Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope that you all have a wonderful day.

Wanted to post a few pictures and videos of our day. Jayden was very much into Christmas this year and was very excited that Santa made his way to our house. Hope you enjoy the pics/movies.




Sorry, had to split the movies into 3 parts. Supposed to be one 13min video, but the web site I host pic's and vid's on has a 5min limit per video. So just watch them in order to get the same effect :)





Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Getting some Joy out of the Constant Snow Flakes

In case you have been under a rock the last week, it has been dumping snow up here in the great north west. Over the past week we have gotten over a foot of snow in Everett and 8" in downtown Seattle. For a place with lots of steep hills and annual snow fall is just under 3" that's a heck of a lot!! Of course that means most are not prepared for driving in it and that ends up causing wrecks, delays and all kinds of issues. In fact the last three bus rides I have taken (or tried to take) I have waited a total of 5 hours for the bus!

On the bright side I have "had" to stay home for the better part of a week and we have gotten out and enjoyed the snow as much as we could. Jayden seems to really like the snow and this is the first year he could really get out and play in it. Unfortunately the snow that fell was a real soft powder and not very good for making snow men, but mom did manage to snag the last sled from RiteAid and we had lots of fun with that. Hope you enjoy the pic's.


Monday, October 20, 2008

JPMorgan Chase

Sorry for not posting for so long. As you may have heard WaMu got purchased a few weeks back by JPMorgan Chase. Actually they did not get purchased, the FDIC seized WaMu after 19bln dollars in deposits walked out the door in TWO WEEKS and auctioned off our remaining 300bln in assets to the highest bidder, which was JPMorgan Chase with a winning bid of 1.9bln. I'm not an economist but that sounds like a rather sweet deal.

I feel for any of you that had WaMu stock, as I did. It instantly became worthless when this all went down. Technically not completely worthless, I got to sell it for around 9 cents. I think I'll take that money and buy everyone in my office a double cheeseburger from the McDonnell's value menu.

As for my job and what not, that is kind of up in the air. I can't share to many details at this point but I will know by Dec 1st how it will all shake out and of course then you shall know (all 3 of you!). For what it's worth the JPM folks have treated us more than fairly and based on info we have been given no matter what happens in the next few weeks, no one is getting to be treated badly regardless of what happens to a persons specific job.

Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes the last few weeks. Take care.

* Site Note * - I had been holding off posting anything because A) We have been completely overwhelmed and busy the last 3 weeks, with this job news only one of a dozen things going on and B) I wanted to post something about this before I posted about anything else going on. Look for lots more posts soon! Or one mega one.


Monday, September 22, 2008

I guess we can let you out of your cage....

Missy and I decided that once we got back from vacation it would be time to switch Jayden from a crib into a 'big boy' bed. He was definitely old enough. He had never tried to climb out of his crib or anything like that so we just have been letting it go.

His current bed converts to a day bed and that is what we decided to go with. We talked about getting him some kind of cool bed but we figured that could wait for another time or occasion. We went and got him some new sheets. He got to pick them out and to no surprise he choose the Thomas ones that we found *He is currently a big fan of the Thomas*.

Overall he is doing just great with the new bed config. He is a little hesitant to get out of the bed when we are not in the room, which I guess is a good thing at this point.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Mexico and back...a Smith vacation

4102 miles, Walmart, Dancing, Dinners, Fireworks, 7 Pools, Swim up bars and a few crazy taxis later we are finally back home. We had a wonderful time in Nuevo/Puerto Vallarta (PV/NV from now on). If you just want to see pictures/video and skip the long read, go here.

We left Portland around 6am on our flight to LAX and from LAX to PV. Overall the flight was very nice. We bought first class tickets on the way down, so that made it much more enjoyable. I don't know why the food in first class seems to taste so much better, but it does. It's nothing special. I guess when you are used to getting a 1oz. bag of pretzels and half a glass of ginger ale during a 3 hour flight and suddenly you get a chicken sandwich and real utensils it just makes it better. Kind of like when you go camping and for some reason a cut up potato, ground beef, onions and carrots thrown into tin foil makes 'the best dinner ever' and then you try it at home and it tastes like prison food.

