Family Fun Day..

Aunty Freda invited us to another Forrester's group activity. This time we went to Bullwinkles Family Fun Center in Tukwila. The rides didn't open until 11 a.m., so we had about an hour to play video games, skee ball, and all the other ticket giving games. Forrester's provided 10 tokens to each of us, obviously not Logan, to do whatever we pleased. James scored and got some extra tokens for free. Cooper and Logan were running around jumping on all the drivable games. James took this oppertunity to take Logan for a ride on a Harley. It's scary the concentration on both of their faces.

Logan took a whirl on the "snowmobiles" While James and Cooper took a Jungle Safari, blowing up giant spiders and mosquitos.
As part of the Forrester's package we had the oppertunity to have unlimited access to the bumper boats, Go Karts and mini golf. Cooper liked squirting people and pushing the go button. Later, I took Logan out and he figured out the squirt button and loved it! Cooper really liked the Go Karts. So did James.
You can barely see it but Cooper is all smiles.
They wouldn't allow Logan to go on the Karts, so James and I took turns with Cooper. This time I had found a Go Kart with a steering wheel for Cooper. (no he didn't actually drive.) The whole time he was 'driving', he was saying " I'm racing!!!"
After a free all you can eat pizza lunch, we went back inside for more fun. James took the boys hunting. I think Cooper got bored with it as he kept running off.
We went to put Cooper on the Frog Hopper ride and the attendant said it was okay for Logan to go. The ride goes up maybe 15ft. then "hops" back down. The first couple hops the boys loved it.
After that their smiles were gone and they wanted off! We took them into Kidopolis. Pretty much a giagantic version of McDonalds toys.
It had a couple of rides inside.
Of course the climbling part was the most fun. Even Logan went way up high. Cooper's in the top of the picture, Logan is in the bottom left corner.
Thankfully as far as they would go is to the slide. Logan wasn't so sure about the slide. Before James climbed up to rescue him, Cooper tried to help him go down. Picture for a moment, Logan on his stomach holding Cooper's hands for dear life. Cooper realized brother wasn't going to go down, so he let go. Logan was holding onto the top of the slide, not wanting to go down. Thankfully Daddy was quick and came to the rescue.
We had so much fun!! We were worn out from the whole day. Thank you Aunty Freda.

Playing outside with dad/Uncle James

James came home early today and was able to play with the kids in the back yard. Cole said that he could run faster than James. That sparked James' competitive side and said " Let's go see!" I was real impressed at how fast James can move. He and Cole raced the length of the yard and back. James won, but not by much. Cole is fast! So then they started a new game. It involved the kids, mostly Mac and Cole, hanging on his feet. Trying to make him unable to move. Again, James did great. Although it looked hard. Especially with Logan behing him worried that Daddy was being hurt.

MacKenzie gave up, but Cole held on the whole time.
It was nice to see James playing with the kids. It had been a long time since he was home early enough to play outside.

Happy 32nd Birthday James!

James celebrated his birthday with a few of his favorite things. 1. His family 2. His friends 3. The Ford Carshow in Kent. Every year, usually around or on his birthday, James goes to the same carshow. He likes cars and so do the boys. We met up with Jim and Jeannene and walked around looking at the newer mustangs and,my favorite, the classics.

In true man fashion, there they were marveling at rows and rows of cars.
Stopping every now and then to drool over an engine or an interior.
In the evening, we went to Claim Jumpers' for dinner with friends.
Thank you everyone for coming, we had a great time.

Another trip to the Spray park

I won't bore you with too much commetary, as this is the 2nd trip to the park this summer. Enjoy.

Got water?
Cooper and Best Bud, Ian (above) Logan and Jocelyn (below)
We're heading back to the lake tomorrow. I'm sure the pictures would look the same, so I'm not bothering with bringing the camera so I can focus on playing with the boys.

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!