Holding down the fort

Z's school has conferences all this week, so he's had short school days. Coupled with ongoing rain, that left Meh looking for extra entertaining indoor activities -- and out came the PVC pipes from the sukkah, which she reconfigured into this excellent fort! The boys had a great time with it, and Meh brought down everyone's pillows and bedding to make believe they were camping out -- alas, when enough of Z's sleeping materials made it downstairs, he suddenly got very concerned and sad. I'm not sure if he thought this was going to be his new bedroom or if there were just certain props that he only wants associated with his bedroom and sleep, but he wasn't okay with things until every last piece of the bedroom (both his and O's) were back in the bedroom. But overall they're so cute and happy with the fort, and were back in there playing back and forth with cars this morning!

Day tripper

We were so excited to hear a few months ago that friends E and A were getting married! Alas, the wedding timing was such that Meh wasn't going to be able to travel down to San Diego, and it was her now-rare work weekend as well, so I figured I'd be out as well. But the fares cooperated and mima graciously offered to watch the boys yesterday, so I took a solo trip down first thing yesterday and am flying back momentarily -- just a few minutes in the airport to, ahem, catch up the blog a little bit (it falls behind so quickly!) and check in on work.

After my required southern California grilled cheese pilgrimage, it was on to the wedding! In addition to the Seattle crowd, I got to hang out with childhood friend B and his wife R -- I kept forgetting that they're good friends with E and A, and it was great to see them again. The wedding was fabulous and so very "them"; everything from using Rhapsody in Blue as the processional music (played by E's childhood piano teacher), to stopping the presses immediately after the ceremony to turn the cameras around and take a picture of all of the attendees plus the wedding party, to an epic Jewish hora (where E had to rile up the band to have another go when they thought they were done!), to a well choreographed and very sweet first dance, and just a wonderfully festive evening overall. More pictures here.

There was even an after-party back in the hotel lobby; I finally threw in the towel a little after midnight. O's friend J was actually down here (his mom, friend K, and I actually did a Seattle a cappella trio performance for E's walk down the aisle) and was off to Legoland with his dad and grandparents as R and I headed back to the airport -- we'll be using them as a scouting party for our inevitable future trip to the home of everything that Z and O love!

Classroom Etiquette

When Meh dropped off O today at school, she made the mistake of loitering in the classroom to jot down the names of his classmates for his upcoming birthday party. O noticed this and said "You're disturbing the class mommy. You need to leave now."

We had a lovely rest of our visit with Grandma and J, with trips to the park, meals at some of the boys' favorite restaurants, and even a rare date night for Meh and myself, returning to the Italian place we used to go to when we were first dating. The boys are of course huge fans of Grandma and J, and Z has already been talking about how "we'll definitely see them another time -- after Tiny comes!"

For a very important date

I've been hearing bits and pieces from many of our friends scheming about it for months, but today at long last was Tiny's baby shower, an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party! For my own part, all I could contribute was sneaking a tiara and clock into grandma's bag to be used in some way at the event. But it sounds like it was a fabulous affair, and the boys and I returned home to an alarming collection of pink things along with a custom-made Alice in Wonderland trivia quiz where I'd be lucky to score any correct at all. Meh reported that she was really overwhelmed by all of the creativity, thoughtfulness, and love of her friends and family; the pictures really say it all. The food and ingenious decorations all looked amazing, and Meh is already planning out how to incorporate many of the items into Tiny's "Alice in Wonderland"-themed room.

While the girls were at the shower, J and I took the boys to a local children's museum, where we met up with the spouses and kids of a few other shower attendees/planners. The kids had a superb time as always, though I think they ran J and me a little ragged. O got to show off his mad K'nex skills, working with me to build (what else but) a car, and Z had a great time mostly involving the large truck cab. The shower was still going when they shut the children's museum down, so we and the H boys headed onward to (where else but) Red Robin for dinner. Alas, there was a bit of a crash and burn on trying to get the boys' food order in first (it instead was forgotten, twice), but everyone I think had a nice if exhaustingly complete afternoon out.

