Eli is 3!

We had a fun-filled birthday weekend: the zoo on Saturday morning, family swim in the evening, then on Sunday, Eli's birthday, we went to the science museum, where Eli reassembled a body:

 Balanced on a balance beam:

and pumped a model heart.

 Afterwards, we went out for pizza, his pick!

Then back at home we opened some presents.  The first one was from mom and dad.  

 It's a construction bin!

 Then one from grandma and grandpa, opening it very carefully...

 It's a Lamborghini!  Or as he calls it, a zucchini!

 And one from Ye Ye and Nai Nai, again, he loved the unwrapping part of the process:

 A racetrack!

And last but not least, after dinner was the birthday cake, made to his exact specifications: chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, sprinkles and a monster truck.  

Trader Joe's did the hard part, Calvin hunted it down and I decorated it.  Definitely the easiest birthday cake I have ever "made".  Here's the birthday boy with mom, cutting the cake:

And again with dad!

Happy birthday little guy!  Oops, I mean big guy, I know you hate to be called little.  :)  We love you!

Halloween 2012

This year for Halloween Brian wanted to be a ghost and Eli a pumpkin.  

 You would think ghost costumes are easy to come by, but they aren't.  So I bought a sheet, and after deciding the whole "sheet-over-the-head-with-eye-holes" thing wasn't going to work for him, I made this white rain poncho thing.  Most people figured it out.

 We went down to Fremont, a neighborhood a few blocks south of us, where the merchants were offering trick-or-treating.  Our fist stop was the troll.  Very fitting for Halloween!  Plus it was raining, so it was nice to stop under the bridge.  I wasn't sure what to expect as far as trick-or-treating, but it was great; almost all of the stores were participating and there were lots of kids!

 My little trick-or-treaters going from the record store to the bookstore.  

 Walking through Fremont, looking for the trick-or-treating signs.  

 We found the bubble guy performing too!  The boys had a lot of fun catching the giant bubbles.  

 Eli looking at the decorated statue of Lenin.  

 This is how it was, kind of weird for a former suburbanite.  We wandered through many clothing shops, coffee shops, and even a bar or two.  This is a dessert store... yum!

We started to head home, but saw this sign and had to stop in!

 Yummy!

A ghost in the park on the way home...a spooky and fun Halloween to you all!

Pumpkin picking

Today was a beautiful fall day, so we decided to take advantage of it while we could, and headed out to a pumpkin patch!  First stop: a hay maze:

 Brian loved it, Eli got to a dead end and stopped, upset.  So we continued up to the farm, where they were impressed by this giant pumpkin driving a tractor (plus it had little pumpkins in the tires)!

 Brian was overwhelmed with all the choices.  We saw the signs for the pumpkin patch and headed out to find one in its natural habitat.  Unfortunately, there was a rock pile with some toy trucks, so Eli was waylaid completely, and missed the trip out to the patch.  He was just not moving beyond those trucks.  No way.

 But Brian and I looked around and he quickly picked a nice round one, as big as he could carry!

 It wasn't easy, but he wanted to carry that pumpkin, and he did it.

 He even was game for posing here on the hay bales, after seeing two other little boys have their picture taken there.  His pumpkin is on his left.  Eli did not want to sit on the hay.

 Eli was enamored by the tiny pumpkins around the farm store and he picked one of those.  He called it his lovey little pumpkin and carried it around so gently (except for the one or two times he dropped it), petting it and talking baby talk to it.  What a sweetie!

 I did finally get him to pose for a picture.  Just this one.

 We went into a tiny little shed decorated in a very non-threatening way.  Eli was scared to go in, but Brian went first and told him it was not scary.  So, Eli went in and made a big show of saying "ooooOOOOooo, spoooooky!"  He looked nervous that there might be something actually scary waiting to jump out at him, so he was happy to leave.  We had some mini donuts, and waited for the TRACTOR RIDE!

 Oh man, Eli was so excited.  We saw them come and go a few times but didn't make it (waiting to check out, etc.) and he was losing patience.  Finally we went, and he was so excited about it.  Still wouldn't sit on the hay, but that's what mom's lap is for, I guess.

