Late Summer 2018: Part I

These kids played a lot this summer! Here they are on the Mukilteo/Bothell YMCA playgrounds, North Creek park, and the Mill Creek library playground.

Tyler wanted to borrow my phone and take pictures. Most were blurry and/or had his finger over the lens, but he actually got this decent picture of me.

Allison loved this zebra shirt and was loathe to part with it once she outgrew it at the end of the summer.

Forest park is a great park but it's too big and hilly for me to feel comfortable going alone. Either Oscar has to come or I need to go with other moms in case I have to chase after Allison. Just on this trip she started down a couple different hiking trails and into the equestrian area.

Here are the kids on the seesaw together and picking blackberries with daddy at Kasch Park.

For the first week of August we went down to Orting, WA for Oscar to run a 1/2 marathon. They happened to also be holding a Summerfest, so we stuck around for the fun festival.

Allison ran up to these ballz and waited in line only to refuse to do it, even with me. I guess she just wanted to watch. I did it first, then Tyler wanted to do it when he saw me doing it. He really liked it. It was super cute to watch him figure out how to get back up after he'd get knocked over.

They had some fun bounce house slides and an inflatable obstacle course. Allie wasn't interested, but Tyler was. He went several times and even found a buddy to play with.

Allison, who'd never been particularly interested in Disney princesses, just wanted to dance and sing with Tinkerbell, Cinderella Moana, and Rapunzel. I could tell all these girls had nice voices, but they had a hard time singing with the speakers. All of them were a bit flat in their performances, but when they'd sing a line or two without accomaniment for the kids in their circles, they sounded fine.

We had zero wait to meet, hug, and take a picture with 4 Disney princesses. Beat that Disneyland!

The kids and I went for a train ride before walking through the vendor booths. This is where we purchased Allison's unicorn ducky, which has become her favorite toy ever. They also got Elephant and alligator balloon animals.

There's a nice playground nearby that even had a tiny toddler bounce house that was barely holding itself up.

Puyallup was on our way back to the freeway, so we drove there for lunch and to let the kids play in the fun children's pool at the Puyallup YMCA. We ate The Rock pizzeria. They let the kids play with pizza dough while they wait for their food. Allison had chicken nuggets, smiley face fries, croutons, pizza, strawberry lemonade, cookie and ice cream. It was pretty much her ideal meal.

Back home the kids enjoy doing pushups with daddy

I love catching my girl in the camera reading!

These pics and video are from a family home evening lesson we did teaching the kids about Captain Moroni, freedom, and the Title of Liberty. We tied up their hands so they could understand they didn't have freedom, and we did a flag hunt. Afterwards Tyler unprompted made his own Title of Liberty and his own flag, and then made me hunt for it. 

During the 2nd week of August we took Ria to Wild Waves with us again. This time it was a nice warm day, so the cold water in the waterpark actually felt good.

 Everyone zonked out quickly on the way home, even Ria.

For a couple weeks we were without a car while ours was being repaired in Walla Walla (we'd rented one to get us home and another to get us back, but we didn't have one in the meantime). This meant coordinating our day with daddy. On this particular day Oscar had to work a few hours at a different location than usual, so we dropped him off, found a playground, then looked for a nearby school lunch option. It turned out to be the elementary school of Samantha, one of Tyler's friends from the Chennault Beach branch. She was participating in a jumpstart program, so we got to sit and eat with her. Both kids actually ate their cucumbers. Tyler crashed in the car on the way back.

Usually when we'd dropped Tyler off at the educational program Martha Lake Baptist Chruch, I'd take Allison shopping or to a park while he attended. On this day I had a lot to do at home so we just dropped him off and came right back. Allison threw this fit on the floor of the garage because we'd gone in the car without going anywhere. She's used to a car ride always meaning some sort of adventure. Fortunately for her I finished up with my chores and took the kids swimming at Martha Lake after we'd picked up Tyler.

Just before we went back to Walla Walla we had Casey and Chloe over for the afternoon/evening. The day after we got back mom and dad came to visit for a week, then we went to Montana and Silverwood Themepark in Idaho, all of which will be covered in future posts.

