I’m giving up on updating weekly—or weeks at a time—and just going with when I have a moment to jot things down. Tonight is my moment since I last updated. In random order, here goes.
Tiny Treks
So. Much. Fun. Every Monday (since last week through the end of July) we’re signed up for the Tiny Treks program through the City of Redmond Parks & Recreation. It’s basically a rain or shine park exploration program, where there is a fun theme each week. They start with an art project or two and some fun activities like sidewalk chalk; then circle time for a hello song and to talk about the day’s theme; then off for a hike and exploring; then back for story time and snacks. Yesterday it was all about fish at Cottage Lake Park. After making fish art and a (string) line with a (pipe-cleaner) hook, we hiked for sticks to complete homemade “fishing poles” before walking to the lake to “fish.” We ended with a few fish books and some tasty snacks. The kiddos have a blast, and so do I. Though, it’s a bit tough keeping track of both of them since Laine is either in her shy mood or her rebellious toddler mood. She got strollered toward the end yesterday.
It took about 20 minutes to make our way from the van to the meeting spot, all thanks to numerous fun jumping-quality puddles. Blaise and his crafty “fishing pole” fishing in Cottage Lake.
Laine’s idea of fishing was to keep walking into the lake as far as she could. Since I wasn’t up for swimming, I offered up the bag of carrots. She happily accepted (food!) and ate while Blaise went fishing.
Last week was the first meeting and the kiddos played in the dirt and water at our favorite park, Farrel-McWhirter. Good times!
Soccer Monster
Blaise is such an active little guy that music class wasn’t cutting it for his energy level. He needed to run around. Solution, soccer. Brian takes him each week—I haven’t been yet—and says he has a great time. Brian did say it’s a workout for him just keeping up with the Blaise’s random running around. The highlight for me was when Brian said at the first class the teacher asked each kid what their favorite animal was. All the kids responded with tiger, cat, dog, (insert animal name). When it was Blaise’s turn, he said, “Grrrrr!” Translation, bear.
Easter Pictures
When we want to get quick, cheap pictures taken there’s nothing easier than the JCPenny Portrait Studio. Our customer status dates waaay back to my parent’s 20-something wedding anniversary when my sister and I thought it would be a great idea to have our pictures taken as a present to them (1994ish maybe). We’ve had multiple picture sessions since, including all of our kids’ newborn/three-month/six-month/nine-month/year, etc. pictures taken. We took the kiddos for Easter pictures a few weeks back, and while I can’t post pictures that were taken thanks to their copyright (we didn’t purchase the CD), here is a picture post-photoshoot.
Blaise loves that pink hat. And you can tell it’s JCPenny by the awesome 1980’s decor.
Cake!
The kiddos were invited to their five-year-old friend’s birthday party at Pump It Up. What a great time! Even Brian and I enjoyed being kids, which explains why there are no pictures of any of us bouncing. There was pizza and cake after, and the cake was a hit.
Eating cake! There is a future photobomber to Laine’s left.
Lazy Days
We’ve had several lazy days at home in the past few weeks. Blaise has been wanting to stay home more often instead of heading out and about (long days for me, I like to get out). A few pictures from our home days:
Play-Doh day. Normally we don’t sit on the kitchen table but she was content so I just let her be.
We usually watch one or two PBS kid shows each day (rather, I like to shower). After watching them over and over, I decided to switch it up and put on the Nick Jr. channel. Dora the Explorer was on. HUGE hit with Blaise, he was glued to the TV; Laine doesn’t watch longer then a few minutes at a time. Now it’s Dora instead of PBS. Funny thing is, he had never seen commercials so every time one came on, he’d shout. “Oh no!” and ask me to fix it.
Discovering Dora.
Every night after baths, Laine asks for her horsey pajamas. She’d wear them all the time, all day long if it was possible to keep them clean. Blaise is on the horsey pajama bandwagon now, and wants to wear them too (but not all the time, trucks are still cool). Thankfully Laine was gifted a pair in her current size and next size up so they both can wear them at the same time.
Horsey PJs!
Laine pretending she doesn’t see me taking her picture (in her horsey pajamas again, sans pants). Little Miss Coy.
Zoo Trip
Brian’s brother, Paul, was in town Easter weekend and he and Brian took the kiddos to Cougar Mountain Zoo. Uncle Ba-Ba as the kiddos called him (it started Uncle Pa-Pa and transitioned to Ba-Ba, kids and their names?!). It was a beautiful day to be out (or for me to stay home alone!). It was so nice having Paul around, and the kiddos adored him.
Blaisey picking weeds, what animals?! The Laine picture makes me shriek since there are multiple signs around the zoo that say not to climb on statues (Brian!) but I couldn’t resist the look on Laine’s face, next to Uncle Ba-Ba. Apparently she *had* to wear sunglasses the whole time.
Farm Trip
A friend arranged for a tour of a fleece farm out in Carnation. The kiddos were up close and personal with alpacas, turkeys, goats, ducks, geese, and I’m sure some other animals I’m forgetting. One of the farm’s alpacas had a 24-hour-old baby, adorable!
Alpacas, a newborn, and a turkey!
Water Bugs
Today was a busy day. We went to a friend’s house to play and eat lunch, and when we left Laine fell asleep in two seconds flat. It only takes about 10 minutes to get home. If I were to have gone home and woken her up to bring her inside, she wouldn’t have napped any longer. So I drove around for about 45 minutes (hoping Blaise would sleep too, wrong!) and ended up at Farrel-McWhirter park. I put the kiddos in their rain boots, put mine on, and headed to the water. They ultimately went home pantsless (not me); it was a fun day.
We play in the water often. Another trip in the past few weeks.
The rocks in the middle are above water and make for a great spot to pick rocks up and throw them back into the water. They lasted close to an hour doing this. The other picture, the little speck in the middle is Laine who decided sitting down mid-walk to snack was a great idea.
Jumping Raccoons 
