Spring Break with Ronna and JR

We had such a great time when Ronna and JR came with their family! I had the whole week lined up with things to do, and I think the kids really had fun (including Connor and Ryan! :). So here it is, broken down:

They arrived Sunday night, late, and I made some grilled cheese as a snack before everyone went to bed. it was yummy.

Hangin' around the house (not sure which day):

Luke and Connor sitting amongst the toys.

Brooke's getting a nice foot and leg massage from our uSqueeze.


Caitlynn is having a standoff with the cats (there's another one around the corner)

Monday: Children's Museum and Family Home Evening
Monday morning, Ron took Ronna, JR and the kids to the Children's museum. I wasn't sure if they'd like it since it's kind of small-ish. And I'd only ever been in the infant room with Connor, so I didn't really know what the rest of it was like. But, since I checked out a cultural pass from the library (i.e. free entrance for 2 adults and one kid), I figured they could try it out. Turns out they loved it! There's face paints that you can use yourself (they got all painted up) and there's a dig pit full of little rubber chunks (no doubt recycled from the Nike plant just down the road), there's a water area, and a bunch of other stuff. Success! Unfortunately, Ron didn't get any pictures from this trip, so I'll have to see if I can borrow some of Ronna's & JR's.

This alligator is used when they have a dentist come in for a demonstration. The dentist puts spaghettie and other stuff in the alligator's teeth so the kids can see how gross it is. Then they take turns brushing it out.

We hit Costco, but this time we made sure our trunks were empty and we didn't buy too much! Here's Connor and Caitlynn sharing a cart with their stuffed friends.


That night we had Family Home Evening with JR, Ronna, Aaron, Megan, Julie, Jared and all the kids (8 total). We were actually waiting for Mike and Becky to come with their kids (Becky was going to give the lesson!). I finally called them to see where they were, and it turns out Becky had *just* given birth! She wasn't due for another week or so, so it was definitely unexpected! I congratulated her and we used Julie's cool game as a lesson instead. She made a board game out of the Plan of Salvation. So cute!! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from this one either, but trust me, it was fun!

Tuesday: Zoo and Pizza!

We have a FABULOUS zoo here in Portland. The kids always love to come ride the train and see the animals. The habitats are built to be very representative of how the animal would live in nature. And we're getting new exhibits all the time. And, since the first Tuesday of the month is only $2 per person for admission, it was totally cheap!

In the parking lot. This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of Ron!

Caitlynn was tuckered out already! Her and Ryan rode in Ronna's double stroller. (I'm so GLAD she brought that! I don't know how we weould have managed with out it!) Luke and Brooke are ready to go!

Here's everyone rounding the corner to the sea lion exhibit. Those things are HUGE!

We stopped and ate lunch first, since we got there ~11am. Ronna packed an awesome lunch with cold cut sandwiches, gogurts, celery, carrots, bell peppers, crackers, and cutie oranges. I brought some drinks, too. Connor really likes celery. Let's hope that continues.

Ron and Connor by a huge (fake) fish

The lion exhibit is one of the newest at the zoo. There is one male lion and two females. We got a picture of all the kids by the big guy. (well, Ryan couldn't make it in the picture.... hopefully next time!)

Then I saw this really cool lookin' cat with long ears in the safari exhibit. It's called a caracal and jumps 10 feet in the air to catch birds to eat. Ron and JR are giving a demonstration below about how high that really is... I think this is another new exhibit -- but I thought the cat was really cool-looking....


They were competing to see who could jump the highest -- I think I see some definite cheating.... (Hey! No pushing!) Also, the pink blur in front is Brooke. Kids have a hard time staying still... :)


Inside the safari exhibit was this little bubble where you could go be part of the exhibit. I think this was a miniature mongoose or something. But it ran right past Luke.


Connor was soaking it all in, telepathically! :) He actually did like some of the exhibits, and definitely liked hanging out with his cousins.


Ryan and Megan looking at the Zebras.


Ronna and Caitlynn doing the same...


And, Brook, Luke and JR, with the Zebras.


We rode the train. Of course, you can't miss the train.
Ryan and Megan


Connor and Luke. They had a very fun dynamic going all week. Luke would make funny faces and Connor would just crack up laughing the whole time. Sometimes Luke wouldn't have to even make a face. Connor loved it! Here they are playing the forehead game. Connor likes to lean in and touch foreheads with you and then just smile and laugh because you then look funny. :) He's banged a few heads at baby school trying to do that, but it's so cute...


