A Million Words

Well, if the saying is that a picture is worth a thousand words, then our recent pictures from our friend Rebecca Brethauer must be worth at least a million.  She does such a great job of capturing life in still images.  Although it's been a busy week with plenty of updates that I could share, I'd rather just post several pictures that we got back.  All of the pictures are great, but the ones with Corwin and his big Sister Sydney are priceless.  We love them, and we hope you enjoy them too!  Until next post, keep enjoying your November!!! 

Smell My Feet!!!

It’s that time of year again, where scary things are found in abundance. I know what you are thinking, but Corwin’s used diaper, Sydney’s bathtub, and Karen’s bad puns are not what I’m referring to this time. Instead, it’s the occasion of Halloween.

The time of year means that we have festive decorations, orange lights, and other décor on display at the house. It also has meant assuming an identity that is not your own (I’m not referring to fraud or the witness relocation program, but costumes). This year, Sydney decided she wanted to be Izzy for Halloween. Many of you may not know her, but she is a young pirate girl from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, which is a spinoff from Peter Pan. And since Sydney planned to sport her pirate attire, Corwin, of course, had no choice but to be an accompanying parrot. He wore it well and acted like a champ, but I’m sure his never-ending question was, “what in the world am I doing in this thing?”…followed by, “these people are weird to put this on me.” This year was likely more fun for him, since last year he dressed up as a newborn, but did pull it off well. My costume of an overly-tired father of two was a big hit, and many commented how authentic it looked. They just couldn’t believe how real-looking the bags under my eyes were 

Sydney and Corwin got to trick or treat downtown Bellingham, and then drove out to Lynden to engage in ‘round two’ with Sydney’s friend Maggie. She collected enough sugar to kill and elephant, and I’m hoping we can space it out effectively over the next ten years.

And while this was Corwin’s first experience, he didn’t seem to complain about much of anything. I’m sure he was entertained by all of the bright and colorful costumes, as well as those grim ones that involved lots of blood and an assortment of weapons.

As fun as this year’s Halloween was, we’re ready to move on and get ready for Turkey Day, and then the Christmas season. Until next post, have a great one!!!

No Longer a Decimal Point!!!

It is true…Corwin’s age no longer begins with a decimal point. He has reached an important milestone, his first Birthday. Of course, it meant the occasion had to be saturated with friends, family, and an overabundance of sugar. Corwin has had almost no sugar in his first year, but he made up for it at his party, eating enough cake and frosting to kill a rhino. Of course, he probably had 40% of it on his face and not in his gullet, but I’m sure he consumed enough, too.

While birthdays are markers, Corwin also experienced another milestone. He recently changed rooms at daycare and has moved up to the ‘older kids’ class. I’m certain he will like it, but it’s still a bit traumatic for Karen. It’s hard for her to see him grow up so fast.

The big “1” will come with some new expectations. After all, the ‘free ride’ is over now!...he he. We fully expect that he’ll be able to help with the dishes, mow the yard, clean out gutters, and everything else a free-loading one-year old should do. They should be contributing members of the family, right? Okay, that obviously not going to happen, but maybe he could shoot for at least making less of a mess at the table, waking up less in the middle of the night, etc.  Other than that, his primary job of looking cute will do the trick :)

We did notice some similarities between Corwin's first birthday and Sydney's first birthday.  Can you tell who is who???

In other news, Syd has regained her gills and is back in swim class. She has a lot of fun, and we like that she is getting skills that can help keep her safe.

For the rest of us...busy at work as usual, but we are looking forward to Halloween and Holiday Season to arrive!

 Happy 1st Buddy!!! We love you!!!

The World Part II

We have so many great pictures to share from Walt Disney World, I thought it would be good to use this post to show a few more.  Plus, Disney offers what they call 'Photo Pass.'  This basically means you pay a lot of money to get some good pictures, but the true benefit is that they have their professional photographers taking the picture...which means that no one in the family is stuck out of the picture having to snap it.  It's great to get some fun pictures with our whole travel contingency accounted for :)

I didn't mention it in the last post, but Sydney went into a new experience called Enchanted Tales with Belle.  It was sort of a story time, reliving the story line from the movie, but with a twist.  Instead of being read the story, the audience is actually part of the re-enactment for Belle.  Perfect for little girls, and not much of a 'must do' for strong macho dudes like myself.  But, it actually ended up a fun experience due to the level of engagement.  In an early part of the experience, they were assigning parts of the play to those in the room.  When the lady asked who could growl loud and play the Beast, little Sydney roared larger than everyone, so she got the part.  Others became the broom, or teapot, or cup.  And since Sydney was now a focal part of the experience, it became very fun.  I was honestly worried that she would be too shy to do her little part in a room full of people, but she didn't blink and eye.  When it came time for her part, the little blond girl let out another loud growl to Belle.  Of course everyone thought it was cute.  And wrapping up the play, Belle got to dance with our Beast and get a few extra pictures taken together.  All in all, we were very proud of her, and the video will be fun to watch for a long time to come.

