It's the most wonderful time???

They say it's the most wonderful time of the year.  Personally, I like to refer to it as the busiest time of the year.  It's certainly about fun holiday activities and gatherings, but lately it's also been about birthdays for little girls turning three (for Sydney, as well as all of her friends).

With that in mind, this post is going to be short as preparing never completely gets accomplished.  But there will be a lot to share next time from the holidays, especially since we look forward to Nana staying with us next week.  We'll also be with the rest of the family on Christmas day.

The bottom pictures were taken from Thanksgiving.  It was fun just spending time with the whole family...so much fun that apparently someone couldn't handle all of the excitement and had to go to sleep.  Hopefully Sydney's endurance on Christmas will be much improved.  Until the next post, eat, drink, and be merry!

Have a great Christmas!!!

Three is Better Than Two!!!

Sydney has been enjoying the idea of her birthday coming for a longggg time.  She's understood for quite a while now that she is two, and that she'll be turning three when her birthday arrives.  This year, we knew it would be a fun opportunity for her to invite friends from school (aka daycare), friends from birthing class, and other friends that she has met along the way.  The Whatcom Children's museum served as the venue for this year's occasion, and it was the perfect place to have it.  Lots of activities for each of the kids to do, and for some adults when no one was looking...ha ha.

Cupcakes, presents, and most importantly good friends helped to make the big 'THREE' a special time.  Although the party concluded, Sydney is still awaiting more.  Since we mentioned that her party was actually several days before her real birthday, she didn't hesitate to respond....'yeah...two parties!'  Since we were just trying to let her know that her actual birthday was a little later, somehow she immediately looked for the angle of creating another event...she's pretty clever.  We'd also like to thank all of her friends (and their parents) for attending the party and celebrating!

There's an old song (or perhaps it's a cheer) that starts out "two bits, four bits, six bits a...."  Well, the more I think about it, they weren't actually talking about anything but their technology.  Given the ability of the graphics in that day and age, two bits may have been what they were looking at.  No 1080i televisions with 128 bit video games...no one could have even imagined that.  I only thought of this distinction in time since the other day Sydney walked into the living room searching around for something.  After asking what she was looking for she said, "I'm looking for the IPad."  That's right, she actually rules the apps on that small little contraption.  While I don't think I have a single application downloaded on there, I believe she must have a dozen or so.

But I'm a forward thinker.  Since it's been such a big hit with her, I'm actually thinking of creating a 'babysitter app.'  I'm sure I could write some code that will ensure the IPad mimics all of the natural parenting behavior...'don't touch that'...'do you need a time out'...'please don't sit on the cat'...and things of that nature.  It's just a matter of time before the new technology will begin to work in my favor.  Until then, I guess I'll just have to keep the IPad in a spot that she can reach.

With the holidays coming, there'll be a lot to share soon.  Until then, have a great weekend!!!

It's That Time of Year Again!!!

It’s that time of the year again, and this year should be better than ever. Sydney’s first Christmas was very entertaining, but she was barely two weeks old at the time. She still had that new car smell. Her second Christmas, she was becoming mobile and we had to barricade the Christmas tree…it looked like Guantanamo Bay. But, this year she’s finally old enough to get the idea of the holidays, and she’s already begun to have fun with festive activities like decorating the tree. While she has a lot of fun, she still needs some assistance…otherwise we’d have 20 ornaments in one spot and bare patches in many others. But, she’ll get the hang of it…haha, no pun intended.

Even despite moments of naughtiness that naturally every two-year old experiences, I’m certain that she’ll make the nice list this year. I’m just hoping that when the time comes, she actually leaves some good treats by the chimney for Santa. And I keep telling her that Santa doesn’t want cookies and milk, but would much rather have some biscotti and a double-cappuccino, light on the foam.

Before the Christmas season kicks off, we still have some work to accomplish in November, like Turkey Day!!! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving, especially since we’ll get to see all of the family. Nathan, Amber, and the kids are also making the journey up from Oregon. I hope we’ll have some fun pictures to share in the next post.