Previous experience has taught me that if the kids are quiet and out of sight longer than usual, there's bound to be a big mess when I find them. One day I was pleasantly surprised to find no mess and my awesome Tyler boy making this Zoob crown all by himself!

During one of the days that mom and dad were here, Tyler threw up all over both of us. He came into our room around 2AM saying he'd thrown up in his bed. I incorrectly heard "I fell off my bed" and pulled him in for a hug. He then threw up all over me (MUCH more than he'd thrown up on his bed) while I pushed him back a couple feet so it didn't get all over my hair. We comforted him, got myself, him, and his linens changed, and then helped him get back to bed with a bucket nearby if he needed to throw up again. We fell back asleep and were again woken by Tyler coming in the room crying and saying his tummy hurt. This time Oscar carried him to the bathroom, but Tyler threw up all over Oscar before he could get to the toilet. I groggily got up and checked his room to find everything was still perfectly clean. I was honestly a little annoyed that he'd come to us without trying to use the bucket or the bathroom, both of which were much closer to him, but later on Oscar said something that really got to me - "I'm glad Tyler threw up on us today. It's much easier to clean up vomit than to get a child to confide in you who's afraid you'll be disgusted or ashamed or angry at him. I hope he continues throwing all his garbage up on us and knowing that we will always be there to help him through anything that's making him feel yucky."

 

The weather turned almost instantly into Autumn during the last days of August. July was crazy hot, and August would have been great if we hadn't had two weeks of smoky weather. The extra hot July made for more forest fires that destroyed our air quality. They said it was the equivalent smoke intake of 7 cigarettes a day. By the time the smoke went away, it got cold enough to require pants and jackets. I missed the sunny mid 70's summers I've gotten used to.

Oscar started marathon training and won his first 5K doing the Seattle Hero's Run with the other managers from his work.

I did a little homeschooling with the kids when the weather wasn't nice. They really liked this sorting fruit loops activity.

Allison and kitty cuteness!

A few days before Tyler's school started, I took the kids to Altitude Trampoline park for Toddler Time. It was only a few days before Allison turned 3, which meant she was still free.

Tyler even got a few pictures and videos of me jumping with Allison. Most are blurry and he kept putting his finger on the lens and pressing the wrong buttons, but he got a few good ones too. 

 Bouncing around with my girl

Allison trying to push Tyler in the bubble.

Allison loved the extra bouncy trampolines, though I thought it was harder on my feet. They usually only allow 12 and up kids in this area, but I guess they don't mind the little kids using it during toddler time.

Of course she climbed up to the top of this. She's my climber!

Cute Tyler and a zonked Allison later that afternoon.

The Mukilteo lighthouse festival was the weekend before school started. The theme for the children's parade was "flight." Tyler carried around this airplane with the Hall kids.

Allison had butterfly balloons on her stroller and wore a butterfly dress. They said "Happy Birthday," but I figured that was appropriate since her 3rd birthday was only 3 days later. We bought her 6, but with the wind even 3 was a bit too much.

After the kids' parade we had great seats for the Grand parade. It was great! The kids loved it.

A pirate themed group handed out eye patches.

Look at my cute girl dance!

During the last two weekends of summer we went to Wild Waves with daddy. Ty and I finally did the Soaring Eagle zipline ride that came with our season passes. It was a LONG line, so Oscar took Allison around on some rides then went on a few with Tyler while I took Allie on the paratrooper. After that we played at the waterpark, but spent most of it in the hot tub since the water was so cold. It was warm outside that day (around 72), but the sun isn't strong enough in the evening to make up for that cold water.

During the 2nd week after the Mukilteo parade, the kids wanted to wear their eye patches on the Coastal Clipper and Tidal Wave

Allison somehow missed doing the Carousel the week before, so I made sure we "rode the horsey" this time.

Scramblin with the kids! This and Coastal Clipper are the only rides that let me take both of them on with me. It's not the most family friendly themepark. I prefer Silverwood in Idaho and Lagoon in Utah for family friendly attractions. 

And that evening Allison played her Kindle while lying down on a kitty. Parade, Wildwaves, kitty, and Kindle. She pretty much had the perfect day!