Grama Nina's Company Picnic

Once again Sysco had it's company picnic at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, and once again Cooper surprised us all. Pretty much the same story as last year. Free Games, rides, & food. This year more of the Twiddy's were able to attend. Maybe next year we can all get there.

We weren't in the gates all the way when Cooper saw the train.

He took Grampa Jim's hand and off they went for the first ride of the day.

Logan and James took their first ride on the Carousel. He didn't like the waiting part, but once the horses started he was happier.

Aunt Jehana, Jocelyn, Aunt Jillian & Zada hopped on too!

Cooper and Grampa disappeared after the train ride. I guess Cooper saw the other rides on his train ride and Grampa took him on the Bus, and the Scrambler. While the rest of us tried our luck at the games. There were 4 different carnival games that we could play and win prizes, and because it was free you could keep playing until you won a prize. Apparently they didn't keep track if you won, because somehow we came home with at least 6 stuffed animals. I even gave away 3 to some little kids, just so they weren't in my house.

Here's a flattering shot of Jeremy & Jehana playing the squirt gun game.

After a little while Logan began to get fussy. It was passed his nap time and was starting to get a fever. He just wanted to be held. It didn't matter who so we took turns.

I decided to take him on the train hoping that he would fall asleep. Sure enough after going around the park 4 times he was completely out. Poor little guy. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, my little Cooper was having the time of his life. Being 44 inches tall at 4 years old has it's purks. You get to ride all the grown up rides. Later I was surprised to find out that James had taken him on an upside down ride. I have to thank Heidi for taking pictures for me, as I probably wouldn't have believed it otherwise.

James told me that Cooper really wanted to go on the ride. He was fine for a little while, then all you could see was James in the car, as Cooper was white knuckling the bar and hugging James' leg at the same time. I think they were the first ones off. Cooper took Aunty Jillian on the same ride later that afternoon, and all I could see was Jillian and she was laughing her head off.

While still on the train with Logan, Cooper and Grama Nina went for an airplane ride.
After lunch Grama took all the kids for a train ride. Minus Logan, he was out.
Grampa Jim took a turn on the carousel with Zada.
and Jeremy went with JoJo. With Logan sleeping it gave me some time to sit and chat with the girls....
While Cooper and James enjoyed their "Seahawks" Sno-Cones, in a bowl.

Afterwards, Cooper wanted to go on more rides. So here we are on the Tiger Roller Coaster.
And I kid you not Cooper wanted to go again right after it was done. This time he went with dad.I am so impressed with Sysco Foods. They do the coolest things for their employees and their families. Thank you Jeannene for inviting us to another year of fun.

A day at the Lake!

To the beach we go!!! It was a great time had by all at Coulon Beach Park in Renton. I went there to say farewell to a friend a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be fun to bring the kids. It's alot of work!!! I don't know how my mom did it every day when we were kids. Just one day wore me out! Thanks mom, you rock! Jennifer and her boys joined us and the fun started. The kids didn't get wet right away they just got busy building sand castles.

But once they realized they needed water, it didn't take long for them to get wet and go swimming. Jocelyn, Zada, Jehana & Jillian showed up after our picnic to have a little beach fun as well.
Cole wouldn't stay still long enough for a good picture, he was having too much fun.

My little Logan loved the water! We would stand in the water up to his waist and he'd splash and splash. (which he tried again in the bathtub, not so cute then) I picked him up and took him a little deeper and would dunk him up to his neck and turn in circles, and pop him up and back down. He thought that was great. Later, back at the shore, he would tug on my shirt until I took him back out again.
Of course, he really loved the sand too. Any chance to get dirty. It was such a fun day hanging out with our cousins and our best friends!
We'll definately go again this summer. Just as soon as I recoup from today!

Rainbow Playdate!

Today we went to the coolest playground anywhere! Okay it wasn't really a playgound, it was a business that sells play yard equipment, The Rainbow Systems. Or something like that. It's located off of HWY 167. It was an idea from one of the members of our church, who had purchased a trampoline from them a few weeks ago. She asked if they ever had groups come and play, and how much it would cost. The employee there said just let them know when and it's free!!!! Totally awesome fun. I would say that we had 10-15 kids running around having a good time. Logan couldn't decide if he which he liked better swinging, jumping on the tramp, or eating the wood chips and throwing the little rocks. Cooper loved every aspect of the adventure!
It was a good chance to play with the other kids in Primary.
We played for about an hour and a half before the heat took over. We had so much fun. Thanks for inviting us Stephanie!

Memories..Like the corners of my mind...

My friend had this on her blog and thought it might be fun...

The directions are as follows:

1. As a comment on our blog, leave one (or as many as you like) memory that you and I had together or a memory of our family. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Lady bug Lady bug fly away home...

Today we made ladybugs. I got the idea from one of Cooper's school project. These ones are a larger version and I found this poem online to stick inside it.

Lady Bug

Lady Bug wears a red cape.

