Walking at Manito Park

Today we went for a walk at Manito park. This is an amazing park on the South Hill in Spokane. It has a perennial garden, a rose garden, a japanese garden, and this garden. It's called the Sunken Garden. The local gardening club and the parks department keep this garden beautiful. They change the color scheme each year. My picture came out pretty good, but this doesn't do it justice. The colors are so vibrant. There is a fountain in the middle that was a gift from Mrs Davenport to the parks department in honor of her husband Louis, who built the Davenport Hotel.

This is us getting ready for the walk. Charlie wouldn't look at my camera since Jeannette was gone, she came back right then, but he still wouldn't oblige. Annie is hidden in the back of the stroller. Caden was hungry, so this is what we look like.

At the end of the walk, we always stop at the playground. Caden & Charlie even rode the seahorse together.

When we put Annie on the seahorse with Charlie, Caden was standing there looking at Annie too. While I was trying to take the picture, Caden charged me. :)

Birthday party in the park!

Caden & I went to a birthday party for one of my work friend's little girl. She turned 1. It was kind of funny since Caden was the oldest little one at the party. He was very nice to the other kids. He played ball with them, and showed them how to dance.
Everyone was very impressed with his throwing ability. I guess the little guy has some skills.
There was only one baby swing, and it was occupied, so I put Caden on my lap on the big swing. this lasted for about a minute and then he didn't want to be on my lap. see below.

After that we hit the slide and had some cake. Then we went home. Caden got so dirty at the park where the birthday was. He even slipped in the muddy grass and landed on his head, leaving a big muddy print on his forehead. What a tough guy!

Our Little Fireman

The other day I was on the phone talking to my parents. I heard in the background -"go show mom" which usually means Justin has dressed Caden up in something or spiked his hair up. Sure enough, in walks this little fireman. It's a little dress up outfit, actually too big for him, but pretty cute.

I woke up to Caden staring at me!

This morning, I was woken up by a feeling that something was near me. It turns out Caden was standing by our bed looking at me and rubbing my arm very lightly. It was almost like he was sleep walking. He had his little pacifier right in my face. Kind of wierd to wake up to that, but it was better than the other option - screaming and pounding on his door, which is how he usually wakes up.

We decided to open Caden's door a crack when we go to sleep so if he wakes up, he can just go find us, instead of scream.

I am not sold on this plan, but we will see what happens. We shut all the other doors in the house so he can't get in to trouble with the toilet or the stairs.

Yesterday since it rained for the entire day, we got out some rainy day toys. Caden loved the fisher price zoo, which was Justin's from when he was little. We also got out both sets of legos and built stuff. This was actually me and Justin building things, while Caden ran the demolition part of the afternoon.

Can't imagine how we will keep ourselves busy when we can't go outside in the snow!

Go Cougs!

We watched the cougar game last night. They won! Yeah! We played a little football in the house with Caden. He has a soft football so it didn't hurt anything.
Caden loves to brush his teeth. He has a killer whale tooth brush (thanks Nonnie) that he loves! We have to hold him down to really brush his teeth, but he likes to suck the toothpaste and the water.
You can't tell from the picture, but when Caden gets dressed in the morning, he needs to be ready to go at all times. After he has his shirt and pants on, he finds his shoes and say "shoosh mommy." So we put on socks and shoes to wear around the house. Luckily, my sister had an extra pair of the soft shoes like Robeez so he can wear those.

We have been reading lots of books these days courtesy of the Spokane Library. We also have been watching some videos and dvd's. I don't know why it took me so long to hit up the library. We go on Mondays since they are open until 8pm. It's kind of a mad dash through the library. I grab 2 books for me, and then we get a basket for Caden. I try to get 10 books and 2 movies. While we are putting books in the bin, Caden usually pulls books off the shelf. He moves fast, so I usually catch him after he has pulled one out.

We also have been going on walks and playing at the playground at the school by our house. He really likes the slides. The school by my sister's house has swings, so we went to that playground on Thursday. It was a big hit, but we had to walk home in the dark.... That was not great.

What's new on Olympic?