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It was very pretty coming into PV. It was very lush and green with the mountains and jungles all around.

Once we landed and got of the plane we had to go through customs. No big deal, they take your form and stamp your passport. Then you come up to this podium that has a big red button on it. When you press the button one of two panes of glass light up. If it lights up GREEN then you're good to go. If it lights up RED then you're toast and you have to get screened and your bags get picked apart my the Mexican government. Some poor sucker three people ahead of us got the red light so I figured our chances were good. I think Missy pushed the button and a good press it was - GREEN!!

Now that we made it past strip-search roulette it was time to run the gauntlet of time share phsyco's. For anyone who has never been to Mexico, and I'm sure it's like this in many other countries too, time shares are a very big thing. Signing people up to go to time share presentations is a way that a lot of locals make a living. As soon as we passed the security checkpoints there were at least 60-100 people lined up trying to get your attention. They would say anything to get you to make eye contact or get you to stop. Some were just shouting American "sounding" name's like Brad! Mike! Joe! Scott! hoping that they would have someone stop. It's crazy, but when you know what to expect it's rather funny. We made it out unscathed and jumped in a taxi (but the poor suckers who got the RED light were not so lucky). Once we were in the back I saw this note in the little divider thingy and had to snap a pic on my phone:

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$20 is good? Really? Lol


Once we arrived at the resort we quickly checked in. We got a very nice room, facing the pool/beach/ocean. It was a one bedroom with a nice bathroom and a big tub in the bedroom. We had a nice balcony off the room with a soaking pool, a little mini pool out on the deck!

Pic of our room and from the balcony


The room also had a cook top stove and dishes so we planned on making at least breakfast and some lunches here every day. So we headed for the local WalMart!! Yup, they had a WalMart and it was not all that different from one in the states. Some of the stuff was a little hard to find, like salt and pepper. When you're staring at a wall of spices and they all have names you do not know, picking out salt and pepper can be pretty hard. I'm still not 100% we got pepper, but I think we did! We got lots of stuff to make breakfast and some lunch stuff. They had just about everything you could think of and I don't think we went back to the room with anything missing off our list. Yeah!

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I swear that beer, chips and Fruit Loops were not the only thing on our list


We were so tired by the time we got back from wally world that we decided just to order room service and relax in the balcony pool. It was actually the only time we ever used it.

The next morning we woke up ready to hit the pool and see the resort!! This is the 'rainy' season so it's not very busy. It's typically 85+ degrees and sunny during the day and 80+ degrees and rains during the night. This makes it VERY humid, almost too humid. The good part of that is you have the perfect excuse to stay within 10 feet of the pool at all times!!! Man did they have the pools. There was what I would call the 'main' pool that was 3 pools all connected together. Then there was the 'bar/activity' pool that had the swim up bar and where all the daily activities took place like Tequila volleyball or some other crazy game of the day.


Just some of the pool areas


Then there was also a lazy river that went all around the resort. It ran quick enough to easily pull you along. They had tubes for you to float on if you wished or you could just swim/float along. There were waterfalls, rock walls, bridges and palm trees everywhere. This was pry our favorite thing to do!! We absolutely loved the lazy river!


18 trips around the lazy river were taken


They also had a whole area for kids to play in the water. They basically had a kids jungle gym in the middle of this big shallow pool. On top of that they also had TWO big wave pools that were split by a water slide!! Good times were had at the water slide!! You had to climb up this pyramid waterfall thing to get to the slide then down you go!!


8 trips down the slide were taken


We really did not make it out to the beach except for two times. PV is on the Pacific side and the water is not clear and blue like on the Gulf of Mexico side. It is really warm and the waves were decent but when you have so many swimming options, walking 5 minutes down to the beach to get sandy and what not just does not seem all that exciting. If it was a busy time of the year then I could see seeking some space at the beach but for us on this trip that was not needed.


