Plane Fun

On our drive up to Whidbey last week, we passed some signage for both a Future of Flight museum and, oddly enough, a nearby Historic Flight museum. I hadn't recognized the names (I later figured out that the former is the rebranded Boeing Tour), but knowing the boys' interest in "visiting the Museum of Flight another time", I figured I better store these away. Sure enough, this week Meh stumbled upon an announcement for Vintage Aircraft Weekend, where they would be flying a number of classic World War II planes. The pictures alone were enough to convince me that I had to take the boys; there were images of fields and runways filled with planes that you could walk right up to. Meh was off to a choir retreat, which was going to pose a challenge if this show was anything like the don't-touch-a-vehicle experience of the recent car show. Thankfully Mima was up for the adventure, and the four of us headed out early this afternoon.

The drive was shockingly short (I really need to try to explore to the north more often), and we were parking in a grass field in no time. O was initially conked out (fighting a cough and cold), but when I transferred him to the stroller, he woke up to ask me why, then waited for me to stroll him up the bumpy steep hill before bailing out and declaring he didn't want to use it anymore. Mima and the boys waited in line while I took the stroller back to the car.

Once we got inside, I knew this was going to be a winner with the boys: there were planes right inside of the door to look at (along with a bunch of aircraft artifacts and a video lecture going on at the other end of the building), and the hangar doors wide open to the outdoors, where there were all of the boys' favorites: classic cars, a giant classic red fire truck, go carts, a whole row of military vehicles, and yes, planes! We must've walked up to more than forty planes in all, and the boys got to sit in a little one themselves. And did I mention the two bounce houses, both of which were nearly unoccupied when we got there? And the announcement that the air exhibition would be beginning 15 minutes later? Suffice it to say the boys had an excellent time, as did we; snack time up on a hill watching planes taking off and making passes of the runway, bagpipers marching around, multiple trips to the bounce house, and walking down amongst the planes and along the runways to watch the big bombers and fighter planes take off and land. More pictures here; alas, looks like at some point during the visit (or perhaps under Z's watch during his photo shoot last week?) the lens developed a scratch.

Three Guys (and Mima)

While the boys and we eat at restaurants (arguably perhaps too often), the selection is, shall we say, limited: sushi or Red Robin. So when the boys and I decided to go out for lunch today, picked up mima to join us, and when I asked everyone where we should go, O declared "I want to go eat somewhere that we haven't been to before", I had to make the best of it -- while still setting us up for the possibility that both Z and O might actually find something to eat. Both close by and not previously sampled was the latest rendition of the best burger places in the world ever. We'll ignore for the moment that neither boy eats burgers and both mima and I don't eat meat.

Anyway, so we popped over; the boys were fans from the moment we walked in, because there were tables with those crazy high bar stool seats. The kind that Z tried to climb and almost tipped before I anchored it. Yikes. Anyway, we ordered and sat -- and O immediately noticed a giant barrel full of peanuts and asked what they were. I tried to describe them, but then noticed a scoop and little paper baskets: bottomless appetizers. I gave him a few to try to shell and he actually snacked on some before his tasty grilled cheese came out, along with mima and my veggie burgers (excellent), Z's hot dog, and a cup of fries for the table. Well, intended for the table; O tried one and never looked back -- not even to his grilled cheese. But after some time of hesitation, Z did try his hot dog and ended up eating about half of it. So I think we'll call this a third restaurant in the repertoire -- hooray!

Sons of the beach

Whidbey Island vacation! Mima and papa organized the trip more than a month ago, booking us a few nights at a house rental right on the beach, and the boys had been talking about getting to "go to the beach house" for about as long as we'd mentioned it was coming. As an added bonus (well, because Meh had to work), they and their fearless chihuahua Lola took the boys a day early (along with an alarmingly fully packed car of foodstuffs and beach paraphernalia that we did somehow manage to consume), e-mailing us the top particularly cute picture of the boys' first day watching the ocean. Uncle J joined us the day after we arrived. The weather was amazing the entire trip; we did everything you would expect of a trip to the beach, which was actually a fair amount of nothing. O kept collecting shells and making "mud soup". Z liked to sit in the sand. I taught O to fly a kite. We read books, roasted marshmallows, ate well, beachcombed, played frisbee (O for the first time, and he did a fine job catching even if the throwing is still an emerging skill) and also explored several nearby seaside towns (including the boys eating blueberries straight from a bush in front of a posh island inn -- with permission from the gardener of course). Oh, and we also found parks with great play areas for the boys -- and even drove the length of the island to check out the dizzying bridge over Deception Pass; Z was a particular fan.

