FanFest 2010

Yesterday we spent most the day at Safeco Field for Mariners' FanFest. We had been once before, when Jax was 1, but we figured we'd have a lot more fun now that the boys know what's happening and can do a lot more activities. The whole drive down the boys kept talking about going to watch the Colts play in the Super Bowl, and we had to keep reminding them, the Colts play football and the Mariners are who we are going to see. Luckily, they caught on and we didn't have any daddy-embarrassing moments when we were there. It was a little disheartening when we showed up at 11:30 (started at 11) and the line to get in snakes all the way around the block. It was moving pretty good though, and we were only in it for about 15 minutes. We started off with a Mariner's lunch. Everything we did was a Mariner's something according to Boomer. After the best $25 lunch ever (read sarcastically) we headed to the clubhouse to see where the Mariners eat their lunch and Boomer was upset he couldn't eat with the guys. We didn't take nearly enough pictures, but of course had to get Griffey's locker.

Everything we did had a line, but the boys were very patient because there was lots of fun to be had at the end of the line. We were quite surprised at how well Boomer did hitting the ball. Not with the power that Jaxon has, but pretty consistent.

And of course after you hit the ball you have to run the bases, but it's hard to run with everybody in your way all the time. Good thing the boys are small and not too fast yet.

After legging out the homer they had to rest in the dugout.

Both boys won a prize for completing a kids' checklist of tasks. Jaxon was really hoping to spin the wheel and get the Mariner train, but he was sorely disappointed by "winning" a drawstring backpack. So disappointed that Daddy had to wear the thing. Boomer scored big time with the Griffey backpack, which he will be wearing through his first 9 years of school.

After the Moose was done icing his knee (freak chest bumping accident, he'll be ready for opening day) we got some pictures with him. You'll notice that Jaxon can not be seen within 45 feet of the moose, still stewing over his "winnings". Boomer made a new buddy and talked about him all the way home.

And no trip to the ballpark would be complete without the true baseball anthem and official snack of cotton candy.

We might have to make this an annual trip, and will definitely remember to bring our gloves next time to play some ball in the outfield. We tried to get some video of "take me out to the ballgame" and boys hitting balls, but it won't upload right. Maybe we'll get it up later.


*crystal here: i'd just like to add that i suggested we just put jaxon's drawstring backpack inside boomer's GIANT & EMPTY backpack............what does that tell you?! silly old daddy bear!!!

our trip to LaPush

we took the ferry over which was really cool. it was the first time boomer has been on a ferry. it's been so long, that it was all new to us, too. the ferry has since changed and is way smaller than we remembered. also, all the benches inside the ferry were all leather. as we were walking around inside, i took the opportunity to teach. jax is learning to sound out words and i saw a sign that was relatively easy for him to read. it said NO SHOES ON SEATS with a little graphic of a shoe with blue and purple stars all over it. so i ask jax what he figures that sign says... he responds... "MAGICAL SHOES!!!!!" so cute.

when we got to la push we checked into our cabin, dropped off our stuff and immediately checked out the beach that was literally a stone's throw away. i spent my time on the beach searching for cool rocks and shells, as i always do on a beach trip. all my boys found cool logs and things to climb on, as they always do.

these pics in order are... *the cabin we stayed in. *i found a really cool rock that looked exactly like a remote, perfect size, black and all smooth. i really wish i'd have kept it.*boomer's beach pic.*boomer and daddy climing on logs.*jason on the gigantic stump waiting for the all clear to jump off.*jaxon's beach pic.*J+C heart*jason looking at the area his dad's fishing boat wrecked(angrily, as he mentioned in the last post)*the cool red log jason was so taken by.










we came in at dusk, jason made a fire and we played cribbage and talked about his dad while the boys played fort in one of the bedrooms. it was a really cool cabin, we'd like to go back someday and maybe stay with some friends for longer than one night.





