Here Comes the Bride

It's been an excellent week in Michigan as we celebrated grandma and John's wedding! The boys had a fabulous time, the weather was cooperative, and of course the ceremony itself was very special and we were so glad to be able to share in the festivities. The time went by very quickly, but it was a great opportunity to catch up with family and friends, visit some old and new favorite locations, and in general get some good quality family time.

No trip can begin without some playtime at the airport, and the boys didn't disappoint with wild running around and playing. As usual, this somehow didn't actually exhaust them, and the entire plane flight (thankfully direct) involved various kinds of entertaining the boys ("Want a present?" was Z's query literally as we sat down on the plane) with food, toys, boys, movies, stickers, and other distractions. We arrived and got to take an (always exciting for the boys) series of elevators, escalators, watch the luggage carousel, and then grab a bus to the rental car facility; the boys continued to be super pleased if a bit zonked from the flight. The rental car facility was making popcorn, so O and Z both accepted and munched on buttery bags of goodness while we marched out to choose our car. The boys selected a nice dark red Kia -- insert irony of them passing by an entire row of Big Three Detroit vehicles and opting for the sole import offered to them.

The next day was fairly quiet, featuring some fun times at the park with grandma and John, and then lunch at a local diner. I picked up Uncle B and Aunt J in the evening, and the rest of the family was incoming over the next 12 hours as well; it was so nice to get to see our small and spread out family (Seattle, SF, DC, NY, MI) all coming together for such a celebration.

Wednesday was our primary opportunity to both spend time with Uncle B and Aunt J and run some errands (for reasons that will become apparent later, Uncle B had to get to Ann Arbor to pick up a guitar). First we all visited my dad's burial site; I prepped the kids (and myself) as best I could, but it was still both sweet and a bit tear-jerking when O talked about "leaving a stone for grandpa to play with". We made a quick stop as well at the house Uncle B and I grew up in; while the main street's shops aren't even remotely recognizable anymore, the neighborhood itself was still looking pretty good, and the house itself is still the same color it was when we left. Onward to a family lunch/dinner at one of Ann Arbor's more famous restaurants! The boys weren't really interested in the tasty looking hot dog (Z) and grilled cheese (O) that we got for them, but when O heard there was ice cream... Needless to say, we couldn't leave without O getting the tiniest little dish of "swirl" (mixing their chocolate and vanilla gelato). Oh, and next to their separate coffee house/ice cream building, we discovered the cutest little play area, complete with (what else but) vehicles. The boys were well entertained for the remainder of our visit.

Before heading home from Ann Arbor, we had to make a stop to visit at least one of the famous fairy doors that Meh had discovered while researching our own acquisitions. And this one certainly didn't disappoint; it was in the hallway right outside of the shop, and for extra fun, behind the door you can see the various things that people have left for the fairies -- including an alarming number of mentos, Vernors ginger ale, and as O and Z were quick to point out, even a tiny Mater toy. Meh chose to leave a tiny book that she'd had forever, it was the perfect home for it to end up with the fairies. It didn't hurt that there was a toy store right across the hall. From one meal to another; we got home in time for a brief rest before heading onward to the out of town guests (e.g. family) dinner. O conked out in the car and proceeded to sleep (thank goodness we'd brought the stroller) through the entire meal. When we got back, I got to work making the wedding challahs, though the second batch had to wait until morning.

The wedding day arrived, and it was time to get the boys into cute outfits and pray that they could keep them stain-free at least through the photos. But honestly, the boys did amazingly well throughout the day. It was a beautiful morning and a fabulous venue; the boys were pleased to see golf carts whizzing by and patiently stood through pictures. My mom and John both looked so happy and I think they really enjoyed the entire day! We met the rabbi, who informed us (and then the gathered guests, and then at the reception mentioned again) that his grandsons are also Z and O. Soon it was time to walk down the aisle -- the boys did a great job sprinkling flowers, even if O eventually decided to just upend his bucket near the chuppah. Both boys ended up somehow under the first row of chairs during the ceremony, but stayed very cute and quiet during a lovely wedding. I had a front row seat -- well, standing position, helping to hold up the chuppah, and it was wonderful and sweet to see and share in the love and joy of the exchanging of vows and rings. At the reception, O was a dancing machine and Z really got into the act as well.