It opens up and changes shape;

Now two wings lift her into the air.

I wish I had such a cape to wear!

-Dee Lillegard

You can tell which one is Cooper's. I let him cut the paper with his safety scissors.

Summer School Art and Progress report.

Cooper only went 1 day of the week for the month of July, so here's what we got. Cooper mainly went to summer school to work on his fine and gross motor skills with his occupational therapist. His progress reports from the summer program show great improvements with catching/throwing a ball,jumping, bear-walking, snake sliding. As well as opening a jar, and using his pinchers. Way to go little man!

My little climber!

This morning Logan climbed up on the couch. Great. He's going to be a climber. I lucked out with Cooper. Almost there!
Look what I did!

Day out with Thomas!

Today we spent the Day with Thomas the tank in Snoqualmie, Wa. We had purchased the tickets back in April for Cooper's 4th Birthday. We figured he didn't need anymore toys, we wanted to give him an adventure! I have never seen Cooper and Logan so excited about anything we've done with them since we've rode the horse in Montana. You can see the anticipation on Cooper's face as we were on the shuttle bus to downtown Snoqualmie. Logan was constantly saying "choo choo"!

Everywhere we went Cooper was fascinated by the trains. Getting a picture with him looking at the camera was very difficult. We decided to forego the usual stroller for Logan and hooked him up to the Doggy Leash. It's sounds harsh, but it's a Dog backpack with a tether. He really enjoyed being able to walk with us and not be confined to sitting all day.
They had pictures of all the characters along the fence-line around the event. Cooper and Logan are here with Henry. And yes I know their names. We were given a map to get stamped at 4 differant locations. When we collected our stamps, we went to the gift shop to recieve a special prize. One stop was to visit Sir Topham Hatt.

Sir Topham Hatt is the owner and railway boss of the Island of Sodor, (Thomas' home),

He was there to greet us. Logan was trying to figure him out the whole time and Cooper shook his hand. Trying train whistles wasn't as exciting as the model trains that were next to them.
Tattoo time-

Here's Logan's tattoo of Henry
And Cooper's of Thomas.

The boys' favorite stop was the Imagination Station.
They had at least 10-12 train tables, and trains under the tent, where the kids could pretend to be Thomas, Henry, Percy,Gordon, Bertie, or Harold, etc. We arrived at the event early enough that there wasn't alot of kids there, so the boys were able to really get into playing without a crowd.
We spent a good portion of our time here. Which was great because it was under a tent and blocked us from the sunshine.
Our next stop was the Storytelling/Viewing tent. As you can see Logan sat still to watch Thomas. It 's the only TV show he will actually stop what he's doing, sit and watch. Here they could also do Thomas puzzles, Color a Thomas picture, or even do some stamps with the characters.
We took a little break from our adventure to sit and watch Thomas go by with some passengers.

While Thomas was unloading/reloading passengers we took the oppertunity to take a quick family picture with Thomas. It took 3 shots to get both of the boys to look at the camera and not Thomas. We were even able to get a picture with Mr. Conductor.
As we were leaving the photo area Cooper got really upset. He thought we were done for the day and didn't want to leave. But it was time for us to get in line for our train ride. We were the first one's in line for our departure time. Cooper calmed down when he saw Thomas go by with his passengers. He was finally understanding that we were next. You had to be there to see the excitement he displayed. He doesn't really jump with both feet off the ground yet, so when he does jump it's more like a galloping in place. Let's just say he was doing that and screaming

" Thomas, Mom! Look it's Thomas! He was doing this all day, but now that we were closer to him, he just kept going. Even Logan was pointing and grinning "Choo~Choo!" This picture shows us waiting for Thomas. We were glad the Smith's and the Monson's were able to be there with us.
Finally, Thomas returns and it's our turn!

Since we were the first in line, we were able to be in the passenger car behind Thomas. It took everything within Cooper to not run to the steps and hop in. He was a very good listener and stayed with us.

Here's the whole group.
The 30-minute train ride was really relaxing, after spending almost 3 hours playing with trains and with the other activities.
Even Logan was loving it! Although the motion of the train was putting him to sleep.
After our train ride it was time to board the shuttle bus and return home.
Logan was out before we hit I-90, James was out once we were on HWY 18 and Cooper was watching "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" for the millionth time and had lost his voice. I would say it was a great day with Thomas.

Who needs a dishwasher?

Typical dinner mess. All done, time to clean up!
Get every last bit of mashed potatoes.
That makes me a member of the clean plate club.

Pet Rocks.

Today Cooper, MacKenzie, Cole made pet rocks. In the morning time I had them go outside and dig up the rocks that they wanted to paint. I washed them up, and we let them dry until after lunch. We sat in the grass outside and painted them and let them dry again. We took them inside and gave them faces and hair.

left to right- Cole's, Coopers, and MacKenzie's

Try this one out!

My friend had this link on her site and I tried it....See how accurate it is for you...takes less than a minute! Thanks Auri.

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