Few pics from when we did venture down to the beach


The second night we were there we had planned a dinner cruise/tour called Rhythms of the Night. They took you on this big boat and went about an hour or so south of NV to this nice beach/hillside area. The beach was all lit up with torches and they lead you to this theater arena area. There they performed this cool ceremony that had something to do with marriage I think. We did not understand it exactly but it had really cool dancing/acrobatics and fire twirling/dancing. After that they lead you down to the beach area and you have this big buffet of steak, chicken, fish, potatoes, rice, etc. All the food was wonderful. After giving you time to wander about a bit they took us back to NV. On the way back they had to "button up" the boat because it was raining so much but the crew was great in getting everyone to have a good time in spite of the bad weather on the way back. It was a great time and well worth the money. ** Sorry, We did not really get any good pictures because they where not allowed. Mostly due to the fact that they of course wanted to sell you pictures and videos of the show and stuff. **

The next day we planned on going into down town PV. We read about all there is to do with the great food and shopping right along the beach. Around lunch time we took a cab to one of the 'must eat' places in PV - PiPi's! They are famous for the table side guacamole that they make, and for good reason, it was amazing. We also shared the combo fajitas for two that came with shrimp, chicken, steak and with home made tortillas. It was very, very good. Add to that the live mariachi band plus a mega margarita and it was everything people said it was. After lunch we wandered through the cobble stone streets and local shops. It was really nice out and all of it was right off the beach. After buying a few things to take home we jumped back in a taxi and went back to the resort.


Shops and downtown 'Malecon' area


One of the other days we were at the resort we decided to paint some pottery to take back. Not sure why we thought spending 2+ hours painting in 90 degree heat with 90% humidity was a good idea but none the less they did turn out rather well.


We gotz skillz


Overall we had a wonderful time and a great vacation. We missed the little man terribly and were very glad to be home. On the flight back we were able to upgrade to first class *teehee* so that was unexpected but nice. Here are a couple more pics of random fun.



*Some video of the resort will be posted later*

Saturday, September 13, 2008

We made it BACK!!

We are back home in Everett after our vacation and time with family. We had a wonderful time and took lots of pics and some video. We are trying to get back into the groove of things around here. I'm working on a post and getting the pics and video organized, but it will take me a few days pry, sorry about that. Check back some time later in the week and should have some stuff together!!


Pool, sweet pool

Sunday, August 31, 2008

AFK while in MEXICO!!!

* that's Away From Keyboard for the old folks ;) *

Missy and I are in Mexico this week enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation!!! I just finished up some long and stressful hours at work and of course Missy has her 24hr a day job of suppa mom so this could not have come at a better time!! Hopefully the weather will be nice. We plan to try and make it outside the resort as much as possible and see some local stuff and not be too lazy :) We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and stuff and I'll blog it up when we get back (and maybe while we are there if they have internet access). Here is where we are staying. It should be so much fun!!

Many thanks to Wayne and Merry for letting us use their time share, we really appreciate it. We probably would not have thought to try and go anywhere without it as an option. Also big thanks again to Wayne and Merry and my parents for taking time off to watch the little man while we are gone. I know you are all excited to spend time with him but it's still a lot to ask that you all take care of him for a week and we really want to thank you for doing so. We will miss him terribly, after say 24-36 hours ;) and I know you will all have a lot of fun with him and he will love spending time with you guys.

Monday, August 25, 2008

How We Spent Our 6th Anniversary Morning.....

We have been so busy the last couple of weeks getting ready for Mexico and we planned on not doing anything for our anniversary yesterday (more on Mexico in a later blog post obviously!!). We had bought some stuff at the store to make a nice dinner at home and were just going to relax.

That morning Missy got a text from a friend and asked if we want to go to the Evergreen State Fair. After talking it over for a few minutes we decided that it would be a lot of fun to take Jayden and let him see all the animals and maybe ride a ride or two. It was supposed to rain that day but it was still warm so we just hoped for the best. A quick stop at the Bartel's drug store to buy the tickets (discounted) and we were off! The fair was about 20min from our house so it did not take to long to get there at all.