I picked out a few other pictures that I liked.  The Halloween decorations in the Magic Kingdom were fun.  We also got several pictures of Sydney meeting a variety of princesses, such as Pocahontas below (although she liked meeting Monsters, too).  And it was great to be in pictures with my Momma, since it's usually her or I that are snapping away.  I do have the ability to go back and Photoshop myself into pictures, but in this case it was simply nice to be part of the experience and not have to do that work on the back end.  It was a great trip, so I hope you enjoy the photos.

Home Away From Home!

Churros, ice cream sundaes, and tasty pastries...while this would seem like Karen's dream breakfast menu, it was actually part of the diverse treats that pleasantly made their way through our digest tracts on our recent trip to Walt Disney World.  Great food is certainly part of the experience, but the mileage we walked each day helped us to consciously justify the calories consumed.

Rides are also a large part of the experience on a trip of this nature.  We were able to get my Mom (aka Gloria), to go on the fast and furious ride of Aerosmith's Rock'n Roller Coaster, which accelerates you into the ride using a catapult system that forces you in the back of your seat and makes your face look years younger.  All of the other rides were fun, and many we had been on before, but I appreciated her bravery to experience this one in particular.  Good job Mom!

This trip marked Sydney's second trip to Disney World, and Corwin's first trip (at least on the outside).  He did participate in the previous trip (before he hatched), which also prevented Karen from participating in any fast, spinning, or strong-gravity generating rides, and sequestered her to more traditional (aka tame) rides, such as It's a Small World (just gagged a little bit), and other slow moving rides featuring upbeat melodies.  Corwin enjoyed his first trip as an independent participant, and Karen liked spending time on rides she missed last year.

We also enjoyed our two hotels.  Boardwalk Villas gave us a short walk or boat ride to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, as well as a bunch of restaurants and shops.  Bay Lake Towers made it convenient for us to walk to Magic Kingdom, or catch the monorail to other destinations.  Both were great in their own right, and we wouldn't hesitate to go back to either.

Although we had a great time on the trip, my Mom had to cut her trip short.  My Grandpa was battling what we thought was pneumonia when we left on our trip, but was later determined to be cancer.  My Grandpa stayed with us until this past Saturday, which gave Karen, Sydney, and Corwin and I a chance to visit and spend some time with him after we returned on Friday.  That time will also be cherished.  You will be missed and always loved!!!

No endurance at all...and I don't even understand
why, they never pushed us!

Who knew the 35 ft. hat would
actually fit Karen...ha ha!

The best Grandpa anyone could ever have hoped for.

Family, Mobility, and other Wonders!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy.  Nana recently arrived from Montana to spend time with us.  It’s nice when she can actually visit in person, since her weekly visits are done via Skype (which is not as great as having her here).  She also brought along her furry family member Alex, so we had built-in floor cleaning, which became especially helpful around Corwin’s perimeter during meal times. 

Sydney and Corwin had a great time with Nana.  Sydney had a Nana-granddaughter day, where they got to experience the local sea-life touch tank, eat lunch, and just spend the day together.  Corwin also got the great benefit of another person willing to play with him, as well as be entertained by him.  And his big smile and laugh are so much better in person.

         In other news, Corwin is motoring around the house with a speedy crawl.  He does walk with his little push wagon (very quick in doing so now), so it’s probably just a matter of time before he takes off running.  Unfortunately, with his increased skills in the mobility realm, it has also resulted in the ability to efficiently climb stairs.  He can make it all the way up the stairs on his own, but the problem is that he does not understand the true gravity of…well, gravity, very well.  On a couple of supervised occasions, he has had the odd slip where he would fall backwards (fortunately into waiting hands).  This has resulted in barricading the bottom of the stairs as well as the top of the stairs to ensure he does not partially scale and rapidly descend the elevation he conquered.  With all of the fences and containment apparatus, it really has begun to look like a concentration camp or a prison cell block.  Maybe we can start calling him inmate 5258 instead of Corwin…haha!

       We also recently celebrated Sydney’s Great Grandpa’s (Harry) 87^th birthday.  It was a special occasion and get-together from the family.  We wish him many more birthdays to come!!!

Grandpa and his kids!

              

Is it Fair?

Well, August in Whatcom County means it is time for the Fair.  Although it wasn't a priority in our schedules, we did manage to make it to the final day of the Fair.  The Fair really was just a bonus to spending time with David, Lili, Maggie, Benjamin, Samantha, and Amanda.

Sydney got to spend the day with her friend Maggie, so she was extra excited.  She got to ride the smaller 'carnival' roller coaster with Maggie.  I figured she was a coaster pro by now, but she screamed the entire time.  I kept saying to other people who were looking on in horror, "geez, whose kid is that?!"  She got another chance to redeem herself on the spinning dinosaur ride, but she clearly did not like the velocity for which we were spinning, and for which she was plastered to the back of the vehicle.

Corwin enjoyed his time at the fair staring at livestock.  He looked amazed...I'm not sure if it was due to the size of the animals, or the fact that the cows were not smaller...inside buns...and covered with ketchup.  When he was rested up, he made short work of funnel cake, cotton candy, and lemonade before hitting the zipper and the grav-a-tron in the adult carnival area...at least he only wishes.  I'm sure in time he'll get to explore his thrill issues.

We are looking forward to Nana's arrival next week and I'm sure we'll have more fun updates to share.  In the meantime, have a great weekend!!!