Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Let's grab a pole and go fishing!

Another really late post. Sorry. The day before Chris and I left for Hawaii was Logan's final preschool field trip. We went to the U-Fish pond in Orting. The weather held up just long enough for our visit which was perfect. I've never been to that particular spot before and it was really neat. We plan on taking the boys back sometime this summer.

The kids were first shown around the grounds. They got to throw handfuls of "pizza" (fish food pellets) into each of the different ponds. They each contained different size fish. Every time they threw the food in and the fish went crazy eating it, the kids squealed and screamed with laughter. It was so funny to watch them.
After the tour of the ponds, the kids were each given a pole, bucket, net, and bait. Logan picked his fishing spot, and we got his pole all baited up. He cast out his line, I turned around to grab my camera and in the same second he screamed out "I GOT ONE!!" I didn't even have time to take a picture! It was that fast! So we reeled in the fish and got him into the bucket. Logan was so excited, and it was a pretty big fish too. But I needed some photos. So we put some more bait on the hook and cast out again. He caught another fish almost instantly, but I got a few pics, so we were good. Unfortunatly this fish swallowed the hook and bled pretty bad out of his gills into the bucket. It wasn't a pretty sight. And because the hook got stuck, that was the end of Logan's fishing day. We got the fish cleaned, paid for our catch, and got in the van to head home, just as the rain started to pour down.
Logan and his best friends, Eli and JD

Monday, June 28, 2010

The B and Me weekend

It's been almost 2 months since Brandon and I had our little getaway trip to Portland, and I'm just now blogging about it. We were supposed to go to a Mom-and-Me Cub Scout camp, but it was full when I went to go sign up for it. So instead we decided to take our own little trip south for an overnight stay and a day long trip to the Oregon Zoo.

Right when Brandon got home from school on the Friday before Mother's Day we headed out. We stayed at the Shilo Inn by the airport and we had our very own suite! There were three tv's throughout the room including a little one in the bathroom so you could watch while you were on the can. Brandon thought it was hilarious. The pool at the hotel was open 24 hours so we headed down shortly after we checked in and Brandon had the pool all to himself. I relaxed on a deck chair and read. When he was tired of swimming we walked across the street and had a late dinner at Shari's. I let Brandon stay up as late as he wanted to watch cartoons. I think it was about 11:00 when he finally crashed out.

The next morning, after chowing down some breakfast in our room, we headed off to the zoo. I adore the Oregon Zoo. I hate to say that it's much better than any of the zoos we have up here in Washington. They had a couple of exhibits that they were working on that open this summer, so we plan on going back with the whole family. We had a lot of fun together. It was nice to get to spend some time just the two of us.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Happy 9th Birthday, Brandon!!

My little baby boy isn't a baby anymore. He's nearly as tall as I am. Okay, maybe he's still got about 6 inches to go, but he'll be there soon enough. I still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. The first glimpse I got of him was when the doctor held him up over the curtain before handing him off to the nurses. She said "Here he is!" I looked up and hanging over my head was a little pink butt. After they cleaned him up and swaddled him, the nurses gave him to Chris. He brought Brandon over to me as they were stitching my stomach back up and then I got to see his little pudgy face. Much cuter than a butt (thank goodness). He was quickly taken away to the NICU due to breathing problems and I didn't get to see him again until the evening of the next day because I couldn't get out of the bed into a wheelchair and they wouldn't bring him into our room yet. It was hard being apart from him for so long. But when I finally got wheeled down to the nursery, they put him in my arms, and I haven't let go since.

He's becoming such an independent person which has been a little rough. When you have small kids, and you guide them through the start of their lives, they pretty much follow everything you say. They do what you tell them to do, eat what you tell them to eat, go where you tell them to go, etc. You don't think about the older years, when they want to take care of themselves and make their own decisions. You're raising people, not just kids.

Brandon has jumped into becoming "Brandon". He's stared telling me which clothes in his wardrobe he doesn't like and doesn't want to wear anymore, he knows how he likes his hair and gets irritated if we try to tell him he should do it differently.  He gets home from school and runs right back out the door to cruise the neighborhood on his bike, and last night he asked when he can start staying home by himself. Even though it's really tough to have to let go of him more and more, I'm really excited to see the man that he will someday become.

We love you, B. You're a great kid. Happy Birthday.