The rain held off just long enough and we all had a blast at the fair!! Jayden was super excited when we went and saw the animals. He got to see pigs, goats, cows, sheep, roosters, ducks, turkeys, chickens and even zebras and reindeer!



After that we went and got so me yummy fair food and chilled a bit. We went and played a few games. Dad payed $5 to "win" a bear for the boy. Dad also payed $10 to shoot baskets for a big toy, but it was not meant to be.



We only rode on one ride with the little man and that was the carousel. He was a little freaked out when we got on it, we only sat in the sled and not on an animal, but he loved it once we started going.

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It was a great time. The little guy was all tuckered out by 12:45 or so and we went home. I think we will go back again next year. Here are some of the other fun moments of the day.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Fun In The Sand......In Downtown Seattle!

On my way to work today I saw a bunch of people fencing off a big area of Westlake Center, a mall/shopping area downtown near my office building. They had huge mounds of sand, a few dozen people and a mini bulldozer! They were making these amazing sand sculptures all over the place. Not sure what it was for, other than looking cool and being 'artsy', but they were very cool looking.

They turned this:

Into THIS:


Sunday, August 17, 2008

Enjoying a Sunny Sunday at the park.....

We were blessed with a rare beautiful weekend and decided to hit up one of the local parks for some sun and fun. We headed to Forest Park in southern Everett because Missy said they had water fountains and lots of toys to play on.

Jayden loved the water fountains and toys. He was a little shy at first but he warmed up to it after a few minutes. He just ran around laughing and running around the water.

It was a lot of fun. Hopefully we have a few more nice weekends so we can do it again and maybe BBQ and invite friends. Here are some pics from the day:


Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Back to school.....

A classic 80's movie starting the late great Rodney Dangerfield and also what I'll be doing come September 23rd. After a 9 year hiatus I'm heading back to school to collect me some more knowledge and a piece (or two) of paper. I'll be going to a local community college near where we live. Focusing on web development, which too some degree is what I do now. I've wanted to get back to school for a while now and for several reasons.

For one, I've always been disappointed in myself for ever leaving school in the first place. Don't get me wrong, it's worked out remarkably well for me and I would not change a thing. Without leaving school I would have never met Missy, which of course would mean Jayden would not even exist, plus not having a host of my current friends and family. That still doesn't change fact that I never finished what I started and that bothers me.

Second, I want to learn a bunch of new stuff! One of the great things about my chosen field is that I get to constantly create new things and solve new problems in interesting ways. In order to do that effectively, I have to constantly try to teach myself what new and old methods are available to me. In many ways I'm lacking in "old school" web skillz that the "new school" web stuff is built on. I need to get those skillz ASAP, but teaching myself has proven difficult and not be an effective way to learn. If I NEED to know something for my job, I can and will learn it. But if I don't HAVE to know it, I don't have the focus to stay with it. I'm hoping the structure of classes and paying for them help in this regard.

Last but not least, my work is willing to let me have some what of a flexible schedule and is picking up the tab for at least part of it (maybe all of it)! Yippy!

None of this would be possible without the support of my wonderful wife. Even though it will drastically cut the time I get to spend with both her and Jayden, especially during the week. She has been very supportive and encouraging about the whole thing. We'll be getting creative in scheduling "family time" and I plan on becoming much more of a morning person (not a 4am Wayne person though, not yet). She's continues to be the best wife and mother anyone could ask for.

On a lighter note, I went to orientation today after work and damn I feel old. 3/4 of the people where "kids" and a few even with their parents. That was weird. Coming from work where even at 30 I'm the youngest, to school where I was definitely one of the oldest.

It's going to be great, and I'm really excited.

"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." ~Benjamin Franklin
"Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it." ~William Haley

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Congrats to Milkbomb!

