Summer Fun

Happy as can be, our little pumpkin!

 

As long as there's a baseball bat in his hand, he's happy as can be, too!

 

And he's already showing Maddie the ropes...

 

So, this is how you become friends with the Wonks, share your snack with him!

 

Gettin' some grub Saturday night at Red Mill Burgers.

 

More park fun.

 

Exploration.

 

What? Pine cones aren't meant to be eaten?

 

Diggers and more diggers and more diggers...

Wading Pool

I'm sure you're tired of hearing it, but I love where we live!! Seattle is such a neat city to live in when you have young kids. There are endless things to do both indoors and out. This morning we headed out to a wading pool in one of our neighborhood parks. Hudson loved it! Maddie wasn't so sure, but she still had fun and definitely kept me busy anyways.

 

Sun-screen lathered and ready to roll!

 

Snacking before the pool opened up.

Hugging? Headlock? You decide.

 

I love it when he's this happy!

 

Stepping in.

 

Hesitation.

Loving it.

 

All smiles.

 

Relaxing in the pool.

 

Together.

Happenings

It's been a very unpredictable week. There's not a very consistent routine in place with regard to napping, so we've just been going with the flow and allowing the day to take us where it wanted to.

We've been exploring some new parks in our neighborhood with some success and some not so great success. Here's a little bit of what we've been doing in the last two days.

 

Shenanigans...Maddie is busy, busy, busy. She honestly never stops unless she's sleeping and she's always into something. In this photo, she's dragged the cat bed into the firewood log holder which she loves to stand in. She's really proud of herself until she can't figure out how to get herself out of whatever contraption she's whipped up. 

 

Yesterday we took a walk in our neighborhood in search of a "hidden" park around the corner from us. As it turns out, it wasn't much of a "park" at all, so we took a detour and headed back to one of our regular parks. En route we saw what Hudson likes to call "the silly car", we see it driving by our house a lot, so we took a picture next to it. We also picked a bunch of wildflowers which grow abundantly in Seattle- note the daisies in Hud's hand. When it was all said and done we walked 1.25 miles. Well, Hud and I walked, Maddie rode in the stroller.

 

This is the smile I wake up with every morning. It's wonderful.

 

At Rachel's playground. I love that they are starting to really play together. There is nothing that makes my heart happier. 

 

First, how cute is the Hud?

Second, the view. 

Third, the lavender. It's everywhere here. I love lavender. I love that it's everywhere here!

 

Family pic post-nap. 

 

Hudson's gymnastics class yesterday. 

He's a natural. Oh, he makes me so proud. 

Chasing the tornado around the gym while Hudson is in class is an absolute disaster. 

Anyone want a tornado for a weekend? She comes with a great smile!

 

See.

 

The park at the Zoo. We saw this park every day when I took Hudson to Zoo Camp, and I promised I would take him there. We finally made it there between Maddie's naps today. He loved it.

 

Maddie learned how to go down the slide by herself. She must have done it 100 times.

 

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

Pure JOY. 

 

This is how the Hud does it.

 

Hud became fast friends with a little girl at the park. They played together for about an hour. It was very cute.

 

Maddie loves animals. Cats, dogs, birds, fish, you name it. Here she is chasing the black crows at the park. Babbling at them all the while. She loved it!

 

In the sandbox at the end of the day today. 

The Library

Yesterday I took both kids to the library. It was nothing short of a complete and total disaster. I do not plan to do it again until Maddie is at least 3. Here's how it went down:

In the car I explained that at the library we use our inside, "whisper voices", that the library is a quiet place and that if we aren't quiet we'll have to leave. Well, obviously Maddie wasn't listening (no surprise) because she started babbling loudly (VERY loudly) the minute we walked in. Then, Hudson  ran over to the children's section and asks (loudly) where all the train books are. Clearly, he wasn't listening either. Strike 1.

Meanwhile Maddie has pulled at least 10 books off the shelves and they are now all over the floor. I'm following behind the "tornado" picking them up one by one, but I don't know where they go and she just keeps going, pulling more and more books down and giggling all the while. She then takes every single stuffed animal out of a bin and scattered them around the floor (there were probably 20). She continued by climbing on the benches and chairs, still babbling and giggling (loudly) all the while. Strike2.

While this was going on, Hudson continued to ask me where the train books are and he's beginning to get frustrated that no one (meaning me) is helping him locate the train books. Poor guy. I did the best I could to help him find some books he'd enjoy, but it's not easy to do when you're chasing a "tornado".

While I'm looking at books with Hud, Maddie fell off the chair she was climbing on, bumped her head and started crying and screaming. I started getting those annoying looks from everyone at the library, you know the ones that say geez, lady, this is the library, get your loud, obnoxious kids outta here... Strike 3.

OK, we're OUTTA here!

I told Hudson to quickly choose his books because we had to leave, so he did, and just as I thought this disaster of a situation was about to be over, Hudson yells as loud as he possibly can, "MOMMY, I NEED TO GO POO-POO!"

AWESOME.

Good grief, I need a vacation. BAD.

We are loving this beautiful weather and are spending a lot of time outside at the various parks in our neighborhood. From the last few days:

 

We're experimenting with a new nap schedule. 

So far so good (this was during lunch yesterday).

 

Meanwhile, Hud continues to play baseball.

This one is loving zoo camp, however he will not tell me anything about what he's actually doing at zoo camp. Here he is getting ready to leave for camp this morning.

 

And this one is a total disaster. No joke. She is non-stop into everything all the time everywhere. This is her favorite place to be lately. In case it isn't plainly obvious, it's a storage box that holds all of the pet toys, which, incidentally, she would rather play with then her own toys. Disaster, I tell you. Complete total disaster, our little tornado.