Grandpa's Birthday

Last week Grandpa Lee had one of those milestone birthdays and we celebrated in grand style last weekend.  It was a full, busy and very fun day.  We started early for breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa, cousins Einar and Soren, Auntie Karla, Uncle Jared and Great Uncle Steve.  Then we all made the trek down to Redondo to visit the small aquarium next to Salty's restaurant.  The aquarium was a big hit with everyone.  Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and the boys had a lousy nap and the rest of us ate a delicious lunch.  We played hard the rest of the afternoon and then went to check out the new Dick's Drive In in Edmonds, where 10 of us crammed into our van for supper.  All in all it was a fantastic celebration, Happy Birthday Grandpa Lee!

Lars and Papa checking out the touch tank at the Redondo Aquarium.  The sunflower stars were hungry!

Odin and Grandma checking the sunflower stars out too.

"Eh, the aquarium is cool, but these lights are cooler," says Lars

Odin and Lars watching scuba divers

The whole party

Cousin Einar reading Odin a story

Nap time!

Uncle Jared, Einar and Lars playing with slot cars

Grandma and Grandpa and the boys getting ready for dinner at the new Dick's Drive In in Edmonds

Snow Day(s)

Seattle has been dumped on! This is the first time Lars and Odin have really experienced snow, and it has been so much fun! I'm a true Seattlite and usually HATE the white stuff and the hassle it causes around here, but experiencing it through the eyes of two curious and fun-loving little boys makes it highly enjoyable. Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Ralph made sure Odin and Lars had proper snow gear and so we've been able to get out and enjoy it several times over that last couple of days. This morning Lars even brought his snow boots to us to communicate that he wanted to go out and play...it was easy to oblige!

We have a tight knit neighborhood and we have all been enjoying the snow days, yesterday Tor stayed home with the boys while they napped and I went on a walk/ sledding/ coffee outing with 9 of our neighbors and we ended up having an impromptu pot luck dinner at our house. The boys went to bed just fine with lots of people over. Today we went to a different neighbor's house for another neighborhood gathering with hot chocolate chip cookies and coffee. We love our neighbors!

It's been a really enjoyable couple of days.  Much better than snow days before kids!

All suited up, let's get out there!

Odin says, "hey, there is white stuff stuck to my mittens!"

Check this out Papa!

Scooping snow is lots of fun!

We had so much fun!

Whew, having this much fun is hard work!

Checking for snow pack-ability, not good for making a snowman 

Tasting snow.  Lars liked it, Odin didn't.

Lars' current 'signature smile' for the camera

Odin really wanted to help Papa clean off the stairs

This is too much fun!

Red berries, green leaves, white snow

Hey, this 3T hat fits okay right?

Snack time!

Walking up the lane (Lars and Papa)

Mama and her boys

Odin and Papa

Train Mania...

...has hit our house hard.  We were lucky enough to have been the recipients of the mother-lode of Thomas trains as a hand me down from Kara of Taking Flight.  Kara and her parents went cruising on their boat to Mexico and she graciously passed on her much loved collection of trains to our boys when they were just a few months old.  They were too young to appreciate them then, but they certainly do now!  They LOVE them, particularly my little engineer at heart Lars.  He even built his own track today, clapping for himself after every section of track he laid.  He was so proud, as was I!

Lars and his trains, a happy kid for sure!

Choo, choo!  Actually is more like Zschoo, Zschoo if you hear Lars say it

"Wait, forget the trains, cameras are my other new obsession!"

"Yeah, that's just about close enough!"

Two boys and their trains

Odin says "Uh, Mama?  I think I need my haircut, I can't really see."

I've got track to be laid!

The BEST way to push trains!

Playing nicely together

Lucky Little Boys...

...get to watch road work in their living room wearing pajamas.

Pictures with Santa

We went to Swanson's Nursery to visit Santa this year.  They have a great set up and the lines aren't too bad.  Lars wasn't too excited to sit on Santa's lap this year, he went limp as a wet noodle and tried to wiggle off his lap.  Odin didn't really care.

The photographer trying to convince the boys to look at him with Ernie

The beginning of wet noodle Lars

Mama steps in to see if Lars will stand in front of Santa instead of sitting on his lap

No dice

That's okay, we got to see the camel, donkey and reindeer afterwards

A photo of the final photo...amazing that the photographer got something!  It's difficult to tell, but Santa is holding onto Lars' arm to keep him from running away.

A photo of last year's photo for comparison.  Odin has the same expression!

The Locks

There have been several trips to the Ballard Locks lately...not by boat, but as a land excursion.  I always loved going to the Locks when I was a kid.  We usually got a picnic meal of fish and chips from the Totem House and after we had eaten, my sister and I would roll down the terraced hills, not to mention looking at the cool boats and watching the Locks themselves work to transport boats either up to lake level, or down to sea level.

It's really fun to take my own kids to a place I loved going so much.  Tor took both boys alone one day, then we had a great family excursion where the boys walked and walked and walked, and later I even had the guts to take Lars and Odin there by myself without a stroller.  It was just two little boys on their feet, with their monkey backpack harnesses in case they decided to make a break for it.  It all went great until we were headed back to the car and Lars decided to walk through a barrier protecting a planting area and an Army Corps of Engineers employee gave me a very stern look, even though I running after him to try and stop him.  Simultaneously Odin was eating a berry off of the black mondo grass.  Ack!  I can't be in two places at the same time!  I frantically googled "black mondo grass berry toxicity" on my iphone and fortunately it appeared to be non-toxic.  I was glad to get us all back to the car, but all in all we've had fun at the locks lately.

A trip with Papa to the Locks

Papa and Odin checking out the empty large locks

The empty large locks

Mama and Lars checking out the small locks

Cute Lars

Two little boys playing in sculpture 

Odin likes to point things out

Two little boys walking

self timer family portrait

I played with these same structures as a kid!

Checking for boats

These steps were endlessly fun!