Me and Connor


That evening we went to Out of this world Pizza, which is AWESOME for kids! I got a library pass so all the kids got in free (adults are free by default). Here's a view of one side of the play area. It doesn't show the rock climbing wall off to the left, but you can see the huge space ship that kids love to climb up and slide down. (Supposed to be for kids 5 and over, but sometimes younger ones go too, depending on how busy they are). Then you can see the older kids' bounce house/slide. The younger kids' bounce house is in the other corner....


As if there weren't enough fun things to do, one of the workers is also a magician and he came over and showed Luke and Brooke a few tricks.

One ball in his hand, abra-cadabra!


Somehow the magician stuffed all of these in there, without Luke knowing!


And, he pulled a hanky from Brooke's sleeve! He was pretty good....




There's an infant area over by the Mother's room, where Connor likes to play.


Here's Ryan on the younger bounce house...


Luke getting ready to come down...


Brooke at the bottom....


They also had this little race track area where kids could ride the scooters around.




Wait! did I say kids? I meant EVERYONE! Ronna asked, and they said yes, so.... :)


And, Tuesday night is laser light night. (I didn't quite know what that was, but now I do. They turn the lights down and shoot this laser light around and let the kids dance to music with the laser. Kind of silly, now that I know, but the kids loved it. You can see their spectacular dance moves here.


I don't know how Ron did this, but I like the cool effects of the "ghosting". :) sweet!


But, I think this one is just blurry...


Connor and I left early to go to Urgent care. He had some sores on his tummy that were getting worse, so I took him in. It turns out he had a staff infection. The doctor said I didn't have to worry about washing and sanitizing everything because it was a "regular" strain that can be found everywhere.... But he LOVES this mirror in the exam room. And he likes the nurses, too! This is the nurse that usually gives him his follow-up shots after his regular appts (we don't do them all at once, we do a couple, then come back a month later to do a couple of others). Anyway, Ron usually brings him for the follow-up (I take him for the main well-check appt). So, as soon as we came in, the nurse said, I know who this one is, he looks just like his daddy! :) He really does. Although, it's funny that he doesn't look like his dad's baby pictures, just like his dad does now.... I'll have to find a baby picture of Ron to post and show you.


Wednesday: Downtown Portland

Wednesday we decided to go check out a few places downtown. I had to drop off my stuff for the PIOP consignment stuff anyway, and I had a Dr appt at OHSU, so it worked out well. (I took the day off work).

So we started by going to Voodoo Donuts, where they have every imaginable flavor of donut, including a bacon maple bar (which JR got and ate). (Voodoo Donuts below)


I got the lemon Chiffon


Caitlynn got the M&M one (I think)


Brooke got the Voodoo doll which was a yeast donut in the shape of a little person with raspberry jelly in the middle, so when you bit into it, it looked like guts coming out... Ronna got this HUGE apple fritter/bear claw lookin' thing.


Luke got the Oreo one which he ate faster than I could take a picture.


JR finishing up his bacon/maple bar.


Their seating wasn't your conventional table and chairs. They had everything you could imagine to sit on (including a coffin-like thing). Caitlynn got the rocking chair. So cute!!


Ronna liked the donuts so much that she bought a dozen to take home with her. I'm not sure where they all went.... I didn't have any, though. I was all sugared out!!!

After Donuts, we went to eat lunch at Fire on the Mountain, a local wings joint. I got the mild buffalo chicken salad -- very tasty! After lunch we went to OHSU where JR & Ronna rode the Tram while I went to my doctor's appt. I rode up with them, but had to ride back down before they were done looking at the view.


I tried to snap a shot of them on the balcony, but my camera wasn't cooperating. if you zoom in and look really closely on the lower level, you can see the tops of their heads.


A view of Portland. It really is a fun little ride....


And here I am at my doctor's appt, trying to entertain Connor by taking pictures of him in the mirror while I wait....


After my doctor's appt, we all met back up at Powell's City of Books. According to Wikipedia, it's supposed to be the largest independent bookstore in the world... it is quite large. Ronna let the kids pick out a book each for the ride home, and JR got some good work time in. It's not vacation unless you're actually working!

Thursday, a lazy day, then Dinner and Cake

I had to go back to work on Thursday, so Ronna & Family slept in late, and went to go find something to do. You'll have to get the details from her, but I think they tried to go see the submarine at OMSI, but it closed before they could get there, so they tooled around the gardens and played at the big park.

