CA part 4: the many faces of Oliver

Oliver can be such a ham in front of the camera. Here are just a few of the faces that Evan captured:

my favorite

Elliott - month 6 video clips

CA part 3: Lake Merritt

A fun afternoon in the sun at Lake Merritt! We were actually trying to get into Fairyland, but it closed earlier than we thought. Oliver had fun playing with Bapa and Uncle. Can you tell who is his favorite? I'm pretty sure Oliver wants to be just like uncle Ev when he grows up.

CA part 2: trains

One of Oliver's favorite things about visiting the Bay Area is getting to ride the trains. We made sure he got plenty of rides in during this trip, 6 times on the Redwood Valley Railway steam trains in Tilden Park and twice on BART. We also made a trip to the Golden State Model Railroad Museum. This kid just can't get enough! Since we've been home, his ride-on airplane has served as a makeshift train with cardboard boxes as the cars. He'll ask me to ride on one of the boxes and then he's disappointed when he drives the airplane away and the boxes don't stay connected. He also walks through the house yelling "ALL ABOARD!".

BART:

waiting

and waiting. . .

finally it's here!

Steam Trains:

so excited to be sitting on the engine!

riding in one of the covered cars, directly in front of the caboose

And a random Thomas display:

CA part 1: great-grandparents

A day with Great Binny and Grampy! We spent an entire day at their house and had a wonderful time. Oliver loved the toy room and did a great job of spreading the toys all over the house. He also enjoyed napping in a room with hundreds of stuffed animals! We ate salmon and dark chocolate, and sipped kombucha. What could be better :)

The Winstons!

Great Binny and Elliott

Group photo, minus me

Oliver loved the toy room, and proceeded to bring all the toys into the livingroom.

Elliott and Great Grampy

After all of the picture taking, Oliver decided he wanted to take a few himself:

Here's one of Elliott

And an amazing group photo! We thought he was aiming the camera at the ground, but he actually got us all in the frame. We were up in the top right hand corner of the original picture, but it's not bad after a little cropping.

back home

We're back home now, after a 12 day trip to California. The boys and I had a wonderful time and over the next few days I'll be posting pictures from our trip. It was Elliott's first plane ride and first time to California!

he loved the airplane

and his special privilege, the kindle fire

on our way home from the airport yesterday, we had to make a pit stop

Oliver picked up daddy and put him into the bed of Jim's truck!

cars

Now that Elliott is six months old, he's starting to be able to do a lot more things with his brother. He sits as long as he wants, which makes it much easier for him to play with toys. Oliver has really enjoyed having a playmate as well. In the pictures below, Oliver is showing Elliott some of the different cars he has. He always gives Elliott one to play (eat) with and for some reason Elliott always ends up with the ambulance.

Oh, and Elliott's 6-month check-up stats:
Weight: 18.25lbs
Height: 26 in.
Head: 44 cm.
50% for everything! 100% healthy, happy, very loved baby!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's out there! Oliver and Elliott gave their dad lots of time for himself (aka, I took the boys out of town). Nick had a good weekend camping with Penny and friends. He's an amazing father and husband! We miss him and love him!

furry 5k

The Seattle Animal Shelter puts on a Furry 5K run/walk as a fundraiser this year. Ahimsa Dog Training was a sponsor this year and Penny and I participated in some training demonstrations. She starts it out with a few hot dog retrieves. I was really proud of how well she did despite all of the other dogs and distractions around. Hardly even a puncture in the hot dog when we were finished.

pez (paleo hack)

I've been scrounging the house for fun toys/snacks to bring for Oliver on our flight next week. I want to make sure he has plenty to do since I'm sure I'll be occupied with Elliott. I was looking for a small container to pack a few dark chocolate chips in, but I couldn't find one small enough. I only want to pack 5 or so. Then I went through some drawers downstairs and I found four old Pez dispensers that I had saved from when I was a kid. Perfect! The 365 brand of 70% dark chocolate chips happen to be nearly the same size as a Pez candy, and much healthier to boot.

Just out of curiosity I looked up the Pez ingredients: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Adipic Acid, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel & Palm Oils And Soybean Oil Mono & Diglycerides, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Artificial Colors (including FD&C Red 3,Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2). Not exactly Paleo or healthy by any means.

Oliver doesn't even know what Pez are but I know he's going to love this delicious and healthier version!

playing a spoon (clarinet)

Two weeks ago Nick took the boys to the Folklife Festival and they enjoyed listening to music and walking around Seattle Center. Oliver came home trying to imitate the high school band members he saw playing clarinet. A fork and spoon, they all work! And he always taps his foot to the beat of the music, I love it!

naked boys

Nearly every morning when I am dressing Elliott, Oliver runs into our bedroom proclaiming that he wants to be a naked boy too! So off go the clothes, and as Oliver explains, I now have two naked boys. Lucky me! Oliver often asks me to take pictures of them as well, so here are some from the other morning. I hope they always get along this well.

a kiss for Elliott

my cuties

one-eyed smile from Oliver

having fun!

cute cute!

oh, hello toe