Last Friday our church had a family game night. I accidentally left my phone at home, so we have no evidence! It wasn't board games, it was outdoor games, most of which included water and water balloons. It was fun but wet!
On Saturday I did henna at the market and then for pizza that night Nico chose Three Stooges to watch. We had the downstairs available because our housemates were out of town. We spent a lot of time down there this past week playing video games!
Long range Match-a-Pair-of-Birds game.
VBS started on Monday.
Tuesday was Grandma Camp day - Box City! They used up old boxes to build stuff - Bruce and Nico built a penguin! Nico is inside the penguin, you can see a bit of his face. The part at the bottom is where eggs come out.
This is from Papa's Grandpa Camp project. These are cuttings from another plant that he's showing them how to grow.
His tallest card stack yet!
On Wednesdays Nico is going to start going to the Youth Group at Papa's and Grandma's church. They are taking all the grandkids there! What fun! This Wednesday night was Messy Game Night. They played Twister with ketchup, mustard, syrup, and flour on the different colors. Nico came home smelling like syrup! He had a lot of fun though. He told me that they talked about "messy hearts", and about how sin makes your heart messy.
And then today, Grandpa and Grandma Russell came into town!! Grandma brought a new shape of cookies with her so we could make Sponge Bob cookies! I put some of the colors into henna cones so they would be easy to apply. Nico did a great job!
He opened some gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, one of them was a pair of SpongeBob pajamas! Grandma made the bottoms, they fit great with room to grow!
A book before bed time.
We will see them again tomorrow! We've got a fun birthday weekend coming up.
Last Friday was Avery's birthday, and his party! He had a Mario birthday.
There was a pinata, and Koopa Troopa cupcakes and yummy barbecued pizza.
Saturday was a slow day at home, pizza at night. Nico has been really enjoying the old MacGyver shows. It was his turn to choose the show on Saturday and he chose to watch MacGyver. Nico asks a lot of questions and Guy tells him everything. It's been quite a learning and entertaining experience for him. Guy and I enjoy watching him be so interested in all the things that MacGyver is doing. We watched an episode on Tuesday night that he didn't care for, though. One of the people in the show died being eaten by ants. Shortly after this happened he said he didn't want to watch it anymore and to go to the next episode. I totally agree, Nico. Sorry you had to see that :(
Here's our setup at our new table, watching MacGyver on the iPad.
VBS started on Monday. All the kiddos went. Allicia picked them up today, the last day of VBS, and Nico remarked to her that he didn't want to do the VBS next year! I will have to ask him why when I get a chance. Every day he would take his name tag off after getting home and put it on the fridge. He wants to keep them.
There is a video at the end with VBS scraps.
Playing in our new hallway.
Nico and I played Hang Man one morning, and one his words was "GG". I told him that wasn't a word and he said "YES IT IS! Grandma GG!" We went to see GG and Aunt Pat on Monday after VBS. She gave me a peek at his birthday present :D
On Wednesday we went to Bricks & MiniFigs to get some party favors for the kids coming to Nico's party on Sunday. He built a MiniFig for each kid who is coming. I love the one he made for Evelyn.
Guy fixed the corner booth chair by attaching a wooden leg that Papa had cut for us (Thanks Pa!) Guy added a cut at the top so that it was stair stepped and attached easily with screws to the chair. It is now safe to sit on!
Today was travel day for Grandpa and Grandma Russell! They arrived this evening!! We went right to work putting together the puzzle we needed to do for a birthday party game on Sunday. It was a fun way to jump into it.
Grandma and Nico read comics before bed. Then she tucked him in.
I'm so happy they're here! It will be a great weekend!
Here's the VBS video. Plus Nico playing "The Floor is Lava". There are so many new obstacles to learn how to jump over in our newly arranged house. And now that he's a stuntman, thanks to Parkour Camp, he knows how to take risks ;)
We continued our time in Arlington last Friday, we woke up at Cama Beach and had an early morning bird walk. Nico and I got another game of chess in on the big chess board, and a friendly neighborhood cat followed us on our walk.
Part of Grandma's shell collection
After our bird walk we went to the Cafe and got breakfast, then walked back to our cabin to pack up and call the shuttle. We loaded all our stuff into the shuttle and they drove us back up to our cars. From there we drove the 30 minutes back to Arlington.
For lunch we went to La Hacienda, a favorite from our last visit. We got Nico the same thing we got him last time, the Carne Asada, and he gulped it down just like last time.
Friday afternoon Guy and I and Nico drove to Lake Stevens to visit friends of ours, Rusty and Ellen. Nico remembered being there 2 years ago and asked again for the Thomas the Tank Engine toy he remembered playing with. They still had it! So he spent time putting that together while the rest of us talked.
