Seats and tray tables

On the drive up to Whidbey last week, we noticed a big sign announcing that this weekend was the return of the wildly popular-with-the-boys Vintage Aircraft Weekend. We invited friends B, J, and their kids J and M along this time, and preceded the event by sampling mima and papa's favorite New York-style pizza place - a new favorite for us and the other family, though our boys couldn't be bothered to try the pizza (even though we got plain cheese), breadsticks, or caprese salad. Anyway, from there it was onward to the show; after dashing inside and instantly exclaiming about all of the planes (and other vehicles -- though alas, not the huge collection go-carts, army vehicles, fire trucks, or bounce houses we saw last year), O climbed up to check out a dogfighter before asking nobody in particular what other planes he could get in. A friendly passing staff member answered anyway, pointing at an impressive World War II B25-D bomber that we learned had actually just done a demonstration flight an hour earlier. The queue was long, but O impressively and patiently persisted (Z and the others opted out, continuing onward to look at other planes) and eventually got to climb the ladder to check out first the cockpit and then crawl through the tunnel to the forward gunner seat.

We got to see a number of other planes, both stationary and flying in formations low across the runway. Both O and J were pretty smitten (and calling pretty much every single-propeller plane Dusty Crophopper) and Z had a great time as well. And the weather turned out to be surprisingly sunny after the morning rains. All in all a lovely and successful family outing! Full album here.

Tonight another milestone for L - while she's been sampling an increasing number of foods, Meh was inspired by M at lunch, who at one month older than L was already gumming carrots and such. So we reattached the tray table that goes with her high chair and tried a big cube of watermelon. L mostly squished it, but did manage to consume a little bit of it -- go L!

Getting with the programs

Today both boys had their school class orientations - and both went to each other's, which made things extra interesting. First it was Z's class, which he's been talking about for most of the summer -- though since camp has ended, he's appended "and then we'll go to camp next summer" to the schedule following school. There had been no e-mailed announcement of his teachers or classmates, and sure enough when we got to the school there were lists printed everywhere of all of the kids and their class assignments -- working through the crowds to find Z's name in small courier font was an instant flashback to my own grade school. But from there we got to his class and saw a few familiar names from his kindergarten class, and got to meet his teacher, who seemed both very nice, had an exciting classroom of organizational materials for Z to comment on, and mentioned she recognized Z from when the kindergarten and first grade classes had crossed paths. He's very excited to be heading back to school on Tuesday; earlier this week we got a message from his former bus driver that she'll still be doing the route, so that'll be a nice familiar and friendly face as well!

And then we visited O's upcoming classroom; alas, it was at the height of rush hour traffic, so L had a sad time in the car on the long stop-and-go drive down. But once we arrived, everyone was happy, and O pretty much pulled us into his new classroom; we recognized two familiar names in the class roster, and O has been talking about other kids in his class that he knows from last year's playground activities. Got to meet both new teachers, who were super nice, as well as a few other parents. Besides constructing another couple of block towers of terror (alongside A, one of his two classmates from the prior year), O was particularly excited to be sharing a classroom with Alice, a large turtle in an aquarium in the corner of the room. Z in the mean time was a big fan of the classroom's tree-themed corner loft (filled with pillows, shelves of books, and dangling decorative stars, clumps of paper "leaves", and actual stick "branches".

We celebrated the nearing end of summer with a concluding family dinner at the boys' favorite local sushi-go-round; L smiled, chattered, and raspberried at everyone while the boys enjoyed alarming numbers of plates of cucumber rolls, gyoza, and edamame.

Life's a beach -- again

Less than a week after our lovely family holiday trip to the Oregon coast, we were off again -- this time heading the other direction to Whidbey Island with mima and papa (and with Uncle J and his girlfriend joining up later in the trip as well!). The boys were super excited, even though I had to explain to Z that there weren't going to be bumper cars or L's beach house. I won't say the trip was strictly "relaxing", but we did have a lovely time and had all sorts of adventures.