And speaking of acts, we might as well get to the guitar. Both B and I gave toasts (O came up to interrupt me halfway through: "Excuse me, daddy. I have to talk to you."), and then we'd cowritten (well, B wrote all of the lyrics and the melody; I mostly just contributed chords) a song about the two whose lives have changed the most besides the bride and groom: my mom's dog Gus and John's dog Winston. There was a chorus with a big cue card for everyone to join in on:

Lucky Dog (By Uncle B and Scoot (ASCAP))

Gus is a lucky dog
With yellow fur and a big brown nose
And his favorite thing in the world
Is to lick his paw just above his toes
And his second favorite thing
Is Missy Sue, he thinks she's his mom
And his next favorite things
Are his new best friends Winston and John

[CHORUS] Oh lucky dog, lucky dog, bow wow
Lucky dog, lucky dog, woof woof,
Lucky dog, lucky dog, bow wow,
Lucky dog, lucky dog, lucky dog.

Winston's a lucky dog
A springer spaniel with a great big heart
And he's lucky to be deaf
He can't hear you [pause] when you fart
And when Winston has to make
He just paces around, doesn't bark at the door
You gotta read his mind
Or you’re gonna be cleaning up the floor

[chorus]

Now Winston's got a new mom
And Gus has got a new dad
They're glad for what they have
And they remember [pause] what they had?

[chorus 2x + coda]

It was a wonderful celebration, and the raising of the bride and groom on chairs was only mildly penalized by 5'4" me trying to lift up grandma. Everyone had an amazing time. And then to punctuate the whole thing, we took the boys to their first fireworks in the evening. While it was loud enough that I had to hold my hands over O's ears for him to be happy, everyone had a great time watching them launched over a local lake. Z was so excited he had to compare it declaratively to his other favorite activity: "We're going to the airport on Sundayyyyyy!"

The day after the wedding was a big family cookout. Grandma and I took the boys out on the boat, to much happiness all around even if there was some pushing and shoving for the seemingly identical front chair positions. When we got back, I took the boys out for some wading (and later with O, actual swimming) into the lake itself -- there were many sand toys (and a Cars-themed kickboard) at our neighbors house that they had generously shared with us. In the evening, the extended family decided to head to Ann Arbor for dinner -- of course at a totally different restaurant. Nah, the same one again. This time we managed to get O to eat some of his dinner in between playing with Z and a little girl who kept walking toys out of the play area (to concern from the boys; her parents brought everything back though), though he again scored ice cream for dessert. Then a brief tour of downtown Ann Arbor, where we did spot a second fairy door -- the local theater's entrance for the faerie folk.

This year is the 20th anniversary of my high school graduation; alas, the class presidents haven't organized anything, and a few other alumni who tried to get something together for August ran out of time and resources -- so it'll be the 21st anniversary before we have an event. I spammed the e-mail list and invited everyone to a casual bring-your-own-picnic at a local park on Saturday and had a few interested responses. Alas, only one classmate showed - we did have a nice time catching up (and the boys had a blast at the park full of climbing, sliding, swinging, and spinning), and I guess too many other classmates were either out of town, had other holiday weekend plans, or no longer live in the area. Anyway, it was a fun morning/afternoon, and the boys were particular fans of an entire playground full of equipment that rotated in dizzying circles. Saturday was also John's birthday -- what a week of big events, happy birthday John!

