8th Birthday!

Friday the whole crew of us (Us and the Grandparents Russell) went to the Art Museum. We passed through the Rose Garden on the way there.

Nico was drawn to art that had shapes and numbers in it. When we found the kids exploration area, he tried out all the toys and built a symmetrical shape on the wall.

Afterward we went to the Boise Fry Company for lunch and then walked over to the library, then headed on home.

Grandma and Nico went outside and had boat races in the water.

Saturday, we split forces, the Grandparents with Nico and Guy went to the Saturday Market, I picked up the cakes and got some last minute things for the party. On their way home they stopped by a shop to pick up some stuff so Grandpa could improve our table a bit.

He used markers and then later some leather dye to fill in the rough spots on the table. Then he polished it. Verrrrry impressive.

It's like a brand new table!

Grandpa brought us this tiny build-it-yourself arcade game. So stinkin' cute and it plays lots of games. 

Saturday afternoon we went to Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt. We saw a sign for an open house and decided to follow it on the way home! We toured a house across from Municipal Park. It was very nice.

Before bed on Saturday night I set up the table with presents for Nico.

One of his gifts from us was a monthly subscription to "Little Passports", he will receive a new box with stuff about the United States in it every month for 6 months. This first box contained a US Map and a field journal, plus some other stuff.

We celebrated Nico's birthday at Smoky Mountain Pizza. Check out the video at the end of the blog to see some of the highlights!

Waiting for friends and family to arrive!

His super-cute hug of the pink elephant GG made for him

Playing tag

 Playing Ball

When we got home he went straight to work playing with Kanoodle. Consistently this has been the game he keeps coming back to after playing other games. He loves it!

On Monday, Nico and Grandma Russell and I joined Allicia and kids at the Natatorium to swim. I forgot my phone so I have no evidence that this happened, but it did! :) They have a nice kiddie pool there, big, only gets up to maybe 1 1/2 feet perhaps? It was a bit warmer in there than the big pool, so Nico lasted much longer swimming this time! It was also over 100 degrees that day, so I think that helped too ;) He did spend some time in the big pool, but most was in the kiddie. 

We ordered Chipotle for dinner that night! Yum!

Tuesday morning we said Goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Russell. We had a blast with them here and are looking forward to their return at Christmas!

We packed Nico up shortly after and I drove him over to Papa and Grandma Salisbury's house for another Grandma Camp! I received some pictures and video throughout, here is Nico riding the zip line at Urban Air! (Also check out the video at the end of the blog!)

Playing Scrambled States of America

While Nico was gone, I worked hard to sort through his toys and clear out the area underneath his bed so we could set up a little play area. I boxed up 3 boxes of toys for the storage unit. Guy sawed one of our cube shelves in half, giving us two 2x3 cube shelves, one for either side of the area. We also purchased LED lights to hang under there so he can see what he's doing.

I picked him up from Grandma Camp this afternoon, he showed me his new light-up shoes! They even came with a charger!!

When we got home I showed him his new play area and he was happy about it. Evelyn came over for dinner tonight and I let them eat under his bed while watching funny shows. Then tonight instead of reading in bed, he went under his bed and played. He spread out his US Map for a bit, then discovered some other toys and played with quite a few of them. He did keep bonking his head. And after a particularly hard bonk he whimpered and said "Mommy WHY did you put this play area under my bed?? WHY didn't you put it somewhere else?!?!??!"

When he was done playing he unplugged his LED lights and crawled into his bed.

Goodnight! But first watch this video!