after we checked out of our cabin, we decided to go for a short hike to second beach. we took our time and stopped a lot to explore cool stumps and take lots of pics. check out the bottom left pic. can you spot boomer? he's our little waldo.







this is what we found. it was so beautiful, we had so much fun and made such good memories on this beach. it reminded me a lot of larabee and clayton beach, actually. you may notice the boys totally wet in one of these pics. we actually got pretty far into our trek before the boys stopped listening to us tell them NO PUDDLES!! so we gave up and let them jump in the tide pools. they were miserable by lunchtime, and we were able to teach a lesson about why not to get all wet in january when we aren't near our gear. we'll see if that lesson stuck?! i had jason climb up this rock to get a great pic of him. after, i told him to slide down, but he thought that wasn't manly, so he stood up and jumped into wet sand. not smart, and i'd say hobbling around on a jacked-up heel for 3+days is not so manly, either!











after the hike we decided it was time for lunch, so we drove over to rialto beach, where we thought we'd get a better vantage point of the place where the boat wreck happened, to eat. we were the ONLY ones there. they had a cute little picnic area so we set up shop and started to eat our pb&js when all of a sudden this little bus type thing drove up and let off a half a dozen people. weird, we thought. as they passed we realized...




....of course. it's the TWILIGHT tour! they were the sightseers in this situation, however, we couldn't help but stare at them and take pics! you can't tell by this pic, but not a single one of them was a preteen!! it was kind of cool in a way, knowing a movie was filmed in parts of these tiny towns, but really weird to see all the hullaballoo over it! i mean, seriously. there were giant posters on every storefront, including the grocery store. every hotel, motel or resort (which are few, but still...) had twilight themed rooms and/or offered tours, an entire twilight store, a bella burger at the burger joint where we stopped to eat. they sure are milking it for all it's worth!




on the way to jason's mom's house we stopped at "the biggest cedar in the world." really, i think it was just a BIG cedar, like ALL the signs said. you'd think that if it was the world's biggest cedar the signs would say so! jason is SURE it's the biggest and keeps wanting to google it to prove me wrong. whatever. it was GIANT and beautiful and fun. that's all that matters, right?!

Our LaPush trip

After a lot of anticipation, our trip over to La Push was better than we could have imagined. For those who don't know, Jan 21st was the 20th anniversary of my dad's death. He died in a boat wreck right off the coast of La Push, which is real close to Forks (yes, the Twilight place). It was the first time I had ever been there, and that had been bothering me for a while. I did a little research online about the details of the wreck, so I could have some idea what I would be looking at. Good thing I did research at home, because our cabin had no internet/TV/phone to help with that. La Push is on the Quileute Indian reservation, and is population approx 417. Maybe not that small, but you get the idea.

Our cabin was right on the beach, I could have thrown rocks into the ocean from our deck, and we had a clear view of where the wreck happened. When we first got there it was about 3:00 and very windy, with about 14-16 foot waves VERY similar conditions as the day of the wreck. There were 2 fishing boats that were coming in at the time and watching them was one of the most surreal moments in my life. We walked out to the beach and it was just amazing. The waves were coming in so big and violent. There was a lot of beauty to be seen out there, but every time I looked over to the jetty that the boat crashed into I got pissed. A lot of mixed emotions on that beach, but having Crystal and the boys there was the only thing that made it tolerable. After the boys went to bed that night, my wife had a little surprise for me. We had been talking about the memory of my dad, and how I didn't really have a lot since I was only 8 when he died. She pulls out this little journal with entries from all the people she could contact who knew my dad. They had all given her some memory of him that they had, and she wrote them all down for me to keep. There were some stories I hadn't heard before, and some emotions that I didn't know people had about him. I think on about the 2nd entry I start crying, and it only gets worse as I read on. I think Crystal did it just to watch me cry. No, she did it because she is the most caring, compassionate person I've ever come in contact with. She told me that Wayne, my stepdad, didn't want to participate in the whole thing and that was disappointing because he was my dad's best friend. I would've loved to have his memories in there.

