Exploring Seattle

The boys arrived in Seattle laaaaate last night and came to see their new home.  I’m happy to say they loved it!  In fact, they wanted to stay up and play all night but around 1:30 we convinced them that it was really nighttime and they did in fact NEED to go to bed.  No house pictures yet; we are still setting up, and it doesn’t help that our little tornados are here!  But today we went to the Essential Baking Company for breakfast, and in the afternoon we went to the zoo! 

Brian watching a penguin go by

The boys loved the inanimate objects.  Eli sat for a long time in this boat, navigating with his “nap”. 

Then Brian joined him.  I loved how it was called Los Amigos. 

The meerkats were popular because we could actually see them, unlike most of the other animals. 

Mostly the kids were excited by the animal statues. 

Komodo dragon statue (we saw the tail of the real thing)

Lion statue (couldn’t see the real thing at all)

Hippo statue ( they thought this was the real thing)

Cow statue with moving wheels (petting zoo was closed). 

So that was our trip to the zoo; not a whole lot of animal sightings, but a good time nonetheless!

in DE summertime...

While mama and auntie Denise are out having fun with Sasha on their cross-country car trip, Brian and Eli have been having even more fun back in Delaware.  Stories with grandpa (right before Eli's naptime, hence the thumb-sucking)

Celebrating grandma's birthday with double helpings of chocolates, birthday cake, and ice cream

and of course, lots and lots of swimming!

A ride on the canal

One of the things I had wanted to do before leaving Rochester was to take a boat ride on the Erie Canal.  We ended up taking the trip after school let out, because it was in the afternoon.  It was a beautiful day to go for a cruise…

We saw some neat buildings, like this one that I think is on the U of R campus:

Eli came to look out the window too:

We went through some locks:

Brian sat on the steps to the upper deck with some of his friends:

And on the way back to the dock, we got a nice view of downtown Rochester:

And let’s just forget the cranky it’s-my-naptime toddler meltdown that was going on by this time!

Graduation Season

A little overdue, but better late than never!  First up, in May, I had my “graduation”, our annual SHA brunch at Mario’s:

Then Calvin had his graduation, a dinner at a country club:

You would think there is a diploma involved, but they actually hand out a class picture:

And Calvin got the award for the best thesis presentation:

Next up was Eli, with his graduation from the 2x2 class:

They sang a special graduation song, had a snack, and played in a bounce house.  Fun times!  We were so proud of our little guy.  The teachers loved him, especially his big smiles!

And last but not least was Brian’s graduation from Camp Arrowhead!  This was the real deal, with caps, walking across the stage, and getting a certificate.  But before all the pomp and circumstance, there was fun to be had on the inflatable bounce things, just like the last two years. 

And on the playground with his buddy Cameron:

Then they lined up and marched around the amphitheater singing “Grand Old Flag”:

Then they were called up individually for their certificate:

And they stood together as a class.  Yes, Brian’s class this year was all boys!

They tolerated this as well as a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds might be expected to.  Then we had a BBQ lunch and went to play on the sprayground and in the pool!

If only all graduations were that much fun!

Letchworth hot air balloon festival

In the spirit of truly experiencing western NY before we have to leave, we went touring again today, to Letchworth state park.  They have a hot air balloon festival this weekend so we took the kids to see it.  I really took a lot of pictures, like a LOT, so I will let them do the talking. 

The first balloon was a fish!

Eli was very tentative about the whole thing. 

Brian was not.  He loved it. 

He touched a balloon, he waved at the people taking off, he just had a blast. 

Eeee!  More balloons!

Eli was there too. 

But it was Brian who stole the show.

More balloons!

One guy went with no basket, just a chair!  The boys loved it. 

Oh, and I was there too!

It was a little crazy but we all had a great time.  The only downside was that there was no time to see the park itself, which is also really nice.  Maybe another day!