Caden is all about the terrible two's. He is frustrated at us a lot, and we can't figure out what he needs. What we do know is that he doesn't like to eat anything, other than yogurt, chicken nuggets and macaroni & chesse. Oh yeah, he likes fruit and milk too. Whenever he is thirsty he says milk. Which I know we shouldn't discourage, but he likes to walk around with his milk cup. It spills and he also pours it out. So, sometimes I give him water too. Less mess. We went to the fair last week, but didn't take many pictures. We should have taken them of him looking at the animals... but didn't. We did stop at the Sheriff's booth and got Caden a sticker. They had a pretend jail, but Caden didn't like it. This is Caden eating yogurt. That's right, he really likes the blue yogurt! Our table cloths are getting colored with yogurt. Let's hope spray & wash is working it's magic. We are having a hard time with tablecloths, when Caden is mad, he pulls the tablecloth towards him and everything hits the ground. He also will not eat unless he is buckled into his booster seat. I am glad that he is concerned with safety, but it can make you crazy.

We had to take his clothes off for the yogurt adventure. So he is eating in his diaper. It's fun being 1 1/2.

Weekend Update

I will steal the title from Saturday Night Live, but don't claim to be that funny. This weekend we just laid low and enjoyed our house and neighborhood. On Saturday morning, Caden was so excited to see me. We watched baby einstein and barney to start off our morning. Later we went to Mobius which is the science center for kids here in Spokane. It's a small place right now, but they are expanding and building a new building. It's nothing like the Pacific Science center, but they had some fun exhibits. Caden spent a lot of time putting foam blocks into a large air hose. Hard to explain, but it was very entertaining. there were quite a few kids there, so it was hard to keep things under control. On Saturday night, our neighbors invited us over for some football and a barbecue. We watched the Ohio State USC game. Caden kept everyone entertained.

Today Caden & I went on a 2 mile walk with my sister and her two little ones. We ended the walk with playing in the splash pad. Caden just ran around it in his swim diaper, which looked like a little speedo (the old style, not full body suit style).

I think that is all the updates for now.

Halloween preview!

We have been trying to get Caden to put on this costume for a while. We finally did it. He doesn't like the hood feature. If we can get him to keep it on, he will be a dog for halloween. If not, we will be looking for other options. My sister has a costume collection, so I am sure we will be shopping at her house. I heard from one of our friend's in Arizona, they put their house on the market and it sold the next day. They are reaping the benefits of the first time home buyer program that expires October 1. Good luck on the move and Congrats to you!

I am headed to Hartford CT in the morning. This is the quickest trip of a lifetime. I am literally in Hartford for 24 hours. It's another sister city, so we are touring around. If I had more time, I would head over to Rhode Island and visit the in-laws. I hope that next time I will have more time.

I may put up some posts from the road. I am flying Northwest this time and bringing my own pillow. I hope for a smooth day of flying. Speaking of which, I will be flying on Sept 11. Just to put in perspective what I was doing on that fateful day... Living in Newport Beach California, working at the Hyatt. I didn't find out about all of the events until I went to work. What a shocking day that was. It was definitely a day that changed many lives, including my own.

Life at the Library

Last night after dinner, Caden & I went to the library. I got myself an official library card. It turns out you can check out 40 books at a time! We checked out 7 books & a movie for Caden and 2 books for me. We are way under the limit, but plan to stay that way.

I had a good laugh when we went to find Caden some books. He found one and went to a couch to sit and read it. Then he pointed to the seat next to him and said mom. I guess he wanted me to read him that book right now.

As for books I want to read, I will have to go back without Caden so I can look them up. He tends to run wild and pull the books off the shelves.

All in all, it was a good adventure. Some of you may wonder how I have time to read.... I am taking the bus, so I am reading about a book a week. It's a great way to relax on my way to and from work. And it saves gas!

More fun on Orcas

The Doe Bay Water Association had it's annual meeting while we were there. My mom lured us there with Donuts and coffee. Sounds good to me. Caden got to meet the neighbors that haven't seen him on past visits because it was too crazy. Caden made it through one minute of the meeting. I took him outside and we picked blackberries and watched the bikers for a triathlon go by. Caden waived and said hi to almost all of them. The Triathlon was actually in memory of a kayaker that died. Oddly enough, that Kayaker had my dad's phone number before they moved to Orcas. It really is a small world on Orcas.

Anyways, the water meeting was at the Fire station, so Caden got to climb on the fire truck. He got to pretend to shoot the water canon.

These deer were in the yard next door to the fire station. The neighbor was actually throwing food out to them.
That night, we went to a concert in the park. Caden was pretty entertaining, he played with these two little girls for a while.
He also found the wipes in the diaper bag. He put one on his head and walked around for a while. He kept us all laughing.

