Thursday, August 18, 2011

Summer catch up

Has it seriously been a month and a half since I last updated this blog?  Wow!  I guess we've been busy having fun this summer.  So I'll just do a quick catch-up.  That means lots of pics--aren't you lucky!

I started taking swim lessons this summer with my two best buds. 


 I'm on my third session now and I'm doing way better. At the start of the summer I hated getting my head all the way in the water and now I'll do a full dunk on command (most times, anyway).  See how scared I look in the water as I cling to my teacher's hands for dear life?  Now I can totally float on my back with my arms stretched all the way out to the side.


I've still been playing Legos with Dad.  The mailman keeps bringing me news ones now and then.

And Baby Sister keeps eating them.
We went to Seahurst Beach to play in the super low tide. 
Luckily the cub scouts were there at the same time so I got to play in the water with some of the leaders while Mom kept Syd on dry ground. (Although, Mom probably wouldn't have gone into the water even if she wasn't carrying Baby Sis. So thank goodness for Sis. Redford and Sis. McClung!)

We didn't see a whole lot, but Sis. Redford did find this HUGE snail.
And afterward we got to play in a little stream.  I was pretending to surf.

I also took up a new hobby--coloring.  It is so much fun!  Mom got me a Megamind coloring book and a Clone Wars coloring book.  I could sit for an hour just coloring.  And I'm getting so good at staying inside the lines!  (Except when I decide to color on the carpet--then Mom takes my crayons away.)
And while I've been coloring, Sydney keeps trying to eat everything in sight.
We went to Renton River Days and got to play on some bouncy houses and play games.  But it was really cool when I got to help spray this fire hose.
We also saw the Rento River Days parade. 


Sometimes it got a little loud for Baby Sis and she had to cover her ears.
Aunt Kari came for a visit.  We picked raspberries at Remlinger Farms.

And then we went on some rides.  I love roller coasters! (Can you see us in the very last car?  Aunt Kari is raising her arms in the air.)
The train is really fun too.



On the way home from Remlinger, we stopped to get some super delicious Krispy Kreme donuts.  The worker even gave me a special hat.
Aunt Kari played baseball with me in the backyard.
I learned to hit the ball really hard and really far.  Aunt Kari got a lot of exercise playing baseball.
She also let me fly like an airplane on her legs.
Grandma and Grandpa de Jong came to visit next.  It's a good thing Mom took about 40 pictures of Sydney and I with Gma and Gpa on this couch because only about five looked good with all of us smiling.
While Gma and Gpa were here, I got to go miniature golfing for the first time.  It was so fun.  You hit the golf ball and then pick it up from where ever it stops and then put it near the hole so you can hit it in.
Some of the holes were tricky but I discovered a secret.  It's much easier to get the ball up the ramp if you walk right up to the ramp and toss the ball up it.
The other cool thing is that I'm as tall as all of the houses on the golf course!
The week after Gma and Gpa came, we went to see a giant troll in Seattle!
And the troll caught me in his fingers!  Luckily I'm fast and got away pretty easily.
After the troll we went to play at Gasworks Park with some friends and ate lunch with this cool view of Seattle.

I recently discovered that it's much more fun to pose for pictures when you're doing cool things.  So you'll be seeing a lot of this in the future:
Now you're all caught up on what we've been doing this summer.  Last weekend we went camping, but that will have to be another post because Mom hasn't downloaded the pictures yet.  I'll be sure to get on her about that.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Duck Park

The ducks at this park aren't afraid of anything!  They were clear on the other side of the pond and when they saw us coming, they immediately swam right over.  How did they know we had bread to give them?



Dad was really picky about how I fed the ducks.  I was supposed to give them small pieces.  But I thought they would like bigger pieces.  So Dad was in charge of giving me the "right" sized pieces that I could throw to the ducks.


It ended up working because the ducks came and took the bread right out of my hand!


Of course, I got a little too excited about throwing the bread...


and ended up stepping into the water.  Can you see my wet pant leg?


The ducks liked the bread Mom gave them too.


