adventures with Grandma

Before we get started on the adventures with Grandma, just a few things they did that were so cute.

Last week Whitney was crying about I don't remember what, so Tucker wanted to give her a kiss.  Well, that didn't work out so well.  Whitney started screaming "no kiss, no kiss!" but he gave her one anyway and then she said, "Yucky kiss".  Yet another sign of sibling rivalry.  Here's another.

Whitney figured out how to climb out of her crib on Thursday.  Once Tucker saw it, he immediately started climbing out of his crib, but quickly stopped when several times in a day he got his leg stuck and he was hanging on the side of the crib at an angle.  He hasn't figured out how to flip his body so his leg stays parallel to the bars, so he gets his leg wedge in at a 90 degree angle.  This means he is still a prisoner in his crib.  And apparently a POW.  Whitney totally took advantage.  Saturday night they were up until 9 :30, even though they didn't take a nap all day because of Whitney.  First she climbed out and took Tucker's blanket from him.  Then she took his toys away from him and threw them out the bedroom door into the hall.  Then she unplugged the nightlight and the music.  This got him screaming so Daddy intervened.  He found that she had thrown more of his toys in the dirty laundry hamper that is in their room.

The next day was even better.  Since they were so exhausted from the war games the night before, Tucker fell asleep on the way home from church.  When we got home, Whitney also asked for "sleepy, sleepy", so I put her in there, Tucker already asleep.  A half an hour later, Tucker started screaming like he was hurt.  I ran in there and found that Tucker was in one corner of his crib, and Whitney was in the opposite corner of his crib, jumping up and down.  There was also a Little People school bus (pretty good size and heavy toy) in there that must have landed on him when she threw it in before she climbed in.  She was laughing and having a great time, but Tucker was screaming because he really just wanted to be taking a nap and couldn't.  It was VERY HARD to keep a straight face when I went out to tell my Mom and Grandpa why Tucker had been screaming and why Whitney was no longer taking a nap.

I think Whitney has a great sense of humor, though, to go along with her sense of revenge.  She is very good at making up silly songs.  She likes to put in other words for songs.  For example, the wheels on the bus can also say things like "Whitney goes up and down" or "Grandma's auto" in place of the normal lyrics.  We do a lot of song requests in the car.  Whitney tells me which song and what lyrics she wants me to sing while I drive.  Usually it's pretty fun, until I loose track of stuff when I'm concentrating on driving.  And I've had to do a lot of concentrating on driving this past week.

My mom and Grandpa (who we also call Papa) are visiting and we are having a grand time of it.  It's good timing, though, because Jim is out of town on "business" at the E3 trade show.  Anyone in the gaming industry knows he is having a great time of it.  So we are having a great time with the grandparents.  We've been doing multiple activities in one day, something for which I never have the energy or patience for usually.  Here are our examples so far.

Friday we went to the indoor mall playground until it dried up enough to go to the beach playground.  And after all that, I even had time to go pick up medicine for Tucky at the pharmacy.

Saturday I went to a baptism, my mom picked up my bountiful basket, we went hiking and Jim cooked a seafood dinner.

Sunday was church, made easier with mom there than me alone and we walked around the botanical gardens later in the day.

But today was the king of all king of multi-fun events.  We went to the locks, went on a ferry ride and went to dinner at a friend's house who also took us for a boat ride on Lake Washington.  More details on the adventures of doing all this with two two year olds below.

We've also been having a great time eating really well.  This is the time to bust out the yummy recipes of homemade bread, spanish rice, salsa, spaghetti sauce as well as take advantage of Jim and his choice of seafood and him being around to cook it correctly (non-rubbery form).

The playground with 3 adults and 2 kids was awesome.  I even sat down and watched for awhile I think, for like, 15 minutes.  It was heaven.  And the babies thought it was heaven because they could go wherever they wanted, separate from the other, with the attention of an adult the whole time.  Tucker was so excited about this attention, he couldn't stop beaming his smile, and intermittently jumping up and down, literally, for joy.

