Ma!! Where are the flying fish??!!??!?!

Kyler and I took a field trip to Westfield - Southcenter Mall and Pike's Place Market today. We took our little pocket sidekicks along for the ride but Chris and Kris stayed back to watch the 49ers play on TV.

We got to Westfield and the first thing we did was EAT (duh!) We ate at a Japanese restaurant which was surprisingly good, well at least their chicken and tempura was. Kyler also found Ramune there and had a Lychee one with his lunch. We bought Kyler two new jackets, the babies these awesome fur trapper hats and looked for some rain boots for everyone (none of those around). When we were walking back to our car we found bubble drinks!! Kyler was so excited and he inhaled a Mango flavored one. It was actually really good, it was like his favorite from Shirokiya.

After eating and shopping we went over to Pike's Place Market. Kyler was so hyped to be there because I kept telling him about the flying fish, the magic store and the awesome booths filled with all kinds of goodies. He wasn't impressed once we got there. He didn't see flying fish. He wasn't thrilled with the magic store either. He did end up buying a trick snake in a nut can and a cup in a vase trick set. We also found a little Chinese place selling BBQ pork on a stick (char siu), pork and chicken hambow (manapua), crab rangoons and egg rolls. We bought a few of each. We also found smoked fish...yum!! We ate Piroshkies, fresh hazelnuts (even orange flavored ones!) and saw all kinds of local produce and flowers. The many organic vendors and local grown meat and cheese vendors were so impressive...but Kyler wasn't convinced. He bought a small container of organic strawberries and an organic apple. But none of that made up for the lack of flying fish...maybe next time.

On the parking garage side:

With the famous pig:

And the oysters:

Peppers:

Busy days...

Filled with lots.of.driving. Five hours worth, to be exact.



Oh, and lots of rain.



Then soggy, wet Saturday Markets at huge, impressive Portland State University (sorry no photos...it was too rainy to take the camera out)


Quick stops (which turned into an hour wait in a line the length of, um, well just a long line...just.for.donuts. Famous donuts mind you! The bacon maple bar made it totally worth it I tell ya...be very jealous.





Sightings of people that are a "little" famous at the Roloff Farms:
Zack

Molly

Meeting new friends

Seeing more pumpkins than we could ever imagine



Took tours...and saw some places that were a "little" famous

Picked pumpkins (and don't forget gourds, too)




Explored museums built for those under 3 feet tall:









And all of that in one very long, wet, awesome, great Portland day....

And...we're here!!

After a delay in Honolulu, and an extra long flight...we finally made it to Sea-Tac Airport. The babies did much better than we expected, there were short bursts of fussing but they were amazingly calm. They fell asleep as soon as the lights were turned off in the airplane cabin and stayed asleep until we started to descend in Washington. Kingston woke up for all of 5 minutes somewhere between the two places, but went back to sleep quickly. The weather wasn't too bad, probably about 52 degrees with a little drizzle. The big boys were freezing, the little ones didn't seem to mind too much.

We went to get breakfast at 13 coins. Mmmmmm...Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict = totally sinful. Ky and I shared, the babies had French Toast, Kris had a Italian Sausage Omelet and Chris had an amazing seafood omelet with scallops, lobster and some other sea-roaches.

Right after, I called our hotel and they had an opening for early check it so we got to go straight there. I was so thankful to be able to stretch out and kick my feet up for a few. The Travelodge is not the Hilton lol...but at least I had a clean room and decent service. Oh yeah, and the water was steaming hot...you don't know how much you learn to appreciate quick heating water until it's 50 degrees.

After a few minutes of stretching and running around we drove out to Bremerton to look at some places. We saw a few, didn't really care for any except for one in Port Orchard. It was perfect.


Anywho...pictures:
At 13 coins

Waiting for the Bremerton to Seattle ferry

On the ferry






The view from the house we loved

Jump, monkeys, jump!!!

The kiddos seem to think that we (me, their brothers, my mom...basically everyone) solely exists for their personal entertainment. They are too smart for their own good, too grown for their age...and absolutely awesome. They know the signs for "Dad", "eat", "more", "milk", "hug", "diaper"...and do it frequently. Ask them to do it on demand, ha, dream on. They will make you jump on your head with your leg wrapped around your neck while holding onto your nose, all while begging them to sign _____ (insert cute sign here). They will laugh their little butts off, but no signing. Then the second you stop jumping on your head and move on to doing something else (like answering a phone call) then they sign some cuteness like "hug Dad." My boys are too great. In their minds we are here for them and only them, how dare you not pay attention to for a split millisecond!

