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!!!

 

Wedding Bells

We made a recent trip to Florence, Oregon, to celebrate Nathan and Amber's wedding.  It was a nice ceremony and all of the festivities went off without a hitch…well, except for the hitch’n that was supposed to happen. I served as best man for the occasion, so it meant I got to say a few words of advice to the newly married couple.  Really it meant I got to share some jokes along with offering the normal best wishes.  While I'm usually modest by nature, I gotta say I was sizzl'n hot!

Sydney had the task of handing out the bubbles.  She did such a thorough job that some people ended up with two bottles...you can never have enough, right?  Of course she was thoroughly entertained with the reception and the music.

Corwin decided he’d be in touch with his Scottish roots and sport a kilt.  He was great during the ceremony, and also the reception.  I don't think there were many occasions where he was anything but a happy little trooper.  He's had a rough couple of weeks on the teething front, so I'm proud he manned-up (perhaps little-boy'd up) and made it easy on us.

We also had a recent visit from Mary and Jake, all the way from Montana.  Mary will soon have her own bundle of joy, so we wish them the very best with their upcoming addition to the family.

Well, there is a lot more that can be shared, but I just wanted to give a few of the bigger highlights and share some pictures.

Have a great weekend!!!

Eight is Great

The Eastman’s made their annual trip to the United States from Japan.  Their timing usually fits with the 4^th of July holiday, which means good food (BBQ, yum), good company, and some entertainment.  Usually the entertainment comes in the form of sparklers or some other tame firework.  And while this year still contained sparklers, there was much more entertainment from all of the little ones that were drooling and crawling around (enough about Chris and me).

 

Myles and Corwin are just weeks apart, and Kaiya represents the eldest of the young party.  And with all of the kiddos around, you could certainly tell that the adult conversation has changed quite a bit over the years, from whatever fun random thing that could spark a conversation, to more of a theme...what's the type of best binkie to use, the benefits of certain butt creams, and also breastfeeding.  It's all part of the territory, though. 

 

Sydney and Reina, especially being another year older, had a great time.  Their time together, especially at night, had the ‘slumber-party’ feel to it.  During the day, they also put their time in at parks, as well as playing around the house.  It's fun to see the pictures taken at different times, just to see how much they've grown.

 

As for me, it meant that Chris and I got to catch a few soccer games, both for the Sounders and for the U.S. National Team.  It's great to be able to watch a little bit with someone else who understands the game.  Sydney will watch with me, but she doesn't understand the strategy of the game.  However, she is great at yelling GGGOOOOOOAALLLLLLL!!!  She gets props for that.

 

One thing is for certainly, Chris and Jillian make sure their time involves catching up on food they miss during the year, such as Taco Wagon, Hawaiian BBQ, Taco Wagon, Bob’s, Taco Wagon, and other locations that kick your salivary glands into high gear.  While it is all certainly fantastically delicious, I'm just lucky I didn't gain 10 lbs. for my participation.

 

It was great to have them here, and we'll miss them.  Fortunately, they are just a short Skype away!!! 

 

Picture That!

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.  After years of having my large blue photo album that contained my baby, toddler, and early life pictures, I thought I had some good images to remember and reflect about.  It was only after I visited my brother and stumbled upon his 'THREE' rather large photo albums that I quickly realized, it's true, second children don't get the same photograph attention as the first born children.  It's likely because having a first child is a new adventure, and the excitement requires us to snap away at everything, not know what is important and what is probably just another picture taking up space on a page or taking up memory in the computer.

 

Well, I have to admit that we are probably going not buck that norm.  For the volume of pictures that we took of Sydney, it would actually be a little difficult to actually exceed that with Corwin.  Having said that, we have always been very aware of this issue and always made a conscious effort to get great photos of Corwin's young years.  So, even if he does not have the same quantity (not always the best thing), he would have some great quality to look back on, as we will too, as parents.  And in this digital age of snap away and delete the ones you don't like, he will have no shortage of memories himself.

 

Corwin has had three professional session, and the pictures in this post are taken by Rebecca Brethauer, a friend with a great eye :)

 

In other news, Corwin is on the verge of crawling.  He's been rolling around the house for a while now, but he's so close to making forward and not sideways progress.  He loves to stand, so I almost wouldn't be surprised if he skipped crawling and went straight to walking, or even running.

 Have a great weekend!!!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!

A few things have happened in the last couple of weeks.  Nana from Montana made a visit for Memorial Day weekend. It was great having her and she got to see how far Corwin has come since Christmas. Sydney got to spend a girls day out with her too, getting pedicures and shopping.

We also got to go enjoy the local Highland Games in Ferndale this year. Joe always has to have some haggis, it is an important ritual. Sydney enjoyed watching the bagpipers and the dancers, in fact she wants to do some Scottish dancing, but we'll see where that takes us!

Syd started swim class again, she is now in the intermediate level, so hopefully this will mean that she can actually swim a bit soon. But she is slowly getting better and more confident.

And lastly, Corwin is now rolling to get places! Sydney never discovered that skill, she went straight to army crawling, so this is different, but he will roll all over the living room to try to get to this and that. It is very cute. I think by the end of June he will probably figure out how to move forward, then watch out! Also, he is very into yelling at his toys and making noise. If we were at all worried about him being able to make his presence known while Sydney is around, well, nothing to fear there!

That is it for now! Sorry it wasn't more entertaining, Joe decided to "let" me write one for once. (Maybe this will encourage him to get back on the bandwagon, hehe.