Sunday was a fairly quiet final day with Uncle B, Aunt J, grandma, and John; we found a local mall with both a play area and a ton of toy vehicles, and the boys were plenty happy to climb around in them even without quarters to run them. Then it was off to return the rental car and get to our plane -- we said a final goodbye to Uncle B and Aunt J (whose flight was due to leave just a few minutes after ours, a few gates down -- due to weather they didn't actually get out and home until today, argh!) and were on the first of two planes back. Another sleepless flight for the boys, though we were all pleased to see the second plane had a 2-4-2 configuration, so we had two rows to ourselves. O discovered the glow bracelets and was wearing about twenty by the end of the flight. There was a final hiccup when our car seat didn't make the last leg of the flight (it showed up today - while mildly annoyed and exhausted at the time, I was amused that the tracking e-mails and site were managed by the very appropriately named wheresmysuitcase.com), but we eventually were home at 11 pm. An end to an exhausting but excellent trip -- mazel tov once more to grandma and John! It was so good to see aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, friends, and to meet new members of the family at the same time. The boys are still talking about flying on the airplanes and the next time we'll be able to go to the airport (and I suspect they still will be for some time!), and it was a lovely trip home. Welcome to the family, John! Pictures of the adventure here.

Second Tooth

He's been wiggling it and talking about the tooth fairy since the first tooth came out, and sure enough, Z's second tooth came out while brushing his teeth after bath time last night. Unfortunately yesterday was Seattle's hottest day of the summer yet, and between that and the excitement, both boys were ridiculously energetic and uncooperative for way too long past bedtime. O didn't get to sleep until nearly 10 o'clock, and when I tried to sneak in for the tooth fairy to replace the tooth, he stirred a bit, so I had to abort until this morning. Somehow it all worked out, and Z was pleased to open his tooth fairy pillow pocket to discover an Eisenhower dollar coin. Of course his first thought was that it was chocolate gelt, but eventually he got the idea and happily plopped it into his piggy bank.

I forgot to mention Z's reaction to his tooth fairy present for his first tooth. The morning after putting his tooth under his pillow, I showed him how to pull a rolled up dollar bill out of the same pillow pocket; he unrolled it, looked at it, and proclaimed, "It's a picture of a man!" Indeed it is.

Sign Language

There's a fountain outside of the sushi restaurant we frequent. The last few times, the boys have decided it was a good idea to walk along the edge of the circular fountain. Today, O noticed the prominently displayed sign and commented, "It says no peoples in here." Not a bad guess. Z proceeded to accidentally step into the fountain wearing shoes/socks approximately 10 seconds later.

Air brush

Both boys are pretty big into drawing -- crayons, markers, pens, and (as pictured) magnetic boards. The subjects are mostly cars and vehicles, though with a plane flight in the near future, airplanes, airports, catering vehicles, and "tunnels" (Z's description for jetways) are gaining popularity. Z has additionally increasingly focused on numbers, letters, and words. Lately I've noticed him even practicing spelling words in the air when a drawing instrument isn't readily at hand -- and today, Meh witnessed that when he was displeased with how he'd formed an air-drawn letter, he actually "erased" it with a brush of his hand and drew it again!

Strawberry Festival, Hold the Strawberries

If you ever thought sandwich board or staked-into-the-ground advertisements were a total waste, today proved that wrong for us. The boys were up early and wild as can be and needed a morning activity before we could take them to lunch (you can imagine how early it must've been when the lunch place opens at 11), and as we started driving down towards the local u-pick blueberry farm, I spotted a sign for a "Strawberry Festival".

Intrigued, we made the u-turn around back to one of the boys' favorite local parks, where we parked the car to find O and Z nirvana: bounce houses (they sampled one), the actual playground/water toys of the park, pony rides, a train ride, and a main stage with their favorite band jamming away. Z immediately sat in a seat and smiled at the band while O started dancing in the kiddie mosh pit area. Z eventually joined him and they had a blast dancing to the rest of the set; at one point a giant Geico Gecko danced through (because what says Bellevue like an insurance icon?), which Z loved and O got immediately shy of.

Next we were off to one of the several giant bounce houses, a perennial favorite -- we're actually considering renting one for Z's next birthday if we end up celebrating at home. Then everyone was hungry (and it was starting to rain), so we grabbed space at a table in the festival's giant tent and I hunted down faire food, namely hot dogs (declined by the boys despite O strongly requesting one) and elephant ears (eagerly consumed by O). (If you were wondering about the festival's namesake, I couldn't for the life of me actually see any fresh strawberries, just the usual faire Shishkaberry chocolate-covered strawberry stand.) With the rain still coming down, our time at the festival was over -- and it was on to some indoor play to wrap up a lovely family morning.

