Archive for October, 2008

Early Treats and Pee on the Potty

Monday, October 27th, 2008

On Saturday, the West Seattle Junction businesses hand out candy for a few hours.  So every year we get the boys together for some photos and a round of trick or treating.  Zach is a little speedster so we end up getting separated from the group pretty quickly, but we made it to all of the businesses and both boys were good during the walk.  Here is a quick shot of Nate and Zach.

Nate had taken about a 40 minute nap before this…He was really tired.  In fact, when we got home, he slept for another 3 hours – very unlike him.

On Saturday morning and Sunday morning, we worked with Zach on peeing in the potty.  He went through 3 pairs of pants/underwear on Saturday, lots of time on the potty, but no success.  On Sunday, we skipped the pants/underwear and let him go naked.  HE FINALLY DID IT!!!  He peed in the potty.  This was his first time ever.  Later he wet himself and peed on the floor…but, no matter, we’ve made progress.  Daycare is working with him as well so we’ll just continue the training next weekend during the day.

Yesterday I got out for a few hours to go on a hike.  I went up to Twin Falls State Park outside of North Bend.  The trail runs along the south fork of the Snoqualmie River.  I took some shots along the way.

Large waterfall.

View through the trees of the river.

View of the upper falls.

Looking for Brad Pitt.

It was nice to get out on a trail for a few hours – can’t wait to take the boys.  Actually, lots of people were taking their toddlers and infants on this trail.  I think Zach would tire out – we probably need to do some practice runs on the trail along the Cedar River.

Pumpkin Patch

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

Yesterday we made our annual PEPS group migration to the Remlinger Farms pumpkin patch in Fall City.  The drive out was beautiful with the leaves changing, some broken clouds, some sun…perfect mix.

The pumpkins were all looking good this year – not many rotten pumpkins and good assortment of healthy pumpkins.  Many different sizes to choose from.  Zach found his pumpkin pretty quick – that only means we had to carry it around the rest of the time.  We also ran through the corn maze with all of the boys.

Now for the photos.

Children of the Corn (err Pumpkins – corn is behind them).

Hammin it up with his HMB pumpkin hat.

Tractor and hay bale trailer that takes you to the pumpkin patch.

Zach playing in the mud…I mean…looking for that perfect pumpkin.

Nate found his pumpkin.  Daddy said that he could have it if he could carry it back.  Nate didn’t get a pumpkin.

Morning farm shot.

After the pumpkin patch we invaded Fall City Cafe.  Props to them for quickly accommodating 9 adults, 5 toddlers, and 3 infants.

xkcd comic for me

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Yep, no longer want to be a tornado chaser…I’ll become a permafrost chaser.

Fall is Here

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

After some decent rain storms, the weather was clear (or at least not wet) and cool.  Lows in the 30s with highs in the 50s.  Grandma was in town to see her boys.  Zach was glued to her all weekend.  Nate’s nap schedule got all messed up but that just meant he fell asleep early (ie, 7:15pm) on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

Yesterday we went to Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and checked out the salmon in Issaquah Creek.  Here is a shot of some soon-to-be-dead chinook.

These fish were pretty rotten.  There were several dead salmon lying around in the creek.  I asked one of the volunteers about the type of animals that eat the rotting fish.  He said coyote, cougars, and black bears.  This is interesting since we are in the middle of Issaquah – but yes, black bears and cougars venture down to this point to get the fish.  We saw one coho (smaller and red in color).  The coho run will start any day – I guess they were delayed by a beaver damn farther down stream which the park service had to bust up.

Here are some shots of the boys.

Nate all bundled up.

Zach playing with the exhibits at the hatchery.

Jim’s chickens.  We stopped by to see the chickens, miniature horses, and sheep.

Aside from getting some yard work done, I also replaced the water in the hot tub.  It’s been exactly 6 months and the water was starting to get an odor.  BTW, the recommended time to replace the water is 3 to 6 months – so I was definitely at the long end.

Last night Steph and I went to dinner at Springhill in West Seattle.  I had the most amazing $17 burger.  Yes, $17, but it was a hand made 1/2 pound burger with fries made in beef fat oil.  Pretty amazing.

And Nate Walks…

Monday, October 6th, 2008

So he’s been getting better over the last few weeks.  This week he’s definitely made the switch to walking more over crawling.  Here are some movies of his walking over the last few weeks.