Whats a Milkbomb you ask? Well that depends on if you ever worked at Food4Less in McMinnville, OR (that's a story for another time). The Milkbomb I'm writing about today is the name of a band that's headed up by our great friends Peter and Kevin. They have both been in bands together since our early high school days but within the last couple of years they have really seemed to gel and find their sound and direction. They have been playing shows regularly throughout the Portland area and getting some play on the local rock station KUFO. They just recently wrapped up their first CD and release party over 4th of July weekend. Unfortunately Missy and I could not make it down and attend. We got our copy (from CD Baby) on Monday and it is awesome!! I think anyone that likes a grunge/old-school alternative sound should definitely check it out.

Anyhow, just a shout out to them and a big congrats on a killer album. Seeing them take it really serious and listing to the results is incredible.

Click through either of the links I've embedded and take a listen!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

We Got Jayden a New Kitty!!!

Missy, Jayden and I went for a walk this afternoon. We were headed down to the local fruit and veggie stand about 1/2-3/4 mile down the road from us.

Jayden found a new buddy while we were out. On the way we saw a sign for a garage sale and we could not pass up checking out other peoples junk. They had this giant tiger that Jayden really wanted. He was a little dirty and needs some patching but he was only a dollar. So we figured that if a cycle through the wash ruined him or permanently maimed him it would not be a big loss.

I'm happy to say that he did survive the gentle cycle and is now a happy member of Jayden's SAP (Stuffed Animal Posse). Here are a few pic's of Jayden and mom playing around with the furball.

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Friday, July 25, 2008

Time to get a new cell phone. What ever shall it be?!?!

My old cell phone finally kicked the bucket this week. I usually have it in my front shirt pocket and I some times forget to take it out when giving Jayden a bath. Lean over to far and *plop*, into the tub it goes. It has survived 3 baths so far but on the 4th it gave in and ceases to function. Jayden actually saw it and took it out of my pocket. I tried to grab it quick from him and knocked it into the air. Picture me in slow motion going "Noooooooo...." as the phone plops into the bath beneath the bubbles. Jayden thought it was some sort of game and sloshed and splashed about. By the time I found it under the bubbles it was too late.

I have really been longing to get an iPhone since they came out over a year ago. Many of my friends at work have them and they are very, very nice. But they where soooo expensive and the monthly plan was double what I was paying now (we have a really good deal with Sprint right now. 500min and unlimited everything else for $35 each). The new 3g iPhone just came out and cut the price down to $199 (from $599 originally and $399 at the time).

Long story short I convinced Missy to let me get one or Missy decided I could get one. Which ever way you wish see it ;)

I love, love, love, LOVE my new phone. I have used several and really liked them but now that I have gotten to use it for 48hrs I have a whole new level of appreciation. It is so sweet and multi functional. Here is a small list of the things that are just so great about it:

  • Replaces my iPod so I don't have to carry 2 devices every day.

  • The screen is 3 times the size of my iPod. Watching a movie or show on it is rather enjoyable now.

  • Google maps. Not just google maps but a super slick, super fast touch interface to google maps. This is pry my favorite thing. This will be so useful. Like having a computer with you at all times that you can map and look stuff up on. Very, very sweet.

  • Integrated GPS. I can literally open Google maps, it locates me via GPS. Type in "Pizza". Shows me all pizza places near me. Select one and click "directions" and BAM!- turn by turn GPS directions from my exact location to the pizza place i picked. That will be so so cool on vacations and new places, like Mexico.

  • Internet access. The real Internet. Not a mobile phone version. Can't really explain how cool it is, you would have to see it.

  • Email from my yahoo and gmail. This is nothing too new to you "Crack-berry" users but I have never had this, so very cool to me. Plus its my personal email, not a work leash ;)


  • Here is the only bad thing:

  • No video capture capabilities. It can only take photo's. It cannot take videos. So no more Jayden quick videos posted unless Missy takes them.


  • FYI - How to comment on this blog

    A couple times people have told me that they would have loved to leave a comment on one of the posts but they did not want to "sign up" for anything or create an account to do so. I totally agree and hate it when/if I have to do that. This is just an FYI about that.

    You do not have to sign up for anything or type in your email address or anything to leave a comment. You just have to make sure and pick the right option when you are leaving a comment and you will be good to go.

    It should go something like this:

  • Read one of my hilarious and entertaining yarns about our bomb life.