Revisionist History

Last day of school! Z celebrated the end of kindergarten with another themed day; last Friday was silly hair day (he went to school with a number of colorful clips pinning his hair up in goofy tufts), and today was wear-your-pajamas-to-school day. O was not to be outdone and insisted on wearing his own PJs to his nanny's house.

Over the past few days, Z has been bringing home many of his long-term school items, but it's still hard to believe the end of the year is already here. We'll definitely miss the "Over the weekend I..." sentences and drawings he brought home, many of which were increasingly relevant and super cute (he brought one home that apparently had been on the wall of fame at school about swimming in the pool at nanny and poppy's, complete with an excellent self-portrait of backfloating in the pool). Next week he starts the summer camp that he had a blast at last summer, and the week after that we'll be in Michigan for grandma and John's wedding!

All of the parents from his class got an e-mail a few days ago from his teacher indicating that there had been a typo in the school yearbook and that they would be receiving a "correction", as a row of kids photos had apparently inadvertently been clipped from the yearbook. We didn't actually order the school yearbook this year, but the correction came home in everyone's backpack -- a strip of sticker-backed paper with 7 students' pictures and names -- and yup, the classic image of Z was one of them. So there ya go, we got the focused portion of the yearbook we would have been most interested in after all!

Dental Record

It finally happened - after putting O and Z to bed (followed by their inevitable winding each other up, chatting, and running around mostly in their room) tonight, when Meh went to check on Z, he had a gap in his mouth: his increasingly wiggly loose tooth had finally fallen out! She asked where it was, and at first he indicated that he'd swallowed it -- but a shake of the blankie and the little white piece of calcium fell to the floor. We've been reading Meh's favorite childhood book on the subject, so Meh quickly showed him that she'd put it in a tiny pillowcase underneath his pillow so the tooth fairy might come to visit. Now of course we've just got to remember to book that visit before we go to bed tonight. Congrats on your first lost tooth, Mr. Z!

Fathers of Flight

Happy fathers day to all of the dads out there! Ours was a family affair; the Museum of Flight had a special dad's day celebration, so we caravanned with mima and papa down to the facility. The boys were super excited and talking about it the whole way down, and when we arrived, the many outdoor (and indoor) planes didn't disappoint! There was even a giant lego table, where a lego guy (enthusiast? professional?) had dumped out mounds and mounds of random parts, and kids got to assemble their own vehicles of choice to go on display for the day. There were a number of famous flying vehicles (Enterprise, Millennium Falcon, Battlestar Galactica, flying DeLorean, etc.) all made of custom legos as well. O made a very impressive 'something', then explained to the man that he was going to leave it right *there*. Z in the meantime found the front half of a 737 with seats, and decided to sit down and wait for the flight to depart.

Then we heard there was some sort of build your own candy plane project, and we *had* to go check that out. A tube of smarties (fuselage), a fruit leather (wings), and rubber banded Life Savers (wheels) later, we had both a clutch-toy for the rest of the trip (for each of them) and a snack for the ride home - score! We crossed the street to the (I believe new) annex, which had a giant space exhibit, including a scale model of the space shuttle that Z was super pleased with, before heading outside to check out the original prototype 747, a circa-1970 Air Force One (O apparently decided to make himself at home and tried to remove the plexiglass preventing people from sitting in it -- I expect a Secret Service visit at any moment), and a Concorde. The boys definitely would have been pleased to stay the whole day! As we learned later in the day, Z will indeed get that wish -- he's right back here next Wednesday when his first week of camp's field trip brings him "back to the Museum of Flight... another time!"

Fire squad

Several months ago when we got our utility bill of all things, I noticed a corner of it announced that the local firehouse was going to be having a pancake breakfast. Since our favorite monkey had a related adventure, I knew this would be right up the boys' alley -- but I wasn't sure if I could brave taking them alone, as Meh works this weekend. Enter Uncle J, who volunteered to come along, and with whom we spent a lovely morning -- first at the breakfast and then having a lovely sushi lunch. Thanks for helping me wrangle our little firefighters, Uncle J!