Either way, as soon as they start showing off their they know everyone will, once again, be focused on them. Jump, monkeys, jump!! They know we're wrapped around their tiny fingers, and take full advantage of that. Kar even has this adorable fake sneeze. Pretend you sneeze and he'll copy...but try getting him to do that on demand, no way Jose! Let him see me try to walk out the door though, he'll start his fake sneezing like crazy. And he won't let you forget that you had better clap for him or else....

Operation Christmas, Step One.

I'm a procrastinator...always have been. I'll do Christmas shopping one hour before the malls close on Christmas Eve. This year I'm planning on doing differently. Don't judge! I said P-L-A-N-N-I-N-G on doing it differently, not it's GOING TO BE different! Two different things. But yeah, but to the regularly scheduled programming: Christmas shopping.



For Kyler, a totally awesome Erector remote control car with Tuner and lights. He's on a building kick and I think he'd die to see this under the tree. I'm also planning on snowboarding gear, snowboard and snowboard lessons.

For the Mini's, a ride-on Mack truck and some wood imagination/play toys (just not sure which ones.) Plus, I'm going to T-R-Y to build them a play kitchen out of all of our cardboard packing boxes (I said TRY didn't I???!??!?) I think it would be fun. I plan to get Kris and Ky involved in it and this can be their gift to the Mini's. Then I'll sew a bunch of felt foods and find some small pots and pans to go along with it. Fun!

Then for Kris...he's so hard! He should be the easiest, but I don't want him to just want to have video games and video games and video games. I'm thinking an iTouch. But then again with his history of losing things, I'm hesitant. I'll think of something rockin' for him though...because I always do ;-)



Did I totally forget the best part of this all? I'm ordering it all from Costco and getting it delivered for free. Oh yeah! No crowds, no getting lost driving, no crazy people...easy peezy, lemon squeezy. Now if only everything could be that simple.

Welcome to the sideshow...

On a lighter note (compared to the last post at least):

We do tricks, like totally cool ones.

For example ~

We beg for food:


And not to forget, imitate you for treats:


My boys rock. All of them. Kris and Ky teach the babies sign...and they imitate them. In just a couple of days they learned the sign for "food" (as they show off so cutely in the above video). Then they started imitating people, as Kingston shows off in the last video. He now knows how to "wink"! Totally awesome...I just hope they don't learn the universal sign that Kris used to love when he was three. Which one is that you dare ask?? I'll let you ask him....lol...let's just say it's not a nice one.

ER visits, potential surgeries and flat out hernia-craptasticness

I hate to sit and write this, I'd hate to sit here and write this on ANY day...but I really hate to sit here and write this just two short weeks until I move.

Yet again, more that this little man needs to go through. On Friday, during bath time, I found a bulge in Karson's groin. Noooo...not that kind of bulge. This felt like a sausage...okay, that didn't sound right either. Anywho, take my world for it...it wasn't a normal bulge, it felt like a big sausage (one that was wayyy too big and wayyyy too high to be THAT type of sausage.) And I knew right away what it was. A hernia. Ky had one when he was a few weeks old, had surgery and that was that. This one was different, I couldn't get it to go back in. It was hard and Karson was pissed. Called good ol' Dr. Awesome and he sent us on over to the E.R. Gotta love Friday night visits to the E.R.

Got there, and got in and out in an hour (seriously!!) I was amazed, simply because everyone and their uncle were sitting in that waiting room. The E.R. Doc said she could feel it, it would need surgery but that it wasn't incarcerated or strangulated. Aaaaahhhhaaahhhh (do you hear the angels singing?) But that does not mean that it can't become incarcerated or strangulated...but we'll hope we can hold out until Monday morning (it's currently 12:30 a.m.) when the Dr. Snip opens up and can see him. Only 8 short hours until then...but with Karson's history, he'll send us sprinting to the E.R. 3.42842843 minutes right before the office opens.

I can't lie...this is freaking me out. He will have TWO surgeries in four short months. I don't even want to think about the things that CAN happen during regular, routine surgery...I can't. It's so unfair for him. Like he hasn't been through enough already? But he's a trooper, and an ox. And he's cute. Especially when he did this in the E.R.: grabbing his "sausage" and fondling himself, showing the doctor that she didn't need to examine him because he would examine himself!! Future urologist in the hiz-ouse...or porn star. Shhhh...I didn't say that!!

