Singing, Cooking, and Having Fun!

We've had a very busy weekend. The weather has been perfect fall, with cool mornings, highs in the upper 70s, and beautiful clear skies, so we've been enjoying it. The natives have been complaining that it's too hot for September, but we love it and hope it lasts! Friday after work, Jack wanted to ride his bike, so we headed out to go around the neighborhood loop. It took us a full hour, but by the end, Jack had really figured out the whole pedaling thing. Since I was hunched over to hold on to the bike and providing a lot of the power in the beginning, I had a nice ache in my back by the time we made it around back home. Jack can only pedal or steer, not pedal and steer, so I had to keep him from veering off the curb, crashing into cars, and hitting the odd trash cans till out a the curb. Plus, his new thing this week has been singing about EVERYTHING, but he can't sing and pedal at the same time either.  His songs are always the same tune (or should I say lack of tune), and they tend to have few words. This one went something like "I am riding my bike," over and over again. Since I didn't get that one on video, I caught a small clip of another song yesterday to show you what I mean. He will sing about anything (as long as it's his idea. Don't ask him to sing for you!).

Besides errands, laundry, and housework, we had Sam and Lesa over yesterday for a playdate and Halloween craft. I know it's early for Halloween, but we stopped by Michaels and Jack picked out some Halloween stickers that he was very excited to use!  I didn't get to do much looking with Jack and Mike in tow, so I returned to Michaels today and spent a whole hour looking at things, just for fun, all by myself while Jack napped and Mike watched football. Earlier this morning, we also spent several hours doing yard work. We pulled weeds, mowed lawns, and cleaned up the patio. Our neighbor gave us what we thought were some apples from his tree, but they turned out to be asian pears.  Our tree is an asian pear too. It didn't look like it had much fruit on it, but when we got the ladder out and climbed up there, we found quite a few fruits. We gave some to our neighbor, but here are the rest:

 The ones from the neighbor's tree I sliced today and put into the dehydrator, and stewed down some into a "pearplesauce," which turned out pretty good. I'll have to deal with this pile later in the week. I don't really know how to use these. I read online that they aren't great for baked goods because they release a lot of water when cooking, but they are good in slaws, salads, etc...and it worked well enough in sauce.

I also pulled out some fall decorations this weekend:

...and Jack wanted to make some cookies, so we made some chocolate chip cookies, too.

It's been a fun, busy weekend. I wish I had one more time!

Camping and the State Fair

Last weekend, we took off Friday afternoon for a weekend of camping. Here's what it looked like when we arrived at camp.

We braved it and got out of the car anyway. We set up the tent in the rain (not so fun), cooked dinner in the rain (no so fun), had a picnic dinner sitting in the tent (a little fun), and went to bed early to the sound of rain tap-tap-tapping overhead. Sigh....Jack was so excited about camping, but he wasn't too sure about it after this first evening.  

Luckily, Saturday turned beautiful.  We camped at the spot where Troublesome creek comes into the Skykomish River. The water was very shallow, so not a great place for fishing, but lots of rocks to splash, and Aspen enjoyed running around. The water was icy, so we didn't go in much! The area is completely beautiful and scenic.

 Here's our very shady and green campsite. It was at least 10 degrees cooler at camp than it was out by the river bank because not much sun was penetrating.

 Oh, there's the sun peeking through...look at all that moss. It was a very green, very damp camp, but gorgeous.

 We cooked tin foil dinners in our fire and then sat around the fire for a little bit, Jack in his Jammies.

Now to this weekend. We started Friday evening with a quick trip to the park. Jack has been getting much braver climbing lately.

Then, Saturday we met up with Colin and Lesa and the boys for a trip to the Evergreen State Fair. We enjoyed fried food, farm animals, exhibits, and various shows.  Jack and Sam as cows:

 Jack and Sam as farmers, collecting eggs:

 We watched some chain saw wood carving demonstrations. It was amazing what these guys were making right there at the fair. If I'd had a much bigger budget, I could have finished Christmas shopping for my parents in a couple minutes. They would have loved to have any of these in their front yard:

One of the highlights of the fair was the petting zoo, which had not only the usual pigs, goats, and sheep, but also wallabies, deer, llamas, ducks, and cows.