Hello ladies

We finally picked up O's class pictures today (they were taken in *blush* November), and they did not disappoint. As grandma and J (who arrived today) would say, "What a rascal!"

If you're gonna build a time machine...

One of the fabulous presents Meh and the boys got me for my birthday was an official Lego Back to the Future DeLorean. Z was certainly interested in looking at the box, talking about the DeLorean, reading the license plate, helping pick out the dates it should go visit (our birthdays, Halloween, and also December to see the holiday lights) and eager for me to assemble it. And I don't think I was quite prepared for just how into it O was going to get. For the past ten days, he has spent probably at least 30 minutes a day demonstrating his excellent fine-motor skills (and patience, actually occasionally even sitting in a seat for minutes at a time!); I hunted down the specific parts we needed to put together, and then he did most of the actual assembly. We'll ignore for the moment that he was constantly asking if it was time to add the wheels, as that is his favorite part of any vehicle he makes. Thankfully we were able to overcome the fact that the box somehow came missing at least two parts -- Meh's giant canvas bag full of childhood Legos saved us with some appropriate size and color replacement parts. Anyway, all of this led to the completion of the DeLorean tonight! O was super excited to show it and drive it around, though being a Lego model, it's a bit on the fragile side and the gull wing doors kept popping off -- I'll probably take the completed creation to work in the next day or two for more permanent display. But super impressive, complete with rotating wheels to convert to hovermode, a tiny time control panel (with the destination date set to the invention/patent of Legos), Mr. Fusion, 2015 license plate, hood-mounted 1955 time control circuits, and more! Hooray for fun presents and good bonding time with Mister O and Mister Z!

And her little dog too

After O's school yesterday, Meh decided to introduce the boys to the MGM classic Wizard of Oz. (Z actually had a head start; as I mentioned, one of his favorite pinball machines at the museum on Saturday was the Wizard of Oz one; the spinning house and yellow bricks perhaps makes a bit more sense to him now.) Both boys were enthralled. O insists his favorite character is the witch, and he'll even do a little version of her evil laugh if you ask him. Z commented towards the end as Dorothy bids farewell to her Oz friends, "she's sad because she doesn't want to go home". It's been fabulous to hear them both singing the songs; Z's rendition of "We're Off to See the Wizard" is about as magical as a pair of ruby slippers -- I'll have to try to record it. To top it off, Meh has a copy of the original L. Frank Baum book -- we're going to start reading it to the boys, chapter by chapter, tonight! O already saw a few pictures and was wondering why they looked different than in the movie. I tried explaining that the pictures came first, but he was still concerned -- one challenge we have trying to read books to him with illustrations is that he'll immediately start asking questions about the pictures, even if the text would give him in the answer if he'd wait long enough to hear it!

Another ferry tale

Continuing to take advantage of Meh's newly freed weekends, today we all journeyed to Bainbridge Island. We had a bit of a slow start (and some routing challenges from the phone's turn-by-turn directions), but eventually made our way to the ferry terminal. The boys remain big fans of boat travel, and we even took them out onto the blustery upper deck for a few minutes before going back inside for a snack. Once on the island, we sought out their children's museum, and the moment we entered the door we knew we had a winner, with O and Z running over to both an electric car and a table full of wooden blocks. There were a number of faux "retail" stores inside as well - a grocery store, a restaurant, and a bank with an ATM. I wasn't quite sure if O was thinking heist as he grabbed a stash of play money, ran over to the electric car, and pretended to drive, but it was all super cute. The upstairs of the museum was even more fun, with a bunch of golf bar-driven physics games, a giant kid-controllable pneumatic/hydraulic dinosaur, and a big soapbox derby car that both boys somehow squeezed into.

The boys had fun for hours, only tearing themselves away when it was time to go find some food in the cute downtown area. We ended up eating at a bakery and listening to a street performer; it might have almost been relaxing if O hadn't insisted on climbing up and walk along the lip of a raised flower/tree bed. After our late lunch, it was time to return to the car and ride the boat once more back to Seattle, having a tasty snack and wrapping up a very nice if exhausting day on the island.

