Zoo Day

Since the rain took a break today, we decided to take a break too, and we met up with Colin and his boys at the zoo. We had a fun morning wandering around, checking out the animals, and visiting with the cousins.

After we got home, I painted a couple walls in the guest room while Jack had a short, late nap. Then, we took Aspen for a walk, and then I mowed both lawns and did some outside work while Jack played in his sandbox (AKA, the mudpit, because days of rain have turned it to a soupy mess).This all made me late, so I didn't head into the house to make dinner until about 6pm. Jack stayed in the backyard playing. I went in the kitchen to get out ingredients, and looked up two minutes later to see Jack smearing mud all over the sliding glass doors. So, by time I cleaned that up and fed the pets, it was close to 6:30 and I still hadn't started dinner, so Jack and I ended up going out for a quick dinner. This didn't work out so well.

First, right after we ordered Jack had to go potty. I left my notebook and pen on the table to indicate we were coming back and headed off to the restroom with him. While we were gone--all of 3 minutes--the busboy cleared our table and took our drinks. Sigh. They got us new ones and lucky hadn't cancelled our food ticket yet, so that was only a minor bump. Then, the minute our food arrives, Jack manages to stab his finger with his fork and make it bleed. Major drama...he cried throughout the meal, didn't eat, and showed everyone within a 5 table radius his owie, while I tried to scarf my food as quickly as possible and just get out of there.  I'm reminded why I don't go out with him much. I think we were gone and back in about 45 minutes, including drive time to the restaurant!

I'll be very glad when Mike gets home from his business trip tomorrow!

Summer Weekend

After a hectic week full of interviews and job stress, we needed a fun weekend, and luckily the weather obliged and was absolutely gorgeous. Saturday, we went for a drive just to see what was around and scope out some hiking and camping spots for future use. We were enjoying the drive so much we ended up going all the way to Leavenworth, a mountain town that's a Bavarian village about 2 hours away. We arrived in time to hear a guy play a cool, long Alpine horn. 

 Of course, in a german town, we had to have cured meats for lunch. Mike had a bockwurst and Jack and I had kielbasa sandwiches and a very yummy soft pretzel with cheese fondue.  The restaurant had about 30 different kinds of mustard to use on your sandwiches. I tried pineapple mustard and a thai chili mustard (too hot!). Mike had Dusseldorf mustard (no idea what that means) and a horseradish mustard (very spicy!). And of course, he also had a german beer.

 We also went to the park both Saturday and Sunday so that Jack could play at the Splash Park.

 We got this neat trailer used off Craigslist so that Jack can ride behind my bike. It's taken 3 weeks of tears to get him used to and liking the trailer and helmet. He was really scared of the bike at first, but the biggest issue what that he hated wearing the helmet. However, after a few tries, he's decided he likes it. We've been using it to go back and forth to the park.

 Sunday, we also went for a hike. We meant to go to a park that has beach access, but it turns out the beach is a 1.25 mile hike on a steep trail. We went about 1/2 mile down and the trail was getting rough for Jack. I continued on by myself to the end, and then came back for Mike and Jack who played in the creek while they waited for me. The trip back up was rough because it was steeply uphill!

Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend, and a good break from all the other stuff that's been going on. Tomorrow, I have to make phone calls and probably sign papers for a job, and turn down the others offer. It's been really hard to decide which job to take.  Oh well...the choice is made for better of worse.

Updates

It's been a little while since I posted because I haven't had much of anything exciting to report. I spend an hour or two each day working on applying for jobs, and I've been to a bevy of doctor and dentist appointments lately. Other than that, Jack and I hang out around the house a lot. I'm still slowly painting each of the rooms in the house, and I've finally gotten my craft room in functional order again. Plus, potty training takes up some of our time, but Jack's getting better all the time.

Today, we spent more than an hour mixing up muffins. It doesn't usually take that long, of course, but Jack had to help with all the measuring and pouring, so it was an extra lengthy, extra messy job. He put the ingredients in on spoonful at a time.

Jack and Daddy have had a good time jamming lately. Jack loves his new guitar that Kami and Jason sent for his birthday. He demands that daddy play along on the piano with him and mommy is supposed to sing. 

 Not sure what we are going to do for the Memorial weekend. We'll have to try and get out a bit, and I'm sure we'll keep working on our various house projects. And, of course, it's raining again for the weekend too.

Farm Fun

This was from last weekend, but I didn't get around to posting it, so I'll do it now. We went to this place called Flower World, which is a plant nursery, and the Maltby Produce Market, which is part of the same company and located right there too. It's way more than plants, though I did buy a few of those too, because they have like 50 acres with all kinds of water features, ponds, water wheels, and etc...to check out in addition to the greenhouses.

There were also free roaming chickens, geese, and ducks near the water. Jack got very freaked out by this little white chicken, which followed us down the path. Jack didn't like being chased, so I ended up carrying him. As he says, "I no like chicken animal" (as opposed to chicken the food, which he likes quite well). 

They also have all their animals, which they do raise for food and eggs for the market, available for the kids to see and pet too. Jack liked the sheep and lambs the best, oh and the peacock too. 

 And, he liked the turtles in one of the greenhouses.

 He also liked the chickens okay when they were in cages :)

We've been there twice already because besides buying plants, its a great (and free!) place for Jack to walk around and see things. It's a very cool business. 

Spring Flowers

One of the things I've been enjoying about Washington is that spring actually happens in spring. We had daffodils in March, and all the trees and rhododendrons flowered in April. I've been meaning to take pictures of some of the ones in our yard, but I've taken so long to do it, that I've almost missed my chance. All the rhododendrons in the front turned out to be white blossoms, but the trees are purple when they blossom. 

Today, we drove up to catch the last weekend of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which has so many spring flowers it's truly amazing and only about 45 minutes away. It was almost too late. There were only a couple fields that hadn't been cut already, but the display gardens were gorgeous, and we saw one field still planted. We learned that next time we should go earlier in April and during the week because it was really crowded.

We started out checking out an arts and crafts street fair, and Jack got to ride a pony.

Then, we went out to see the flowers. Finally, we went to a Salmon BBQ at a Kiwanis lodge for lunch, which was simple but tasty. Then, we headed back because we had some errands to run as well. Mike took most of the pictures, which are very pretty. I might need to print and frame some of them.