Our Vacation

Hello all,

I just took mom and dad for a vacation at Aunt Jenny's and Uncle Nick's cabin near Mount Rainier. It was fun, but there were some things I just don't understand. Why did Ali Booboo rile up those yellow and black flying things. And why did we run away when they started coming at us. And WHAT were those words dad used as he slapped his legs.

Also, why didn't dad and mom realize I needed 22, not just 11, layers of warm clothes. What, do they they think I'm a whale with layers of blubber to keep me warm. (Hey, that's BABY FAT, smart guy, not blubber).

Why didn't dad obey my commands more promptly while I was riding in the backpack. I mean, I gave explicit directions by pulling his hair hard in exactly the direction I wanted to go.

And what was Mt. St. Helens smoking? I thought cigarettes were at the very least frowned upon in a National Monument, and I'm pretty sure everything else is illegal.

Aunt Jenny and Uncle Nick were so nice to let us use the place. It will go down in history as the place I learned to go up stairs. Dad kept crawling behind me and catching me. He didn't have to but he thought he did.

There are some pretty cool pix on the photo album, go see for yourselves.

I've spent almost exactly as much time outside mom as inside her now, and I think that's a pretty big milestone.

Hiking

Mom and dad and Mary took me hiking for the first time yesterday. I was in this great chair on daddy's back and could see everything. I could see the dogs race up and down the path ahead of us. Ali (BooBoo), Alita (Bonita) and Chula (Bula) had a great time.

On the way back down I was pretty tired from the hike up, so I fell asleep. My head bonked against part of the backpack and I've got an owie there now. Oh well, I'll just have my people exchange it.

Oh yeah, and on Sunday we went sailing with Abi and Ross on a Cal 34. That was fun, too, but it was really tiring.

There's a picture of us hiking on the photo site.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. By the way, is anybody out there? I keep checking for comments and there are none.

So much has happened that it's going to take a while to describe. First and foremost, as of the last couple of days, I'm officially a crawler. That slight shift you felt the day before yesterday was the earth settling in to its new state. Now, I can go virtually anywhere in the world, though it might take a while. I still tend to wobble a little, and occasionally do a side-plant. Dad laughs. He's mean.

Along with crawling, I've learned hoisting. Hoisting myself up alongside furniture, that is. It won't be long before I'm "cruising," that is using the furniture as support while I walk around.

Hoisting and cruising are also both sailing terms, which is a nice segue into my first sailing experience. It was aboard the Santa Cruz 52 Voodoo Child in the Elliott Bay Downtown Series. I tried to trim the genny on a tack, but dad ripped the sheet right out of my hands. Again with the laughing. I sailed twice, of course both times we won (though we had to cheat a little the first time, though in the Elliott Bay series, running an engine isn't considered cheating so we didn't cheat after all) I liked the sailing thing OK, but it got a little windy and I went down below.

Lots of other things have been happening as well. My grandpa came to visit! How cool was that? The doctor checked me out and said that I was in the 90th percentile in height, and 50th in weight. And it's true, I'm taller than almost anybody my age. And now that I'm a little older and more mature, I tend to make it clearer what I want and when I want it.

I took my first airplane ride and saw my first farm. We went to a Sauder family wedding in Lloydminster, Alberta, and visited Uncle Dave and Uncle Glenn's farms. It was great fun. Mom wants to be a farmer. The plane ride was great. For some reason everybody on the plane groaned when they saw me get onboard but thought I was pretty cool at the end.

I'm eating solid food. Well, not quite solid, but it's not milk. I'm not particularly fond of mixed vegetable stuff, but I really like winter squash, chicken, turkey and peas. Anything with chunks isn't very appealing at this point.

I'm not quite sure what's going on with my sisters Ali and Chula. Chula never stuck around and let me pull her hair, but Ali used to. Now as I get a little stronger, every time I pull Ali's hair she leaves (and usually I still have a fistful of hair). But what's really strange is the gift giving thing. Both of them leave their toys around, and sometimes Ali purposely gives hers to me. That's cool, but as soon as I almost sink my gums into it, mom or dad take it away. Sometimes Ali Boo will even give it and then take it away. And now, when I see Ali or Chula with a toy and start to crawl toward them, they usually take their toy and run away. I don't get it.

So, that's it for now. Take a look at my photo album, there are lots of new pictures. Let me know if you're reading this!