On a completely unrelated topic, I think it’s fun to occasionally show how quickly Sydney is growing. So, after we were done decorating the tree I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of her and two of her dwarfs (Grumpy and Dopey to be exact). While this is just another visual reference of her physical growth, nothing can really capture how much her knowledge and day to day capabilities have grown.  We just hope she doesn't grow up too fast, and not just because college educations are expensive...ha ha!!!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Trick or...how does that go???

Working on a masterpiece...

The traditions of Halloween are many, but carving pumpkins is definitely always a highlight.  Sydney was old enough to help carve a pumpkin this year.  So, Karen carved 'her' pumpkin and Sydney and I teamed up to complete the other one.  Sydney and I got to work, laboring hard to craft a pumpkin that had all of the legendary features...triangle eyes, triangle nose, and a scary mouth.  While working hard, we suddenly heard a loud buzzing noise.  It only took a couple of seconds to discover the bzzzzz....bzzzzz...bzzzzz was coming from Karen.  Apparently, the 'manual' effort was too much for her, and she bought an 'electric' carver to use on her own pumpkin.  For me, I think it takes something away from the tradition.  If you don't almost cut your finger at least six times, and struggle with carving out corners and punching out the eyes, it's just not Halloween.  I think the quality product that Sydney and I created, using the time-honored methods, clearly came out on top.  But, of course, I'll let you be the judge of that.

Beyond carving pumpkins, Sydney loved dressing up in her Rapunzel costume.  While waiting in Adagio for her BFF Maggie (aka Cinderella) to begin trick or treating, we found ourselves in the midst of three Rapunzels, as two other Rapunzels had made their way into the cafe.  Being completely honest, Sydney wore the costume best and looked great (my honest judgment).  The official Downtown Bellingham Trick or Treating then officially began, and the hoards of people made it nearly impossible to move down the streets.  For me, that was probably the scariest thing this Halloween.  On Halloween day, Syd met up with Maggie again to do the 'official TOT,' but this time in the warmth of the mall.

Learning 'uncooked' pumpkin is
different than pumpkin bread.

All in all, it was a great Halloween.  Sydney had fun since she actually knew what was going on this year, and not surprisingly enjoyed being in costume.  The only real challenge of the occasion was trying to get her out of her costume...ha ha!

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!!!



Nothing touches classic design!!!



Maggie and Sydney Trick or Treating
downtown Bellingham.

It's the Great Pumpkin Sydney Ruth!

The weather is getting colder, the wind is blowing harder, and stores are lining their shelves with bags of candy.  This can only mean one thing...Halloween is just around the corner!

We decided to enjoy this festive time of year with a return trip to Stoney Ridge Farm.  Last year was our first experience, and this year we knew to expect large crowds and lots of activity.  We picked our day right, as it ended up being sunny and not too cold.

Being the ripe age of two (nearly three), Sydney was able to ride the train this year.  More importantly, she got to ride it by herself.  And having been an experienced Disney theme park attraction rider, this was really child's play to this thrill ride veteran.

October, 2010...trying to get Sydney
to look at the camera...unsuccessfully!

Sydney also got to see all of the animals, which included horses, rabbits, goats, chickens and geese, a donkey, and some pigs.  While we didn't make it into the actual pumpkin patch, we did manage to have some cider and visit with some friends and co-workers we found also enjoying the event.

It's always fun to see how much Sydney's grown, so I've added a couple of pictures from last year.

Coming up...costume selection...pumpkin carving...and more!!!

From Nana to Grandma...

Dad 'squeezes' in tent with Sydney at
Nana's house.

Sydney had a great time at Nana's house.  Montana was an adventure she enjoyed, and spending time with Nana is always great.  She even got to meet Mary and Tami, a couple of Karen's friends from high school and college.  All in all, a great time.  She will miss Nana, at least until she comes out to Bellingham for the holidays...hoooray!!! 

