thinkin' about it thursday: climbing the wall.

we did wall climbs at the gym this week.........with our feet.  the little boys had to show off their skills, too.  ;)

the zoo.

we went to woodland park zoo recently and loved it.

what was their favorite?  the flamingos.  don't. ask. me. why.  i don't know.  i do know we will go back!

thinkin' about it thursday: mighty machines.

current netflix obsession:

*google images*

the boys cannot get enough.  there's about a dozen episodes in three seasons streaming on netflix.  everyday they have a different favorite episode.  and, yes, they can sing you the theme song.  

talking about theme songs, the one from bill nye the science guy, {bill! bill!} is popular around here, too.  we've been checking them out from the library.......so if you want to know about momentum, or storms, or spinning things -just ask cy.

thinkin' about it thursday: fishing.

we l.o.v.e. fishing.

thinkin' about it thursday: the wind.

what is the wind even for, anyway?!?!?!?  

(dramatic throwing of arms in air, simultaneous rolling of eyes, followed by grunt of disgust.)

thinkin' about it thursday: mexican train.

finally, finally, finally cy is old enough for "mexico train" as he calls it!!  we have been playing it everyday, sometimes several times a day.  it is so fun.  i love how he calls out what tiles he has and how he calls the doubles "twice [#]." so cute.  

goodbye candyland and connect 4, yes!!!!!

thinkin' about it thursday: 4 wheelin'.

the cousins got some "farm wheelers" {as cy calls them.}

cy and lane loved every minute.  me........not so much, although it is fun watching them have so much fun.  [isn't there SO much that can possibly happen on those things!?!?!?!?!?]

thinkin' about it thursday: sleeping babies.

thinkin' about it thursday: badger mountain.

badger mountain challenge:  year 2.

melanie, me, meredith.

melanie is the inspiration for this!!  i'm so excited to have this picture!!  we never would have known about this race, known that we could do it, or actually signed up for it without melanie!!  it's such an amazing race and such an amazing feeling of accomplishment that i will forever be grateful!!

ashley made some super cute signs and hung them in the car for me and meredith without us knowing it!  such a fun surprise!  and totally inspiring!!

our numbers:

when you get your packet with your numbers, then it really feels real!!

meredith and i pre-race.  

 the weather was perfect.  perfect.  i had a strategy in my mind and i trained with that strategy.  i had a goal to finish in under 2 hours.  i was ready for the badger.  and i did it, and it felt good.  the route was a little different.  we went behind the mountain instead of in front of it, and i think i like it better.  it surprised me how hard the first little road uphill was, {i didn't remember that} i kept a good pace with the hike and i sprinted the downhills.  i ran on all the flat parts and didn't stop at the last water station.  i kicked it the last mile........everything i had.  i accomplished what i set out to do, finished in 1:46, and it was F.U.N. yes, yes it was.  next year: here i come.  it's called an addiction.

thinkin' about it thursday: soccer.

cy played soccer this spring and we had the best coach and the cutest team!!

 i loved our first practice when our super patient coach was trying to get 5-yr-olds to stand in a straight line.  then spread out.  so funny.
then he was trying to tell the kids to keep the ball close like a dog.  he asked them, "what would happen if you let your dog off his leash?"
 
they yelled out answers:  "he would be hungry!!!"  "he would die!!!"  "he would be really scared!!!"

to which coach said, "nooooooo, he would run away."  lol.
{later in the van on the way home cy asks me, "mom, do i have to get a dog to play soccer?!?!?!?!?!"  bwahahahahahaha.}

 i don't think we have a professional soccer player on our hands, but he sure had fun chasing the crowd of kids around 'trying to get the ball.'  and he did make some super cute little friends.  and there was this one time that he finally got the soccer ball [first pic] and then you see in the next pic he was going the wrong way.  [see coach in 2nd pic.]  ahhhhhhhhh, too fun.  and he did get a shirt that he L.O.V.E.S.  so, bonus.

thinkin' about it thursday: lane bday.

lane had a birthday.  it was lucky.  it was fun.

**side note** i made a 3 on the wall out of pics of him and i had it all totally perfect before i realized i had it backwards.  and will got a picture.  awesome.

totally worth it.  :)

thinkin' about it thursday.

getting ready for a big party for these two:

don't let their {cute-ness} fool you.  it mighta been easier pulling teeth than it was taking their pictures together on this day.  ok, fine, they're cute.  ;)  
{now i gotta get back to cleaning (sigh)}

thinkin' about it thursday.

meet our fishies.

