Airplanes and Arlington!!

Lots of pictures in this post!! We have had a full and fun week. First, Nico was baptized on Sunday! I have no photos of that, but after that happened he got to put his handprint on the Wall of Salvation in the children's room. He chose blue. After the paint dries they'll put his name on it.

Monday was a day of preparation for our trip to Washington on Tuesday. We left the house Tuesday morning at 6 AM to get to the airport. I told Guy I wasn't sure I'd be able to get on the plane (eek!) but we prayed and I felt God's help.

Guy was across the aisle from us. We were in row 11 which, on this plane, didn't have a window, shucks! During take off I needed a hand to hold so I grabbed for Nico's. He let me do it for a while but then got free of me and said "No. But I still love you." :)

Nico played Minecraft on Guy's iPad during the flight. On the descent, I gave Nico some gum. His ears were really hurting him though, even with the chewing and swallowing. When Grandpa Russell asked him if he liked flying he said "No" because it made his ears hurt. hehe. It was all he could remember, though I remember he had a lot of fun during the flight when we weren't descending.

Once we got into Seattle, we rode the shuttle to the rental cars, then drove up to the Seattle Science Center (like the Discovery Center in Boise, but so much bigger!) We met the Grandparents Russell there, who had brought some much-needed snacks for us! We spent several hours at the Science Center but still didn't see everything!

We also went to see the Terra-cotta Warriors exhibit, which is only in Seattle for a limited time. It was amazing! Nico loved looking at the cases full of artifacts.

After we were all done, we drove up to Arlington, stopping to get some food for the week at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Nico started reading some more of his Book Bingo books. Our own personal librarian, Grandma Russell, found a large handful of the books that we needed. Nico finished his last one on Thursday!

Almost right after we arrived at the Grandparents' house, Nico asked Grandma where the toy cars were. They were a staple for the rest of the week.

Wednesday was an at-home day of relaxing and hanging out, with a walk on a trail in the afternoon.

We saw an Osprey in its nest on the top of a pole. We also saw two bunnies, two snakes, and a lot of birds.

Thursday was an adventure, we drove up to Padilla Bay to the Interpretive Center, took a walk on forested path and then walked down to the beach. Nico had the camera for a while and was excited to take a bunch of pictures with it. Lots of nature pics, but a few of us as well. 

Inside the Interpretive Center. The Interpretive Center is similar to the MK Nature Center in Boise.

 Nico arranged this picture and took it. He told us exactly where to stand and wanted the bench in the middle of the picture.

Our walk down to the beach...

We discovered sea snails! These ones had already left their home and were empty. Guy found these. I added them to my collection to give to Evelyn when we got home.

After this we went to La Hacienda for lunch. Nico had the Carne Asada and inhaled most of it. He was hungry!

Thursday night was a low-key night, we just hung out at home. Guy went out to dinner with his friends.

Friday was our trip back to Boise!

Nico saying "Uggggh" because he didn't want his picture taken when we were on the plane.

Our plane had Lightning McQueen on it.

 A lot more leg room than the first flight, and we were all able to sit next to each other! Three seats on either side of the plane. We were in Premium class, the row right behind First Class, that's why all the leg room. It was great! As we were getting into the aircraft, we passed first class, and Nico spotted this first row with 3 seats. He had no idea where we were supposed to sit, but he turned right in here and said "Hey look, here's a spot for us! 3 seats in a row!" It just so happened to be our row.

 And we had two windows!

Nico had seen my henna tattoo and had asked for the same one.

The flight home took an hour, compared to the 1 1/2 hours of the flight there. It was a faster plane! There was a long line waiting to take off, so it evened out in the end. Loved the bigger plane, though!! We got snack boxes that had treats in them. Nico set up his orange juice with his almonds and his almond butter and his Minecraft while watching The Secret Life of Pets in the corner of his iPad, multitasking.

Here's a picture of him with just the iPad, before he had all that other stuff going on :)

On the descent he complained again of his ears hurting, and had me put pressure on his ear with his hand.

A few more pictures here!

There was a dairy only a few minutes from the house, so we drove over there to get fresh raw guernsey milk for Nico. Here he is drinking milk and doing calligraphy on the tablet.

He made friends super-quick at this park!

