the great wheel of seattle

on friday we rode the great wheel of seattle! it opened up on the 4th of july and as mentioned previously i really, really wanted to try it out. friday was a beautiful day and b decided to skip out of work early and make my wildest dreams come true. :) we only had to wait in line for a few minutes, which was especially easy to do thanks to all the boats and trucks for jack to spot along the waterfront. then we boarded and went for a ride!

the view from the top was so pretty! the city on one side, sound on the other, mt. rainier in the distance and not a cloud in the sky.

i love these pictures of my boys. they are best buds and it's so cute to watch them together. jack obviously loved hanging out with dad.

jack did awesome, never got nervous or anything, which makes me very optimistic for his first disneyland trip. :) not sure how often we'll be back to visit this little tourist trap, but the first ride was definitely worth it! hooray for seattle.

fremont photos

last weekend i took a photography class in fremont. i got a smokin deal on the 3-hour walking-tour-type class via one of those groupon/living social/etc sites but of course most of the interesting locations were already sold out, so i ended up with fremont. i kind of get the feeling that fremont is sort of the west hollywood of seattle -- very artsy, very indie, very liberal and definitely covered with hipsters & rainbow flags. ;) not that i'm not into that kind of thing...but i'm glad we don't live there.

anyway, my teacher was cool and i actually learned how to use my fancy camera a little better. plus i got a sa-weet walking tour of a part of the city i don't see very often -- including some quality time with THE troll, of 10 things i hate about you fame. yes, the very one. it was a good way to spend a saturday morning, i tell you what.

bye bye binky

this week we did it. we cut the cord, or the binky as it were. it was pretty traumatizing for all of us, probably more for me than for jack. i felt terrible taking away something he loved so much.

mostly i blame my mom for his addiction, but i guess it was destined. jack was born with his fingers in his mouth, sucking away, so when he was a few hours old my mom popped a pacifier in his mouth. i protested but she did it anyway and i didn't care too much, it was cute. he's sucked on one every day since then, falling asleep without it maybe twice. in the past year or so, we'd limited his usage to just bedtime & the occasional car ride but i'd started feeling like it was time to get rid of it, teach him to sleep on his own. i quizzed the doctor about it at jack's two-year appointment and he confirmed that it would probably start messing up his teeth pretty soon.

i dreaded it for a few more weeks, and then monday morning it just felt right. jack was in a good mood so i pulled out a new spiderman toy we'd picked out at target and told him he could have it if he threw his binky away. he complied and didn't question it until naptime. he kept asking for his beep-beep so i handed him the cut binky and he got the saddest, saddest look on his face and started to cry. i told him he was a big boy and didn't need the binky anymore, that he had spiderman now and that was all he got. then i walked out and cried a little. :) he didn't nap at all that day, just cried in his room for two hours before i got him out...same story the next day. both nights he was totally exhausted by the time bedtime came around, but cried himself to sleep anyway.

wednesday he actually took a nap and has been back on a normal schedule since, though it seems like his naps are a little shorter. bedtime is still a little rough. he's been doing pretty well, although he's been pretty moody -- not sure if it's just the lost sleep or if he's dealing with the transition. i think we all need a little break this weekend. milestones suck, and i'm hoping our next one (most likely potty training) will involve a lot less crying on both our parts.

farm day

last week we took a little trip up north. background: i met one of my college roommates, christine, in the dorms at byu. she became one of my best friends and we lived together for years; we shared a bedroom the fall i met b and she heard a lot of stories about him before leaving on her mission...b is still not fully convinced she ever became a genuine fan of his. ;) anyway, on her mission, christine met my friend alex who later married tj who went to business school with b and now we all live up here in the grand old pacific northwest. destiny!

so, on monday, alex and i headed up to stanwood (with a little pit stop at the tulalip outlets, naturally) to visit christine's family's farm. i had heard so many stories about the infamous andelin family compound during college and i was so excited to finally see it in person.

