Art Cubby

Scored a cool art cubby for Tom. It is well used. I believe is is a converted wash stand. But it works great for an art cubby and since it is well used I don't have to worry about the boys beating it up. And it fits right into our kitchen area because it perfectly matches me sideboard. Tom loves his little art cubby and thinks it is really cool to have a space of his own.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dpBF9P6onvChdEXX6

Stacking Blocks

Jake figured out how to stack a bock today. I would make a tower and he would put one on top. He was very excited about it and would say I did it. Then he would knock them all down. And of course Tom thought it was pretty cool too so he did some stack block too. And then rammed his cars into the towers.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tn5WrxR9Xu1JSoJDA

Best Friends & Bullies

It is hard to think that we are already at thus point, but at the age of 3 Ton ready has his first best friend and his first bully.

Tom and his friend Mickey are inseparable. The minute they see each other they give each other a hug. One day Tom even jumped on top of him and hugged him because he was so excited. He talks about him all the time too. Every day when I pick up Tom from school I ask him what he did that day. It is always something that he has done with Mickey. There was a week where Mickey was not at school. Tom cried every single day that I dropped him off. And then I realized he was crying because Mickey wasn't there.

And as exciting as it is that Tom has a best friend it is also eye opening that he is already getting to the age where kids start bullying. His class has kids that are already 4 in it. And there is one older boy that makes fun of him in front of everyone and it seems like Tom is a little intimidated by him. I have tried talking to him a little bit about it. I don't really think he understands though. I can't believe that at 3 years old I have to explain that sometime people say mean things and we just have to try and ignore them. Thankfully he has Mickey so I don't think it is bothering him too much.

Silly Face

One of Jake's favorite passed times is still making silly faces. We found his new favorite. I shake my head back and forth and and make noises. He screams with laughter. And then asks for more by shaking his head back and forth. It is so cute.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Tq2JyWYeiwMBvpYV6

Headed Home

Eric and I are so excited to announce that we have purchased a piece of property on Vashon. We moved off the island in 2006 so the commute would be easier on Eric. We picked a centrally located place that would be good to travel anywhere. We do like the house we bought and our garden. And we have put a lot of work into it. But we miss our people and our island. We had said it was only a 10 year plan and then we would move back. And next year will be 10 years.

I had looked around a little at real estate just to get an idea of what we were looking at. Not really to say that we were ready to move. And the prices are pretty high for the kind of house we want. So I looked at some raw land and it looked like that might be a better option. And we just sort of happened across a situation where Eric's friend had a piece of property that he may want to get rid of since he was now living out of state. So we decided that now was as good a time as any and bought it.

It is 2 acres in upper Gold Beach a little bit North of the sign headed toward the golf course. We have a lot of work us. There is a mobile home that hasn't been lived in for years that needs to be torn down. And some other cleanup on the property. Then we will build a shop with an apartment while we await our Auburn house to sell so that we can build our main house. We are not too far into the planning yet. But we did just submit the closing paperwork with attorney and king county on Friday.

We are hoping before Tom goes to Kindergarten we can get back. So we have about a two years before that. We are super excited for us and the boys to get back to our community.

Strawberry Festival

We made it over to Strawberry Festival again this year. We came over late Friday night to miss all the traffic. We stayed the night at Tony and Susan's. Tom was super excited to stay the night with Lena. And Lena was super excited to see what my video baby monitor was about. She kept saying "Can you see me?" and wanting to check it move around. We got up in the morning and went to the pancake breakfast. They had the hydro there and Tom got his own little wooden hydro on a string. He got to color it and then he dragged it around all over the street. He ran up and down the road at least 50 times. Meanwhile Jake was passed out. He woke up when the parade started. Tome liked looking at everything. And of course he loved the fire truck. The boys were exhausted after that. We went to my parents house for nap time. And Lena and Taylor came over after nap time and all the kids got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa while the Mom's and Dad's got a night out on the town. For Eric and I that was the second time we got to go out in the year since Jake was born. So we had a great time.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gaNscZN9f6ioNNnbA

