Our time in Seattle (2013)

After our long drive to Grandma's and a good night sleep...

It was time to start our Washington fun!

On Friday mom and Grandma canned applesauce

Me and Cooper played all day with Cameron.

On Saturday we got to go on Grandpa Jones' boat 

and we watched big jets fly right over our heads.

On Monday, we went to the Ballard Locks.

We watched the boats move from the really high lake 

to the really low Puget sound.

(I didn't think it was all that cool)

Then we went down to the fish ladder and watched the fish swim.

They were really big. 

Cooper really liked them.

On Tuesday we went to "the beach"

Really it's a lake.

I showed Vicki my swimming skills.

Cooper just played in the sand.

On Wednesday, mom and grandma canned green beans.

And daddy finally got here!

On Thursday, we went to the zoo.

There were sharks there.

and birds you could feed.

We saw baby tigers, and elephants, and seals and walruses, and foxes,

and a polar bear, and penguins, and fish and it was a super cool zoo!

On Friday we went to my mom's uncle's bakery.

She visited with some of her mom's family.

Did you know that her great aunt is still alive?...she's 92.

We ate doughnuts for breakfast there...

Cooper really liked his maple bar.

Then we walked down to the beach.

and mom even took a silly picture.

"hi-ya"

After throwing rocks in the ocean and finding cool ninja sticks,

We found the troll under the bridge.

Cooper did NOT like the troll..

"Scarrrrry"

And then we went to Pike's Place Market.

And walked down by the water!

 It has been a very fun and busy week.

Tomorrow we get packed up and ready to go camping!

I can't wait!!!!

Banks Lake here we come!

June Fun

We have been very busy since school ended.

First we took swimming lessons.

Even Cooper and Mom had a lesson together.

I can float all by myself and swim on my back.

I also swim on my front but I can't go very far quite yet.

But mom says she's really proud of how brave I have become...

I don't even mind putting my face in the water anymore.

We got to go see the movie Epic.

I really liked it...Cooper liked the popcorn.

And I started playing baseball.

I LOVE playing baseball.

Mom is really happy about that!

We have taken Cooper to some new parks to play.

And we went on a hike.

Mom has decided that we need to spend more time in the mountains.

She picked our first hike to Lake Mary.

It was really steep...

and really long...

Mom had to carry Cooper in her arms for most of it.

When we got half way to Lake Mary mom decided we should just stop and go see Dog Lake, 

which was only a little bit farther...then we headed back.

We had lots of fun, but mom said that she needs to pick easier hikes the next time.

It's been really hot this June, so we have started to hit the pool.

...and suffer the heat for the carnival...

and then go to the pool some more!

Oh....and I got a fish!

His name is Betto (Bait-O).

I really like him...so does Cooper...that might be a problem!

It's been a pretty fun summer so far...Next up....

JULY!

"It's called the forward crawl"

The past few weeks I have been in swimming lessons.

I have been doing really good.

I've been practicing my bobbing the most.

My teacher, Mariah, really wants me to work on putting my face in the water and counting to 5.

I'm working on it!

On our last day of swimming I swam all by myself to Mariah.

I did the forward crawl.

After I showed Mariah I could do lots of things, it was time to go down the slide.

I don't really like going down slides into the pool.

The water is deep at the bottom.

The last day of swimming lessons in the fall we could go down the slide too...let's just say I refused to go down that day and it wasn't pretty.

This time, Mom made a deal with me.

She said if I would go down the slide 2 times that we could go to Target and I could pick out a Ninjago guy.

Well...that's good enough for me.

I put on a life jacket

Sat on the stairs to go over the rules

And went down the slide.

4 times!

I like routine...

I had my last day of swimming.

Mom told me that it was going to be a play day.

I was confused.

I thought we were having swim lessons and then staying to play.

I don't deal well with change.

I got upset and didn't want to participate in the play day.

"No mom, it's swim lessons...we don't play we are taught swimming".

It took me awhile, but I finally went over and watched my friends go down the slide.

I wanted nothing to do with that big slide.

Then my teacher took our class over to the diving board.

I went and sat by mom.

She finally convinced me to go watch my friends jump in the water.

They ALL did.

So...I guess I can be a follower...

My teacher walked me out to the end of the board.

and then I "jumped"

(okay, my teacher lifted me down to one of the waiting life guards)

It was really fun!

I did it 3 times.

And the last time I jumped more than was lifted,

and my face even went in the water.

Turned out to be a fun "play" swim lesson day.

My vacation to Grandma Thompson's house

Mom and dad drove me to Grandma Thompson's so they could go to Las Vegas.

Hailey and Carter were at Grandma's when we got there.

We got to play with them for the day before they went back home.

We went to the park and played on the toys and in the water.

Well, Hailey and Carter played in the water...I touched it with my feet.

Then we fed the ducks.

They weren't very hungry...so we threw rocks instead.

(not at the ducks)

When it was just me and Grandma and Grandpa...

We went to a dinosaur place that had lots of dinosaur footprints.

Then we went to a water park...

and fed the ducks some more. They were hungry this time.

Mom and dad came back from Las Vegas to pick me up and we drove home.

I had a lot of fun with Grandma!