Ronna made a delicious indian chicken curry dinner with rice and we invited Aaron and Megan over for dinner, since it was their last night in town. I decided we needed a treat, so I made a strawberry cake (Megan cut some fresh strawberries to put on the bottom of the cake -- Yum). I put a lemon cream cheese frosting on the top, and we put extra strawberries on top for good measure. It was not bad!


The cake


How come we STILL have all the women in the kitchen and all the men lounging in the living room? I thought we were past all that.....

Aaron and Ryan playing hide and seek in Aaron's shirt


Ron and JR just chillin' (Connor and Caitlynn are already in bed)


After cake, we were all in a sugar coma!


They left Friday morning. I think they actually made it to the submarine on their way out (but I'll have to double-check). Ronna was so sweet! she actually cleaned the house before she left! and left me a little gift on the table -- some new oven mitts and some kitchenware. :) What a sweety!!! I hope they had as much fun as we did! We'll have to do that again some time.... (And now that you've read this WHOLE post, you're probably dizzy! If you come, too, we'll have even MORE fun! :).

Milestones

(This post was started a week ago.... so all the milestones are from two weeks ago. I'll add more when I can :).

So many milestones have happened this week, I thought I should blog about them.

Holding his own bottle
Earlier in the week, Connor's teacher (Ms Tanya) and I decided we should start forcing him to hold his own bottle. He's known how for a while now (since he was 2-3 months old), but definitely prefers the "full service" mode. He's not too happy about this either. As soon as I put the bottle in arms' reach, you can see his instinct kick in to grab the bottle. Then he decides he doesn't want to, because he wants me to hold it, so he gets frustrated and yells, or even cries (fake cry!) to see if I'll give in. what a booger!
(March 21)


Holding his own sippy
Mostly he likes to bang it around (isn't EVERYTHING a hammer when you're this age?). But, he does try to sip out of it every once in a while. If I push up his arms to make the water go back, he'll get a nice refreshing drink. :)
(March 24)



eating his own food
Connor has been holding his own spoon for a while now (though I admit I feed him more than I should because I just don't like the mess!). and now he's using the pincer grasp to grab little finger foods and eat them! He doesn't like bananas (just spits them right back out with an "eeewwww" face on). But he eats alot of other stuff... :)

April 10 -- right before he threw his bowl, 1/2 full of food on the floor


--And then the bath afterwards--


School lunch
since he's eating regular foods now, we decided to start school foods, as long as it's soft and mushy. He's doing pretty well, too! which means I don't have to bring food anymore, just bottles. YAY! He's had Pizza! green beans, oranges, muffin, cheerios, yogurt, SOUP, and tons more.

First teeth
We have been brushing his gums for 6 weeks now, to get him ready. And this weekend we had two pop through! They're still growing in, but you can definitely see them (and feel them!) now. :)
(March 18)


April 24 (He's whining because he wants out of the jumperoo, but I want a picture of his teeth first.... if you zoom all the way in, you can see them! :)


Pulling up to stand
When my mom was here over Easter week, she started putting Connor up against things to stand. I've tried it before but he wasn't really ready until now... He liked it so much, that now he tries to pull himself up on everything, like bath tubs, crib, coffee tables, toys. Some things work better than others...

Cruising
And now that he's pulling up to stand, he's starting to dance his feet around and even take a step or two. Not really ready to walk yet, but so cute!

Random Pictures (I know some of you are addicted!)

April 10 -- Daddy changing a diaper -- yes, men change diapers, too!


April 11
Ron looks like he swallowed the canary!


still plays himself to sleep


Lovin' the cat.


Look at those beautiful, multi-colored eyes. My best guess is Hazel, but they still change everyday. I've seen blue, green, brown, even yellow.... :P


April 13
I asked Ron to take Connor downstairs early one morning when Ronna and JR were still visiting (No worries, I'll post more about that visit soon). I didn't think there was any need to wake EVERYONE at 6am. And, I had taken him down the day before, so... Ron's turn! This is what I found when I went to find them....