 He didn't look too excited, but he was.  I think.

One last picture with all the pumpkins, then back to the city!

Grandma comes to visit...

...which means we take her to see Discovery Park, our favorite weekend beach.

 Brian and grandma built a cool log cabin castle...

 ...by the time it was done, it was pretty elaborate, having a garage, a tree, some grass, and benches (? I think).

 Every time we go, the boys spend mostly the whole time playing on this log.  It's a pirate ship, and so much more.  Ah, imagination!

And since grandma was here, Calvin and I got out sans children a couple of times.  Here, we are sporting our super cool hairnets so we can tour Theo chocolate factory.  That's right, I didn't mention it last post, but we are also walking distance from a CHOCOLATE FACTORY.  How will we ever leave?

 The best kind of chemical engineering: chocolate production.  Not as fun as Chocolate World, but the samples are way better.

 Sunday we went to the aquarium!

 Lunch out on the deck as we watched the ferries go back and forth.  The coast guard seemed to be out training that day too.

Fun times!

Eli's first day of school (plus)

I've been accused of slacking off on the blog since school started.  What's up with that?  I have all this free time now, right?  Well, the reality is more like I spend all day running around like a headless chicken taking this one here and the other one there...at least I get a lot of exercise!  Anyway, Eli's first day of preschool was the day after Brian's first day of kindergarten.  Brian wanted to get in the pictures too and really this one turned out the best; how cute are they?

 Here's Eli by himself, wearing the same too-big backpack that Brian took to 3-year old preschool, haha!

 We walked Brian over to B.F. Day, then ran back across the bridge, grabbed a stroller from the car that was parked conveniently on the way, then jogged the 3 blocks to Cometa playschool.

That's right!  Just 3 blocks away is an adorable little Spanish immersion preschool!  How lucky is that?!?  If anything could sell me on staying in Seattle and dealing with the traffic issues, parking issues, high rent, and 6 months of rain, it's being able to walk a few blocks to BOTH kids' schools, a martial arts center where we just started classes, awesome restaurants, playgrounds... it's pretty cool.  So back to Eli... here he is, not looking at the camera in front of his school.

 "Cheese!"

 Inside he was playing with a little setup of foods and a checkout register.  He seems to like it pretty well, although he clings to my leg a little every day when I drop him off.

And I doubted whether he was learning much there, but today I was doing a math lesson with Brian and he came over and joined us, counting in Spanish!  So maybe he will pick up some Spanish this year!

As a bonus, here is a video of Eli riding his Strider.  He has gotten so good at it in the last 2 months, it's amazing.  He rides it everywhere we go now!  (The video starts out right side up, then flips, I don't know why, if you know how to fix it, please let me know.)

Brian's first day of Kindergarten!

Wednesday was the first day of school here in Seattle, and Brian was so excited!  He let me take lots of pictures!

At home, ready to go!

Crossing the pedestrian bridge...it's only 3 blocks but we get a lot of exercise going to and from school.  

Nice view of downtown Seattle as we walk to school

Looking cute!

Happy boy, ready for school!

Playing together on the playground before school

Finding his teacher... it was a little crazy with all the families out on the blacktop looking for their teachers!

Brian with his teacher... getting a little nervous, I think.  

To infinity... and beyond!  Ms. Simmons leads the kids in to school.  

I didn't go in with him but he found his seat right away and was one of the first kids ready to go.  

I think we were both barely holding it together.  He's smiling but was nonverbal at this point.  

But we made a new friend after school and walked home together!

I think so far he is doing OK.  The first day was a bit crazy but he tells me that today (day 2) they went to the art room and had art class.  He did a drawing of a machine that made silver and gold.  He was not so nervous at lunch in the cafeteria, he said, and he got the note I put in his lunch.  He was sad yesterday because my note got thrown away, but I told him that was OK.  Today he says he took it back to class and kept it on his desk.  They had recess twice today and colored the letter A.  That's all I can get out of him!
Eli has been sad about Brian being gone all day.  Yesterday he was playing quietly and all of a sudden he came over just sobbing.  It's an adjustment for all of us, that's for sure. We miss him during the day, but hopefully he is having fun and will make some new friends, and learn a lot!