The next day we checked out a couple of places around town to see what kind of info we could dig up on the accident. We talked to the Coast Guard (no help) and to the people at the resort (little help). Then we went to the tribal center and talked to a few great people who steered us to a fishermen memorial. One lady even gave me her brother's phone number because he'd been fishing there for 30 years and would know all about it. He wasn't home, but the gesture was appreciated nonetheless. Everybody we talked to was very nice and as helpful as they could be. We never really talked to anybody that could recount the accident, but it was great just being there where it happened. We finished the stay with a little hike to a secluded beach to play for a bit, then headed off to my mom's house.

That night at my mom's house my stepdad completely opened up his memory bank and took me on a 3 hour tour of my dad's wild times as a 18-20 year old thrill seeker. Yep, 3 hours and we only covered 2 years of his life, and probably not even all of the details. Some of the topics made my mom squirm a little bit, but I really wanted as much info as I could get, good or bad, funny or sad. I think that might have been the highlight of the trip, as weird as that sounds, but hearing so many details of his life was indescribable. Wayne had to wrap up story time so that everybody could go to bed, but he assured me that we'd pick up where we left off next time.
Speaking of next time, maybe I'll have Crystal write a blog about the fun times we had on our trip, and put up a bunch of pictures.

MY BABY IS 5 !!!!!!!

how does a kid go from this.....

to this.....


in the blink of an eye?






happy 5th birthday, jax. you are such a great son.

you are so compassionate. anytime anyone is in need of some "loves" you are the first one to reach out to make them feel all better.

you are so smart. you can sound out lots of different words, write your name on paper, along with boomer, mama, daddy, nana, cat and numerous other words you sound out on your own! you can count to 100 by tens, and know LOTS about dinosaurs (which may or may not be thanks to dinosaur train on PBS)

you are a great teacher. you love to teach your little brother all the things you know. good and bad, but we will take what we can get.

you are a great helper. you are always excited to have a job to do. you can feed molly, help with the dishes in and out of the dishwasher, clean up a spill, wash windows, and get your own drink from the fridge.

you have a great imagination. you are a storyteller, you will rant about a made up past life when YOU were a baby kitty and daddy was your kid and you lived in the jungle. or play pretend with your stuffed animals (aka: team, friends, kids)

you are a great dancer. whenever mr.roboto comes on, you daddy and boomer bust out your robot moves. you love to "breakdance" which mostly consists of jump kicks and spins on your tush at this point.

you are a gentleman. so far daddy has taught you well. you open doors for mama, help out around the house, kill spiders and let bugs out of the house. say please and thank you most all of the time without being reminded, and know how to let a woman know she is beautiful.

you are like your mama in these ways... you are shy at first when meeting someone new, but once you are out of your shell WATCH OUT!! you are a bit of a homebody (we'll work on breaking that one together) you are cautious, you'd rather be safe than sorry, and it takes a little coercing to get you to try something you're leary of. you love animals. your snuggles, hugs and kisses are passed out freely.

you are like daddy in these ways... you are curious and a natural born engineer. you would take apart every toy you own if we let you, just to see how it works. you are very smart and catch onto things VERY quickly. you are a gentleman, good to all the women in your life. you are independent. you are super goofy, you and daddy have some GREAT faceoffs, and your not afraid to have fun and let loose.

you are a rough and tumble, not afraid to get dirty, bug catching, bike riding, train loving BOY.

i love you more than a fishy loves water, more than the stars love the sky, more than you'll ever know!!! you are growing into such a wonderful boy and i'm so proud to be your mama. happy 5th birthday my love bug!!

FUN DIP

things like this make me happy i have wacky little boys!!!

tiny rantings

i'd just like to note, that while i love when people are in the christmas spirit before christmas... keeping your lights on well into the new year brings out the scrooge in me!