Fall Days & The Great Outdoors

We were spoiled in Park City with so much nature in the near vicinity. But, we're reminded every day that Seattle is quite amazing as well. Here are a few photos of us out and about in the neighborhood, and right in our own back yard (literally).

Isaac and Dad Hiking at Carkeek Park

 Isaac Picking Apples in Our Backyard

Isaac with Lodi at Carkeek Park

Photos of Our House

Fall is Here!

Saturday Morning Date with Mom

Hey, that's us! Isaac (tot) & Christina (Mom)

Eric (Dad) was on a business trip for a couple of days last week. Come Saturday morning, we were getting a mild case of cabin fever, so we went on an early morning Saturday date.  Stop one: Patty's Egg Nest for breakfast.  Patty's is normally a very busy restaurant, but at 7am we were one of only10 other patrons, and the youngest guests by about 70 years!  Isaac enjoyed his "one egg scrambled" and a good share of Mom's hashbrowns.  He was also very helpful, letting me know that the coffee pots were "HOT":

We were in and out of the restaurant in 20 minutes. Just about the time that Isaac started wiggling in his high chair, and just enough time for me to enjoy my meal and to suck down two cups of coffee.

Next Stop: Carkeek Park.
It, too, was pretty empty at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.  Isaac had the play ground to himself. His first task: putting sawdust down the holes on the jungle gym:

Busy at work

"Where did it go? How do i get more?"

"Ah ha! Here we go"

"Do I eat this?"

"Oh, right! Back to putting it down the holes..."

Then, we walked down to the swing set.  In the past he hasn't liked the swing, but he was pointing to it, so i put him in and gave him a push.  Well folks, he loved it!  He was ready for his swing photo shoot:

This kid is gonna break some hearts!

We also went down to the beach for a little beach-combing:

searching for the biggest rocks...

All in all it was a great morning!  And we were even more happy that Dad was home later that afternoon.

Nothing like a little Dude time, reading together on the couch:

will Isaac get smarter just holding this book?

Dog Whisperer (& Other Random Photos)

Isaac thinks Lodi (our doberman) is his best bud, and that he's completely in charge of him.  Example #1:  It's not unusual for Isaac to crawl into Lodi's crate with him first thing in the morning.  Lodi's not too sure about this, but at least he puts up with it....

Isaac looks proud; Lodi looks pretty defeated ....

Example #2:  Isaac also likes to "walk" the dog.  Here he is after a jog with mom, ready for his turn with the leash:

"my doggy"

Snuggles (he often does this when we say gentle... ie after he's been banging on the dog)

"Now let's get going!  Hi-Ya!"  this one cracks me up!

On a different note, we've been enjoying the June sun (when it decides to peak around the Seattle clouds).

Here is Isaac (in action!) at our neighborhood park - Carkeek Park

"ooh.... rocks"

And playing in his new pool in our backyard -- he loves it!!

Impromptu Swim at Carkeek Beach

A little wet after a few 'dips' in the ocean.  I never would have guessed the water would be so warm, so we didn't have any 'swimming' gear with us. Oh well!  Swimming in his clothes, it is! And don't worry, I was SO that Mom that was applying sunscreen every 2 minutes.

 

checking everything out at first....

Playing with other kids

Play area at Carkeek

Lovin this weather!

Do we live in a gorgeous place, or what?!

Back at home... rinsing off all the sand.  He was in baby heaven: naked AND a hose!

I say this all the time, but every time we visit Carkeek park I am amazed by the beauty of where we live.  We're so lucky to have this park (practically) in our backyard!

When nothing seems to go as planned...

We had one of those weekends when nothing seems to go as planned:

Case #1: Eric's Dad was supposed to visit Saturday night as his first stop on his Harley road trip. He was going to watch Isaac while we went to the Sounders game Saturday night. But due to a weird string of events leading to a motorcycle breakdown, he postponed his visit. We were very happy that he was safe, but totally bummed out that he wasn't going to visit.  Thankfully, my parents were very flexible and came over to babysit in a pinch.  They went to dinner at Barking Dog and played at Carkeek Park.  It looks like they had a blast!

Case #2:  On Saturday it went from a beautiful, sunny, warm spring day to a torrential downpour in the evening. I promise I'm not exaggerating.  We left for the Sounders game in t-shirts and lightweight sweaters, jazzed about the highly anticipated Sounders vs Portland Timbers match. We were not at all prepared for the rain that came later, and for the first time ever we left the game early because we were soaked. We felt like poor fans, but it was ridiculously wet! Apparently we weren't the only ones who didn't check the weather report; Qwest Field was completely sold out of ponchos. Once again, my parents came to the rescue and were rock stars for coming to pick us up.

From a sunny afternoon at El Chupacabra, to the Sounders "March to the Match" (right before it got nasty out)

Lessons learned: Be flexible; family rocks; be prepared... and most importantly just go with the flow and laugh when you want to cry!

13 Months: Snapshot

Isaac is so fun(ny) right now. Here are a few of his recent developments.

His favorite word this week is "Go Go".  It can mean Go Outside. Or dog-gy. Or Crow. Or That Thing Over There. Or Grandpa.  We love hearing the language "light" start to turn on!

He loves-loves-loves the outdoors. Almost as much as he loves the hose (or the shower nozzle, or the faucet).  We try to get outside as much as possible, both in our backyard and to the parks in our neighborhood. We love watching his pure wonder and exploration.  And, it tires out this busy-body!

Isaac at Carkeek Beach near our house

No caption needed

He's started nursing in the downward facing dog position. We usually breastfeed laying down, and he now maneuvers himself into this position all on his own. Hey, if it works just go with it?

He's got a sense of humor and rhythm.  Not sure who he got the later from, but it's cute to watch him dance around.

Lastly, he's mimicking us all the time, especially with food. It's a trip to see the brain develop! 

We're loving this adventure.

Carkeek Park

Inspired by Kelly, Chris & Myrna, who play outside in any weather in Sweden, we decided to brave the sunny but cold weather this morning and go to Carkeek Park. It was too windy and cold for the beach, but they have a great kid's play area.  I thought little dude would love the swing... instead he was pretty ho-hum about it.  But he did like going down the slide with me, and riding Dad's shoulders around the park. There were a lot of other kids and families there too. I'm sure we'll have many more memories at the park over the next few months and years!

"The view is great from up here, Dad!"

"Let's do this, Mom"

weeeee?

More Professional Photos

I'm so glad we had Cleotography take family pictures last month! We received the full set of photos last week and I've upload some new ones to our picassa page (click here).  I'm probably spoiling our holiday card, but I couldn't resist! These were too great not to post to the blog.This is my absolute favorite photo of Isaac to date:

 Mom & Son:

 Isaac and his doggy:

Pondering Life

Dad & Son:

Photos by Cleotography