Pinball wizards

Today we all met up with friends R, M, and their son J (who is clearly among O's best friends at school) for an adventure into the city. Dropping the car at the park & ride near their house, we hopped the bus, crossed the bridge into the city, and got delivered via the giant bus tunnel to Seattle's excellent International District. There was a... park? Community center? Some kind of open outdoor area where there was a well-maintained ping pong table, and M and I had a few rallies with O and J. Then it was onward to Chinese food lunch with some new friends of R and M's who had just moved into the city. O actually tried some noodles; alas, it was a leisurely affair and at one point Z did fall apart and need a break outside. Anyway, after lunch, we walked another block to the fun (if mildly sensory-overloading) Seattle Pinball Museum, where admission got you all the free plays you could ever want of like 50 pinball machines. Z was in general more interested in watching than playing, but O had a few turns at some pinball games. Z's favorite was the one non-free-play machine in the museum (of course!), a nearly one-of-a-kind 2013 MGM Wizard of Oz table complete with a giant screen and miniature spinning Dorothy's house to shoot the pinball through, as well as a host of twinkling and shifting emerald and ruby lights -- he really does love holiday lights!

In the evening, the boys gave us an impromptu bathtub concert. (If you're wondering, Z's singing one of Meh's choral breathing exercises.)

Don't let the light go out

Z has been a huge fan of holiday light displays this year; there's a particularly large one on our route home where he'll frequently say "Look at all of those lights! Woahhhhh!" as we drive by. Many afternoons he'll ask when all of our neighbors' displays will be going on, and in evenings before we go upstairs at bedtime, he'll have to peek out the window one last time and talk about all of the lights. Last night, he was asking when the lights would be going on, and it was already pretty dark -- clearly some neighbors are on the ball and already taking down their Christmas lights. When I indicated this, he got worried and then teary-eyed, even though there were still a few viewing options to choose from. Holiday lights have also started to infiltrate his drawings, both on houses, trees, and the always favorite telephone poles.

Meh had the excellent idea to see if we could create our own local solution to this inevitable end of the holiday season, and today picked up (on super discount no less!) some white holiday lights with which to adorn the hidey hole. It was a huge success! Then we topped it off with a family dinner (after O's first day back at school - "that was a short day, mommy!") and a tour of the Bellevue Botanical Gardens' excellent annual Garden d'Lights. While the mist gradually turned into full-on rain and there was a long walk due to some construction in the gardens, the boys were happy with both the temporary exterior lighting and the beautiful interior displays, including animated lights for a "river", and both flowers, decorations, and a number of animals (Z spotted a monkey in a tree; O liked the snowman made completely of lights).

Dropping the ball

Happy new year! We had a nice low-key birthday brunch (and by low-key I mean only about a dozen kids plus their parents and our other friends) for me this morning; it was great to catch up with everyone. Yesterday we really needed to find a way for the boys to expend some energy despite the rain and cold weather, and nominated a local trampoline place where Z had previously gone to a birthday party (and allegedly just jumped around the entire time). The boys were both super pleased. Z stuck with the main jumping area; O tried the foam ball pit, though I'm not sure he quite caught on to the whole jumping in thing.
It was somewhere between hilarious and stressful to see the other kids in line waiting for him to squirm his way into and then back out of the foam blocks -- they were all very polite and tried to be patient, but O definitely backed up the queue with his attempts. Last night for the countdown, we went to friends R, M, and their son J's house; it was fascinating if somewhat exhausting to watch just how amped up O was to see his friend J after a little over a week off from school. They're thick as thieves and were tackling each other the whole evening. When the pile of boys neared Z, I saw him pick up a toy and duck away into the corner. All in all, the boys did a good job lasting until the ball dropped (thank goodness for time zone differences), and they even kind of sort of slept in a bit this morning.