Beach Outing

It was another 90 degree day so we hit the beach this weekend.  We drove to Denny Beach over on the Kirkland side so I could show them where I swam at when I was little.  It is beautiful there! There are big trees and shade with views of Rainier.  Mayson and I swam around a ton, and after an hour of warming up to the idea, Gray joined us too.  He is funny--content watching from the beach and sitting in the shade having snacks before deciding that it could be fun to go in.  He is such a sweet boy.  He alternates between saying "no please," and "no thank you."  He was exhausted on the way home but fought the sleep the whole way home.  I will admit to being quite worried, this is day three of him not napping. He usually goes to sleep for three hours, and now he just goes in his crib and stomps around and yells at us for the hour before I give in and get him.  I cannot admit this is the end of napping.  

Dance Party

We had an awesome dance party the other night.  We were talking about Madonna after Mayson got into my bachelorette party pictures and saw Ben all dressed up.  So we had to put on our 80's dance mix and have a party.  Gray didn't hear us correctly when we said we were listening to Madonna and kept asking for Old Macdonald instead.

Thomas

I will admit that Mayson watches a lot of TV when she wakes up every summer morning.  I thought that if I limited it to PBS, it wouldn't be so bad.  No commercials, educational programming...but they do advertise events sometimes (see the Daniel Tiger post)!  So, on Friday we found ourselves at "A Day out with Thomas."  Gray loves Thomas and loves trains, so this was a little treat especially for him.  We went on a 20 minute train ride on Thomas, and then got to pose with him while he made silly faces at us.  Then we went on another little ride on some sort of train track repair engine. Mayson thought that one when a little fast, as her face indicates in the last picture.  But I liked the rush of it after the 1 mph slow Thomas ride.  Then we spent a good hour playing at the train tables before having lunch and heading home.  Oh yeah, we did get to meet Sir Topham Hat and climb on some other trains.  I think it was Gray's favorite day.  

Gray's Video

Gray and I have been having fun after dropping off Mayson at camp a few days a week.  We have gotten in the routine of grabbing a bagel for Gray at PCC so he can be occupied while I run around Greenlake.  Then we stop by the book store to catch the end of story time and play with the trains.  I get a little time to browse for titles for me too.  A total win-win activity!  Anyway, we all know he loves his ducks.  I took this video of him running around where the ducks were, and for some reason, every time I show him the video he laughs hysterically.  The video itself isn't that funny, so I need to get the footage of him actually watching it.  But I thought I had to post this for him since he loves it so much

Beach Camp Week two

So once again, it is funny that Mayson's beach camp pictures are all of Gray. But when we get there Mayson runs off right away to play with her friends and Gray is more than ready to play with me. His new favorite camp activity is painting.  Who wouldn't want to take big mason jars of paint and throw it on the wall?  Also, after recuperating from a little surgery, the bunnies are back!  Gray loved these guys last year and was so, so excited to see them back in their hutch.  I have a picture from last year with him admiring them too.   

Guilty

So, my problem is that I love ice cream in the summer.  I love it most of the year, but there is something about stopping for ice cream on a summer afternoon.  I may have accidentally passed this affinity for treats on to the kids.  I do try to combat it with carrots to balance it out. Gray looks like he is in a sugar coma in this picture.  

Beach Camp

We just finished our first week of Beach Camp.  Even though it is Mayson going to camp, it is really fun for all of us.  We get up in the morning and have some breakfast before heading to Matthews Beach and Katrina's house for camp.  It is the cutest, most kid-friendly inspiring place.  She has transformed her backyard into a kid wonderland with all kids of sensory areas and exploring.  Gray and I usually hang out for an hour while Mayson tries to ignore us.  She jumps right into her pretend/role play games with the girls (Ellie and Claire), while Gray heads to the farm animal set and mini pond with rubber frogs and turtles.  Both love the wooden play house and outdoor mud kitchen too.  I will follow-up with more pictures, I am sure.  I want our backyard just like it!  Each afternoon at pick-up they are all sitting around reading stories and eating popsicles. I always have to try to come up with creative ways to get Gray to leave (usually some sort of bribe).  He does love the ducks at the beach across the street, so usually as I carry him away crying, I promise a visit there before the car.

Weekend

I love catching Mayson in a natural smile so I couldn't resist posting these pictures.  We did a lot of fun things this weekend...actually I am beginning to suspect we are doing too many fun things this summer and I have tired, cranky kids.  Or maybe it is the sugar from the previous post?  Although she is smiling here, there have been lots of battles lately.  We attempted potty training for Gray this weekend.  He loves his Thomas underwear and is motivated to be a big boy and not wear diapers.  He did great to begin with--when we went on a huge Greenlake walk to see the milk carton derby at the Seafair kick-off, he thought it was hilarious when we held him over the toilet (and maybe some bushes during the walk) and pretended he was Superman needing to pee during flight.  But, the fun wore off in the afternoon and we ran out of underwear in our Thomas 6-pack.  He was fine borrowing an old Dora pair from Mayson.  Of course, whenever Gray has something, no matter how lame it is, Mayson all of a sudden has to have it.  Meltdown number one.  Later today, when he rode a bike she normally has zero interest in, she had to have it.  Next meltdown.  There is no reasoning that can be done in these situations.  

5th of July

We finished our beautiful trip by taking a little hike around the campground and down to the rocks and tide pools. We had a fun lunch at Boundary Bay where we were entertained by kid karaoke in the beer garden. Mayson was all set to rock some Aladin but got last minute stage fright. The last pic sums it up.

4th of July

Our next crazy full day started off with a breakfast stop at the Bagelry and the farmers market in Bellingham. Then off to Blaine up north for a Fourth of July parade and street festival. Gray laid low while Mayson tried everything from face painting to a fun train ride. It was a hot day to have to work so hard getting candy from the parade and running around. We finished the day at a marina in Bellingham where Mayson found friends to run around with while Gray hung out watching the music scene. We were too tired to catch the 10:00 fireworks show!

3rd of July

We took the camper to Bellingham for the long weekend and camped at Larabee. It was a gorgeous, sunny weekend! Our first day included a trip to Fairhaven park to play. The kids preferred reading instead of playing at the splash pad. Then Keri and I got our dream to go to Taylor Shelfish farms and get fresh oysters. We shucked them and enjoyed every minute with some wine on the deck. After, we did a hike along Chuckanut to Clayton Beach and climbed on the rocks. We finished the day taking some tired-out kids to ice cream in Fairhaven. So fun!

Daniel Tiger

We had to back to the zoo for Daniel Tiger day and see the new tiger exhibit. So fun! We had a great show with tigers fighting over a watermelon and the orangutan trying to take food from Mayson through the glass.

Gray's Faces

Gray is a funny guy. He looks grumpy a lot and loves to say "no" to whatever we suggest. One of his biggest sayings is, "No, I don't like that!" He insisted on holding every single Popsicle on our walk until he was dripping wet with melted Popsicle juice.