November 2012

November was a busy month for travel!  Rob arrived from Namibia right before Halloween and just got time to settle in before Kathryn and her parents left for Brooklyn.  Meredith married her partner, Jordan, and Rob was left behind in Idaho with the kids for a few days.  When Kathryn returned to Idaho, she did laundry and packed for the family trip to Seattle to see Grandma and Grandpa Weber.  From there we drove on to Portland to see Cho, Amy, and cousins.  

 

Fast food is still a bit of a novelty after being in Namibia.  Ryan loved his Burger King crown and the Mario moustache "prize" from his meal.

Justin finally found a tree that he could climb.  Grandma and Papa have a lot of trees, they are just primariliy really tall pine trees.  The cherry tree is a cinch to get up and down.  The boys thought climbing was more fun than raking.  Who can blame them?

Yep, we ate out again.  Ryan wrote IHOP on the back of the kids menu.  IHOP is a favorite with the boys.

We stayed near the Space Needle in Seattle.  The boys liked riding the monorail.  The driver let them sound the horn before we left.  They thought that was cool.  Grandma Weber joined us in Seattle and then we drove out to their house in Port Hadlock, WA.  The boys enjoyed the ferry.

The dinosaur exhibit at the Pacific Science Center was one of many cool exhibits.  We spent many hours at the museum and the boys would probably move in if they had the opportunity.

Seattle Aquarium is not really worth the visit in my opinion.  Perhaps we have been to too many really good aquariums.  The boys loved playing with the aquatic themed flannel board more than checking out the exhibits.  There were a few interesting things though.

I thought that the boys would enjoy seeing the diver cleaning the giant tank in the aquarium.  They wanted to move through at a rather fast pace.  A bit surprising since aquariums are generally popular with them.

Justin enjoyed the window seat Grandma and Grandpa Weber have in their living room.  It would be fun to have a little reading and writing nook for him to settle in.

In Oregon the boys enjoyed playing Pokemon with their cousins.  They really enjoyed just about everything as long as they could be with their cousins.  I wish we lived a little bit closer.

Cho and Soup at the OMSI.  Science can be a hair raising experience.  We go to the OMSI almost every time we go to Portland. 

Krispy Kreme is always an important stop when we visit cousins in Portland.

My kids don't like pizza, but they love Out of This World Pizza, which they call Pizza Planet.  It has so much for them to do and the pizza is decent which is nice for the adults. :)

Back in Coeur d Alene I took the boys out for an eagle watching picnic.  We saw a few eagles and had a great time despite the cold weather. 

October 2012

Rob arriving from Namibia was the highlight of the month.  The boys were thrilled that he got here right before Halloween so he could see them in their costumes and go trick or treating with them.

The end of soccer for both boys.  Here is Ryan playing one of the warm up games with his teammates.



Raking up the pine needles!  The leaves came later.

Bags and bags of pine needles!

The boys needed winter hats so I let them choose out their favorites.  Angry Birds was the winner hands down.

This was Justin's favorite part of the Mobius Children's Museum.  He loved to move the panels to different positions to divert the water and move the boats.

 

The boys had fun creating flying toys and out of control bubbles over a sideways fan.



Playing in box fort complete with garage for the trucks.

Still warm enough to play baseball.  Good pitch, Justin.

We read The Button Box and then sorted some of my Grandmother's old buttons.  We even found a Mr. President button like in the book.



Climbing all over Dad.  The boys were so excited when he arrived from Namibia.



I love the ghosts the boys made out of paper plates and tissue paper.

We played the game "Don't Eat Pete" and it was a winner!  Have one person walk out of the room.  Place one piece of candy on each character and choose one to be Pete.  The person walks back into the room and begins to eat one candy at a time.  If he tries to take the candy off of Pete, all of the players say, "don't eat Pete!" and that person's turn ends and another person is chosen to leave the room.

On the tractor ride to find the perfect pumpkin.  It was the windiest day we had experienced all month.

I think we walked up and down a million times before we found the pumpkin that was just right for each boy.



Our jack o'lanterns and painted pumpkins BEFORE the deer came and had them for a snack.

Justin made some Halloween themed pictures.