We arrived on the ferry and headed straight to one of the large farmers markets to meet up with mima and papa for a tasty lunch (well, the boys had snacks -- and then O and I played oversized outdoor chess for a bit), then beat the heat at one of many local beaches with some rocket popsicles from a well-timed ice cream truck. Then it was time to check out our digs! We arrived to a very cozy and very beach-themed house that mima had secured for us; the boys had an excellent pair of upstairs window seat beds, while L, mommy, and I were in a downstairs room (ideally to allow everyone more sleep -- and it kind of sort of worked, at least for L and mommy!). My favorite touch was the railing to the upstairs, which was made of a long wooden oar. L's new de facto play area was a chair with a long cushion that could comfortably hold her (and occasionally one of her brothers as well).

O has been obsessed with "fishing" (which he takes to mean hunting for treasure underwater) for some time, and we had two special surprises for him. First, I'd picked up a kids fishing rod (Spider-Man themed, naturally) and at one of the parks where they'd had such a fun time last year, we gave it a try. Alas, the very first time that I cast off with the practice fish-shaped rubber lure attached, the lure made a lovely arc out into Puget Sound and the line snapped. O was very concerned, but I let him know it was totally fine and that the lure was "swimming with the fish". (I crack myself up.) The rest of that afternoon he was asking about the fish, concerned that it would be okay, and asking me to go out into the sound and find it. Ah well. The second treasure-themed activity went far better -- mima snuck a wooden box full of coins down to the beach by the beach house, and then Meh sketched a map and rolled it up. When O and Z "discovered" it, we helped them read the map and explore the beach, where they found an X of shells that indeed marked the spot. Shovel in hand, O unearthed the chest and both boys were delighted with the results; Z has since taken a liking to drawing maps, while O wants me to draw paths to treasure hidden elsewhere in the house.

Besides park trips and much yummy cooking for each other (including dinner one evening up on a rooftop patio), we took the kids to check out a cool lighthouse. Little did I know it had an increasingly narrow spiral staircase around its interior to get up to the actual lantern room -- I was mildly concerned the boys were going to get stuck up there, but we did in the end get up and down safely, and also explored bunkers and cannons in between snack time. We even had brief houseguests, as our friends who'd been at the Oregon house were also on the island for the day and came to visit. And the last night we had family smores on the beach.

Far too many of the pictures of our excellent holiday here - it's going to be hard to get back into the swing of life at home tomorrow!

Tooth or dare

Yesterday was Z's annual dentist check up, and I continue to be impressed by how well he manages the appointment -- a great job of listening, paying attention to the doctor and hygienist, dealing with toothbrushes and dental utensils and floss in his mouth, and more. He was given a clean bill of dental health - yay for Z! I continue to be even more impressed with Meh, who took him along with L -- great job to both of them! The dentist indicated several teeth were loose, and as if on cue, tonight he lost a bottom front right tooth. Z was excited to talk about the forthcoming tooth fairy visit, and started saying "you have another loose tooth" as well; sure enough, the corresponding left one is wiggling a bit. Go Z!

It's our time down here

It's our last day down on the Oregon coast, where we've been having a fabulous (if exhausting) time with friend L at her parents' amazing beach house along with friends A, J, and their son E. L has been by and large the happy baby that Meh discussed in Bulgaria -- nearly always happy, giving big smiles to all involved. O and Z have surprisingly have slept pretty well in a shared large bed in a separate room from us. O came in both mornings to wake me up by 6:30 or 7, but he and I have had some wonderful times together, including gathering firewood on the beach yesterday evening for a smores bonfire. (And yay, my boy scout days didn't fail me - I could actually still start a decent fire.) Z has been in full artist mode, creating and then hanging a number of crayon-etched creations around the house. (Fear not; the amazing Meh had the foresight to buy and pack, in addition to a full ream of paper and many crayons, some special hanging tape that doesn't take paint off the walls.) Whether it's the noise of the kids or the lack of a fully darkened room, L hasn't always been ready for naps during the day, so yesterday I wore her and hiked out to the local rock made famous by The Goonies -- a wonderful and relaxing stroll (and apparently a big contrast to Meh's experience, apparently battling boys who alternated wanting to go into the ocean or staying high up on the beach avoiding "jellyfish" -- which every little bubble on the sand clearly must be -- oh, each boy also decided on the opposite preference to their brother of ocean vs. bluff). In the evenings, the adults sat and talked, valiantly crowded around my laptop (after a TV DRM fail) to watch the new book-into-TV-series hotness, or spotted the local landmarks in a screening aforementioned 80's film.

