Last Friday Nico got a haircut! Here is the before picture.
And the after picture.
Nico's cabbage
We went for a walk Friday to return a bird book to a local book box. The one on our street wasn't there anymore, but I had spotted one on Bacon St, so we went for a walk. We passed by one of Nico's classmate's houses, Grace. Grace and Nico have both been in speech for a few years together. They are often in speech together. Nico says he loves her. He has been wanting to invite her to his birthday party, and when we passed by, her little brother opened the front door and yelled, "NICO!" so we chatted with him and Grace and their mom for a bit. We were able to invite them to his birthday party, so it worked out really well! We saw Grace's cabbage growing in their front yard, it looked very similar to Nico's
Saturday morning we went to the Kid's Jam at our church. Breakfast, games, and animals!
Human version of Hungry Hungry Hippo
Blurry Dance-a-thon picture (video at end of blog!)
Corbin Maxey with his reptiles
Nico and the snake named Nico.
It was Nico's turn to choose the movie that night and he chose the Pokemon movie, the very first one. We were able to watch it downstairs since Jeff and Allicia and the family were out of town last weekend.
Sunday morning we found a package out front for Nico from Grandma Russell - an activity book about Geology, which he started into right away. He is learning about geology and rock in Cub Scouts this summer, so it's perfect! Thank you Grandma!
That afternoon we rode our bikes to the library.
They have their summer book program going on at the moment, and Nico was able to do a scavenger hunt there and get a coupon for a free cookie.
Monday Nico and I went to the Discovery Center.
Tuesday was a Grandma Camp day - they had a picnic in the park and did some painting!
Wednesday night, Guy and I attended a seminar in Caldwell, and Nico stayed the night at Papa and Grandma's house. Grandma took him to his swimming lessons, and he "graduated" from his Level 3 program and got all the checkmarks! To celebrate, Grandma took him to the mall for some dinner, and some See's Candy. He played Sequence with Papa that night and then slept on the AIR MATTRESS! He has been wanting to do that his whole life - sleep on their air mattress at their house.
Thank you Ma and Pa for watching the buddy for us!
Thursday was another Grandma Camp day and it was Crock Pot time again! Nico brought home these amazing crock pot chicken thighs that he had made. I forgot to take a picture of all of them in the crock pot, these are just the leftovers :)
I rate them a 5! So does Nico. Guy rates them a 4.
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!!
On Saturday Guy and Nico both had haircuts. Here are their "new" styles.
Saturday we had the pita pizzas again. We are going to transition to doing these pizzas for a while, even after our toaster oven is fixed. Everyone seems to like them! We watched a collection of Disney shorts on Netflix while we ate pizza. It was very good, several of them tear-jerkers.
On Sunday after church and lunch I took Nico over to the Grandparents Sailsbury's house for a sleepover with cousins. This is what Nico needed for 1 overnight stay. 4 stuffed animals take up most of that backpack space. :)
When we got there, Grandma had an activity set up where the kiddos were teamed up and had to plan and execute a plan for the boxes. Bruce and Nico built a toxic waste city. The girls built an animal hospital.
Grandma also got Nico to eat and enjoy Kipper Snacks. I had tried to get him interested in the past, with no luck. Leave it to cousin pressure to convince him he had to try them! He came home with his own can of kipper snacks.
On Monday Guy and I met at their house for dinner with Jonny and Alanna and the kiddos. Grandma made a yummy salmon loaf with dill sauce that was incredible. With mashed potatoes and salad and rice and all the fixins. Everyone loved it. Nico ate all of the food on his plate. 😳😳😳 The Schwann man delivered some ice cream bars and push pops right after dinner. Perfect timing. All the kids ran out there like he was the ice cream truck! Then Nico had his very first push pop! After that they were sent into the living room to read books for 20 minutes while the grownups talked at the table. When it was time to go home, he begged to stay.
Thanks for the fun time Papa and Grandma!
Wednesday was grocery shopping day, and I forgot to buy a very important ingredient for dinner that night and so when Nico asked what we were having for dinner I said "I don't know... nothing?" Then he asked about Jimmy John's, and I thought to myself, "Hey, today is budget day! Let me just adjust the budget a bit.. and... voila!" And so Guy picked up Jimmy John's on the way home from work.
Today Nico had a dentist appointment. I picked him up from school for it. One of the sealants on his molars had fallen off so they redid it. The hygienist said sometimes food can dislodge a sealant, which prompted me to ask about chewing ice and she said "YES! That will do it". She told us that Nico's teeth looked surprisingly clean for his age. The only trouble spot was along the gum-line in the bottom front. She said "Nico you're doing a great job!" When she gave him his mouth back he said "Thank you."
He got to pick out 2 prizes because he had to have the sealant put back on, he chose gum for both of his prizes.
Afterwards we walked over to Bricks & Minifigs to pick out a Minifig.
This is the one he made!
On our way back to his school, he ate his lunch. While I was walking him into his school he said "This was my favorite day of school EVER!"