The boys had fun making a polka dot pumpkin with the drill.  Papa helped supervise.





I thought these skeletons were cute.  We made a simplied version of a design I found online.

Riding around as a police officer at the children's museum.

TP mummies. 



BIG leaf






Ready for trick or treating!  The boys got quite a haul.




Kitty game.  Ryan is the owner, Justin is the pet cat.  Ryan set up paddle balls, jump ropes, and a few other things for Justin to bat at with his claws.

 

Painting little birdhouses.

September 2012

The big news for September?  Justin started kindergarten!  It is only a half day program here in Idaho so we still get plenty of time with him at home.  Ryan misses him, but the mornings go by pretty quickly.  Here he is on the first day of school.

Ryan does enjoy some alone time with Mommy.  Here he is riding around the block while I run beside him.  There are quite a few ups and downs that I don't really notice when I walk.  Somehow they are much more noticeable when I am pulling him along or slowing him down.

The boys both got the chance to play soccer.  Ryan did pretty well.  Unfortunately, when other kids would start to have separation anxiety he would join in.

Justin with the ball!  He has two practices a week plus games.  It gets old fast for me, but hey.

This playground is quite close to my parents' house.  Ryan and I spent an entire morning here while Justin was in school one morning.  Ryan loved it, but of course Justin was jealous when he found out.  We even got to see fire fighters practicing with their hoses.  One came over and gave us some stickers.

Of course why play on the playground when you can walk on rocks?  My boys can always find something to do.

I said it was too cold to go swimming, but that doesn't stop us from getting wet.

The boys take a rest at a table along the world's longest boardwalk.

Ryan was "helping" my mom to clean things.  He decided that his job involved filling up things with water and pouring the water somewhere else.  Many containers were filled, including his shoes.  It is amazing how much fun kids can have with water.

Justin got to help my dad stain the ladder.  He had so much fun with the project.  The quality of his work was questionable, but his method was quite entertaining.  I don't know if anyone has ever danced around so much painting a ladder.

The marbles were left out on the floor and Justin couldn't resist sorting them.  Ice cube trays are so much for for a lot of different things.

Leaves colored Fall colors and sequenced from largest to smallest.  Ryan's cutting isn't exactly on the lines yet, but that's okay.

The boys had so much fun this month with Tinkertoys.  They even enjoyed playing bird family with the big red plastic part stuck on a stick making up a bird.  There were various family members, but usually a Little Sis.  They boys made all sorts of swings, beds, forts, boats, and more for Little Sis.

August 2012

     Here is what I just found (Oct 7) as my August draft.  I guess I will just post about the pics I have here rather than get further behind assuming I will catch up sometime.

     We arrived in Idaho the first of the month and enjoyed a lot of time just hanging out, watching TV, and enjoying the summer with Grandma and Papa. :)

 

Liquid watercolors on paper and large coffee filter.  The boys had a lot of fun.  They especially enjoyed having glitter in it.

We went to pick peaches at an orchard in Washington.  The peaches were absolutely delicious!  I couldn't believe how many the boys would try to eat.  Mean ole Mom limited them somewhat.

Cousins came to visit from Oregon!  That was the highlight of the month.  Here are Soup and Ryan on a swing at Fernan Elementary School on the playground.

The kids had a blast at the beach.  They swam, they ate, they played in the sand, they splashed...  Here Ryan is looking a bit like a beached whale up on his float while Justin works in the sand.

July 2012 Last Month in Namibia

Our last month in Namibia was one of preparing for the move and enjoying some of our favorite activities for the last times.

Of course Ryan decides to really focus on swimming lessons right before it is time to leave.  He came a long way over the course of his instruction, thanks to the fabulous instructor, Estelle.

He could even jump from the starting block into the deep end.

Our last time at the pool Justin and Ryan spent some time just playing and racing each other.

It was hard to say good-bye to the animals at the petting zoo.  We have many fond memories of the time we spent there over the years.

We will even miss the rascal goats.

Last play date with our friends in Namibia.

For our last play date we had games, special snacks, and even presents.  We were very fortunate to have a nice group to get together with.  I know we will miss the children and their moms!