  • Realize that you should tell us what you really think of us.

  • Click on the "comment" link at the bottom of the post.

  • That should open a page that looks like this:

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    Click the pic for a more detailed view if you like

  • Select the radio button that says "Name/URL". This will let you just type in your name (you do not have to give a URL) and submit your comment.


  • This is not a plea for comments but I hope this helps for those of you that wish to leave a comment. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Want to see more of something? Less? Let us know!

    Thursday, July 24, 2008

    Weekend BBQ with Good Friends

    Last weekend we finally made it over to our friends house, the Schulte's, on Bainbridge Island for a BBQ. It's always so difficult to get our schedules to match up but all the stars aligned and we made a go of it.

    It was Jaydens first ride on the boat and he loved it.

    Another friend, Jim and his wife Danielle and their son Ayden made it over as well. We all use to work at Escend together and had been quite some time since we all hung out. In fact the last time we were all together the Schulte's only had 3 kids, Jim and Danielle had none and neither did we. So we had lots to talk about :)

    There was tons of food and beverages. Jayden had a great time playing in the sandbox with Aaron's littlest - Tessa. Then got pushed around the yard by Ayden and Tessa.

    Lots of fun on the island

    After dinner the men decided we need to test out some of the toys at the Schulte homestead. One of which was the Jason Giambi Batting Cage! This thing rocked! Very cool setup. We got in and took some hacks at 60-70mph and I actually did rather well for not swinging a bat in 10 years.

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    My cat like reflexes and quickness too fast for our camera to fully catch!

    Then we started messing with the kind of pitches it could throw. We had it throwing some wicked curve balls which I hit really well but then we decided to crank the sucker up to full speed. I tell you what, that thing can hum it in there upwards of 95-100mph. I could not even see the BALL!! I think the wives thought we were going to get killed. Nothing at that speed hit anyone or anything, including the bat ;)

    We even got the wives to jump in and take a few hacks. Missy did the best out of the girls!!! She had several solid hits.

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    Good form!

    A great time was had by all and I really hope it does not take us another year to all get together.

    Wednesday, July 9, 2008

    Happy 4th of July Everyone

    I hope you all had a relaxing weekend and were able to enjoy a BBQ and possibly a cold beverage.

    We headed over to a friends house for the traditional BBQ, etc our selves. There where several other couples joining us, all with younger kids. We had a really good time and Jayden got to play a lot and eat a lot of yummy food.

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    Darn E-Mail never stops...

    After the little ones went to bed we played some games in the backyard. Horse shoes and croquet where the games of choice. It was fun watching us all try and throw the horse shoes like we knew what we were doing.

    Our friends Angela and Scott were great hosts. They just moved into this new house and they have tons of room and a big back yard. We did not really do any fireworks. Mostly due to the fact that one of the houses in their neighborhood just recently caught on fire and did tons of damage so no one was really in the "lite stuff on fire" mood. Plus the boyz are a bit young to really enjoy it just yet.

    We finished the night off watching the fireworks on TV.

    One funny before hand story was what I will refer to as "The Mellon-ball Incident". Missy had decided to bring a nice fruit tray to the BBQ. It was to be filled with all sorts of tropical delights. One of which was going to be watermelon. She worked hard at making these nice ping pong ball sized "melon balls" out of it using, of course, a melon baller. They where perfect little guys. After she was done she came into the living room and sat down. About this time Jayden walked into the kitchen as he always does and Missy and I started talking about the day or something like that. Jayden is a big fan of the watermelon and about a minute later we both kind of had this "He's really been quite in there" moment of "oh crap!" Missy walks in and sees melon balls all over the kitchen floor and carpet! Jayden quickly deduced that mom was not to pleased with him and left a smoke trail to the living room. I came in and saw the mess all over the floor and tried my best not to start laughing out loud (Missy understandably not really ready to "look back and laugh" just yet). What he had managed to do was take his riding dump truck toy and prop it up against the cabinets. Stood on top of it (pry on his tip-toes), opened the plastic bowl with the melon balls and scoop out arm loads, all while being supper quite. That boy has got mad skillz. Luckily he did not get that many and there were plenty left for the tray.