From the moment I mentioned the activity this morning, both boys were super excited. O even ran upstairs and put on the little fireman's costume jacket (which he was reluctant to take off even when we got to the very sunny and warm event), and both boys insisted on wearing their bright red hats. When we arrived, a number of activities were in full swing: they were demonstrating the jaws of life on an overturned car in the parking lot (O: "Why is that car upside down?"), wrapping up the torching of a room to demonstrate what happens with and without sprinklers, getting ready to dash up their practice fire escapes with hoses, and of course serving lots and lots of pancakes and eggs. The boys would have none of it though, making a beeline through the table and chair-filled firehouse to the ambulance and fire truck themselves, which were parked outside. A nice fireman helped each of them up into the cab of the fire engine, commenting on their hats ('real' firemen don't wear such things anymore apparently), and then they dashed up onto the back of the ambulance for a fabulous photo op. It was an excellent morning activity, followed up by a hearty lunch with uncle J.

Loose Tooth

On Friday morning I noticed a gap in Z's teeth, and yesterday Meh commented on the same -- when we asked Z about it, he touched it, and you could see one of his bottom front teeth moving quite a bit. It's Z's very first loose tooth! Fear not, the internets (source of all truth) indicate it's typical for kids to start losing baby teeth by the time they're turning six, so he's only slightly on the early side. But very exciting times - the thought of loose teeth jarred some childhood memory for Meh, and she's planning to hunting for a library book that she remembered reading about rabbits and loose teeth.

Meh has been having a very full weekend of activities with friend I's wedding shower (magnificently executed by Meh and several other friends from what I hear) and some quality mima time involving toes and tea. The boys and I took the opportunity to go to a friend's birthday party yesterday (the boys were very well behaved, though O did insist on raiding J's entire fabulous collection of toys and emptying them out all over the family room), and then today we all checked out the castle park O and I visited in our day-of-four-parks. When I attempted to circle the park looking for parking, I instead found more street parking along with a bonus mini-playground. The boys were very excited about the see-saw ("Zachary, go up!" was O's helpful suggestion/command to Z), and we then got to do a lovely nature walk in the fabulous summery weather (in June no less, quite novel for Seattle), right past the fire station (and multiple firehouse ambulances and engines) to the bigger park, before looping back around through the forest and having a nice snack and more play time at the smaller playground.

Trickle Down Economics

The boys have not had a ton of chores around the house, but as they (O in particular) have been increasingly obsessive about new toys any time they spot one in the store. I've actually taken O to the big Seattle area grocery-sporting goods-department store several times just to cruise past their displays of vehicles. Both boys have actually made piece about sometimes browsing toys without actually buying them -- they can put them on their "wish list", which, despite I suppose the readily available electronic or paper versions, are currently completely within their minds and subject to change with each visit. Still, we'll have a pretty good idea of what to put on the actual birthday and holiday wish lists when the time comes.

Still, wish lists only get you so far, and it was perhaps time to start teaching the value of a dollar. So over the past few weeks, we've started giving them a weekly allowance for setting the table (O, who yells at us or Z if we inadvertently do the job for him), clearing the table (Z, who does a great job of carefully bringing the plates over from the table, only to fling them at high speed/height into the sink if we're not there to help guide him with the last step), making beds, cleaning up toys before bedtime (my personal favorite), and yes, occasionally just for listening us (as in "if you can't stop fighting, you're not going to get your allowance this week").

At the end of the week, they each get 50 cents to put in their piggy banks (a bus for O, a ceramic car for Z), as well as 50 cents to put into the tzedakah (charity) box. After we save up a bit, they'll get to choose where to donate that money to (O lately has indicated he wants to give it to the zoo to "help the animals have snack".) The boys have been enthusiastic about the process thus far, and yesterday was the first actual purchase for O; Meh took him to a local dollar store and he picked out (shock of shocks) a small orange taxi matchbox car. He's been proudly toting it around, and yes, occasionally even sharing it with "the brother".

