Favorite thing!!!

They are starting on the houses across the street and Nicholas could not be more excited!!!
All I hear all day is "tractor, tractor, tractor!!!!!!"

Seattle... the short version....

So here's the shortest version of the trip that I can manage. We had the best time! Seattle weather was awesome (so great that the air here took my breath away when we walked out of the airport). It was about 65-75 degrees and NO HUMIDITY!!! seriously, the difference was astounding...

Getting ready for the big take off! The first plane ride went ok. Nicholas had 1 and 1/2 meltdowns, but nothing to get us kicked out at 30,000 ft. The only other mishap was a little goldfish spill that left us with no more to eat.... not.good. But we made it!
Nicholas and Bruno meet! Note the cast on Bruno's leg, he broke his knee cap! The cast came off on Monday, but he's still pitiful :(

After we got to Andrea's we realized that Nicholas had a lot of energy to burn so she took us down to the beach. It's just a few seconds from their house and Nicholas loved the rocks!

**side note** this place was stinky!

Monday we went to Northwest Trek and saw lots of fun animals. The first part of the park was kinda like a normal zoo. It had cougars, wolves, coyotes, grizzly bears, black bears, all different kinds of owls, and bald eagles. (all animals native to the region). They were all in habitats, but there was a HUGE difference between this place and any other zoo we've been to- the animals were awake, running around and playing! And they were SOOOOO close! I mean about 5 feet away! It was crazy! The second part of the park was a tram ride through about 400 acres of open range. It was amazing. Right when we started the ride a bull caribou came charging at the tram! It was awesome! He ran about 6 inches by the tram! After that we saw bison, more caribou, mountain goats, and lots more! It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. The picture above is really how close we were to the animals-- NO ZOOM NEEDED!!

After Northwest Trek we went up mt. rainier. It was actually pretty fun, and Nicholas really loved playing in the snow. The highest point that you can get to is 5000 ft by car. It was such a pretty drive and we had to stop a few times on the way to take some fun pictures. a.k.a senior pictures... In this one, I became a tree hugger like the rest of those foreigners up there!

here's EC at the Seattle Aquarium. They have a area where you can touch starfish and other little creatures. Nicholas loved it! also- they had a little tank with Nemo, his dad, and Dory. Andrea and I were super excited about that tank... Nicholas not so impressed!

This is the huge octopus that was in one of the tanks. It was really active and gave us a good show.

Nicholas the jellyfish.

Scuba diver and an eel!!

This pig is at the Pike Place market. There's a rumor that rubbing the nose of the piggy gives you good luck. . . rub Nicholas rub!

Emma Claire during her photo shoot with me. Seriously, she's so sweet and cute I could eat her up!!

Nicholas and Bruno wrestling. They both loved it!

1st trip to the movies!

Today Nicholas & I went to the free movies in Hendersonville with Julie, Kinsey, & Caden. They were angels... Nicholas, however, was unimpressed with the movie. So we spent our time like this:::

Water fountains... fun.

Race cars... super fun!

So, all in all, it was a good time. I recommend it to anyone with small kids.

What's better than a free movie?

Eating some watermelon... sort of....

Just hanging out outside eating watermelon and blowing bubbles...

and climbing on chairs....

Ssssshhhhhhhhhhhh.....

he doesn't understand "one piece at a time"

bowls are tricky.

I'm guessing that this means that the photo shoot is over.

Very subtle.......

1st trip to our pool!!!

Today was our first trip to the pool in the neighborhood. Kinsey, Caden, Cole, & Clayton came over and we all jumped in (the VERY VERY VERY cold) water. I can see that there will be lots of fun times to be had at the pool this year!

Nicholas' first close up look at the fun! (I'm thinking that he liked it!)

Cole hitting the slide!

Nicholas and Clayton

Miss Kinsey having a snack.

Nicholas having a snack!
Caden having a cracker 'hamburger'

Bec and her boys!

Visit from Gavin and Graham

Last week Gavin & Graham came in town. Nicholas had SO much fun playing with them. Here are some of the pictures from the visit.

Hanging out at Grandma Shuff's house.
Playing at the playground in a tunnel.

At mammo's exclusive pool.

Just hanging out reading.

So sweet with Shuffie!

Cage match at Shuffie's... Willie was the ref. I'm not sure who won!

Gavin (almost 2 years!) & Graham (almost 4 months!)

2 little sweeties!