Updates later...pppeeaaasss, and carrots.

Play...create...dream....

How do you encourage a creative, artistic spirit in your baby, toddler or young child?

Give him a musical instrument...



Or an art lesson, with no structure.
Sometimes the freedom of choice...
even if it means mismatched socks or plaids with stripes.
Let them imagine...
even if your son wants to dance ballet, or play the flute, or play with (gasp!)
barbies.
Oh...and a pallet of watercolors, they'll paint you the most beautiful world.


Speaking of creative...check out the new creative cloth diapers our favorite diaper company just released (in limited edition artist prints) and enter to win your own full set:

www.bumgenius.com
www.cottonbabies.com

Portland, I love you!

All I can say is tax-free shopping. Whoooo-hoooo!!!

I wanted to take the boys to the Roloff Farms (you know, Matt and Amy from Little People, Big World...I say that like I know them LOL). They do free tours during pumpkin season and we will be near by for the last days of their open season. I figured we'd take them for a day trip to Portland. It's a three hour drive, so I didn't JUST want to go to Roloff Farms for a drive that long. So, I've researched a few other children friendly activities.

The MUST-DO'S:
Roloff Farms
Voodoo Donuts (can we say fatness??)

Then here are the others:
Oregon Zoo
Portland Children's Museum (they are featuring Tinkertoys this month!)
Portland Museum of Science and Industry (they are featuring Identity exhibits until January)

I'm so confused. Ky has been talking about zoo's forever and wants to visit them all. I know Seattle has a great one, but they also have a great aquarium. I don't want to zoo them out....and I know Kris will be totally bored out of his mind. Zoo in both Oregon and Washington, or just Washington, or just Oregon. Uggh...hard decisions. The PCM looks like awesomeness. They have gravel dig pits (made of rubber "gravel", indoor water play, baby garden and of course the Tinkertoys. Washington also has a children's museum that looks super fun, too. Kris will hate this place. The PMoSaI sounds sooooo fun, but the babies will be bored out of their mind. HELP!!! Ultimately the kids will have to decide for themselves what they want to do, we only have about 6 hours there and of course we need to eat both breakfast and lunch.

Oh...and don't forget tax-free shopping for mom. Oh yeah!!!

I will miss you....

Please mail me some weekly. Preferably in the Hurricane popcorn mix.

My mom, the best mover in the whole world...

This is my mom moving. She is awesome.

Yummers...

Dave's has the.best.ice.cream.ever. EVER! It was so yummy. Kyler loves the Cotton Candy flavor and has convinced himself that there's Fruity Pebbles in it (there isn't.) Kris loves the Kona Coffee. I love the Hawaiian Mud Pie...it is so delish. One of the Mini's stole my mini Drumstick....and he loved every bite of it. He literally ate the entire mini cone and would fight me off every time I tried to take it away from him. Waahhhh...I wanted to eat it, instead I had to share. That was supposed to be the other way around. HE was supposed to share...I was supposed to be a glutton. Anywho. Pictures...enjoy.

Bye, bye beach boys...hello snowbunnies

In the midst of packing the boys just HAD to go to the beach. like.right.now.

Soooo...grandma took them to Ko'olina. Just for a sec. They swam. Kyler tried to "catch fish for dinner." Awesome. As I watched from the shade, it hit me. This is one of the last times I'll be seeing this for awhile. No 15 minute drive from home to Ko'olina, no beautiful beaches. I know there are many alternatives, but it makes me sad to know that there aren't alternatives to Hawaii's beauty. Hawaii is...well....Hawaii. And it is beautiful. But the cost of living is ugly. And the schools are uglier. And a lot of the people...well, they leave a whole lot to be desired.

My poor beach boys...they don't understand that this won't be the norm in our new home. No beaches to drive down the street to. No 365 sunshine. No grandma right down the street to take them on beach adventures and park picnics. But we will have snow. And cherries. And Krispy Kreme. And new adventures. And drives to Disneyland, Legoland, Canada...and other cool things. And.and.and.and...and it's not Hawaii, but it'll be just as fun as we can make it.

So we enjoyed our short, but sweet, visit to Ko'olina. And we got to see the Black Pearl (from Pirates of the Caribbean) docked, albeit far away, but I still got a little pic. So, here's to hoping we get one last awesome visit in to Ko'olina before we leave.