Random Funny sounds he makes:

growls when he dislikes something
whistles through his gums when he's happy. well, not a *strong* whistle. More like a leaky pipe or something
sings a little "oooh" when he wants to say something
laughs and giggles super hard when I eat his stomache
He's been saying "baba" when he's hungry. Or when he's bored.
and, he has said "Yum" once. :)

Double Take

No, you're not seeing doubles! Connor's cousin Caitlynn is in his crib, sharing while her family is visiting us this week! We're already having a grand time, and it's only been a day. Can't wait for tomorrow. :)

Can you guess which one is him? :) they look the same, don't they? (I know, it's a small monitor, but I couldn't very well go in and snap a photo with flash.... )

Easter Weekend

We had a great, relaxing weekend for easter. We flew my parents out so my dad could go help Ron in Washington, and my mom could babysit while I was at work. It would have been cheaper to take him to day care, but oh, well. Anyway, Suday was also general conference, so we just lazed around. so nice! Then Ron and Dad went up to Brinnon and got alot done. Towards the end of the week, they went up to Seattle to see my brother, Wendel and Ashley and their new baby Oliver. He's an adorable baby!!! :)

Pictures Taken April 4

Eat, Bathe, Poop

I think th e pictures speak for themselves.... :)

(8 months old)























I'm retroactively adding this post because I came across this really cute series of photos that I didn't get a chance to post.

Lucy Liu -- er, I mean Miss Mary

In case you were wondering, the Petlink registration does, in fact, work! I just got a call, which I *almost* didn't pick up because caller ID said it was from "Druid City A NSW". huh? Anyway, it was from pet link, saying that someone had found Lucy! They asked me if I had her, and I said, "No she was lost in Brinnon". Then they told me that a nice woman had just taken her in to Woodside Animal Hospital in Port Orchard to have her spayed where they found she had a microchip! Port Orchard is 63 miles away from Brinnon by land. But, I bet she hopped in someone's boat and went across the water. Bremerton is directly across from Brinnon, and Port Orchard is just south of there...

Anyway, Petlink called Woodside, who then called the nice lady, and we were all going back and forth on the phone. (This is one of those rare times that it would have been nice to have a "party line"....). I guess Lucy was found in Bermerton in October, 2008 by someone who couldn't keep her. They then gave Lucy to this nice lady who has had her ever since. She named Lucy "Miss Mary", so I guess that's what her name is now. The nice lady just recently brought Miss Mary in to be spayed, and the vet noticed she already had a scar. So, they checked for microchips, and found ours! We didn't have her spayed, so she was obviously someone else's pet before ours. (I looked for 2 months and didn't find an owner). When they asked if we would like to be reunited with Lucy-Mary, all I could think was "we're going to be a FOUR cat family! YIKES!". I then asked if the nice lady would like to adopt her, because we would be OK with that. And, yes, indeed, the nice lady would like to, very much! So now she just has to send me her info and I will update pet link with HER info, so Lucy will have a permanent home.

So glad to have a happy ending! (and it looks like all the previous "sightings" were false alarms! :). In any case, it's nice to have closure!

We're in trouble!

So, when I picked Connor up yesterday from baby school, his teacher had a "funny" anecdote about Connor. Apparently there is a new girl in his class, a few months younger, named Ella. And, Apparently, she is very pretty! At least to Connor, because as soon as he saw her across the room, he got very excited and made a V-Line towards her (army-crawl style). He even climed over the teacher sitting on the floor to get there! Later as they were both sitting there playing, he would giggle at every coo or grunt she made... He is very smitten! and such a flirt!! It's so funny to see him interact with girls in such a different way than he interacts with boys -- every time!! How does he know the difference??? that's what I want to know. You think I'm seeing things skewed based on my own interpretation? No, because I have tested my theory on many occasions. He really interacts with girls differently, much more flirty! It happened at the home show we went to (even though she was obviously 2 years older), at church, at the grocery store, or anywhere he sees another girl. Even with adults sometimes. We are definitely in trouble.... So cute, though. My little man!

I found this ticker on babygaga and really like it. :) I also put it on my blog header and it will update real-time to show you how old Connor is. :)


Also, yesterday was April Fool's day so I decided to play a prank on Ron. He is always pranking his engineers at work on April Fool's, thinking it is so funny. So, I waited until the evening after he got home when he was good and tired and wouldn't catch on. And I told him, "I need to tell you something." "You're pregnant! haha" (pause) "Yes." "What? I was kidding." "Well, the pee-stick came back positive". "You're kidding!" "No, not kidding. Are you excited?" "What? You're joking!" "No, Ron, why would I joke about something like that?" "Really? Are you serious?" "Yes. Are you happy about it?" "Are you serious? Really?" "Yes." "Really?" "Yes. Are you excited?" "Are you kidding?" etc. etc. After 10 minutes of this banter, I thought the poor boy was going to explode, so I decided to let him off the hook. "Why would I kid about something like this? ..... Unless it was April Fool's..." HAHAHAHA "Oh, man! I can't believe you would do that to me! Why would you do that? I can't believe it" and on and on it went for the next 30 minutes. I think he was really surprised. twice. I'm still giggling about it. :) hehe