The beach house itself was cute and cozy, with a nice fire pit in the back overlooking the bay, and a beach that got huge when the tide went dramatically out hundreds of feet. The upstairs was a loft with three queen beds; the boys ostensibly slept in one, us in a second, and Uncle J in the third (there was also a bedroom downstairs for mima and papa). I won't suggest we all got enormous amounts of sleep or that the boys didn't pile into bed with us at crazy early hours of the morning, but we all loved our time there. As we were leaving, O and Z were already quizzing us about "coming back another time", though of course the ferry ride back was yet another highlight to wrap up their fun adventure. Many (many) more pictures of the trip can be found here.

PEPSapalooza

While we never actually participated in PEPS, Seattle's Program for Early Parent Support (weekly meetings among new parents and a volunteer facilitator), we've heard for years about PEPSapalooza, a big event featuring music and kids activities. This year the schedules aligned (and Meh planned ahead) for us to finally attend, and it did not disappoint; they held it at the Everett Stadium where the Aqua Sox (the Mariners' minor league team) play, and it was an enormous affair -- thankfully we arrived early enough that it wasn't too crazy yet. There were stations/tents for every conceivable kids-related business, multiple bounce houses, and live performances by multiple of the kids' favorites (arriving to Recess Monkey playing "Jet Pack" sold both the boys on the event immediately). There was a kids barber shop offering silly hair gel; a nanny service art station making custom bubble wands (Meh of course was awesome at it and made a car-shaped one for O, while Z and I were happily using a pre-created wand); the Seattle Children's Museum station had a bunch of noisemaking "instruments"; and much much more.

The boys had an excellent time bouncing in a school bus that's been converted to a play area (!), and afterwards, without any prompting at all, just parked themselves on the concrete for snack. My favorite was when Z noticed there was a painted circle on the concrete, and automatically scooted himself to sit right on the edge (an artifact from summer camp perhaps?); O watched his brother and immediately imitated him. There was also a hat-making station with sticker letters and shapes; Z was the first kid at the station to spell an entire sentence out on his hat. Silly man. Anyway, a very fun morning for everyone, capped off with lunch at (where else but) Red Robin.

Second Run

Sunday was Z's first film screening, and O was extremely excited to hear that he'd get his opportunity to experience some movie magic today! Same movie, different audience: Meh and he had an excellent time. (Well, Meh indicated the film itself was fairly weak compared with Pixar quality, but she had fun watching it with O.) O apparently was good about sitting still through almost all of the film, only getting a bit bored and climbing around for the last few minutes.

The movie theater adventure was preceded with O's dental appointment; Meh reported that he did amazing with the whole process, paying good attention to the dentist and hygienist throughout. He scored a new green toothbrush featuring Tigger. One of the boys' favorite parts of our dentist is that at the end of the appointment they get a token and can feed it into bubblegum-style machines for a variety of prizes. O picked out a fabulous purple ring, and then very politely asked for another token so he could get a present for his brother. Such a thoughtful boy! He clutched the dentist bag all through the movie, as you can see in the picture.

Premiere Screening

Zachary's birthday present from mima and papa was for them to take him to see the new (and highly anticipated by both boys) Disney film "Planes". He had an excellent time, apparently chowing through an entire theater-sized bucket of popcorn. When I asked him afterwards what the movie was about, he answered "toys". Sure, I can see that. (And sure enough, we've already queued up the franchise's toys, likely to bring along on our upcoming trip to Whidbey Island.) Later he indicated the film had jetways, which I thought was interesting since what purpose would those serve with anthropomorphic planes? But regardless, he had a fabulous time in his first full film since "mommy and me" infant screenings. Happy birthday once more, Mister Z!