But in the span of a few days, Sydney got to also spend time with Grandma.  It's great that she can have two spectacular Grandmas in her life (and also one fantastic Great-Grandma).  She had a lot of fun playing, making cupcakes, and enjoying time doing what little girls do with their Grandmas. This visit, Grandma took Sydney down to the touch tank. And while I've never been there, the pictures Grandma took sure makes it look like it was a lot of fun.

Sydney has improved on the sleeping front.  She spent most of last week sleeping all night, and in the comfort of her own bed.  We hope she keeps it up, but we know all little ones go through a few tough phases every now and then. 

Well, there's certainly been a lot of stuff going on.  In fact, we were 'doing' so many things this weekend it leaves little time to actually write about it, so I'll keep this post short.  But, we look forward to sharing more in the next post about our recent trip to Stoney Ridge, and Syd's new costume for Halloween this year!  Until then, we hope you are enjoying October.

Lewis and Clark

On our recent journey through the Eastern part of Washington, then Idaho, and finally Montana, we ran across a few different monuments celebrating the journey of Lewis and Clark.  While contemplating this history, I began to think of parallels of their adventure to that of our own, or perhaps more likely the lack of parallel.  Actually, when I give it more than a second’s thought I thought of some of these major differences… 

#1 Mode of Transportation:

The fact of the matter is one of the largest differences from our trip was the mode of transportation.  Sure, not only were we not riding horses, but we were cruising at speed to optimize fuel efficiency in our Toyota Camry.  I’m sure our ‘suffering’ through an agonizing (not really) 14 hour drive would have been a welcome one to them.  And when they needed to worry about feeding their horses, we simply stopped at a gas station to fuel up with the appropriate octane.

#2 Entertainment:

OK, so if you don’t think transportation highlights enough contrast between the trips, I’d like to point out another thing that Lewis and Clark did not have…a DVD player.  I’m sure their historic forms of entertainment were much more rudimentary.  Actually, I’m sure they were more concerned with starvation, and basically just surviving, than any forms of entertainment.  BUT, since we were travelling with a 2 year old it did prove to be a lifesaver, just in a little different form.  Thank you Sony! 

#3 Navigation:

L&C were fortunate that when they were down on their luck, they came across a native woman named Sacajawea, who was able to help guide them on their travels.  We did not have Sacajawea with us, but we did have our Garmin.  And while we did not have the barrier of leaning a new language barrier, our Garmin was set on “Australian accent” to offer a little more challenge.  She was very helpful on our own travels, so we offer her thanks.

#4 Nourishment:

While native game had to be hunted and food gathered, we can merely ask our guide (thank you Garmin) for the nearest available food, by type of cuisine and also for the specific duration of time required to reach the desired destination.  This could ensure that our stomach hunger factor could be adequately timed with arrival at our destination.  I know…very rough trail J

#5 When Nature Calls:

While no road has been created in those olden days, we benefited from paved interstate highways and other perks along the way.  While those original pioneers would often just find a nice tree to relieve themselves when nature called, we just pull over and use the rest area facilities.  Having said that, I think they actually had the better idea.  If Lewis and Clark had smelled the facilities at these rest areas, they would have known they had the superior idea.

Beyond the travelling itself, Karen got to visit with her friends Tami (and her kids), and Mary.  The rest of the time found us having fun at Nana's house in Billings.  More to share later, but that's it for now. 

Have a great weekend!

Already a Busy Fall!

It was early November of 2006, a young'ish' lucky girl from Montana met this great looking, funny, charming, and muscular guy from Bellingham.  About a year later, that girl was married to that very modest guy....and poof, four years and one kid later we're celebrating another anniversary.  It's been a great four year, and there will be many more to come.  I love you babe!!!