After we ran out of bread, we played at the park for a while.


Dad is really good on the teeter totter.  He actually bounced me off my seat!


And he wasn't even holding on!

I got to help Sydney go down a real slide for the first time.  I think she liked it, but she was pretending she didn't care.

Then she tried it all by herself...almost.  Mom actually held onto her all the way down. 




Someday she'll be a big girl and will do it all by herself like me!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Happy Birthday, Cooper!

This is Cooper's flower.  Isn't it soooo beautiful?  These were blooming when Cooper was born, so I call them Cooper's flower.  This one was the first to bloom in our yard and it got so huge.  It bloomed over two weeks before Cooper's birthday and stayed pretty right up until his special day.  I think it really wanted to be put on his grave.


And here it is:



We did all of the usual stuff for Cooper's third birthday.  Crazy dances:



Played hide and seek (bet you can't spot me):



Ate yummy cupcakes:

Mom made these amazing Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.
 I had to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't eat them all before we left.

And of course we took lots of pictures:






Mom and Dad even let me hold the really heavy camera and take a picture of them:



We were lucky that the weather was nice for us while we were there so we were able to stay for a long time.  It only sprinkled on us for about 30 seconds and the sun even peeked out a few times.

Cooper would have been three years old. I had a Toy Story birthday when I turned three. I think Cooper would have had a Cars birthday party since Cars 2 just came out. I really liked Cars and I bet he would too. And since he'd be three, he'd probably start preschool in the fall and I bet he would love it like I do. I'm taking swim lessons right now (and I love them) and I bet Cooper would take them too. It would be fun to swim together.  He's my favorite brother that I like to visit and play with. We love each other and our best family. There are five people in my family: my Mom, my Dad, me, my brother Cooper, and baby. My brother Cooper is in heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. I wish he could come down and play Star Wars with me. I love my brother.

Happy birthday, Cooper! We miss you!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Family Pictures

Apparently there's a very good reason my family only has professional pictures taken every couple of years--they really stress my Mommy out.

Everyone was so worried about me ruining the photo shoot if I missed a nap that they forgot to worry about what big brother would do if he did take a nap. Ty is not a happy camper if you wake him up early from one of his random naps. And that's exactly what happened.

We drove all the way out to Maple Valley to take pictures at Lake Wilderness on Saturday only to find out that Maple Valley Days were going on at that very spot. And, of course, Ty fell asleep on the way out there. Luckily our fantastic photographer was very flexible and drove all the way back to Renton with us and took some great shots at a park near the Cedar River Trail.

Unfortunately, we had to wake Ty up before he got a good two hour nap in so he was not exactly a team player. In fact, he didn't even get the Star Wars Lego figures Mommy and Daddy promised him if he was good. Because he was sooo not good. Ha! Maybe that'll teach him. I hope everyone remembers that I was a perfect angel.

So even though Ty did his best to ruin every shot--including pulling his shirt up and sticking out his tongue--our photographer still managed to get some cute shots. You can check a few of them out here.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Arboretum

Memorial Day weekend here wasn't exactly the kickoff to summer that we had hoped for. It was pretty overcast and chilly all weekend, but we were still able to get in some time outside. On Monday we made a trip to the Arboretum in Seattle. It was very cool with tons of space to run and jump and lots of pretty flowers to see. Of course, I wasn't all that excited to smile for pictures and Sydney rarely looked at the camera (this has Mom a little worried about how our family pictures will go in a couple of weeks). Believe it or not, this is a rhododendron I'm sitting on. It was huge!


Oh, look, a rare cooperative smile.



It sure is fun to blow on dandelions.



As long as you don't get any of the white stuff in your mouth.


Look at the size of the leaves behind me and mom.


Giant leaves again. Can you see me in this picture?


Me and my sis. I love my baby sister so much. She's so cute.


I really wanted to sit in this tree. But then I refused to smile once I got up there.


Wow, look at Syd's balance!



One last picture in the giant rhody. I love being outside. I hope summer gets here soon.