In addition to much time in and around the house, we also journeyed to a local beach town's semi-permanent arcade, where the boys enjoyed bumper cars (though O took 'bumper' to heart and kept trying to steer us towards the outer walls) and plenty of freshly made toffee. And there were boxes of new lego vehicles to assemble into creations as well. O and Z also had some nice times playing with their new friend E.

Huge thanks again to L for inviting us, it's been an amazing time -- I won't quite say "peaceful", but definitely a ton of fun! More pictures of the trip can be found here.

Oy fae

We've long had a fairy door in our house (and have enjoyed touring a cluster of them in at least one city near grandma and John). But in the last few days, O has had renewed interest in them. I think it at least partially comes back to his ongoing love of the TV show Jake and the Never Land Pirates, and his desire to figure out how to fly off to Never Land. Last night he left them a snack (bread, milk, and honey - Meh's expert knowledge of fairy lore suggests these are among their favorites). This morning when he came downstairs, they'd written him a tiny thank you note. His mind only temporarily and mildly blown, tonight he dictated a note back to them via mommy, asking if they could give him some fairy dust so he can fly (but, as he told us, "only in emergencies"). We may have to rethink this make believe route...

A seat at the table

Today was Z's 7 year checkup. Hooray for no shots (apparently he's clear for another few years? Why do I remember them from like every single appointment from my own childhood?), and he did a great job following instructions and answering questions from both the nurse and the doctor. The only one that moderately stumped him was what sports he liked to play; I suggested "running" (which is very true for Z) when the many other options garnered a blank look - perhaps time to start introducing some local franchises and/or recreational play. The stats (I love how the "head circumference" tracking of babies gives way to blood pressure for the nearly first grader):

• Weight: 42 lbs. 10 oz. (10th percentile)
• Height: 45.6" (10th-25th percentile)
• BMI: 14.41 (10th-25th percentile)
• B/P: 100/56

Another milestone for L today - we dusted off (er... literally, as it had been sitting in storage in the garage, though at least sealed inside of a plastic bag) one of our old high chairs, and L joined us at the table for family dinner. While she didn't yet eat anything, she smiled and happily screeched her way through the yummy hamburgers and hot dogs while O commented on how cute she looked (in between declaring how much he disliked the smell of both the burgers and the lovely steamed scallions Meh had prepped).

Love is an open door

Diapers are of course a constant in the house with L, and as the supply depletes, I use our trusty bulk mailing website to restock. This time around, there was an extra discount when purchasing two giant uber-economy-size boxes. I only had to ponder momentarily, as she definitely goes through them quickly enough (occasionally they even protect her clothes, but apparently only if we happen to both hear in time and when she's not wearing anything cute. Otherwise it's doomed to get soiled.)

This is a rather roundabout way of setting up the explanation for the boys' new favorite toy, the giant cardboard box that the two giant boxes of diapers arrived in -- which Meh stood up on end and O declared was a door to a secret room containing his treasure chest. He then proceeded to decorate it with stickers, markers, and crayons. Meh found an unused pair of Ikea doorknobs (take that, Ikea hacks), and voila; both boys now enjoy stashing treasure and occasionally themselves inside.