The Aunts Came Marching

Hello all,

Lots of stuff has been happening. My Aunt Sarah and my Aunt Emily and Grandma Shannon all came to visit, and I tried to spend time with each of them. There's only so much of me to go around. Speaking of that, boy is this food thing great. I get to try everything. Peas, carrots, squash, pears and my new favorite, fresh avocado. There was also my first 4th of July. There were a few loud bangs, but I have to say I wasn't all that impressed.

Eating, bathing, rolling.

Hello! I just have learned the coolest thing. If you roll over, then roll over again, then reorient your body just a little, then roll and roll, you can get someplace. I can roll almost anywhere. Mom and dad are getting these worried looks on their faces, especially when they say the word "crawl." Ooh we're going to have some fun.

The other coolest thing I've learned is EATING. Everyone gathered around like it was a huge deal. No problem. Down the hatch, I say. Pile it on. I've mastered rice cereal and peas, so I think I'm ready for a super jumbo burrito.

I'm big into baths. I've now taken baths with both mom and dad. That's fun too.

Mark, Nancy and Matthew Kohls came to see me. Nancy's a pro, clearly a master at boys like me. My aunts Emily and Sarah (another master) came to visit as well, and we had a big pizza party at the house. Of course I give everybody a chance to hold me. The trick is for me to keep moving, so I give them a minute then move on.

That's it for now. I'm posting a bunch of new photos in my photo album, so follow the link at the right.

IH

Helping

Yesterday I helped mom in the garden for the first time. I supervised while she started weeding the front. She's got a ways to go. Then dad needed some help on the east path along the house. He had to rework it a little since he didn't get it quite right the first time. They really need a LOT of supervision.

In the meantime I'm growing out of clothes. And teething.

Voodoo Child?

I had a huge day on Saturday. I was sleeping happily after my morning meal and woke up in a completely new place with completely new people. It was way cool. Mom and dad are great and everything, but a kid's gotta expand his social network these days. Apparently mom had a continuing education course she had to do without me and dad just "had" to sail on Voodoo Child. So, my buddies PJ, Austin and Bryce took care of me instead. It was great! I even got to visit mom at noon to tell her everything was going well.

Mom and dad were so proud of me for being cool with hit. Hey, I AM cool. Ain't no big deal.

Since PJ is in charge of the Voodoo crew, does that make me a Voodoo Child?

See ya.

The HOUSE

A lot has happened since my last post. I've been really busy making sure that Mom and Dad don't forget about me when they're busy.

So, after a lot of late nights the Green Lake House was done, or at least somewhat liveable. So we now live there. I like it a lot. I have my own room here, though they don't let me sleep in it yet. And it's a whole lot quieter than the old place. I do miss the sirens on 85th, however. For some reason, even though this is a bigger place, it looks like it's going to be too much stuff.

I put some photos on my web site (use link at right). You'll get the idea.

Everybody is welcome to come say hi to me any time! The phone is the same as the old place (206) 528-8135, and Mom has even let Dad put the message on the answering program, so it's his land line too now!

Talons

Mom says I've got talons. Not talent, talons. Just 'cause I've scratched my face a couple of times. So, I'm stuck wearing mittens. Hey, they're not even mittens, but socks. How embarrassing.

Wow, those are DOGS

I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden I could tell that yellow and that gray shape were both dogs. Kinda like people except more hair and longer noses. I also learned that they would like to share my jungle gym.

Learning to laugh

I had my first big laugh today. Cami was "swimming" through my jungle gym arches and lo and behold it was hilarious. So far, nothing mom or dad do is all that funny, though they seem to enjoy laughing at each other.

Slipping me Stars

Mom and dad are being very tricky. First they cut the formula with 1/2 of mom's milk, like I won't know what's going on. Yeah, I drink it. Half of it's the good stuff. But then this latest is ridiculous. Mom eats slightly spicy Thai food. And just who ends up dealing with that? Well, I will have NONE of that. And did have none of that.

Formula? You've got to be kidding!

Mom and dad tried to put some naaaasty stuff in me yesterday. Formula? Who invented this stuff. It's about as much like mom's milk as instant coffee is like a really good French roast. Suffice it to say I gave it right back to them.

Back to Work

I had a pretty good weekend. Dad was out of my hair on Saturday racing. Hey, wait, I don't have hair. I got to visit my cousins Kylie and Cami and my girlfriend Virginia on Saturday. Katie's away, so it's all Virginia right now. Anyway, I've got a job to do, and that's eat. I do it very well. Back to work.