the farm was darling. their home, the land, the horses, it was all so charming and beautiful. we had a blast catching up and chatting while our kiddos (4 boys between us) ran wild. i love my friends and i love washington summers.

also, this guy was in HEAVEN. between the mini tractor, the horses, the stray kittens to pet, the "barn house," the boys, and the authentic train car parked across the street, jack was smiling the entire day.

such a good way to spend a sunny day! can't wait to go back.

lake detox

last week was pretty bananas. spent my days working like a crazy person (see also: taking on too much, over-extending myself, various other personal vices) and my nights at one networking event or gym class after another. all the fun culminated friday afternoon when i got a killer migraine, the likes of which i haven't seen since before jack was born -- guess my body was telling me to cool it.

basically, i was REALLY ready for the weekend. on saturday, we got a daytime babysitter (those are the best kind, btw -- day dates feel so much more fun and spontaneous than night ones!) and headed over to lake union. we rented paddle boards and made our way around the lake -- past the houseboats and ivar's, under the fremont & aurora bridges, over to gas works park and back. it was a beautiful day and i LOVED being out on the water.

we rented our boards from agua verde, which conveniently has a mexican restaurant on the top floor. we got tacos for lunch and then headed home. that night, we had friends over and bbq'ed and made smores with our new fire pit. after we cleaned up and everyone left, b and i watched burn notice and went to bed sunburned and happy. it was a perfect summer day.

weekend visitors

b's grandparents came to visit us last weekend! well, technically, they were only passing through on their way to an alaskan cruise, but we were delighted to see them. our first non-parental visitors! they'd never been to seattle before so we dragged them all over the city, making sure they checked out all the must-see tourist destinations.

the great wheel of seattle opened last month and i am DYING to ride it. and i almost made it on saturday...until the group vetoed me because of the hourlong wait. b and i had some strong words about this. silly, i know. but i really wanted to ride it. :) 

we ended the day with a delicious birthday dinner for b at ray's boathouse, overlooking elliott bay. jack especially loved running around on the dock after dinner. :)

it was such a fun day! we love visitors and can't wait for more, which is lucky because we've got new ones lined up every month from now till christmas. hooray! however, i can't guarantee you incredible sunshine like we had on saturday -- it was glorious. seattle, you mostly sure have won this little family over. 

let's talk about the olympics.

my love for the olympics dates back to 1996 and the women's gymnastics team. (or, if you want to get really technical, i guess you could look back to the 1984 los angeles games when i attended in utero, since my parents went to a few events right before i was born.) i just love all the emotion, the drama, the athleticism. hearing the music on commercials gives me goosebumps, and watching the podium stuff makes me cry. 

unfortunately, we cut our cable a few months ago to save some cash -- we've been using netflix and hulu to fill our media consumption needs in the meantime -- and because freaking NBC is treating the olympics like we still live in the 20th century (NO free online streaming?? seriously?!?) i have been unable to watch the 2012 games except for a 10 minute glimpse of the germany/USA men's volleyball game that i saw while running on the treadmill at the gym. i've been getting all my news updates from the wall street journal and twitter (go missy franklin! is anyone else uber impressed by her parents like i am??) but it really is just not the same.

b, on the other hand, couldn't care less about this incredible spectacle of worldwide courage and determination. this surprises me since he is usually so gung-ho about good athletes and many sports. (but come to think of it, nothing ever tops his undying love for college football, which obviously isn't an olympic sport, so there you go.) last week when i was whining about not being able to watch the opening ceremonies, he said "i really don't see what all the fuss is about -- the olympics are boring and i don't care if we miss it."

gasp. i immediately took to twitter to share my dismay and wrote "my husband hates the olympics. i feel like i need a support group or something. :( "

responses to my post were hilarious and immediate. here are a few i got:

"wow, does he hate christmas and puppies too?"

"what is he, a communist?"

"how is that possible? maybe you don't care that much about them but to hate them!?"

"that is unamerican!"

haha. couldn't have said it better myself. and in other news, cable starts back up tomorrow. hooray!