All you need is love

Grandma and J have departed for home after a fun visit; in addition to the aforementioned Z's birthday party and many parks, the boys enjoyed a sleepover at their hotel (alas, I had to make a second round trip when it was discovered that blankie hadn't made it into the car). And of course grandma and J got to spend lots of time with L as well. We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to seeing them again soon!

Last night on the drive home from school (Z) and camp (O), O made this deep comment: "I love all of the things in the whole world. I even love ninjas." I'm feeling a lot of love here, Mister O.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Several months ago when Meh asked Z what kind of birthday cake he wanted, he answered "a Wizard of Oz cake!" Challenge accepted, and I think fairly exceeded, by mommy with today's seventh (!) birthday party for Mr. Z. There was an impressive amount of preparation, capped off with the completion of a stunning yellow brick road to the Emerald City cake (complete with sugar paste silhouettes of Dorothy and her friends!). Paired with slipper cookies (both ruby and silver per the movie versus book), scarecrow diplomas (wafer tube cookies wrapped in rainbow candy ribbon), tin man hats (Hershey's kisses), upside down cupcakes squashing wicked witches, rainbow cupcakes, lollipop guild lollipops, and much more (including what Z now expects of all birthday parties: pizza), the spread was a solid success. Many of the kids did the Glinda bubble wand craft projects (made with awesome Meh-sourced beads and colorful pipe cleaners) too. The location was declared by Z to be a winner as well, featuring his favorite park's playgrounds, swings, sand area, and "forest" of rhododendrons to wander through -- all of the kid attendees had an excellent time as well. Even L cooed and squeaked her way through the affair, sporting another lovely new party dress. Several of Z's kindergarten friends came too, and it was fun to get to meet some of the kids he'd talked about all year long. The afternoon was capped off with some recognizable aircraft from the previous day doing their repeat Seafair performances in the distance.

I could try to describe in more detail, but pictures are worth a thousand blog posts, and a whole set from the party can be found here - happy (observed) birthday, Zachary!

Air cover

Grandma and J are visiting for the weekend! In addition to Z's impending epic birthday party (which has been in preparation for weeks if not months - Meh is making it pretty spectacular), this is Seafair weekend, so we decided to try to go see the Blue Angels perform. The boys, sporting their spiffy new favorite MLB franchise muscle shirts, selected O's favorite Mercer Island park for viewing. We got there a bit before the main show, so there was time for playground climbing and a snack, while we watched hundreds of people streaming past for closer waterfront views. Nonetheless, our choice of location worked out well, as there was a sudden downpour and we were conveniently adjacent to a covered picnic area to duck under for continued dry snack time. The Patriots Jets Team zoomed over the park multiple times, and the boys even occasionally paid attention in between playing on the equipment and enjoying their food. Alas, they got a bit too tired out to stick around for the main event, so we headed back to the car, catching a glimpse first of some marine helicopters and then the Blue Angels zooming by as we got in and headed back home to catch up with L and mommy.

Hello ladies

Everyone is home -- hooray! All five of us are mildly exhausted and I suspect it will take a few days for everyone to adjust back, which will take us right to Z's pending birthday party and grandma and John visiting this weekend; as I said, a very busy summer! Meh reported that L was amazing on the trip -- very social, smiling at everyone she met, and making cute happy sounds in the morning that made her all of Meh's choir-mates' favorite roommate. Oh, and L started rolling over on the trip as well; I was sent a video of her just barely almost making a back-to-front turn.

What happened in Vegas

stays in Vegas, of course. But suffice it to say that, of my family, O and Z came out the winners, with cute little car-shaped tins and poker chips made of chocolate that I brought back with me. My primary success was finding one of the toy cars' price to be mislabelled - win. Regardless, it was good to spend time with J and get to catch back up with some friends and friends-of-friends, and to get to see some of the newer sights there (I hadn't been in more than 15 years). And it sounds like the boys had a very nice time with mima and papa (including young friend K's birthday party with a slip and slide) in my absence. Z had been announcing to his counselors all week that "daddy's going to fly to Vegas", so I think most of the camp may be ready to ask me about it when I drop Z off tomorrow.