A quick trip to Orcas

Last weekend for Labor day we headed to Orcas to hang out with my family and escape Spokane. We had a blast. Justin & my dad went Salmon fishing. They didn't catch any salmon, but at least they tried. While they fished, my mom, Caden & I went to the beach. Caden really liked to throw the rocks. I showed him how to throw the big ones in for a splash.

We also sat in the grass by cabins. Two of the girls from another cabin that were there, around 9 years old, showed Caden how to do a summer sault. That was fun to watch. He is now doing them at home too. Caden also had fun playing with Quincy.
This picture had to be part of the post for many reasons. My mom has a box of Tinker toys, Lincoln Logs and assorted other wooden toys that she has saved forever. They were actually my uncle's when he was little, so lets say they are around 65 years old. They were a hit. My dad, Justin and Caden built lots of things during the weekend with them.

Also I just noticed that my dad's getting a little thin on top. At least he's got a round head. I can remember that my Grandpa Alfred had a round head like that. Sorry Pete, It looks like this could be your future.

Famous Caden

My dad let me know that Caden is a celebrity. He is on the Orcas fire website: here it is.

You may rercognize the pictures. I am the celebrity photographer. :)

Swimming at Pete's

Caden loved Pete's pool! We went to Pasco to Pete & Vanessa's house for a last hurrah of summer. It was so fun. Caden actually loved the slide more than the pool. Every chance he got, he wanted to go down the slide. Justin obligued many times. Literally Justin would catch his breath, Caden would start up the ladder and then Justin would take him down the slide. I did it once and that wore me out, plus it's really high. So it was up to Justin to keep Caden going.


We all slept good that night and had a fun day with Pete & Vanessa! Thanks for having us over!

**** I created a few posts on Monday, but was saving them to publish throughout the week so you could see something new each day. It doesn't change the day though, so my plan was foiled. I don't like my sister to make fun of my massive posts on one day, and then a drought for a few days.

Daycare performance!

Last weekend Caden had his daycare performance. Here are some pictures from that. His class was the Busy Bees. They sang (actually the teachers sang) "I'm bringing home my baby bumble bee." He did the hand motions. This is Caden with one of his Daycare friends Michael. They are about a month apart and so cute together.

Before the performance, we also went to Riverfront park. This is Caden & Justin with the trash eating goat.

Cooling off in the backyard

About 3 weeks ago we bought a sprinkler on clearance. It was $5 and it was about 100 degrees outside. The best way to describe the sprinkler is that it's like a noodle with lots of noodles attached. It does a good job of spraying all over and really cooled us down. Caden & I ran through the sprinkler for about 30 minutes. I also set up his slide to land in the pool. He really liked this too.
This picture is a bit blurry, but that night we had a really neat sunset. Justin went up on the roof to get some pictures for us.
Caden had his hair shaped into a mohawk after his bath one night and it stayed. So we got him dressed up for daycare in a cute outfit, and he had a mohawk. Kind of a world of opposites for him. This is his new way of smiling. It's pretty obnoxious, but it is so funny when he does it!

Catching up on pictures

Well, Caden is definitely growing up. He moved out of the high chair and into the booster seat. This is him showing how he can eat a good dinner. This is not always the case as he tends to feed the dogs what he doesn't want or throws it around. We are working on manners too. This is from when we went to the splash pad with Charlie. Caden was checking out this tube that sprays water.
This is him slip & sliding at the Rings house. He had a lot of fun on that.
This is the Rings (Matt & Jeannette) and the Andas (Vanessa & Pete) just before they went to the wedding of Matt's cousin, who is also a friend of Pete & Vanessa's. Justin and I babysat Annie & Charlie. It turns out Annie does not like the bottle. We found that out the hard way.
This is Charlie and Caden sharing the toys. Right after this we went in the pool outside and the boys went naked swimming. No pictures of that. The funniest thing was Caden peed in the pool, then Charlie did too. Charlie announced that Caden peed in pool. We all had a good laugh about it. Then Justin cleaned the pool and I gave them a bath. Charlie actually wanted to take a bath in the pool. I convinced him it would be too cold when it was time to rinse.

My nerdy pictures

I only took a few pictures on my trip to Madison & Chicago. They are below: Flying through the clouds - from the plane.
My room at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. I thought the bed and headboard with nightstand's attached looked cool. The suede bolster was annoying. (as if the interior decorator cares what I think...)
This is the plane. There was pretty much no one on the plane, which I thought was weird since the airlines are supposedly maximizing flights.