WA Trip #3

So after that we decided to take yet another trip to Washington for a couple of weeks (July 7-21). Random note from our trip up. So we didn't forget Z's shoes, I had placed them in the car as he was running around barefoot. Then I finished a few things. Meanwhile, I guess Z got bored so J played with him outside. And put on his shoes. Paul and Maggie try to keep all the shoes off at the door, so when they came back inside, Z's shoes came off. I don't remember who grabbed him, but when we got out of the car an hour later, we found his shoes didn't come with us. So we spent some time looking for some sandals. And would you imagine that in July it was difficult to find some for him? We only found a few, and even less that I was willing to pay for. But Jason finally found some that sufficed. Here's a random pic of Z in the car the day before we left. I love banana chips (the real ones I make, not the sugary super hard ones at the store). Zachary loves them too. He was munching on them when I turned around and found him like this. It was just stuck to his chin. After taking some pictures and some serious prompting from Jason, I removed it :). For long road trips, kids need stuff to play with. Even better if it's food. We had the end of a loaf of homemade bread, so when Z got really bored I just gave it to him. He ripped it into pieces and got crumbs everywhere. He actually ate some of it, too, by pinching out the soft center. Kept him amused for an hour! Though he did start complaining by the end of it that the crumbs hurt his legs - they were all up his shorts! Here's Z chillin'. I think this was him trying to wink. Looks less possessed than the blinking. We took his chair down from the table and put it on the floor. He wandered on over and next thing we knew, he was like this. He put his tray there by himself. Balloons please any child :). Boat time! I think Jason decided to go without fins, and because of that he kept bailing. As seen here :). ...and here... We stopped for a pottybreak and played in the water. Zach got super freaked out when J went into the water. Super freaked out. He just didn't want him to go in. Finally I got him to calm down by helping me hold the flag when J hit the deck. Z seemed to enjoy it. Z LOVES this yellow blanket. He'll wrap it around himself and just walk around. He just reminds me of the picturesque Mary from the Christmas story. And like all boys, Z loves to play in the dirt. Eva planted some sunflower seeds, so Z "helped" her with that. And with shoveling... Then I guess he decided to do it himself. His face was SO dirty! Zach warmed up more to Papa Bob, and it doesn't hurt when he had food. Z always hits him up for some. Always. So they sat down and Bob shared his toast. Some kids don't care if they get dirty, especially hands or face. Z usually can't stand it. If he has food on his face or hands, even just a little piece, he'll ask for help. Here he's wiping his face. He's pretty finicky. Kinda funny. Along the same lines as being clean, Z loves to swiffer. I've heard that's fairly common. He might not do it for very long, and he's certainly not very thorough, but he'll ask to help. It's pretty cute. Must get dirty! (dirt's okay, I guess, just not food) We all really like this picture. He's so cute. But that hat is just too small for him anymore. It's pretty sad. He has his "new" blue hat we picked up in CA, but every boy needs a baseball cap. Must spend more time on the boat... We finally managed to get a picture or two of us going out with Chad and Amanda. We actually all jumped in and went swimming...a big step for me (we've actually done it a few times). It was a little chilly (65?), but I adjusted fairly well. It actually felt pretty nice to float on my back and let the sun warm me up. That night Bob took us out to Casa Mia. Pretty tasty! Sauce and salad dressing on the side - I'm a picky orderer now that I have some concept of calories. But we had the cheesecake with mango sauce for dessert, and it was pretty fantastic. Again, Zachary digging around in the dirt. We also got to see Amie a bit. Amie was actually trying to talk on the phone, I think, but Zach wanted to be involved, too. It was pretty funny. Then she taught him airplane. Jason pushing his nephew Hunter and Z around in the wheelbarrow. Random cute picture of our boy. Papa Bob let him talk on the phone. He would use his cell phone to call Z on the house phone. Needless to say, Z loved it. Playing with his concrete truck. Bob had his driveway redone, and Z just loved watching the concrete truck. So Eva's mom bought him a little set of trucks, one of them a concrete truck. He likes to point them out when we're driving down the road. Snuggling. Or being silly :). So Amie came over once and had this headband. She was kind enough to share it with Zach for a while, and he thought it was pretty neat. We kept making comments about him playing some bball. Tried to get him to pose a little, but he was too excited and they all came out blurry :). 'Nother random shot. Out on the boat. Of course, the life jacket that we had purchased on our previous trip had been accidentally left at Paul's, but the next door neighbor was kind enough to let us borrow this one. We went out with Hunter, Andrea and Amie. Zach just loves Hunter. It really is a bummer he doesn't get to hang out with more kids. Some family shots...
Sunchips! They are the best. When we go boating I usually bring granola, apples, and any trail mix or dried fruit I still have. But sunchips always seem to make their way onto the boat, too. After we took Amie home, we decided to head up a big hill to watch the sun set. That's the one thing Tri-Cities has - sunsets. Anyway, we headed up this road to where we thought we wanted to go. We had some issues finding the road that took us to the very top, but once we found it we decided to walk as our car wasn't meant for four wheeling. We made is just in time and got to watch a pretty neat sunset, which included Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. We didn't have our camera, so these were on our phones and they just don't do it justice. But as a surprise we also got to watch a full moon rise. It was really neat. Talking on the "pretend" phone. And another self portrait that I think turned out really well. Bummin' with Amanda eating some lentil burritos. I will change the world's eating habits all by myself!! :) You might notice my nails...Jeanie has asked in the past to take me to get my "nails done," but it had always been right after I cut them so they were super short. But this time I figured I'd better say yes or she'd stop asking and give up. So I went. I was thinking just a manicure. But that's not what she meant by "getting my nails done." She had meant acrylics. So I got the french tips and the acrylic goo. And they looked very nice. But they hurt so horribly! For three days my hands just ached. Any sort of pressure to my finger tips was super uncomfortable. The most mundane things became awkward and painful. Like opening the microwave door. But they looked really nice and Jason liked them, so I tried to suffer through. And finally, I think, by day four they didn't hurt as bad. Z helping sweep off the new concrete. And, of course, another hands-free downward dog. On concrete :). Reading with Amie. And more dirt. He did, however, learn about rolly pollies. I guess he had never seen one before when he and Eva came across one. Apparently at one point it ended up on it's back with it's feet flailing, so to describe them Z would flail his arms about. Child labor! :) Amie showing off her stuff. She went to WA State Championships and won for three baton! She has this fatty trophy that is apparently just a "traveling" trophy which she has to return next year. But she did really well. And she did pretty well in the other categories she preformed in. The next generation of baton twirlers :). Bumming outside. Another self portrait. Mine never seem to come out well, but I guess if you take so many you're bound to get a good one. Zach still sticks out his tongue. A few other random things I can remember. Zach started to learn to put on his shoes (thanks, velcro). Maggie had actually taught him right and left one time in the car, so we were working on keeping him straight in that respect. And trying to teach him that each of his shoes are only designed for one of those feet. He also read a new book - Goodnight, Moon. Eva has it and it was one of his favorites. One night after we had just put him to bed, I was sitting on the couch with the monitor behind me. Sometimes he just makes sounds, while other times he actually uses words. This time he used words. "Ni-ni moon...ni-ni mouse...ni-ni nobody..." came in a meager little voice. It was totally cute. He said ni-ni to three things, but I can't quite recall the second one. It might not have been mouse. But the nobody was pretty hilarious. Especially since it was still pretty light outside and I'm sure he knew he was missing out on everything we were still doing.