Special guest blog

Meh and L have posted their very own blog entry for their adventure in Bulgaria -- just not here. :) Go check it out on Dunava's blog here. We've been getting a steady stream of pictures (frequently of Bulgarian vehicles) and occasional Skype calls as the dramatic time difference allows, but we're emphatically looking forward to seeing the two of them in just a few days.

And speaking of travel, the travelling parents finally overlap -- today I'm off to help celebrate close friend J's upcoming wedding with a bachelor party in Las Vegas. It's a quick weekend (I'll be back on Sunday), but will definitely miss the boys -- huge thanks to mima and papa for watching them, and looking forward to the entire family being back in the same house in four days (yay!).

Double Play

The boys continue to have a fun if exhausting time while mommy and L traverse Bulgaria (and appear live on national morning TV and even a cooking show airing in another month or two apparently?!). O's early afternoon park tour has continued this week, even despite the weather finally backing off from the unusually warm; on Tuesday, O was insistent that we find a park with a water feature even though it was overcast and in the 60s; here's a shot of him enjoying the spray hoses for, oh, about five seconds before asking for his towel. From there we reverted to a more standard park, where he and I had a delightful time (re-)discovering the joys of whirlybird maple seeds.

Thursday was O's teacher M's last day of class before moving to Arizona - she's been a fabulous teacher and the two of them have been so close, we'll miss her! She left a very cute goodbye note for all of the parents at the sign-out sheet, and she also made a custom card for each of the kids featuring a picture of them with her and a very sweet and child-specific note. We wish her the very best in her next advenutre! After school (and before camp was over), the rain was coming down, so O and I headed over to the trendy Seattle combination indoor play area/restaurant. While he was a bit shy and made me climb around in tubes and tunnels clearly meant for 4-6 year olds, we had a great time and then a very civilized nice snack together before looping back to Mercer Island to pick up Z.

Z for his part has been continuing to love camp and has really developed a solid friendship with his counselor E; as so many of his teachers are women, it's great to see him having a guy role model and talking about both E and camp, having big smiles as he's dropped off (and picked up), and overall clearly enjoying every minute of his days at Camp Kef! Z even shares at bath time some of the songs he's been learning ("boker tov" means good morning in Hebrew):

Boys (2), Man

While we've been missing mommy and L a lot, the boys and I have certainly been filling the time effectively! The week featured school for O and camp for Z; O gets out of school earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so he and I got to have some quality time at a variety of parks. And maybe got ice cream one or two times. One of the parks had a piece of playground equipment that reflected some of the city's sister cities around the world; it was amusing to think that two of these cities were far closer to mommy and L than we were, and O was asking what direction mommy was from each of them. We also had a sushi dinner and guys' evening at the beach. And the boys have had renewed bathtime interest in their foam vehicle and robot stickers; when I tried to coax O out the other night after the tub had already been drained for like 10 minutes, he very seriously commented, "No, daddy. I have to build my robots."

Yesterday morning we started the day by Skyping with mommy and L -- it was so good to get to talk to them, and both boys were very happy to see the girls. As an added bonus, we got a mini-tour of Varna, as, while video conferencing with us on her phone, mommy walked from her hotel room down to the Black Sea with L to quickly dip her toes. O of course dominated the conversation so Z and I couldn't really get much of a word in edgewise, but it was still good to get everyone chatting together, and it sounds like the two of them (and Meh's entire choir) are having an excellent time!

Bon voyage / Довиждане!

