Synchronized swimming

Today marked the beginning of Owen's non-bathtub water experiences, as he joined his brother in swim lessons! Of course, not at the same time -- though conveniently, the lessons for infants fall immediately before the class Zachary is signed up for. Owen ended up snoozing in the car on the drive in (thankfully an increasingly common occurrence, considering his earlier general dislike for cars when awake) and, while waking up on his own for class, wasn't exactly the alert smiley man that he usually is - still, no crying or tears, so we'll count that a good first lesson. I entertained Zachary for most of the delay before his own class with a walk to the nearby park, some high flying swing time, and a visit to their broad waterfall feature. He then proved to be very excited to be back in class, dunking himself frequently and then clapping while underwater.

Afterwards, we all explored the fabulous Bellevue Arts Fair, cleverly interleaved into area around the local shopping mall, with both outdoor booths and most of the ground floor of a parking structure converted into stalls for artists, jewelers, furniture makers, and other craftspeople. The boys both conked out in strollers at least for a little bit, though everyone was awake and hungry in time for us to grab lunch and sample a cupcake at the latest chic bakery to start selling $3 tasty morsels (our take on this one: decent, but a bit overpriced). Afterwards, we wandered across the street from the mall and ran into another (!) huge art fair, with an entirely separate set of arts, crafts, clothing, and food stalls. We really love this part of the Northwest; come July, there are often multiple great events happening at the same time all over the area.

When we came home, the boys had a nice afternoon both indoors and out in the new backyard; Zachary played with the sprinklers and then (at his request) dined al fresco, enjoying his dinner after climbing up into one of the large patio chairs at our umbrella-shaded table. Owen meanwhile continued to raspberry, babble, laugh (at all three of us), and generally smile any time we made eye contact. All in all, a lovely way to wrap up a beautiful weekend!