Friday evening I'm pretty sure we just hung out at home, there were lots of books to be read and Grandma Russell helped us quite a bit in finding books to help fill in Nico's book bingo sheet. Before our trip I picked up a book bingo sheet from Rediscovered Books in downtown Boise. Last June they did this same thing, each square has a different kind of book listed (for example, an autobiography, or a book written by a woman, etc), and when you finish reading that type of book you write the name and author in the square. If you get a bingo you are entered into a drawing. If you get a blackout (which is what we're going for), you get to go to an after hours party at the bookstore. While in Arlington Nico read almost 12 books! Most of these were children's books for ease and speed of reading.
Grandma made another trip to the library while we were there, and you might remember that when we lived in Arlington our house was right across the street from the library, so while she was in that area she got a picture for us. Looks about the same!
Saturday morning we had considered going with the Grandparents to the Farmer's Market in Mt Vernon, but we were feeling a little homey that day so we stayed behind. I mixed up an ice cream recipe for use later in the ice cream maker, and then we attempted to put together a 3D puzzle and soon gave up.
The Grandparents arrived home with treats and meat and veggies. They even picked us up a whole bunch of strawberries which we enjoyed eating for the remainder of our trip.
Grandpa showed us part of his knife collection.
Saturday for lunch they went to Tokyo House (I stayed home for napping purposes). Nico enjoyed some fried rice and sushi!
Playing a game of Clue Jr.
Saturday we had pizza! Woohoo!! We watched Mr. Bean which Nico really enjoyed. For dessert we tried to make ice cream but it didn't freeze well enough, so instead we had strawberries covered in the liquid ice cream. Strawberries and cream. It was tasty.
Sunday morning we were able to visit our old church. It used to be Marysville Church of the Nazarene, now they are Generations Community Church. We saw a lot of old friends. After church we stopped at Jimmy John's for lunch before heading to Pullman.
It was sad to leave them, we had so much fun. We will see them again in July for Nico's birthday!
On our way to Pullman.
The drive as about 6 hours, we arrived and were welcomed by my Mom. For whatever reason, Nico was not aware or had forgotten that we would be seeing Grandma Salisbury at the hotel. He was so shocked to see her car there! Grandma took us to our room (King suite with jacuzzi tub!) and then took Nico to Taco Time, bringing back some burritos for Guy. She offered to keep Nico overnight in her room for the two nights we were there, and Guy and I were able to watch a movie late into the night. We watched Hunger Games the first night and the sequel to this the 2nd night. Apparently there are 2 more movies! They are on our list to watch.
Monday morning Guy and I ate breakfast and then drove to Moscow (10 minute drive). We did a little shopping, then picked up lunch at Paradise Cafe at the Moscow Mall and brought it back to my mom's room. Her and Nico had driven to Moscow to pick up my Grandma!!
My mom found a really good cake shop (across the street from our hotel!!), so after lunch we enjoyed a gluten free dairy free cake.
Me and Grammy
A little while after lunch, Nico, Guy, and I got into our swimsuits and went to the hotel pool! We played for about 40 minutes, then Guy and I got out and let Nico play for a while longer. He shivers after a while in the pool so he was going back and forth from pool to hot tub.
Then we said our goodbyes to Grammy. Mom took her home, bringing Nico with her. She took Nico to a park in Moscow afterward before coming back to the hotel. Guy and I went to coffee and then started watching our 2nd movie!
Tuesday morning started our trek back home! We arrived around 4pm and stopped at Taco Time to pick up food on our way into Boise. We unloaded the car and then sat down to eat. Phew!
What a great trip we had! We are almost all back to normal routine now.
Wednesday Nico got a haircut. (tried to get one before the trip but they were booked!)
In the evening Evelyn, Avery, and Nico all went to VBS at Jeff & Allicia's church. It was water night, so they all got in their swimsuits. 90 degree day!
This morning Nico and I parked our car near the library and then walked on the greenbelt to the post office where we found a key to open a package locker. Inside was a package for Nico from the Grandparents Russell, a supplement to his bird journal, a book of birds in the West plus a birding guide.
(By the way, our conversation on the way home: "When I get older I want to live in Caldwell. It has the highest crime rate but I still want to live there because, I don't know, I just do. I'm going to be an ornithologist and I'll live in Caldwell and I'll study birds.")
This evening was another VBS. He took the $20 that Grammy gave him to donate tonight. What he said: "The girls gave more than the boys. If the boys give more, then they'll win!" Allicia texted me after she dropped them off that the boys are now ahead by $10. Heehee.
Ok I think that's it for this week. Enjoy the video!!