(I like that the most appropriate English saying is French. Go figure.) The girls' Bulgarian adventure begins today! We dropped off the boys at camp/school and then it was off to the airport to drop Meh and L to begin their nearly day of flying to Sofia to start their whirlwind choir tour. Impressively, she has packed for two weeks for herself and a baby in precisely what you see in this picture - one roller bag, one backback, and the stroller. After school, the boys were asking where mommy and L were -- like, literally, where the plane was currently located. So we popped up the flight tracker and watched the little plane icon traversing Greenland during dinner. Our first day of bachelorhood concluded mostly successfully with the boys asleep and me likely to follow them pretty soon. Hoping the girls have an amazing, wonderful, and, dare I say, even maybe vacation-like experience!

Magic Z Ball

One of the many items that came home with my from my conference was a small kitschy magic eight ball. O loved it, but couldn't be bothered to try to read it himself, instead insisting that I ask it variants of whether monsters were going to come to our house, whether Lightning McQueen was faster than a monster, whether the monsters were good guys, etc. Z has been enjoying it as well, and I've been noticing him incorporating its cryptic responses into his own vocabulary; earlier today I asked him a yes/no question and he responded "outlook unclear".

Yesterday was friend K's second birthday party, and they went all out with a Richard Scarry Cars & Trucks & Things That Go themed celebration of cuteness -- so clever and original, and the boys had a blast hunting for goldbugs (drawn on paper and artfully hidden throughout a full model cardboard city outdoors), painting trains, eating individual-sized chocolate cakes shaped like vehicles, and much more. K opened his presents at the end of the party, and I was amused to see there's already a printed book of the viral hit "What Does the Fox Say?", complete with spelled out noises. In the meantime, the boys sat front and center at rapt attention, like it was some kind of close-range live action version of the toy unboxing videos they used to obsess over, while K opened an impressive number of increasingly large construction vehicle toys. Z and O both got their own new cars as part of their goody bags -- win all around!

Today's birthday party (for O's close school friend J) was an outdoor sports affair (complete with multiple coaches/referees/kid herders) -- the boys had lots of fun at a sports field kicking balls with friends, while L was first in the stroller snoozing and then later was on me making her familiar happy cooing and screeching noises. I thought the party was winding down after snacks when all of the sudden we heard a familiar musical noise out on the street, and J's mom told the kids to come around to the parking lot. Voila, an ice cream truck awaited, serving up perfectly cool desserts on a very hot day. O first picked one option, then changed his mind (thankfully before opening it) when he saw what the birthday boy had; both he and Z (and O's shirt) ended up sharing a rocket pop. The after party (yes, there was one) was at the adjacent school playground, where both boys played and played some more while L enjoyed her second nap of the event. A thoroughly enjoyable and exhausting day for the boys and littlest girl!

It goes to eleven

Tomorrow is Meh and my 11th anniversary! It's still incredible to consider how much has happened and how the time has flown since we stood under the chuppah. Since Meh has work on the actual day, and the kids and I will be at an afternoon birthday party, tonight we celebrated last night with some excellent sushi at a local restaurant that we just don't get to often enough. Special thanks to one of the boys' favorite non-mima babysitters S; apparently everyone had a decent evening for her, though L woke up sad as we were heading home. A very happy anniversary to the most amazing wife, mommy, and my very best friend - I love you!

Brighton beach memoirs

The family's hectic summer travel season continues -- this week I've been in the UK for a conference. Alas, didn't get too much time in my favorite (favourite?) city, as the event was down on the coast in Brighton. Somehow I managed to miss the actual beach (it was actually a bit chilly and very breezy) and the landmark pier, but the conference itself was certainly productive and thought provoking. And I did get to have one lovely London afternoon with N, S, and their kids R and J, followed by an excellent dinner for the grownups. It's always fun getting to interact with the kids, as they're only slightly older than my boys, so it's sometimes a bit like looking into the future. In addition to the event itself, I did have a day of meetings back in the city, and visited not only Meh's favourite market for a lunch get together, but also checked out a replica tall ship docked in the port -- as usual, I've been keeping an eye out for fun vehicles that the boys would enjoy pictures of. Of course, the one I most like taking a picture of is the plane that takes me back home to them!