Locking it up

The rest of the long weekend with Uncle B and Aunt J has flown by. We had a very nice time just visiting, though there was a bit of tourism as well; J had researched a few local tasty food establishments with high Zagat scores. While our favorite local formal restaurant was closed for the long weekend, I did take them into the city one evening for a yummy thali dinner. And a highly rated sandwich shop that I wasn't actually familiar with was our destination today. It's near the fabulous Golden Gardens and our wedding venue (has it really already been 10 years in just a month and a half?!), as well as the Ballard Locks, which I'd somehow never been to. Meh had a previous engagement, but O and I took them down to the locks, which were highly popular all around; a number of large boats were passing through as we arrived, and we watched the (completely empty at this time of year but for one stubborn minnow) fish ladder as well. Afterwards it was on to Paseo for sandwiches -- and for a non-descript shack with only picnic table seating, it was very tasty indeed! O was pleased to be able to have his lunch while watching cars and trucks drive by, and all of us had a very nice final day. And I happened to glance across the street, and realized we were indeed directly across from the venue where we got married. How did we miss this joint as part of the scouting?!

Uncle B and Aunt J are headed onward this evening to an Alaskan adventure - hope they have a fabulous time!

Bulls in a Glass Shop

A busy solo week gave way to a full house for the weekend; Meh returned from her trip (she had a wonderful time catching up with friends in both Houston and Fort Worth; you can read a brief reference on friends M & K's blog), and a mere 20 minutes later, Uncle B and Aunt J arrived from the east coast! They were part of the visual schedule I'd pinned to the refrigerator for Meh's trip to Texas, with two separate planes occupying the Saturday calendar box. The schedules worked out quite nicely; Meh's flight was late, theirs was early, and I was able to collect everyone in under thirty minutes. And the next morning, the boys were super happy to see both mommy back at home and Uncle B and Aunt J!
We had a very busy but fun weekend with everyone back; mommy was right back into the swing of things with a performance by her choir at the annual Northwest Folklife Festival the day after she got back. We all piled into the car and tromped down to the Seattle Center, where Meh was off for sound checks while we investigated the mob scene that is the festival. O enjoyed an elephant ear, fed to him piece by piece by Uncle B while he was up on my shoulders, while Z stuck with his standard fruit leather and crackers; both boys were pleased to later discover that the chocolate mommy had promised to bring back for them (an authentic Texas-purchased bag of M&Ms) had made it into our backpack.

We had a little bit of time to kill before the actual concert, so Uncle B and Aunt J suggested that we peek in at the very cool Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. The boys were a little wild (and about to get a nice sugar rush from aforementioned snack), and I was kind of trying to hang back with, but before I knew it, we had tickets (thank you Uncle B and Aunt J!) and were on our way into the boys' very first museum. O was kind of falling apart initially, but eventually got very interested in the glass, asking why there was a boat full of glass and talking about all of the pretty colors and which ones I liked best. Of course for me the whole experience was, um, heightened by the fact that these amazing and amazingly fragile pieces were like right there in front of you, with no fence or gate or anything. The boys in general did a very good job of keeping respectful distance -- right up until I thought we'd made it through to the last room, a stunning glass greenhouse leading into the actual outdoor gardens. O bolted -- and I mean bolted (Aunt J caught the accompanying shot) -- across the open area, right up to a rope fence in front of the last exhibit, then ducked under it and immediately turned around and looked at me for a response. *sigh* At least he knew he'd been naughty.

It was concert time! This is the time when in past years I've generally ended up hanging out outside of the actual venue with one or both kids being unhappy. Not so this time - amazingly, we got into the venue right as her group started singing and both boys had huge smiles on their faces the entire time. When mommy's group was done and filed off the stage, the audience was quiet enough to nearly universally hear and chuckle at O's innocent "Where are they?" Z was concerned to see her exit, but we caught up with her outside immediately afterwards -- a very successful concert for all involved, hooray!