Every now and then, or really every weekend, daddy gets to spend some time with his favorite daughter.  OK, really his only daughter (but still his favorite).  So, while Karen is out training for an upcoming race, or busy volunteering with the parrots, Sydney and I get to spend some quality time together.  The pictures in this post are from last weekend, in which we got to spend some time playing at Hovander and visiting with the animals.  Afterwards, we rounded out our outing with a quick trip to Woods Coffee.  And since you know me, it really took Sydney a lot of arm-twisting to make that happen :)

With only minor setbacks that are few and far between, Sydney is pretty much now 'house-broken.'  Oh, whoops, I meant potty trained.  I always mix those up.  In fact, she hasn't gone on the newspapers...er, I mean in her diapers, he he...in quite some time.  This should help us with some of our upcoming adventures.

In other news, we continue to prep for an upcoming trip to Montana.  As a family, we've endured 15 hour flights from Australia, 3 hour flights to and from California, layovers, and everything that travel brings.  We've got a daughter that has been on more continents and in more U.S. states by the age of two than most people have by their teens.  So, we are only hoping this well-traveled toddler will be open to a 14-hour car-bound 'road trip.'  While flying to Montana seems more appealing, the advantage of having a car is important and gives the flexibility to visit Karen's friends.  This also opens up the possibilities of experiencing different things along the way.  We hope we can keep our little blond one entertained through enough books, activities, and an occasional movie.  The idea of a road trip...the adventure, the excitement, and the fear, are all a very fascinating combination.  If we survive, I'm sure we'll have great stories and pictures to share.  So stay tuned!!!

 Have a great weekend!!!

Resisting Urges

One of the great things about being a dad to a two-and-a-half year old is the fun perks that come with it.  Playing around, tickling, rough housing, and all of those activities make life fun.  Lately though, it has been an interesting time because I have had to resist multiple urges to tickler her.  Sydney, in her advancement in potty training, is now mostly out of diapers during the day.  This is great and we are very excited about this, but the drawback is knowing that I must resist the temptations to tickle her with the same intensity as before (so as to avoid any potential 'accidents').  As she gets a little older and her ongoing success of potty training is secure, then I can increase my level of activity.  And let me tell you, that little blond girl is full of identified tickle zones.  Under her neck, as well as her armpits, are a couple of key areas.

In family news, Sydney recently got to help celebrate her Great Great Grandpa's birthday...who happened to turn a young 85!  I can only hope that the family genes for long-life pass down to me, as well as Sydney :)

Sydney also looks forward to spending time with her Nana from Montana...in...well, Montana.  This will be a road trip, so hopefully we will be lucky with a happy toddler and smooth traffic.  And perhaps the weather will be nice, too.  It'll also be great to spend some time with Karen's friends that live there.  And Sydney also volunteered to take her shift driving.  While I thought this was very thoughtful, I'm not quite sure she can reach the pedals and steering wheel at the same time.

It also appears that Sydney will rejoin swim class this fall.  This is great since it looks like her welding class, as well as her heavy construction equipment class, have both been canceled.  She's always loved swim class, so it'll be nice for her to get her fins wet again.  Until next post...

Have a great longgg weekend!!!


(And thanks to my Mom for the first and last pictures)

We had so many great pictures from our recent trip, I thought it would be nice to use this post to show a few more of them.  We got a number of photos of Sydney's favorite rides, and her overall resume of thrill attractions is growing.  Hard to imagine she's almost three, and she's already conquered some of the best rides!  She will always have a soft spot and looks forward to return trips to Disneyland, but she definitely now has her sights set on DisneyWORLD.  She understands it's much bigger, and her thirst for adventure is ravenous.  Her next visit will certainly define her as a Disney veteran, but these pictures will always serve as a record of those first couple  of trips when she was young, innocent, and two!

While the castle says it all, I thought I would at least mention that this week there is another 'happiest place on earth.'  That place, as you would likely not suspect, has been the bathroom.  Sydney has done excellent with her potty training the past few weeks, and it's been almost a couple of weeks since she has had a diaper with 'substance.'  Even beyond that, she regularly says when she needs to go.  We certainly are excited about this transition.  She's had progress before, but she's hit a new plateau for consistency.

There's much more that's been happening, but that will have to wait until next time!!!

Have a great weekend!!!