing at them, and saying "Fish!" 

Sharing water bottles, staring longingly at the 107 degree yard at the Beagley's. They didn't get to go outside too much. Just too hot. They did get to go swimming. Axel was jumping in and having a great time. Everett was clutching on to whoever was holding him for dear life.  

A: If you want to see more pictures from the wedding, you'll have to check out Jeff and Shannon's blog.

One of Everett's favorite activities of late is building with dominoes and Jenga blocks. By some miracle, I don't think we have lost any blocks yet. He often builds little Stonehenge towers. 

A: For 15 hours a week, we get to watch our friends' baby girl. She's about 9 months old now. This is giving Everett a chance to get used to the idea of a baby sister. He imitates her sometimes and it gets pretty comical. He thinks he needs to crawl around or kick his feet when she does. He tries to help us with her, which is great for the most part. He likes to hold her bottle in her mouth, which doesn't work out so well. They entertain each other, which makes our jobs easier. He has learned a lot thus far: like how babies don't know how to play catch with hard plastic balls, and would prefer if you didn't yank toys away from them.

This is also giving us a chance to figure out parenting two kids. Timing naps, feeding two mouths, changing a diaper with a curious child around, how well "sharing" works at this age, etc. It has forced us to baby proof beyond what Everett needs.
Here are some videos of them playing together. The first is from about a week ago and the second is from about a month ago.

A: Manito Park is still a favorite place for us to go take a nice little walk and stop at the playground. These pics are from a couple of trips there in the last month. And a couple from the park by the Perry district.

A: I took this picture to show the variety of rose names in the rose garden: "Ingrid", "X-rated", "Happy Thoughts", "Liberty Bell", and "Ricky Hendrick" (NASCAR driver who died at 24) all in one section.

D: It's taken him a while to warm up to swings, but Everett likes them now. What we figured out is that he likes it when we act like he's either kicking us or almost kicking us. Then he giggles uncontrollably.

D: Water!!!! Alicia's coworker invited us out to her cabin at Loon Lake this last Saturday. I have had a stomach bug and wasn't up for going. 

A: Everett liked the water this time and almost looked like he was going to jump off the dock at one point. He warmed right up to anyone nearby and would reach for them to hold his hand and walk him into the water. After eating a delicious barbecue, Everett wanted to head right back down the stairs to the private beach and dock outside the cabin. 

The whole thing was relaxing and fun with good company and yummy food. We came home with about a cup of sand in our clothes and shoes, but it was worth it.

CA trip part 3: San Jose

D: You know that trip to California that happened a month and a half ago? Well this post is about the time we got to spend with my family. Part of that time, my parents got to take a short vacation while we held the fort down.

This is the floatie swim suit we got for Everett. We found that on vacation, a normal swim suit worked a lot better than this sumo suit.
E has been upping his yoga game lately. He laughs when we stretch and tries to imitate what we do. This pose he's doing, though, he just does randomly. It's hilarious.

Perhaps E's favorite pastime all of vacation was playing catch. Ironically, he still can't catch. He loves chasing after the ball, though. He loved playing with Aerin especially, who he calls "Airy".

He loved sidewalk chalk. He marked himself and each of the stepping stones in the backyard.

A: We met up with my cousin Haley and her fiance Matt in San Jose. We had a really nice visit. I had never met Matt. Dallin and I liked Matt, and with my approval they are now allowed to get married :)

Happy Hollow Park and Zoo

 

 I guess Everett remembered his not-so merry-go-round experience, and was therefore resistant before the ride began. He actually calmed down as the ride got moving.
He did better with this petting zoo than the fateful "fluffy bunny" experience. He was more interested in the goats' poop and the climbing wall, but it's progress.

 It's a good thing Ev is free admission at most places, because he just doesn't appreciate them yet. He would rather play on the play set or sit on a wooden horse. He was mad at us when we left the paleontology play area where he had been playing in the dirt.

We had a great movie night with Thomas and Candice. We watched David Bowie's masterpiece "Labyrinth". Alicia had never seen it before. It was so fun.