Portland Zoo

What happened to September? I don't know what happened. Could it have disappeared? Did the bump on my head cause amnesia? I have no solid conclusions, but here are some pictures from our trip in August to the Portland Zoo with my parents, my cousin Shelly, her hubby Jeff and their truly amazing daughter, Sydney.

As for the bump on the head story, it involved Nick, a gopher and a backwards whoop-dee-do. Feel free to fill in the blanks....


Monkey at the zoo...



Monkeying around....

What being two is all about....

Nick goes to Little Gym still once a week. I think it is his favorite activity. It's a 45 minute class that goes by super fast!

Bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reaching for the bar. His favorite activities are the bars and the balance beam. When opening one of his birthday gifts the box looked like a balance beam. He tore off the wrapping and exclaimed "balance beam!" and immediately got on and started walking across the box.


Getting ready to do a backwards roll....
Hula Hoop!
So Nick and I practiced blowing out candles all week and he decided that it's pretty fun. He also liked his birthday cupcakes and ate all his icing, but only one bite of cake....
Sugar rush!!!!!!

Inspecting the cool presents.....it says "Tonka" we're cool...

Snoopy Golf clubs! Yipee!



What look I get when I tell Nick to smile for the camera and THEN I will play outside with him.
New helmet for the new tricycle, or just a new fashion accessory.



Terrific, tender, tumbler, tease, talker, toy time, and time outs - what being two is all about.

So we took Nick to Build-a-bear on August 12th. It was a blast! He picked up one bear, then we'd show him another animal. He'd trade us the first one for the second and on down the line until we finally settled on a doggie. Then Nick took off running out of the store and into the mall with an unstuffed animal.....

Then we got to pick out a sound button for the dog, I wanted to make him meow, but resisted the urge. We picked out the barking of course. Next we stepped on the peddle to make the stuffing go in the dog until he was soft and squishy. The best part came next when Nick got to pick out a heart, rub it on his nose, give it kisses and hold it on his own heart before placing it in his doggie. It was so cute how he cooperated and really listed to the girl giving him instructions, I couldn't believe that he did it all!

Finally the dog got a bath, some pajamas, slippers and his own little doggie to match. It turned out really cute and we had a ton of fun. Nick is still talking about it.

So I am now unable to move photos on the blog, sorry they are in a strange order. Our friends have been having the same problem on their blog for a while now and she hasn't been able to fix it. Hmmmm.....perhaps little Dilbert is needed.

KFalls, Sacramento, Marine World, Yreka, Ashland OH BOY!

We just got back from a big trip. First we had a quick stop in Klamath Falls for a wedding reception. We were able to catch up with a few friends and some family. Unfortunately our time there was really short and we didn't get to see everyone we would have liked to see. Next time - I promise!

Nick and Great Grandma. As you can see, there was a lot of love there! Nick thought Great Grandma and her house were a lot of fun!


Nick playing football with Great Uncle Darwin. Uncle Darwin was a total Nick magnet!


Nick and I with Uncle Darwin and Aunt Letha or as Nick says "Wefa"



Then it was off to Sacramento to visit Mikes sister and her hubby Steve. They have a salt water pool and we have now become pool snobs! We had to swim in a chlorinated pool in Yreka and we thought it was icky and smelly compared to the luxury of the salt water pool.
We spent lots of time hanging at their beautiful home. The guys worked on a boat for a while. Margaret and I had spa day - thanks Margaret - my facial was superb! And we had lots of BBQ's, lots of good drinks (Margaret missed her calling, she's a fantastic bartender)and Nick put his hand prints on everything shiny in their home - Sorry about that!



Aunt Margaret showing Nick how to dive. Well done!


Steve brought us Lei's from Hawaii, so nice!




Giving Sami some loves...awwwwww....



A little football, literally.



Mike, Nick and I spent a day in Vallejo at Marine World/Six Flags with my friend from Junior High and her 3 year old. Susan and Alexander. The boys had a blast! We saw the Sea Lion show, the Dolphin Show and the Tiger show. Then we spent time in Looney Toon Town and Thomas the Train village. Nick is a lover of rides! Alexander is too, so the the boys went on all the rides they were tall enough to go on. These rides were totally my speed! Alexander is such a cutie! We enjoyed getting to meet him. Next time we will have to meet Susan's hubby and their baby girl Caroline who was not old enough to come with Susan and Alexander.



So, as a reminder from Easter when Nick stalked the Easter Bunny, we had a very similar experience at Marine World - Bugs Bunny!!!!!!! Nick kept saying "Bunny again". We think it is an obsession...





What happens when you spend 8 hours at Marine World without a nap....



On our way back North, we stopped in Yreka to visit my great friend Stephanie, her hubby Jake and their kids Baron and Cayden. Cayden is quite the little host! Their boys are wonderful and it was such a nice visit. Nick was so tired that day and real hand full. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the sleep deprivation the previous day at Marine World or the 5 hours in the car that day.




And finally here we are in Ashland. The #1 place in the U.S. that I would love to live if I could choose anywhere I wanted. I can't help it, I was giddy at Marine World and wanted to go to work there and I was giddy in Ashland and wanted to play there.

Here's Nick and I eating at my favorite restaurant the Greenleaf Cafe.



Nick climbing trees...truly amazing! Ha Ha



Nick is learning how to pump the swings now. He says "forward and back" and makes his legs go strait and back at the right time. Pretty cool!



Well, that was the end of our journey. A lot of time on the road, but a lot of time with friends and family - priceless!

4th of July

Hi again! Thought I'd put up a few pictures from the holiday weekend. On Friday, July 3rd, we went to Foster Lake with our friends Megan, Kirby and Jefferson Sand. Megans sister was visiting and she kept Nick entertained for HOURS - thank you Audrey! Or as Nick says "Aungi".

On the 4th we spent the evening at the Lazaroff household. They put on a great show every year and we love getting together with them to celebrate the 4th of July. Nick wasn't too interested in the fireworks at first, the Dennis set off a very loud firework and Nick didn't like that too much. He kept saying "Dennis fi-woks loud". Then he got a little more used to the noise and watched the show.



More than anything though - Nick loved the little girls that were at the BBQ/Firework show. They kept him entertained for quite a while! Note the "wife beater" tank Nick is wearing is also appropriately stained. He was drinking my Root beer and some of it didn't make it in his mouth. So you could say that he has a beer stained wife beater shirt. Gotta love it!


Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend! We are getting ready for a trip down to K-Falls and then off to California to visit Mikes sister and some of our friends. Soooo looking forward to it!!!!