Guy picked me a buttercup, and then Nico did.

Stories before bed on our last night there.

They had a new bird game to play. Woohoo! It's bird trivia. We played it several times.

Minecraft?

We are looking forward to seeing the Grandparents Russell again in only another month for Nico's birthday!! 

When we got home this afternoon, we took Nico's book bingo sheet to Rediscovered Books downtown to turn it in since it was due today. They told us the after-hours party for getting a blackout on the bingo card was TONIGHT! So Guy and Nico are there right now. 

And I am headed to bed!!

Update coming soon...

We are in Arlington tonight, I will update the blog in the next few days! We are flying back to Boise tomorrow!

Grandpa Russell, Library, Water Park

On Friday we welcomed Grandpa Russell into town! He came over in the afternoon and we all went over to Red Robin for dinner. Nico asked the server for soda water with coconut after Daddy asked for soda water with lime.

Then it was home to play The Game of Life. Nico is really into this game right now, we play it every day. Grandpa won!

On Saturday morning Grandpa brought Nico some coconut soda. I went to my post at the Saturday market to do some henna, and the boys had a fun morning hanging out and going places. They went to the Dollar Store so Nico could buy his marbles, and they also came downtown to go to the market and to see me. They also took a trip to the library before they dropped Grandpa off at the airport. It was a fun visit. We are all really looking forward to seeing the Grandparents Russell NEXT WEEK when we fly in to Seattle and stay with them for a few days! Next Thursday's update will happen from Arlington!

On Sunday Nico and I went over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house, Nico played Minecraft with Papa and I hung out with Grandma and my Aunt Ellen. 

On Saturday, a big moving truck went down the alley and severed our cable internet line. We were without internet until Monday night. So on Monday I loaded up my computer and we went to the library so I could get a bit of work done. We discovered his school friend Linus hanging out there with his sister, and they were on iPads playing Minecraft, and it turns out the library lends out iPads while you're there so you can play on them. We got one for Nico and he sat right next to Linus and all 3 of them played Minecraft. I sat next to Nico and got some work done. It was so cool we decided to come back on Wednesday. We were hoping to run into Linus again but they didn't make it to the library that day. But, his step-mom and I exchanged numbers and Linus and his sister will be going to Nico's birthday party! Mark your calendars! July 29th, Saturday, 1PM at Pojo's.

Playing Minecraft

On Tuesday we got to see GG in Nampa! Nico wanted to bring Life over to play with her, so we did that. GG won!! :)

This morning we went to the Roaring Springs water park and met some church friends there. Nico's friend Leona took him around to the smaller slides and rides and he had so much fun, and lasted about an hour. He was shivering so much. It started out around 70 degrees and windy, so I can understand that! I was cold at a few points and I didn't get in the water! He curled up under his blanket in the sun and warmed up, then we headed home. He took a shower, we ate lunch, then we went downtown to get a smoothie from Jamba Juice.

A few random pictures from this week

When was the last time Nico fell asleep in the car??

Park play date with Allicia and crew

 Silly picture time

Birthday, Bike Rides, Pojos

On Sunday we went to Red Robin to celebrate my birthday, after church with the Grandparents Salisbury and my Aunt Ellen. I had a great birthday! Got some fun gifts and had a fun time with family. That evening Guy and I and Nico went to Whole Foods to get some treats and we sat in the car and drank Izze Pops, then came home and ate dinner and split a Hail Mary dark chocolate tart for dessert while watching a Tinkerbell movie. (my choice:))

Nico and I practiced our calligraphy, I used my brand new pens from the Grandparents Russell and Nico used the pens they got him for Christmas.

We've been going for bike rides, it's a fun way to pass the time. We made it over to where we used to live on Krall street the other day and saw a killdeer hanging out near a puddle on the street. We ended up at the Fort Boise Community Center so Nico could go to the bathroom, which is the furthest we have ridden!

Since the greenbelt is flooded, we are spending time biking the neighborhoods, which I suppose is a good thing because Nico is learning all about bike safety when riding on the street. We rode into the middle of the East End neighborhood and I told Nico to find our way home. He went for a while before recognizing a street and then he knew where we were.