All's well that ends sick?

Yesterday was Z's 6-year wellness exam. We were concerned that he might have to get some booster shots, but apparently he's free and clear of those for another four or five years. Somehow my own memory of childhood doctor visits wasn't nearly as shot-free, but we'll take it! The stats:

• Weight: 39 lbs 2 oz (10-25%)
• Height: 42 3/4" (10-25%)
• BMI: 15.1 (25-50%)

Meh then dropped him off at camp with a successful exam behind him. Three hours later I had a phone call that he was acting under the weather and likely had a fever -- poor Z, when I got there to pick him up, he was lying asleep in the counselors' office. I got him home with snuggles and a quiet evening, and he bounced right back with a bit of Tylenol.

Speaking of bouncing, the boys are pretty much pinballing their way to bed lately, wild beyond belief even after bath time, stories, and a trip to the potty. Sometimes there's fighting or whining, and that can get a little frustrating to deal with. Other times you just have to try not to laugh -- here was what we heard at the top of the stairs tonight:

Blow Outs

Happy sixth birthday to Z! Mommy made pancakes with sprinkles this morning; Z was very pleased with us singing happy birthday and did a great job blowing out the candle. It was pajama day at camp, so he didn't even have to get dressed for his birthday. When I picked him up from camp, he had a fabulous birthday hat (I later found out that everyone made silly hats that day, but his was super cute, and he kept talking about his hat the whole drive home). After collecting O (and dropping off fellow camp-friend N), the three of us decided to celebrate the big day with birthday sushi! Our favorite waiter was there, and when he found out that it was Z's birthday, a giant bowl of ice cream with another birthday candle made its way out.

Z was happy to blow out a second candle (somehow through a piece of cucumber roll that he had in his mouth at the time), and O was happy to consume all of the ice cream (Z declined). A very fun end to a great birthday for Z!

Airborn

Z's birthday is on Thursday, which meant this weekend was his birthday party! Despite hectic schedules all around, Meh still managed to make for a wonderful celebration of Z turning 6. His interest in airports hasn't abated, and when Meh asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he immediately said "airport cake". I then made the mistake of doing an online image search of them for him, and he's been requesting "pictures of airport cakes" ever since, so the bar was even higher than usual. Nonetheless, mommy outdid both the internets and herself, with an excellent cake featuring a runway with a "plane taking off" (Z was insistent that it wasn't landing), a terminal building (the tower was an inverted ice cream cone), and of course many airplane vehicles that immediately became Z's (and thus also O's) favorite toys. The boys' wonder at the cake first thing Sunday morning was only topped by the guy arriving with a bounce house (Cars-themed, just to push the boys' interest to eleven) that was to become the entertainment of the party. He apologetically indicated that due to scheduling, he'd have to leave the bounce house a few hours longer than we'd booked -- oh, the suffering.

Of course it wouldn't be an airport party without Meh making awesome accompanying goody bags for the kids, decorations around the house, and a kids activity (our own recreation of the fun "build an airplane out of high fructose corn syrup" adventure we had a few months ago). Everyone had a wonderful time -- once the party itself wrapped up, O gave Z a birthday present he apparently saw at the store and thought was perfect for him. Didn't seem to matter that O himself helped open it; both boys enjoyed the foam dart rockets for a good five to ten minutes.
But I think my very favorite part of Z's birthday festivities was late in the afternoon after dinner time, where we had one more family-only bounce house jumpathon. The boys were forlorn to see it deflate this evening, but as Z likes to say, "we can always go in the bounce house another time".

I'm OK, You're OK

Something I experienced this morning that made me chuckle, but which Meh says she's heard a few times over the past few days -- a crash from another room followed by O, unprompted, hollering "I'm okay mommy!" While I was getting ready for work this morning, the boys were both in the playroom. Another crash, then O yelled from two rooms away "Don't worry, Zachary's okay, daddy!"