LegoLand!

We went to LegoLand on Friday, in part to celebrate Father's Day, and in part to check out what all the hubbub was about. We picked up Bubbe and Zada and headed on over.

$208 later, we were inside the park. And Charlie was FREE! But Bubbe insisted on paying, so a big shout out of Thanks! goes to her!

We headed toward the little kids area, which is the Duplo area. Remember those - the big Legos for little hands? So to get there, we have to walk thru the water park - that was Charlie's main interest, but we wanted to get some cute pics of him before he was sopping wet. So the Duplo area is basically a big giant playground with tons of stuff to climb, open and run around. There also a cool train that Charlie and I went on. He didn't know what to make of it, but finally got into it right when the ride was ending. But he did wave to the other kids on the train as they passed by, and waved bye bye to the nice lady operating the controls - the conductress, if you will.

So because Charlie couldn't contain himself much longer, we went to the water park. There were two giant fountains where the water would shoot out from the ground at random intervals. Charlie thought this was awesome. He would squeal when the water came, and just when he mustered up the courage to get close enough to get wet, it would stop. So he turned around to go to the other fountain, but once he got there, that one would stop. We got it all on video.

There are tons of fountains in the water park, all made of Legos, with different controls for the kids to operate how much water came out. Charlie's favorite was the seals who would shoot water out of their mouths to levitate Lego balls.

After a bit of a struggle, we got Charlie loaded up in the backpack and started walking around. Man, that park is HUGE. Charlie was still too young to appreciate the whole thing, but when the nephews and the niece come to town we are soooooo there.

All in all - a fun day!

Travels to Seattle, Loving Water

Thanks to the Pants for giving me a kick in my pants about not updating!

We've been busy here. We took our first vacation ever where both Jase and I didn't work AND we didn't go to visit family a couple of weeks ago. We all drove to Seattle to visit the Breedorfs so Charlie could meet his future partner in crime Theo. Turns out Charlie wasn't much interested in little T - in fact, I'm not even sure if he really noticed there was a baby in the room. But Jase and I were definitely interested, and it brought us back to the times when Charlie was just a little thing, cooing and smiling, discovering his hands for the first time. Those were good times.

But now we have a toddler. And this toddler did NOT like leaving his familiar routine at home. Before we left on the trip, he was just discovering his voice, as in, "Oh, I can scream! I can yell and arch my back if I don't want to do something. Cool!" Well, he perfected his technique in Seattle. If I shut the doors so he could only play in the kitchen and the family room, he'd lose it - throwing himself on the floor and kicking his feet, screaming all the way. It was quite an example of contrast - here are the Breedorfs in the first stages of love with their little Theo, and then us, holding a wailing, flailing child, in the first stages of hate.

But we understood the reasoning behind this, and learned pretty quickly that what made him feel better was a trip to the park. Luckily, there is a terrific park right down the street and Charlie loved it! He climbed up the jungle gym and spun the steering wheel of the "ship". He'd spin the merry-go-round and watch it for what seemed like hours. But his favorite time was spent in the tennis courts.

The tennis courts are fenced, so he had this huge space to run around without worry or concern from any of us. He especially loved it after it rained, for that meant puddles! And that was our other discovery on this trip - Charlie is a freak about water.

He loves it - so much so that Mrs. Breedorf and I bought a small wading pool for him. He spent hours in that pool. He was even bathed in that pool. Once we got home, we immediately bought him one for our backyard and looked into swimming lessons for him.

Other than Charlie's meltdowns, it was a great visit. It was so nice to visit with the Breedorfs and all of our other Seattle friends - Mrs. Breedorf set up many gatherings so we had a chance to see everyone, which was so fabulous. Darren and Marisa are buying a house. Rob's still playing every sport imaginable - he's even learning how to play ice hockey. Tom is still awesome Tom who is afraid of babies, but Mrs. Breedorf tricked him into holding Theo. Chiara is nervous and excited about her upcoming year in New Zealand. And Monica and Caleb are fantastic, even though Charlie is still afraid of their son Henry, who looks like such a big kid now, though he's only a year older than C-Mart. It's the buzzcut.

I've attached pics of our visit - and newer pics of Charlie's new pool. Yes, in some of those pics he is in the pool wearing his pajama bottoms. That's his dad's doing. I was on the phone, I swear! He also put soap in so the water would bubble. Of course Charlie loved it.

On Friday, we're going to LegoLand with Charlie's Bubbe and Zada. Expect more pics, and more updates!