The Duck

For as long as we have lived in Seattle (one year) Sarah’s mom has been asking to go on the Duck. She has visited us 6 times since we moved here. And every visit it’s the same thing: “Can we ride the Duck?”

We’ve made excuses: it’s cold, it's raining, sorry it’s Jack’s nap time, Marty has work to do… but we couldn’t hold her off any longer. The weather was beautiful, Jack loves the water and Marty had the weekend free. Plus, Grandma outsmarted us and went to the website, booked the ride, & paid for the tickets. Look out Duck here we come…



The driver, dressed as a pirate, jumped on board the eight-wheeled craft and put on quite a show. Jack was not impressed! In fact, he was terrified! He hid his head against the seat and in the crook of Sarah’s arm until we reached the water portion of the ride. Once on the water he was too excited to be sacred.







“Jump” Marty’s nick-name for Sue, was in heaven the whole trip. Marty got the pleasure of sharing a seat with Jump. He was thoroughly embarrassed by her singing, duck quacking and genuine “Royal” merriment.





All in all we had a great time. The water portion of the trip was definitely the best part! Just don’t ask us to take you on the Duck when you come to visit. We’re just Ducky- thank you!

"Good Day Sunshine"

Since we have moved to Seattle everyone asks us: "So is the weather as bad as they say?" The answer, YES! However, we "Seattleites" (I don’t know if we have earned the honor to be called this after only one winter here) make due. We have memberships to the zoo and play at the indoor Zomazium, and a membership at the aquarium (which we have been known to visit twice in one week). We frequent in-door gyms, visit coffee shops with play areas, go to music classes, and set up lots of play dates. However, when the sun comes out, EVERY person in Seattle is out side to celebrate! On Thursday we got our first truly sunny day in some time (since my last post in April). It was about 75 degrees. It looked as if there were a National Holiday- I think everyone in Seattle took the afternoon off. The parks were packed, the beaches along the lake were crowded, and everyone was out side enjoying the sun!



Our first stop was Madrona Park on Lake Washington. My mom found it crazy that people were out in swim suites in such mild weather. People of California 75 degrees here is like your 85-90 degree days.





Marty even came home when the sun was out (very rare)! And we all soaked up the sun in our back yard.

Last Day of Music Class

Jack has been going to the Seattle Symphony's children's music classes for a year. We have attended class every Friday. He has an internal clock and when he wakes up Friday mornings he reminds me, “Mommy it is music class day”. He has grown so much both musically as well as socially. When we first began he would not really participate. He was shy about dancing and got nervous when we did activities. Now he is a little leader. He dances, sings songs, plays the instruments and has a great time. He is also mad about Ms. Katy his teacher. He talks about Ms. Katy all the time. When he listens to the CD's from the program he refers to the songs and CDs as "Ms. Katy music." And if he hears a piece of classical music played on piano he says it is Ms. Katy playing. Although he loves Ms. Katy he was shy about sitting on her lap for a picture!



Grandma was in town and joined us for Jack's last music class.



Sadly we are done attending music classes. We are gone thru a lot of the summer (it didn’t make sense to sign up for summer session) and Jack will be in preschool next year on Fridays (so no fall classes either). We will miss going to music classes- they have been such a part of his baby and toddler life.

THEN:


NOW:

Happy Mother's Day

Jack made me his very first Mother's Day craft. At school they made little paper flowers and a card. He was so proud to give mommy a present.

Saling trip

Little Sailor

We took Jack out on the sail boat for the first time. We went sailing on Marty’s dad’s boat Sea Otter. We went with Greg, Natalie and their 5 month old son Grant. We set sail from Bellingham Harbor & sailed to Sucia Island. We stayed at Sucia over night. Sarah, Marty and Jack went ashore Sucia Isalnd and enjoyed a fire and roasted marshmallows. We had a fun trip and both boys made great skippers!

A Nice Day in Seattle

We were so excited to have a warm day in Seattle. Jack and I headed for the back yard, played a little tee-ball and splashed in the water. It was a bit cold to actually swim, but Jack enjoyed filling up the pool and splashing in the water. Tucker even took a little soak.

Louisa

Jack's cousin Lousia visited us. We took the pictures ages ago, but never uploaded them. We love having Chris, Casey & Lousia stay with us and visit!

It's a...

We had the ultrasound on Friday for baby #2. After the doctor determined the baby was healthy. We found out we will have a little BOY.



Jack is excited about becoming a big brother.

Faux-Hawk

Jack woke up this morning with a full on Faux-hawk.





It looked so neat I took him to music class and out for errands with it. People stopped to ask how I got his hair to stay that way. Normally, Jack can't stand his hair up. If we try to style it he says, "Put it down. I want my hair down." So we never mentioned his hair. We just enjoyed his funkiness. By nap time it was gone.

Easter

On Saturday night we died Easter Eggs. Jack loved dipping the egg into the cups and pulling them out to see what color they were. We made eggs for mommy, daddy, and Jack. Grandma was visiting us for Easter so Jack insisted we make her an egg too.



On Sunday morning we had a small Easter egg hunt in our living room.





After the egg hunt we got dress and went to chruch. What a fun and Special Easter!

Bunny Hop

On Saturday we went to the Seattle Zoo for the annual "Bunny Hop."



The Zoo had Easter egg hunts, crafts & booths with free goodies. Jack began the day hunting eggs in the 3-and-under group. The eggs were plentiful. He filled his basket to the brim!





Then we went to the craft booths and made a bunny puppet.



Later we met up with some friends and Jack and Haley went on the "big kid" Easter egg hunt. Jack only got 3 eggs at the "big kids" hunt (2 of which Haley gave him). He was in good spirits though over the free chapstick! What a fun day!

Whistler, BC

Marty’s employer McKinsey hosted a weekend in Whistler, BC Jack and Sarah planned to skip the trip. Jack seemed too little to ski and Sarah is pregnant and probably shouldn’t be skiing. At the last minute we figured, why not? Let’s take our 2 year old son on a 6 hour bus trip with 45 other employees and see how it goes…



Jack was great on the bus trip. He slept a bit, read books, Played with toy cars, listened to music, and watched the movie “Cars” that played on the bus TV system. Once we got to Whistler, Jack loved wearing his new snow suite & boots, and he was thrilled when we rented him skis.



Jack couldn’t really stand up on the skis with out adult help, but he loved it when we had him between our legs and he was “skiing.” He only spent about 20 minutes on the skis, but he had a good experience and we loved seeing him in the tiny skis!



On Sunday Marty and Jack went tubing. Sarah was terrified when she saw Jack coming down the mountain alone! Even though Sarah took video, what she really wanted to do was run up the mountain and “rescue” Jack. Jack absolutely loved it!



Just tall enough to go. Really? The hat and the boots made him taller. I don’t think Jack is quite 36 inches tall yet.