    I think he learned a valuable lesson - When sneaking food never take more melon balls than you can eat or carry.

    Monday, July 7, 2008

    Trip to Spokane with Jayden is well overdue

    Over the weekend of June 27th the Misses and I loaded up the wee-one and headed east. Much fun was had.

    Background:
    Before stopping in Oregon, Missy and her family moved out to Spokane from Hopkins (MN) some time during her days in middle school (mid 80's maybe?). Shortly thereafter her grandma, aunt and a cousin moved out to Spokane as well as the the Shervey's began to stake their claim to a piece of the great northwest.

    I don't have a digital version of any of the pictures I have seen from this "Shervey Spokane Era". I have hand drawn one for you though:

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    Shervey Clan - Left to right: Middle-School Missy, No-Grey Jon (or one of the Cosby kids. I'm not certin), Less-Grey Wayne, Merry and Mittens


    The Fun:
    We took off from Everett on Thursday afternoon. Normally we would leave with Jayden later in the evening so he could sleep most of the way but Everett to Spokane is about 5 hours and we did not want to get in at midnight so we left early and prayed that he would do OK. He ended up doing rather well the whole way. Missy did a great job entertaining him by reading books and shoveling snacks back to him. Also a saving grace was a CD of songs from one of his favorite cartoons - The Backyardigans. He loved this and panicked whenever a song finished and there was a slight pause, thinking it had stopped. It saved much need sanity for mom and dad. (Thank you Jon and Heather!).

    Snacks and songs got us to Ellensburg where I had looked up a state park we could stop at, have dinner and let the boy stretch his legs. Since he was a good boy McDonald's fries were on the menu for dinner and he enjoyed them with much happiness. It was a cool park/farm. I guess it is a working farm as well and they do school field trips with hay rides and the whole bit. Neat-O!


    Dinner at park.


    *Side note* - Washington rest areas and state parks have got to be the nicest I have ever seen (and I've seen my share, not a lot of airline miles racked up on family vacations when I was young). They are always very well kept and the bathrooms are always very clean, no matter where you are. GO WASHINGTON!

    Back on the road we went. Jayden did really good the second half of the trip. He gets all loopy and giggly when he gets tired some times. He'll just laugh for no reason or you could turn around and look at him and say something silly like "Waffle House" and he'll just bust up. So funny. Jayden entertained Missy with this for about an hour or so at one point.

    I had never been to Spokane so of course I had never driven there either. It was a really pretty drive. The first half in the mountains and trees and the second half in the high desert with windmills and farm land. It was really cool and reminded me of a lot of the trips we took as a kid through California, New Mexico and Arizona.

    Sunset on the way to Spokane

    Sunset on the way to Spokane.


    We got into the hotel around 9:30pm or so. Wayne had been in Spokane for a few days doing some roofing over at his mom and sisters place so he had already gotten our rooms. We had two adjoining rooms with the double door thingy in between. That worked out really well because Jayden could run back and forth. It was kind of lucky that we got the two rooms this way. That weekend was also something called "Hoop Fest". There where like 18,000 basketball players in town for 3 vs 3 tourneys so hotels were hard to come by.

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    Jayden stayed awake the whole way so he was really tired. Dad was too.


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    The hotel we stayed at had a very nice breakfast in the morning. Waffles, danishes, fruit, breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy, etc. All for free. Jayden likes the Honeynut Cheerio's. Mom swore they had more "honey coating" than normal. Either way they were a hit.


    The hotel also had a pool as well. We went out one day and it was nice. Jayden loved swimming around and splashing all of us. Sorry, no pics, we were all in the pool!!

    One of the days we went to Coeurdalene, Idaho. Its only like 15 miles from Spokane. It was really cool. Lots of nice waterfront areas with huge parks and playgrounds. We kind of made the mistake of letting Jayden get in the water a little bit. He LOVED it. But we were not really prepared for the water so we could not let him get in very far and could not get in with him, so he was a little upset when we took him out. But he had lots of fun anyway and played a bit more before going back to the hotel for a nap.


