Missing Daddy

Corey's been in Hawaii (or "Ha-why" if you're Jackson) for a client meeting since Saturday, so it's been just Jackson and I.  After 5 days alone, acting as a "single mom", I have to hand it to all the truly single parents out there - it's definitely hard work!  And not that Jackson is a misbehaved or difficult kid, it's just a non-stop job with no relief.  That, on top of being a tired, cranky preggo lady, and I am exhausted and can't wait for Corey to return tonight!

As much as I missed my partner in crime, I think J may have missed him a bit more.  Here he is, talking into not one but TWO fake phones, to "Corey" (he's known Corey's name for awhile, but not sure why he calls him Corey on the phone, since he never calls him anything but Dad or Daddy in person).

Yakima Visit

Last weekend, Jackson and I headed to Yakima for a quick visit.  We squeezed in all kinds of fun while we were there, and as you'll notice in the photos, we ate way too much.  This includes a trip to my favorite Mexican restaurant, where we discovered that Jackson LOVES salsa (for kids, they bring out a "mild" salsa, which is basically tomato sauce, and at one point, he was drinking from the bowl).

I was hoping to get him in the pool but he's still scared of it for some reason.  He loved the pool last year when we went to Hawaii, but when we tried it later that summer at my parents, he screamed as soon as we put him in, and since then, hasn't wanted to go near it.  To help him get more comfortable with it, my dad lets him collect rocks from the yard to throw into the pool, which Jackson then gets to watch him dive for and collect.  Between this, and being able to splash mommy with water and see me blow bubbles and get my face all wet this trip, we were able to get him to sit on the side (in Gramma's lap) with his feet in the water.  Progress!

Relaxing and snacking while watching Elmo

Enjoying a Blizzard at Dairy Queen

Playing with a new toy Gramma let him pick out at the store.  This new basket with fake food kept him occupied for an hour or more - he talked to himself while playing and made us each countless sandwiches.

Driving with Elmo

Brunching on waffles - these guys came with strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream and yes, ice cream.  Needless to say, they were a hit.

Holding hands with Great Grandma.

Enjoying Crocs with no socks!  (May not seem like a big deal, but for a kid who NEVER goes without socks, regardless of shoes, this was a big milestone.)

Learning how to play Memory with Grampa.

Checking out the pool

Helping out in the backyard

Collecting rocks to throw into the pool

Finding frogs

Helping Grampa at work, and enjoying an M&M snack

And my favorite - helping Grampa test the pool water.  J helped when several weeks ago when he stayed with my parents while we were in Hawaii, and seemed to remember all the right steps.

J + Mommy Date Day

I'd been wanting to take Jackson to the Seattle Aquarium for awhile now, but figured it would be crowded on the weekends, and with limited time between when it opens and when we'd need to be en route home for nap time, crowds would make it tough.  So, I took today off yesterday so he and I could spend the day together and hit up the aquarium.

Overall, he enjoyed our trip.  His favorite parts were feeling the star fish in the tide pools, hitting the automatic door opener on the door into the family activity center, and playing with the NASA TV screens.  Yes, my kid may have been slightly more impressed in the electronics/gadgets the aquarium had to offer, than the sea animals.  But, he was happy, and that's what matters.

In order to get him away from the TVs, I told him that we could go look for a present in the gift shop.  Poor kid - he walked in and wanted to walk right back out when he didn't see any wrapped gifts.  I quickly explained that it meant he could pick a toy out to take home as a present for being a good boy.  He settled on three - a book, a light-up sea cucumber, and a bubble gun, all of which he was very excited about.

After we left, we stopped by Corey's off to see daddy at work before we headed home for nap time.  We both got in a nice, long nap and then wrapped up our day playing outside, waiting for daddy to get home.

It was so much fun to have a day with my boy, and I'm looking forward to our weekend trip to Yakima together this weekend.

 

 

 

He is working on his model pose here.

 

This is how you play with chalk when it's raining.

 

Testing out the new bubble gun

 

Fox Hollow Farm

We've been trying to incorporate new activities into our weekend routine, as well as ensure Jackson is getting lots of fun, quality time with us before Baby #2 arrives.