 Of course, we had to walk through the quilting and sewing exhibits. They were amazingly talented as usual.

 Mike wasn't too excited about this picture, but isn't it cute...

 The best part of the lumberjack show was watching them spin on the logs in the water. They are very fast on their feet.

 They can climb quickly too.

We  had a fun time, and it only rained on us a little bit. Unfortunately, Mike started coming down with a cold and had a fever by the time we got home. However, today he seems to be mostly recovered.

Grandma's visit and New Things

We had a great time last week visiting with Mike's mom, Marie. Jack was spoiled by his attentive Grandma!  She was able to see his swim lesson and hang out with him on Thursday. Friday, we drove part of the Cascade Loop and stopped at several places to look around and play. We found a great sandbar along the Skagit River where Jack could did in the mud to his heart's content. We built sand castles and threw rocks in the water. 

 On Saturday, we took a great cruise through the locks from the Puget Sound to Lake Union. I forgot my phone and Mike didn't take many pictures, so I don't have many of this excursion, but it was really fun. Then after, we walked around Pike's Place and downtown and then had a yummy seafood dinner at Elliot's Oyster house.

 On Sunday, we did some shopping and poking around in Snohomish and then Mike made us a good Korean BBQ for dinner. It was nice to spend time together as a family. On Monday, Grandma spent the day with her friend, and I had my first day of work while Jack went off to his first day of preschool.

He really wasn't sure he wanted to go. We had some pouting, but he was very brave and there were no tears. He's done a great job with this transitions and has jumped right in with learning the songs and routines of school. He likes his new friends and preschool is something he looks forward to now.

 My new job is going well so far. I enjoy the people I work with and there are some good challenges. I'm working with lots of teachers, but I miss the excitement of the first day of school and setting up a classroom. I didn't even have to buy any school supplies this year! Still, it's a good schedule for the family, and it's a new experience to be in control of my own schedule. I can even eat lunch out occasionally if I want to :).

This weekend, we've been busy! Mike taught Jackson how to do a summersault, so there's been lots of tumbling. We did some errands and shopping, and then cleaned out all our camping gear since we're going to go camping next weekend. We mowed lawns and did some yard work. Then today, Jackson made me a necklace, so I've been wearing this around today.

 He enjoys "building" with the beads more than making things. He pours all the beads on the floor and scoops them up with his tractors. But, he likes to string the beads too, and I think it's great for his hand eye coordinator development too. Besides, this is building that I can help him with much easier than the wood and hammer variety.   Today, we also went to the zoo. Jack had to bring his Zebra along. He's gotten very attached to his zebra, whose name is Zebra.

He rode the carousel, watched some bears and animals, and showed Mike around the zoo, since it was daddy's first time. Now, it's time to prepare for work tomorrow. 

Summer of Jackson

I'm a bit behind. Last weekend, Snohomish had their Kla Ha Ya days, which apparently means "Welcome" and is just a big community festival. We had to go to a memorial, so were only about to attend a few of the events, but Jack had a good time. Friday, we went to a kids fair, and Jack got to check out some ambulances and fire trucks, play games, and eat too much candy!

Saturday, they had a fun parade. Jackson really enjoyed this experience, but again there was too much candy :) He especially liked the fire trucks, horses, and Clifford the Big Red Dog on the school bus.

 On Saturday, we also attended a memorial service for Mike's great Uncle Raymond and met lots of cousins and a couple of great aunts.

During the week, we did lots of fun things.  Jackson got to do some painting to help make Grandpa Don's birthday present...

 And, he helped in the kitchen (making scrambled eggs)...

 And he has swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursdays with Miss Grace and Miss Shae...

 We also visited 3 different preschool/daycares trying to make sure Jack is set for fall. I think we've found the one (finally!). And, I should have my new job ironed out in a day or two.  I'm going to a meeting with them on Tuesday.

Finally, I decided that I have too many recipes on my Pinterest boards that I've not actually tried, so I decided to try one yesterday. I read them to Mike and he chose the Raspberry Almond cake, so I made that yesterday. It's pretty good and I was able to use fresh raspberries. The season's pretty much ending, which is too bad; I've enjoyed the fresh berries of all kinds.

Today, we spent the day running errands and tomorrow we're going to spend time doing chores around the house. And I have to do some training.