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.

Receive your own name meaning at http://www.paulsadowski.com/Numbers.asp

Funny Pictures of my boys.

Too funny not to post. Every night I check on the boys before I go to bed. I walked into the room and this is what I found.

So cute!
Here Logan is demonstrating that he LOVES ICECREAM.
Let's get a closer look.

Fun in the Sun!

This summer MacKenzie and Cole (Dustin's kids) come over to our house every Wednesday and Friday. Today was a perfect day to go to the sprinkler park at Les Gove Park. We had lots of fun, even Logan loved the water and was a really good boy and didn't run off.

I think the kids loved the water guns, because that's where they spent most of their time. They took turns with other kids trying to soak them as they ran past.
Even I got into the fun. Of course, I was on the dry side of the gun. Mac and Cooper needed a little help getting the hang of it.
Logan was trying to drink the water most of the time. He thought it was fun.

Too much time on my hands!

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

I've been tagged!

Attached or single? Happily Married
Best friend? Aimee
Cake or pie? Pie, Pumpkin with lots of whipped cream
Day of choice? Sunday, love it!
Favorite color? Blue
Gummy bears or worms? Bears, soft ones
Hometown? Great Falls, MT
Ideal vacation? Swan Lake,MT, NO KIDS!
January or July? January, It's my birthday month.
Marriage date? May 12, 2001
Number of siblings? 4
Oranges or apples? Gala or Fuji Apples
Phobias? spiders, losing a child in a store
Quote?Don't sweat the small stuff.
Reasons to smile? I get to be a mom, and I'm leaving them for 4 days with my husband!
Season of choice? Summer, I love the sunshine.
Unknown fact about me: I really like to go out and explore, just not as late as I used to.
Vegetable? Broccoli
Worst habit? Impatience
X-ray or ultrasounds? Ultrasounds
Your favorite food? Anything potato
Zodiac sign? Capricorn

Tag three people: Aimee, Jen, Lara, Auri

Tall Ships Adventure!

Today we went to the Tall Ships in Tacoma. They come to the Puget Sound every 3-4 years, and I thought just maybe it would be way cool. So off we went to Tacoma... If you know me I'm always looking for cheap entertainment for my family. Part of that always includes, how much for parking, tickets, etc. Well, Tacoma has the perfect parking and transportation system to get around. We parked at the free garage, and took the Tacoma link to the festival.

Of course you call it a train ride and any Toddler will think its great!

Logan looked a little disappointed, but he thought it was okay.

We disembarked at the Union Station, walked under the glass ceiling bridge, and low and behold, PIRATES!!!
I took a few shots of the ceiling, and of the glass artwork along the wall.

We were really close to the Tacoma Glass Museum, I thought about taking the boys there sometime....then I figured, 4 year old and glass...not a great ideaWe started walking around the festival and saw these cute old ladies from the senior center putting tattoo's on kids...Here's Logan's version...Ya'll know Cooper wouldn't stay still for a picture.

After some searching we finally found the Childrens Cove, or as we came to call it, Pirate's cove.

The kids were given a treasure map and went to different stations to get a stamp after they learned a different Pirate activity. There was a ring toss, Bisquit Toss. Here's my favorite,

Bat-a-Rat

It's exactly what it sounds like. The kids took plastic bats and wacked them into a garbage can.

Load the Cannon

Load the Cargo.
This was a relay race. The kids ran with a burlap bag to the flag pole and back until all 4 were "loaded". Of course, my son, was smart and carried 2 at once. He would have won, if he hadn't have got distracted by Nick falling down. He had to make sure his friend was okay. Then he slowed down and lost interest. Oh well. I'm really not that competitive.

Raising the flag.

The pirate asked the boys Pirate questions and if they answered correctly they hoisted the flag up the pole. Cooper just wanted to hoist the flag. He didn't want to answer the questions.

We were really lucky to see "The Lady of Washington" sail by us. As they were passing, they let off their cannon, and we thought that was cool. One of the Pirate ladies said they do that on purpose everytime they pass Pirate Cove, because they know they can't shoot back. Once the kids collected all their stamps on their maps they went to a tent to receive their treasure. Which ended up being a beaded necklace. Here's my little sailor.
And my little Pirate!

Cooper would ARRRGH at every single pirate we saw the whole day!

Finally, a chance to get on a boat!

I couldn't pass another visual display of artwork. This is one of the many tightly wound ropes they had on the deck of the boat.
Look mom, I'm a sailor, I'm sailing.
Looking up at the mast.
Making our own boats.
We wanted to get on this boat, but the wait was 2 hours long. Not with 4 toddlers, who at this point were really really hungry.

At first we thought this was a cool statue...
Then it jumped out at Cooper and freaked him out. Jeannene and I took a picture with him so Cooper would think it was okay.
Then he decided that the sword looked kinda cool and wanted to protect his family.
We were so worn out at the end of the day. I didn't even take pictures of all of us on the shuttle bus back to the parking garage. We wish we could have gone on more ships, but after walking almost 1.5 miles with 4 kids we decided we've seen enough.