This past weekend, we headed to Fox Hollow Farm and had a blast.  Mommy may have been a bit more excited than J about some of the animals you don't get to see every day - I loved the baby goats, the mini horses and the baby pigs, whereas Jackson was most impressed by the kitty cats and the bunnies.  He also loved climbing up the stairs in the play houses and then sliding down each slide.  One slide was so fast, he flew several feet through the air at the end of it, landing right on his butt, startling all of us. Good thing he still has a diaper butt.

He was a little afraid of the train - it took some coaxing, and both of us riding with him to get him to ride, and then halfway through the ride, he asked for a "big hug" and then laid in my lap for the rest of the trip.

We couldn't get him on the bouncy toys, but hopefully next time.

While I knew he had fun, he was much more enthusiastic about the experience when talking to Gramma Linda and Gramma Joan on the phone.  He was literally shaking and shrieking with excitement as he told them about all the animals he got to pet, and the train he got to ride.

As long as he has good memories about our trip, I'm happy.

"Horsies!"

How cute are they?!

 Trains are very scary...

We had to come back to see this guy several times.

I realized after seeing all these pictures, he has perfected the "squat" - he's squatting like this in almost every photo.

Pinterest Addiction

I've been re-pinning a bunch of new recipes on Pinterest lately, and have been trying to add at least one new recipe I've pinned to my grocery list each week.  I've made all kinds of new things lately and every last one was delicious, as well as easy to make.

Thought I'd share some of my favorites, in case anyone else was looking for some new inspiration for dinner:

Cilantro-Lime Chicken Pasta Salad
Caprese Tortellini Pasta Salad
Mediterranean Tortilla Pizza
Vegetable Enchiladas (my favorite, mostly because Jackson ate an entire enchilada on his own, including the spinach!)

And I can't forget about the yummy dessert Jackson helped me make over the weekend:

Oreo Layer Dessert

Cuteness

Cuteness overload going on over here.  A few examples:

We recently introduced Jackson to gummy bears, which he thinks are called "yummy bears". I find it very hard to say no to little person asking me for more "yummy bears".

We've been talking to Jackson a lot about his baby brother.  He loves to point to my belly and say "there's a baby in there!" and is always very gentle (as gentle as a 2-year old can be).  When we ask him what the baby is doing in there, he typically says "sleeping!" but has been known to say "reading" or "eating pancakes".  I guess he thinks the baby is doing the things Jackson likes to do.  Love how the mind of a 2-year old works.

Corey called Roxy into the house from the backyard the other week, and then we were talking about feeding her dinner.  The next thing we know, Jackson came running back into the kitchen saying, very proudly, "I fed Roxy treats!".  Corey followed him to Roxy's bowl to find that he'd filled it to the top with her food (about 5 times more than her normal serving).  Love his efforts, and his attention to detail in terms of knowing where her food is kept and how to feed her, but glad we caught it before Roxy devoured it.

Before our trip to the Cougar Mountain Zoo last weekend, I'd been talking to him about the zoo, and that he'd get to pet animals.  What I wasn't clear on was what type of animals they had, or what type he'd get to pet, so before I knew it, he was talking about "petting the elephants and tigers".  I had to quickly clarify that 1) this zoo didn't have elephants and 2) tigers that we saw there wouldn't be allowed to be touched.  Poor kid.

He's been extra cuddly lately, often asking repeatedly before bedtime or before school for "one more hug!" or "one more kiss!".  How can you turn that down?!

Jackson has learned about "left" and "right" and can now tell you which hand and foot are right and which are left.  He gets very excited to show you when you ask.  Speaking of right and left, on our way home from daycare, there are two ways into our neighborhood and I used to always turn left vs. go straight.  About a month or two ago, he started to ask to go straight (which is the way daddy goes) and "go left tomorrow" (though tomorrow he will want to go straight, every time).  It took me a little while to remember to go straight (even though he reminds me right before we get to that spot, while we're waiting at a light) and there may have been a time or two where I forgot and still turned left, causing him to become very sad that I didn't follow through on my promise.  I just may have had to flip a u-turn to stop the tears.

