King of the mountain

Well, Addie was never a climber but she made up for it later. Calvin on the other hand climbs everything in sight.... Chairs, tables and now the learning tower. He was quite pleased with himself to get in it all by himself this morning and has stayed up there for 10 minutes. I think he likes the different vantage point of looking down on a few things (including a big sister) plus now he can reach the light switch and a doorknob. He may not know how to get down, so I may have to help with that once he starts fussing, but he has started to try to climb up on top of the whiteboard, hmmm......

Addie's request

Apparently Addie wanted eyeshadow at Summer camp today. So she got bright pink face paint to match her tank top.... Ah, the teenage years ought to be an adventure if this is starting this early.

A ball, a field, summer!

Waiting for Addie to be done with camp Calvin and I sat in the meadow at Lincoln park and soaked up some sun, whole Calvin threw his ball. Addie joined in a little later picking some of the little daisies that cover the grass. What a lively summer day, enjoying the sun. Plus, more face painting at camp. Poor Calvin is sporting his own form of face paint with a fat lip Addie gave him last night.

God bless the Sweedes

Ikea is always hard to go to with the kids in tow, but we got there early so as to avoid the crowds. Plus, Addie got her own little shopping cart which delighted her beyond belief. She pushed it almost the entire way through the store. I finally had to abandon it in the frame section as Addie had taken a liking to running full speed down the isles filled with glass frames. All in all a relatively painless Ikea visit! PS Sorry for the fuzzy picture, as you can imagine Addie doesnt stay still for long, especially when an empty shopping cart beckons.

Early Reader

One of Calvin's favorite activities lately is sitting down and looking through a basket of books. So, if he passes on the balls then he will usually sit down and look through a basket full of books. He now talks to himself while looking through each book, almost having a conversation with himself as he flips through the pages. Pretty cute!

Flower Power

Addie got her face painted at Summer Camp today.... A lovely flower on her Nose and a heart on her cheek.

Family Night

It was family night at the Y a little while back. They open the gym up for all to use, Addie of course went on the rings while Calvin got to play with some balls and climb on the mats. It was pretty empty so for a while our 2 kids were the only ones in the gym.... Nice! You can see that in one picture Calvin is in heaven just staring at the basket full of balls, he would take them all of he could.

Zoo Time

We went to the zoo today. It was a good time, we went with grandmama so Addie could spend the night down there tonight. The weather was perfect, a little overcast but no rain and not too hot. Addie had a good time running around and Calvin got out of the stroller and walked with Grandmama for a bit. We got to see wolves, tigers and walruses.... there was even a camel ride (see pictures below) but Addie decided at the last minute that she didnt quite feel like getting on a giant camel with Grandmama, so she took a few laps by herself.

Arrrr!

It was the start of Seafair this weekend so we went to Alki to see the pirates land. Each year a bunch of pirates storm the beach from their pirate ship, they land between 11 and 12 and they have a bunch of activities all day. I took Addie and Calvin and they had a blast seeing all the pirates and Addie got to play in all the bounce houses. We didn't see the pirates land since it stated getting crowded but still saw plenty of pirates on Alki.

Happy Fourth

Well, we went to the Admiral kids parade this morning which is a tradition since Addie was born. All the kids in West Seattle walk in the parade and dec their bikes/wagons out. Calvin rode in the wagon with Addie and at the end of the parade we played t the park with a bunch of Addie's peps friends. It was a great time and perfect weather! Happy Fourth!

The Red Balloon

Grandmama loaned Addie the Red Balloon book that I had growing up. It has become quite an obsession, reading it a few times a day. I then introduced her to the movie (available on Hulu through the Criterion collection) and now that is. Daily staple as well. I guess there are a lot worse programs out there so I let her watch it. Plus I would rather listen to the score of The Red Balloon over her other favorite cartoon Team UmiZumi (mighty math powers)!

Cama Beach

Last weekend we went to Cama Beach, an old fishing village which has been converted into a state park. Apparently, it is a lot like Crystal Cove in Socal where you need to reserve a cabin way in advance, 9 months to be precise. But, we went for a day trip and managed to get a cabin for September so we will be going back in a few months for 2 nights. It has about 36 small uniform cabins in 2 rows that right next to the rocky beach. We had taken some snacks and toys and sat on the beach for a while and enjoyed some sunshine. By the way, can you guess Addies favorite pattern? Pink polka dots on pink polka dots.....

Fathers Day Pics

We took the nice camera to the beer fest on Fathers Day weekend and I just downloaded the photos to the computer. It was a good time, they had an inflatable filled rootbeer garden for the kiddos and beer booths over the rest of the park. We setup a picnic blanket in the rootbeer garden and Damien would head out for beer and come back with them while he watched Addie go down inflatable 30 ft slides and bounce houses. We took the wagon which is a nice easy way to get both the kids into things and is a little more fun than the bob since it is a special treat to ride in the wagon!