Pool Time

Tom likes doing stunts and tricks. He had some fun at pool time today.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jrDv4LDaDamd5JPr6

Play Time

Play time!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ynNAdXV27J2iEj27

Boomstick Bobblehead Night

Tom and I went to the Mariner's game together. It was Nelson Cruz Boomstick Bobblehead night. It was also a season ticket holder early gate opening night. I had never been to one so I wasn't sure if it was worth showing up so early but I thought it would be a good day to give it a try. The gates opened at 3:40 for a 7:10 game. We got down there about 3:00. It was so early that we didn't even have to pay for parking and we got a pretty close spot too. We only had to wait about a half hour for the gate to open which Tom did OK. We got inside and got our bobblehead and then I saw they were handing out other stuff for season ticket holders, Nelson Cruz Boomstick bats left over from that promotion,  free tote bag, scratch tickets with free concessions on them, and all concessions were also 50% off for the first hour.

We went down to the field to take a look. Batting practice wasn't even happening yet but everyone was crowded around down there. The whole team was pretty much signing autographs. I didn't even have a ball for them to sign. But I took Tom down there and he said hi to the players. Then a lady we were next to was nice enough to give Tom a ball to get signed. He was so cute, he had no idea what they were doing. I said they were writing their names on the ball. He said can you write my name on the ball. He got a Chris Taylor autograph and a Austin Jackson autograph. Then Nelson Cruz came down the line and we had him sign our boomstick bats. Then I remembered I had made a sign for him. He had already gone down the line but I held it out just in case. A Mariner's photographer was on the field and saw it and took some picture of Tom with it. He asked me if Nelson saw it yet and I said no. So on his way back through he asked Nelson to sign it so he could get a picture. So I don't know if Tom's picture is going to pop up somewhere with Nelson Cruz. But it was pretty cool.

Then we watched the pitchers warm up. We saw Felix and Rodney doing a bunch of pitcher warm ups with different sized balls right in front of us. Tom just kept watching the players the whole time. Then they started batting practice. Tom was like a magnet. We didn't catch any balls, but people just kept handing them to him. There were special stamps for giveaways on some of the balls so the players and staff were supposed to give away any ball with a stamp so they were giving almost every ball away. We weren't even asking for them they just kept walking over and giving them to him. I felt bad because there were a bunch of other kids so we kept the one with the special stamp and gave to others to other kids. We watched all of Mariner's batting practice and a little of the Angels and decided to walk around. We went and got our prize which was a Seth Smith autographed ball. Tom got so spoiled. I hope he doesn't think every Mariner's game will be like this. We walked around. I kind of just let him lead the way. We walked down to the bullpen. Then we went to the kids play area. And then we headed off to our seats.

He had a little bit harder time in the seats. I think mostly because he couldn't see the field because the people in front of him. I thought that seats closer to home plate would be fun for him. And when he sat on my lap he did get to see the game and understand it a little better. But he got very wiggley sitting on my lap and didn't want to stay there for long. So he started to get a little bored and kicking the seat in front of him which I felt really bad. I guess that is the benefit of our regular seats where there is no one in front of us. But he did have fun doing all the clapping and cheering, watching the hydros, and holding up the sign with me. He started to kind of lose it around the 5th inning. We took a walk for an inning and then tried sitting back down. But we had to leave at the 8th because he just could sit still any more. He had already been at the ball park 6 hours so I was good with leaving. And the Mariner's had already locked in for a win. Tom walked real slow to the car on the way back and crashed the minute we hit the car. He had such a great time though and was talking about all the fun all the way back to the car.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q8ryeLGwCRSGNmXJA

Jake Going to Daycare

Jake started going to daycare today. He has been so bored and angry at me for not paying attention to him that I knew it was time to start sending him there. He is only doing 2 half days. And he cried when I dropped him off. But he was all smiles when I picked him up. I am sure he will make tons of friends like Tom has in no time.