 

goldie

henry

buzz lightyear

estella girlfriend

chomper

butch

waldo

the way we tell the twins apart is by a tiny little black spot by chomper's eye.  chomper started out as chopper, but cy couldn't say chopper as well, so over a couple days it changed.  

buzz is our fattie.  henry is pretty aggressive.  it looks like he rams other fish, like he's picking on them, but cy loves it, cy says he's playing tag with them.  hah.  stella is my girl fish {i needed one, ya know.}  we have a neighbor dog that's named 'girlfriend' so cy insisted {demanded} we name a fish girlfriend.  

and, finally, our algae eater:  waldo.  cousin maddax was with us when we got waldo and we threw around some fun names........but waldo hides........he moves around a lot and hides.  so, i had to name him waldo.  {lane can't really say 'waldo' it's more like 'lago'} the kids constantly say "where's waldo?" {trying to find him} it makes me laugh every time.  cy still doesn't get it, maybe some day.

as you can see, we love them.  the kids check on them all day long.  they love feeding them and talking to them.  but, what is surprising to me is how much i love them.  love.  we are attached. 

thinkin' about it thursday.

tattooing my bananas totally makes me happy. try it.

seattle.

 we love seattle.

we got to go for a little business trip in february.

first up, the 'big ferris wheel': 

 that's safeco field in cy's hand.

{actually very first was ivar's on the wharf.......we thought it would be soooooo fun for the boys to feed the seagulls fries, but we forgot our kids' deep fear of any kind of animal.  maybe not such a great idea.}

next up: ferry-boat ride!!  we love to jump on the ferry and ride to the other end of the sound and back. you get the best views of the city and who doesn't love a boat ride?  it's always cold, though.

 we also rode the seattle public transportation light rail train into downtown and back to sea-tac.  the last two pics below are of the kids glued to the window.  the whole ride.  even underground.  hah!  seriously, when you ask them what their fave thing was they will tell you the ferry and train rides.  {the only things we didn't have to pay for them to do.  go figure.}

last up: the aquarium!

oh my goodness, there (middle pic) was a super creepy octopus.  yikes, i was scared, just look at that thing.........

{k, so a dunford cousin -STEVE- made a comment once wondering why people take pics of animals at the zoo.......don't they have google?!?!?!?!  and of course, that was in my head the WHOLE time at the aquarium, so here ya go, steve, pics of animals but with my kids in them!  LOL}

hello?!?!?!? anyone see giant-sized shark from JAWS on the ceiling?!?!?!?  but, nope, they wanted to 'hurry and go see the next thing' the whole time, so i felt like we sprinted through that place!

lane kept going to this bubble tube.......he likes bubbles.  and we finally found nemo!!!(middle pic, top)  well, i guess it coulda been his dad, we didn't get a look at both fins. ;)  and there was this tube of jellyfish floating that lane kept going to, although i don't know if he knew there were things in the tube or if it was just a cool tunnel to walk through......kids.

the first pic is an eel sticking out of the rock.....more creepiness....and then just more pics that i made the kids pose for.  :)

 otters.  k, cool carved bench, and cool clam cracking trick, but, the big guy in the last pic REALLY creeped me out.  seriously, i really, really thought there was a person trying to get out in there.  {oh, great, now i'm gonna have nightmares again tonight. ugh.}

 and finally the picture boards.  we had soooo much fun with these, and lane kept going back and sticking his head through them.......but, he didn't get that you were supposed to look up for a picture.  i have a thousand of these with lane in them.  i was laughing hard then and am laughing hard now.  well, every time i think about it, really.

what's missing?  OH YEAH, the pic of them touching all the creepy sponges and starfish and anemones (is that a thing?)  well, it's because my kids don't do animals.  duh.  {i really tried to get them to do it, ya know, 'for the picture' but they wouldn't, i wouldn't either, though, so, what do you expect?}

and then, of course, we had to get our own little aquarium with fishies in it when we got home!!  so, that will be my next post..........i know, you're so excited, you can't wait........

thinkin' about it thursday.

spent a couple fun days in seattle last week........have some fun pics that need their own post. until then, a preview.........a definite highlight: the hotel twirly chair.

thinkin' about it thursday.

all

y o u

need

is

love.

happy valentine's day.