Easton::5 Months

Almost missed this! I have say I have felt a bit of relief being able to say that Easton is 5 months old. He just seems so much bigger than your average 4 month old...and as we all know, he is. So I've been saying he's almost 5 months for about a month and now he finally is!

Instead of more pictures I thought I'd post a little video. Like I often say, the boy loves his brothers! They are such great entertainment...all 3 of them!

Camelback

Instead of complaining about the weather yesterday, we decided to just get on out there and quit sulking. I tried pretending it wasn't hot, but it was. Very. Rand thinks he's all acclimated because he's been working-out outside during his lunch break. Maybe he is. He definitely tolerates the heat better than me. I was in seventh-heaven in the cool Pacific Northwest for most of the last month.
So anyway, we went to Camelback Mountain to hike around. Rand sported the backpack with the big baby, and I sported the backpack with 4 bottles of water. We didn't go far but it was fun. Anxious for it to cool down so we can fully enjoy the sights around here!

You can see downtown Phoenix through that low spot in the rocks. It was a lot more clear in real life.

We were heading for that shady spot!

Desert-Shmezert. Look how green that is! :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 24

Setting: In the car after a good 14 hours or so, somewhere in Arizona in the middle of the desert. Big boys bouncing off the walls in their seatbelts, talking a mile a minute. It started with the tongue twister "Toy Boat" and quickly escalated into other things. At one point all they were saying over and over and over and over was "Toy Hamburger".

Brendan and Wyatt: Toy hamburger, toy hamburger, toy hamburger, toy hamburger.....

Joanna: (about to scream) Okay! How about we say something else. Let's think of something else we can do.

Brendan: I know!!! Let's play the What-If Game!

Joanna: That's a great idea. Why don't you go first, Bren.

Brendan: Okay. What if....Easton was a TOY HAMBURGER!?!?

Joanna: Annnnnnd we're done...

And There Was Water Skiing!

I don't know why, but out of the blue one morning Wyatt decided he wanted to try water skiing. He kind of kept on and on with it so we actually got out the skies and got a rope shortened a bit and set out to teach the kid. Brendan wasn't too sure about the idea. I don't think he believed Wyatt would actually do it. So we did a couple lessons on the ground and then we went out to the water. I got in with him to help him hold his skies upright before the boat started pulling him. The boat took off and over the skies Wyatt went. It was a great first try. Unfortunately that was his only try. Brendan, thinking Wyatt was super brave and he better try and keep up decided to try next. So he got ready, got in, and gave it a go. He got up on his third try. He was only up a couple seconds before he pulled in his arms and bailed. It was pretty awesome!! So Brendan was done and both the boys were like, "Let's see you do it, Mom." What was I supposed to do? So I slipped my feet into the kids skies and popped right up. Well maybe not "popped"....more like plowed through the water and finally came out on top still standing. It was pretty fun. It's been a while since I've skied....it's been a long while since I've skied on those particular skies. I eventually bailed plowing through the wake on my too small skies and the kids got a real kick out of it. They were pretty disappointed I didn't do any jumps. Next year boys, next year....

Wyatt

Brendan

"Hit it!"

He did it! See the elbows....inevitable crash!

Mom's turn!

Phew. I did it!

I thought I was real clever waving to the boys. I guess it's not as cool as jumping! ;)

Just Like Fish

These two love swimming! This year at the lake was a big one! They both tried water skiing (post to come) and they passed the "swim test" which is to swim out to the buoy and back without a life jacket. This grants them permission to be on the dock without their life jackets. Lake swimming is a whole other ball of wax compared to pool swimming. There are waves, docks, boats, etc. They look so little in it!
So this year, most of the trip, the kiddos were swimming without flotation devices. Sometimes there was even spur of the moment swims in their shorts!

The Fatboy

Perhaps by the title you thought this post was going to be about Easton? touche...
Actually this is about an actual "fatboy".
My brother Willie had a motorcycle. It was super cool. Blue and chrome. A Harley-Davidson Fatboy. After he died my Dad learned to ride it and enjoys riding it now. I think it's pretty cool that my Dad rides it. The boys just think it's cool. Period. My Dad showed up on the bike while we were at the park and the boys had a lot of fun sitting on it, wearing the helmet and listening to the beast start up.

look at Wyatt in the background. hehe

Parks

There are lots and lots of parks to visit in Shelton, Olympia, Seattle. We've been hitting up as many as possible when we decide that being at the lake isn't "parkish" enough. These are from Walker Park and Twanoh State Park, both on different parts of Puget Sound.

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He Likes It

And he's sleeping a lot better too!

Blogger

Blogger is making me super mad right now. Their new editing stuff is no good. :(

I think I just wasted about 45 mins.

Now I have to start over. Any one know how to get rid of all that code that automatically gets attached to the pictures??? Once they are uploaded onto the blog I can hardly do anything to them. They are all formatted and I hate that!

Guess I'll break up the last week+ into smaller, more manageable chunks. Booo.

New blog coming. Hopefully.

Vacation 2010::First Week

Sheesh. I did not mean to neglect the blog for so long. Just lost the desire somewhere along the line, not to mention it has been a real crazy couple weeks. 1400 miles of driving. Vacation. Visiting. Family. Birthday. Sunshine. Rain. Etc...

And lucky for you I'm combining it all into one super post!

Thursday (the 30th) after Rand got home from work, we hopped in the car and started driving West toward Cali! We had our first major monsoon of the season that evening so it made for an interesting start to the trip...that and Easton fussed and yelled for the first 30 mins. The whole trip wasn't bad, but it did make me VERY glad that we decided to move before Easton was born back in January. It was a tad stressful with a babe, trying to make sure he was happy, fed, sleepy, getting play time, diaper changes, etc. I won't bore you with trip details. Long story short we got to my old hometown, Shelton, WA on Saturday morning and it has been non-stop ever since.

On the road....finally getting to some real trees!!! 

and mountains!!

Once we got to my parents house on Mason Lake we got to work playing and being outside because we've been deprived the last few months!

The kids were a lot more brave this year in the rocket. We made some huge waves for them to launch off!

Rand got in on the action too.

The boys are quite taken with their Uncle Jon. Pretty much all kids (except Willow) and even animals love Jon. :) He's married to my sister Joanna, aka Jojee.

Ahhhh, the view from our room.

I think Easton likes it here (it's like his first time wearing full clothing)!

He's making these weird faces at his Auntie Jojee

Uncle Jon set up part of his drum set for the boys out in the garage.

picnicking outside with cousin Jayden, here from Kansas.

And then we had a birthday! Brendan is officially 7 years old.

And just because these pictures are pretty much awesome and they must make an appearance, here you go:

(notice Wyatt. little turkey)

Rand is headed back to Phoenix now, but I'm lucky enough to get to stay a little bit longer. We are soaking up family and friends and awesome weather! Stay tuned for more!