Muted response

Mommy is back tomorrow - hooray! Z continues to recap the countdown to her return fairly frequently ("...and then on Saturday, mommy will be home after we're asleep!"), but both boys and I definitely miss her lots and brief occasional phone calls aren't enough to find out how things are with her and to share the goings on here.

O has always expressed, shall we say, concern with some loud sounds. Many times when I take him into a bathroom, he'll first ask if the toilet/urinal is going to be loud, then (regardless of my answer) he'll put his hands over his ears when he thinks the toilet will flush. This has lately manifest with films as well; while watching Cars the other day, he asked me to "make it quieter" for a scene where there are semi trucks honking at Lightning. I obliged, but he still wanted it even "quieter" -- as in, muted. This afternoon when we *started* the movie, he asked me to make it quieter "for the loud trucks". They're like 25 minutes into the film.

Yesterday, with rain continuing to hinder outdoor plans, O and I met up with friend S and her son L at an indoor playtime at a lovely indoor community center. He'd actually been there before with mommy and kept talking about a large bounce house with a giraffe(?) -- alas, they were down to a little one that fit like one kid at a time (S speculated that one of the kids who plays a bit rougher may have damaged it last time), but he had a wonderful time both with that bounce house, a bunch of playmats, and a little kids roller coaster-y thing that he nicely took turns with other kids on. Then the weather was actually turning nice, so the four of us continued playing outside on swings and a jungle gym for a bit, where O continued to practice his new-found skill of rolling his tongue.

Today at long last O and I followed through on his long-term interest in Seattle's link light rail. Every time we go to the airport, he first starts asking where the train is and then talking about it once we see one approaching or leaving the terminus of the rail line. So it was time to ride this thing and see how it went. Mima joined in for the adventure (we did all of this while Z was at school). Alas, nothing's simple -- the only station that has parking was completely full, so I started driving parallel to the line, looking for street parking at subsequent stations. At the second or third stop, I finally found a pay lot, so we got out and waited for the train. As a bonus, mima and my Orca cards meant we got to ride for free. O was super excited and smiled through station after station. Just before the SoDo stop, the tracks cross a very high bridge... over a dozen or more other link light rail trains at what must be their storage yard -- O was extra pleased to "look at all of those trains!" We alighted at the downtown stop and picked up sandwiches at one of them Seattle food trucks that I hadn't yet explored, a tasty salmon burger for both mima and myself. (O declined to try it or the tasty garlic/parsley fries.) A quick potty stop for O (at the posh Benaroya Hall no less), and we were back on the train heading home to catch up with Z's bus. A nice morning adventure, and finally something to cross off O's young bucket list. Of course when Z heard about this, he was quite interested as well, so we'll have to make another trip of it in the near future!

Random Musings

Getting to spend a good amount of time with O over the past few days, I've continued to be amused with the comments that come out of his mouth. I've tried to capture a few gems and e-mail them to Meh while she's away, but it's difficult to grab all of them! A sampling:

• (at 6 am, sneaking into bed with me): "Mm, the bed smells like mommy kisses."
• (after putting on his shirt): "Well, I look adorable in this!"
• (speaking into a bullhorn and trying to rally Z to throw a plastic ball with him): "All right everyone, it's time for baseball time!"
• (when at the mall we got a cupcake -- which, by the way, he picked out): "Mommy gets me one with swirl."
• "I bit my tongue because the ground looked a little bit brown".

We've had a busy couple of mornings while Z is at school. With the rain still hampering park attempts, we went to his favorite indoor play area yesterday morning -- and proceeded to go back in the afternoon with Z added into the mix.And today O and I went to the mall, where he played for a bit (and ate the aforementioned cupcake). Then we decided to do lunch, and he especially said he wanted to go someplace he'd never been before. I was ecstatic to support this newfound interest in expanding beyond burgers and sushi, but alas, by the time we approached an honest restaurant, he had reverted to strongly wanting Red Robin. Ah well, food exploration was still realized even if accidentally; the milkshake he requested ("with sprinkles") was for the first time served up with a maraschino cherry. He tried it, then made me eat it, then decided he really wanted it after all. The waitress patiently brought two more that ended up untouched on his plate. Still, at least he tried it -- and even briefly pondered mixing up his usual grilled cheese in favor of chicken tenders. We may have an adventurous eater on our hands. Some day.

