Vitamin D!!!

The Sun!  The Sun!  I didn't realize how much the cloudy weather affects me here until the sun came out one morning...and then all I wanted to do was throw myself down on the driveway and just soak in the sun.  Which was ridiculous because it was 7 in the morning and about 40 degrees AND the driveway was soaking wet from all the rain we'd had overnight.  I do have some self-control, so I refrained.  However, we've had a couple of sunny (hooray!) days this week so I have tried to get out of the house and work on making some vitamin D.  The Friday forecast was truly spectacular - almost 70 degrees and no rain - so I decided it was time for Isaac and I to do some exploring in Olympia.

I was not disappointed.  We had two hours of free parking.  We used them to check out Heritage Park, Heritage Park Fountain, and Percival Landing Park.  With the sun warm and shining, I think we had a little taste of what the summers can be like here and it was beautiful.  I took lots of pictures to help the memory last for the next few months.  :) 

Good days and bad days

With Isaac, we have good days and bad days.  And for the last couple of months, it has been predominately bad days.  Screaming, whiny, clingy, screaming (did I say that already?) bad days.  To the point that our being here may have convinced Rachel never to have children.

Yeah, we have that effect on people.  And we are willing to loan out our services if you have any teenagers you would like to convince not to have (unprotected) teen sex.

Anyway, if you are a parent or other sympathetic adult, you may be feeling badly for me right now.  However, to be completely fair, I should provide a prospective from the other side.  So here it is:

10 Things My Mom Does to Make Me Mad by Isaac Miller
1. Change my diaper.  And she does it several times a day.  If it makes me this mad, STOP doing it!
2. Not change my diaper soon enough.  C'mon people.  The service is horrible around here.  If I have to sit in my own urine for more than 30 seconds, someone is going to hear about it.
3. Bathe me.  It's like she has a problem with my natural odor that I have been working on for a couple of days.  What happened to loving that "new baby smell"?
4. Take me out of the bath.  Warm water with tub toys to put in my mouth or the shockingly cold air - which would you choose?
5. Feed me properly.  There is a pattern, or a rhythm if you will, to how I like my bites of food.  For lunch today, it was chicken-chicken-chicken-strawberry-strawberry-chicken-strawberry-strawberry-chicken-chicken-(water)-chicken-chicken-chicken-strawberry-(water)-etc.  How hard can that be?  And she acts all put out when I throw food on the floor to let her know she got it wrong.  I just don't get it.
6. Pick me up. I can move on my own.
7. Put me down. I love being carried.
8. Not let me suck on the grocery cart.  Hello!  If I wasn't supposed to suck on the handle, they wouldn't have put it where my mouth can reach!
9. Put away the pots and pans.  It just makes it more work for me to get them out again.
10. Make me sleep in my own bed.  Seriously, if I sleep by myself, there is no one to kick in the crotch or gouge the eyeballs out of in the middle of the night, and where's the fun in that?

Priest Point Park

Another early morning hike.  Well, if you count 9 am as early.  Which, when getting 4 kids out the door, I do.  This time we did a hike I heard about, but hadn't done.  When we got to the park, we took a look at the map and saw that it was a relatively short jaunt to the beach.  

Sometimes, maps lie.

Well, not topo maps.

Note to self: look at a topo map.

It really was a lovely area and a good hike.  Good for the glutes that is.  A lot of steep stuff.  A lot of stairs.  A lot of gorgeous trees and ravines.  

And although it was more than just a little disappointing to find signs warning us not to touch the water and rocks because of pollution (!!!) at the beach, it was still fun and I would love to go back and hike without a 20+lb child on my back.

Things Isaac Can Do

Some parents will tell you in great detail about their child's first steps or rapturously about their baby's first word.  I'll spare you that since Isaac doesn't walk yet and the jury is still out on which of his "words" are words.  He does, however, have all sorts of other exciting new tricks to make make our lives fun (translation: not fun, partly horrifying, frustrating).

Things Isaac Can Do:

Climb in the dishwasher, empty or full.

Grab the cords behind the entertainment center which holds all of our major electronic devices.

Access the control panel under the fireplace.

Grab and pull on the door handles.

We love Isaac, but he does seem to enjoy finding new ways to make it hard for us to keep him safe.

Valentine's Day

Yesterday, Josh and I walked to Walmart and came back home with a lot...and I do mean a lot...of sugar.  In various forms.  Most of it unpalatable to adults.  All of it extremely appealing to my children.  Which is fortunate since they were target audience for today's festivities.  

Thanks to Pinterest and some show called "Minute to Win It", we had a lot of sugar-filled fun.  First up, candy heart towers.

We had several false starts.

And then Rachel won the day with her superior building skills.

Next up, candy heart transfer.  It was a close one, but after a couple of rounds it came down to Rachel versus Jason and a very close 31 to 32 hearts.

Next up, marshmallow fest.  I have no pics because we needed even numbers.  Each team consisted of an adult and a child.  First round, adults tried to throw as many fruit-flavored mini marshmallows as possible into their teammate's mouth.  Round two, the reverse.  I am not going to lie, I was not disappointed that Ben's aim wasn't great and I ended up with the least amount of marshmallows in my mouth.  This game was hysterical.  Marshmallows flying everywhere.  On the table.  On the floor.  In my hair.  Down our shirts.  Frankly, with all of the laughing, I am impressed we got any marshmallows in our mouths at all.

You might think that was enough sugar, but no.  (In my defense, they didn't get to eat the hearts and not that many of the marshmallows.)  I have decided to make pink floats a tradition, so ice cream and strawberry soda ended the evening.  Again, the adults were overwhelmed by the sweetness, but it was very popular with the kidlets.

Except this guy.  He wanted in all fun, but all he got was milk.  As you can see, he didn't seem to feel left out.

And a fun time was had by all.

Sequalitchew Creek Trail

On Friday, I went on a hike with a local mom and kid hiking group.  I found them on Facebook and have been debating joining them on some of their hikes for a few weeks.  But every time I thought about going it was either raining or Isaac was having the sort of day I didn't want to share with strangers for a mile or more.  On Friday, however, WeatherBug promised (PROMISED!!!) 0% chance of rain in the morning and Isaac was having a decent day, so we went on a hike.  It was really fun.  Isaac did beautifully and at the end of the 1.5 mile trail there was water.  And rocks.  

At which point, I knew I would have to come again and I would have to bring the rest of the crew.  

WeatherBug made similar promises about this afternoon, so Isaac and I went again with the rest of the crew.

Fortunately, the trail is stroller-friendly so we could bring our fabulous Jeep stroller.  Unfortunately, Isaac is not stroller-friendly in these chilly temperatures.  So, basically, the stroller ended up carrying diapers, a couple of blankets and the camera while Isaac hung out (literally) in the Ergo with my coat wrapped around both of us.  Oh well.

The boys seemed to enjoy the hike.  But today really wasn't about the hike.

It was about the water and the rocks.  Jason and the older boys spent a lot of time looking for perfect skipping rocks and even more time skipping anything that remotely resembled a perfect skipping rock.

Some of the rocks were hiding little crabs so they spent some time looking for those too.

I did manage to pull them away from their searches for a couple of staged pictures.

And then it was back to throwing rocks.  We had a lovely time and are happy to have found another fun place to explore in our area.

Capitol Lake Selfies

From Saturday before the rain