Hiking was also entertaining and work, all in one.  Whitney probably hiked a mile, most of it uphill, "singing all the while".  It was very fun to listen to.  We made up all sorts of silly songs and looked at catapillers eating leaves and such.  Tucker wanted nothing to do with hiking uphill, so Jim had to carry him.  I didn't bring the baby back packs because then they would have wanted a ride the whole time and fallen asleep to mess up bedtime, but Tucker didn't walk anyway.  And he was hard to hold because he only wanted to be held in one position the whole time.  And of course, he only wanted Daddy.  He knows Mommy would have made him walk more than that. And I wonder why Jim doesn't really like hiking as a family much right now??!!  I'm amazed at how strong my hubby is.  On the way back, though, Tucker hiked about a mile also.  It might have been made possible by his better mood once he had a snack of licorice and fish crackers.  Or that it was downhill.  Who knows.  But Whitney pulled a fast one on me.

I got tired of carrying her on the way back, so I told her she needed to walk while my arm took a break.  She didn't like that, of course, so to distract her from the issue at hand I thought I'd give her a choice of walking with her boots on or off.  The ground was muddy, so I thought she'd pick boots on.  I was wrong.  And on top of it, she walked a long time like that.   She thought it was really funny, to walk barefoot on the trail.  She had to take really small steps so it wouldn't hurt her feet as much on the gravel.  No comment.  I do remember reading in that book that gave me the idea about choices that you have to give them choices that you are also ok with.  Now I know why.  I don't think I'll forget that tip from now on.

Sunday was way cute when we went to the gardens.  Since Whitney didn't take a nap with Tucker, she fell asleep there and stayed asleep in arms the first bit.  So Papa and I got some really cute snuggle time with her.

Whitney loved having her own seat, but Tucker looks equally happy

Hike in the woods

Hmmmm. don't know how to rotate properly, I guess.  Tucker in the gardens

Tucker and Grandma moment.  Of course water is involved

Whitney taking a nap in Papa's arms

Rocky decked out by Tucker in style with the new beads Grandma brought

This is the way to ride in a boat.  Make awesome friends who like to share.  This is actually someone in our ward that is more my mom's friend than mine....

Tucker underneath in the boat.  He saw the bed and said "No sleep, sleepy!"

Papa cruising in the boat.  Sure beats paddling

Tucker looking at Papa through the ferry window

Mom at the locks

Us happy passengers on the boat

Mom and I trying to figure out what time we would need to get back on the ferry to get to the dinner/boat appt.  We figured out that we would have to get right back on.  Whatever.  No comment about that planning on my part.

view of the city from the ferry

Monday was an adventure, I tell you what.  Doing all that stuff in one day was a little crazy and hurried at times.  The funniest hurried bit was the ferry ride.  We were parked in the loading zone, waiting for the ferry when I told my mom she could take papa with her and check out the nearby waterfront until we loaded.  Well, they didn't get back by the time I needed to load the car on the ferry.  I wasn't too worried about it until I got on the ferry and realized that my mom had my purse with my money and I had forgotten my cell phone at home.  They also had the receipt with the proof of purchase to get back.  I sweated that out and was really relieved a bit later when they showed up on the ferry.  That would have been a little too adventurous for me.  They sweated it out a bit, too.  They didn't realize that the passengers could board after and during car boarding and totally thought they had missed the boat.  Literally. But it all worked out and Tucker had some really quality time with Grandma looking at the trucks and boats on the ferry.  They looked at various boats on the water and Tucker pointed to them, saying boat.  The very distant ones he called baby boats.

It also was an adventure with potty training while they were gone.  Whitney woke up while they were gone and Tucker was still asleep, plus the ferry was about to load, so I didn't have enough time to take her to the bathroom.  So we improvised.  You don't want to know.  But Whitney and I, I have decided, make a great MacGyver team.

The babies were amazingly well behaved during dinner at the friend's house.  I was so proud of them.  Especially after a day of essentially being in the car.  Whitney also loved the boat ride.  That was to match up with Tucker's fascination with the locks.

We're having fun and, Auntie Jill, we wish you were here!  I'll do a part II to grandma adventures in a few days.