Parks and Recreation

Meh is off to Texas this morning; I constructed another calendar view for the boys, with this fine image of O and a freeway rest stop buffalo sculpture (from our previous family trip to the Lone Star State) as the indicator of where mommy is, and one airplane today and two on Saturday -- since she'll return alongside Uncle B and Aunt J for a family visit -- hooray! Z is already counting off the days of the week until mommy comes home.

The aim had been to keep our schedule as consistent as possible while Meh was gone, but things immediately got bumpy when we learned that O's nanny had broken her leg - wishing her a very speedy recovery! So I'm taking likely the whole week as vacation and getting some quality O time. We had a fun but exhausting first day today featuring trips to four (!) separate parks. First we went to one of O's favorites and had a lovely time running around, playing, getting pushed on swings and spinning things, and then of course continuing to scare the heck out of daddy by climbing up a 20-foot-high rope net to O's favorite giant slide. Then I rang up friend K, whose daughter A is in childcare with O and was thus similarly having a day at the park. We met up for lunch (OMG, somewhere other than sushi or Red Robin) and then played at another park down by the water -- en route, O discovered the joy of getting to pick up and wave one of the city's many pedestrian-empowering safety-orange flags as we walked through the crosswalk. The sun made an appearance and it was actually warm; the kids decided they wanted to wade into the water, hiked up pants (O) and dress (A) and all. O also discovered some other kids' beach toys and was super excited to be shown how their water pistol worked. As I said on Facebook, Meh went to Texas and O just went Texan.

As we dropped off K and A, they mentioned a fun nearby park that had a castle and other fun toys. Hearing this, O suggested that we head over -- and after another pedestrian-flag-waving street crossing, our third park of the day didn't disappoint, with not only a castle similar to O's favorite park's, but also a wooden fire truck and train. Finally, exhausted, it was time to head home. O didn't make it, conking out as we got about halfway. I didn't want him to sit in a sunny driveway for his doze, so I drove us to a fourth park for the duration of his nap, before we finally got home for supper with Z and a quick call from mommy to let us know she'd gotten in safely. An exhausting but high energy first day for the Selfon boys!

Manly-cure

To distract O while Z had a playdate on Thursday with a friend, Meh offered to paint his nails. Of course he got to choose the colors - and different ones for each foot no less. When I tried to compliment the lovely nail polish on his right toenails and called it 'red', he looked at me and indignantly said "No, daddy, they're pink - and also these [right toenails] are blue." (As mima likes to say, his tone here often seems to imply the unspoken additional two words 'you idiot'.)

Summer de Mayo

Usually it's July 5 that summer starts in the northwest - or at best in June you'll start to get some tantalizingly sunny days during the week and consistently dreary weekends. Oddly this year it's all backwards, and we have our first fabulous weekend in May. It always amazes me how the switch flips and everyone is immediately outside at every possible park, beach, outdoor pedestrianized area, etc.

The boys and I beat the crowds out of the gates by dropping off mommy at work and going immediately to one of their favorite parks, which O has started calling "Singing Edward". It was an epic visit of more than 2.5 hours, with slides, swinging (both regular and a tire one that they both piled onto), a nice little picnic (O picked out a table with a nice view across a large field towards the bike trails; Z commented several times, "It looks like London!"), and more. And then while we were playing, I noticed a fire truck and firehouse ambulance pull into the parking lot sans flashers. We took the boys over to investigate, and sure enough, they were giving tours of the various compartments and of course letting kids climb up into the cab -- both boys were pretty darn ecstatic, and it had been a solidly fun day by 1 pm! Back to the playground for more fun before finally, exhausted, they waved goodbye to the fire truck, ambulance, slides, and swings, to head home for a quiet afternoon. Ah, summer!