He's always loved to help us do things around the house, but we had a first last weekend.  Jackson was my baking helper this past weekend.  He did more watching and spoon licking than helping, but I'll take it any day.

Cougar Mountain Zoo

With another sunny day in the forecast last Sunday, we headed to Cougar Mountain Zoo for the first time.  No crowds, smallish size making it easy to go back and forth to each exhibit, less than 10 minutes from our house, and the chance to hand feed animals - couldn't ask for much more than that.

Jackson had a great time and LOVED feeding the deer, alpacas and reindeer. An impatient alpaca even spit on him - luckily we were able to clean it up quickly and it didn't even phase him.

Looking forward to more trips back in the future!

Pretty sure this kangaroo has a few pieces of apple in its pouch.

One of these macaws will surprise you by greeting you with a "hello!"

Jackson and the Conga

I've mentioned it before, so it's no secret that Jackson LOVES to dance. We all continue to frequently dance together to the Conga, Chicken Dance and Hokey Pokey at home, but he's now starting to dance more on his own. And he takes his dancing very seriously and gets very into it, let me tell you.

 Check it out!

     

While we were away...

Last week, while we were all out of town, everyone had a great time.  Roxy enjoyed three walks every day (more than she gets a week when we're around) and spent quality time with Corey's mom.  Jackson had a great time with "Gwamma Linda, Gwampa, Gweat Gwamma, and Kitty Kat" in Yakima.  More to come on this in a few minutes.

With both kids in great hands, we were ready to head to the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui for a week of rest and relaxation.  It was so nice not having to worry about a thing for the whole week, and I think both Joan and my family were more excited to have guests for the week, than we were to go on vacation - and we were pretty excited for vacation.

We went with very few plans other than sleep, enjoying lots of good food, getting sun, and reading, and we successfully checked all of these off our list.  Though both of us woke up early most days, it was so nice to be lazy and ready in bed for an hour or two, or head out to breakfast.

During our week there, we enjoyed a few breakfasts at Longhi's at The Shops at Wailea, dinner at Mama's Fish House (one of our favorite restaurants in Maui), a meal at Star Noodle (known for employing Top Chef contestant Sheldon), dinner at Sushi Paradise, and dinners at Nick's Fishmarket and Ko at the Fairmont. 

Add to that some shopping, shave ice at Haukohi Shave Ice in Kihei, iced blendeds from The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, poolside snacks and drinks (I am still thinking about the many virgin Mary's I had - delish), doing some light racing off the line in our rental car to see how fast we could accelerate to the speed limit (yeah, we're crazy like that, and in case you were wondering, a Chrysler 200 can accelerate to 45 MPH in 9.6 seconds), a swim in the ocean, and you have yourself a nice relaxing vacation.

We didn't take many pictures, since we didn't do much - in fact, this was the first vacation ever that Corey didn't bring a camera! - but did capture a few:

 

Random cat that became our tanning buddy one afternoon

Jackson on the other hand was very busy in Yakima,

Throwing rocks in the river:

Helping Grampa wash rocks (an activity my dad pretended to need help with, and one that Jackson had a blast doing):



Putting his shoes away after coming inside:

Finding, and finally becoming friends with, the Kitty Cat (Nikki):

Watering trees:

Sharing a cold milkshake with Grampa during a hot afternoon (temps were near 100 every day): 

Getting familiar with the pool (for some reason, he's not been wanting to go swimming this year, so this was as close as he got):

Playing with Great Gramma:

Posing for pictures for Gramma:

He was so busy, the few times we called to talk to him, we only had seconds with him before he ran off to play.  According to my parents, he was a perfect angel - he ate well, slept great, and had no tantrums (apparently he saves those for us).  In fact, he didn't cry at all until Friday, when I think missing us finally kicked in.  My mom said he seemed sad that day, and needed extra hugs, and some cuddles.

And, we couldn't not share any photos of our other kid.  Here's Roxy relaxing after one of many walks around her old stomping grounds:

Thanks to all the grandparents for taking such great care of our kiddos!  It allowed us a worry-free, relaxing vacation and we couldn't be more thankful for all of you!