We have rented a storage unit! We are inheriting a few furniture items from the cabin that we want to store until we move, and the moving men brought the stuff from the cabin on Monday. Grandma Salisbury came and picked us up and took us to our storage unit, which is just down Warm Springs about 1/2 a mile away, so the moving men could unload it.

Nico asked Grandma when they could hang out next, and Grandma invited him over to their house on Thursday (they were already planning on watching him on Thursday because of a doctors appointment I had), and Nico was very excited. Grandma told him to be there at 9 AM and so he was sure to remember. I took him over there today at 9 AM. He had a really fun day. He brought over the game of Life and they played it 3 times. They also went to Pojos! And when I came to pick him up, him and Papa were playing Minecraft on the iPad.

Nico is doing a Reading Bingo that he picked up from Rediscovered Books when him and Guy went there to buy a fidget spinner. If he gets a blackout then he gets to go to an after-closing party, so he is working on reading books to fill up the whole thing.

Right now he is reading El-Deafo, a really good graphic novel auto-biography of a girl who became deaf after a childhood illness. He is reading this one to be able to fill in the square that says "A book with a differently abled character".

I spent some of my birthday money on some patio furniture! Target was having a good sale.

"I want to go outside without shoes and take a picture too"

"Not tonight, you need to be in bed reading!"

Now we can sit outside and .. do stuff!

That's it for this week!

Summer Break, Children's Race, Cousins!

Friday was Nico's last day of school - we are officially on summer break over here!!

Saturday Nico participated in the St Al's Capitol Classic Children's Race.  For ages 6-12. I picked up the race packet on Thursday with all the instructions on where to drop him off and where to get him after the race was over. The race was from the Train Depot all the way down to the Capitol building.

It is 1.4 miles. 

Driving to the race dropoff

We had to drop him off between 9am and 9:15, but the car line was so long going up Capitol Blvd that it would have been about 9:30 before we got him there, so Nico and I got out of the car and we walked up the hill to the Train Depot. Guy picked me up and then we drove down to Capitol Park and found a place to park. We had some time to wander briefly around the downtown market before the race started at 10am. The girls ran first. Watching that big group of kids running down from the Train Depot on the hill was so cool, all their green shirts and all the clapping and yelling. Zoomed in you can't quite catch the detail but you can see the green mob.

The boys were released about 15 minutes later. I went out to cheer him on from the sidelines while Guy waited at the finish line for him. I saw him and clapped and yelled and only was able to snap a picture after he had already passed me. 

They had smoothies available for free for all the racers, (plus frozen yogurt and Blimpie sandwiches!) but the line for the smoothies was long and we had already before decided we would walk down to Jamba Juice to get him a smoothie, so that's what we did instead.

They gave every child a medal after they crossed the finish line.

Nico's time was 14:33

Nico didn't feel well the rest of the day, he seemed very subdued, even when we drove out to find a bike for him. We found a bike at the Boise Bicycle Project for $20 and they even adjusted the brakes on it for him to make it easier for him. They also gave him free bike LEDs. On the 1st Thursday (or 2nd?) of every month, kids can bring their bikes in if they are broken and they will teach the kids how to fix their own bikes for free.

Nico said he had a sore throat, so I gave him all the stuff to help him feel better. The next day he had a low grade fever but felt fine, saying his sore throat was gone. He had a bit of phlegm but it resolved quickly. Which is good, because he was invited over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house with cousins for a few nights of sleepover! Nico asked me the other day when we were going to have more kids because he wants someone to play with in the clubhouse. I'm so glad he has cousins that he gets to hang out with, and Evelyn who is right next door! I dropped him off on Monday after lunch, and Guy picked him up Wednesday after work.

Playing bird bingo with the cousins

Thank you Grandma and Papa!

The only cousins not there were Leah and Karli.

Wednesday night when he came home he asked: "When do I get to go back to Grandma and Papa's house?"

He'll be staying there a few more nights this summer.

On Monday night, Guy and I picked up Chipotle and an Izze Pop for dinner and watched Guardians of the Galaxy on Amazon, with the intention of going to see the 2nd in the series in the theaters on Tuesday night. But we didn't plan ahead, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was sold out on Tuesday! So we came home and watched shows at home. Jeff offered to let us use their new couch downstairs to watch shows on the big screen, so we did that. Super fun!! It was like having our own living room!

And then that's it! On to next week!