    Jayden loved the water and was looking very cool.


    We went over a couple of times to see Wayne's mom (Jayden's great-grandma) and his sister Wanda and her son Paul. One of the evenings was for a BBQ. It was so nice out. Hot in the sun but really nice in the shade. We hung out in the yard and ate burgers and dogs. Jayden loved playing in the yard. Merry had got him a few other things for his birthday that she brought along to give to him. He loved them all of course.


    Lots of fun at great-grandma's and aunt Wanda's


    We had a great time visiting with family and friends. It was so great that Jayden got to meet his great-grandma and he really warmed up to her. He just loves grandma's. Hopefully we will make it back out to see them all again soon.

    I enjoyed my first trip to Spokane and I'm sure it will not be my last. Jayden did great. We'll have to see if this gives us the courage to try other "road trips" this summer.

    Ending Note: On the way home I think this started out as a "No you can have a drink, you can not hold it. No hold. Just take a drink, here take a drink, just............."
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    Guess who won that one....


    Saturday, June 21, 2008

    Boyz Day

    Missy and some of her friends where having a girls day today so Jayden and I decided to have a boyz day!

    He is not quite old enough to go to many places. I checked out the Family Fun Center up here but all the rides are for kids over 40inches tall so he's not quite there yet. I don't think he's quite ready for a movie yet either or it would have been Kung Fu Panda (would have been a second time for Dad. That movie rocks, go see it!).

    So I decided we would start by hitting up the mall and letting Jayden flirt with all the girls in the play area. He had a blast and was sliding all over the place. Took a couple tumbles but the ground is some kind of bouncy astro-turf cuz he just sort of bounced off it and kept on going! After that we needed some breakfast/lunch so we went to the food court. I decided to try and take him to the Ruby restaurant at the mall. This could have been very stupid. I have never taken him to a restaurant by myself before so I was a little scared and he currently does not like sitting for more than 2 minutes. He did really good. He flirted with all the waitresses. They kept coming over and talking to him and he just laughed and laughed. They also have 2 trains that run around the whole place, he loved those. He also got 3 cardboard cars and sticker packs to play with so that helped a lot too. The food took for EVER to get to us. I was running out of ideas to entertain him and thought table dancing was going to be next! But thankfully he did not freek out and the food came and he was happy to munch on that.


    Here he is looking at the train.

    After we ate we headed back home. Side story - Heading for the car I noticed a car following me back to my spot (a very nice looking BMW). This is a real pet-peeve of mine. Mostly since we have had Jayden because it make me feel rushed because the person is waiting for my spot. I did have a sweet spot cuz I got there before the mall opened. But its not like the guy saw my parking lights coming on and stopped, he stalked me from the walk way all the way back to my car, with my son. So I took as long as I possibly could to put the little guy in his seat, get his stuff in the car and fold up his stroller. That took about 5-7 minutes and the guy just sat there waiting. Once it was all done I looked at him and said "Oh, I'm not leaving yet, sorry" *tee-hee* some times I can be so mean, but that felt good.

    When we got home he took a nice long 3 hour nap and dad took a few winks too.

    It was a rather warm day, even though it was overcast, so when he got up and we headed for the park. Ball, blanket, bubbles and a Kung Fu Panda Happy Meal in hand we headed for the big grassy plains of Silverlake Park. He had a blast kicking his ball around, chasing cotton from the trees and eating his french fries. There were lots of people at the park and lots of dogs. He tried to chase down the dogs and feed them french fries but they were a bit to quick for him.


    Fry-guy

    After a bit we left and shared a sunday from DQ. Then we came home, snuggled up and watched some toons before bed time.

    A good day.

    Friday, June 20, 2008

    Night Night Mommy


    Cell phone video I took the other night to send to Missy. Saying goodnight :)
    *You may need to turn up your sound really loud to hear, sorry*

    I'll Do My Most Best

    Ok, so round II of my ongoing belief that "I should be writing a blog for friends and family to read if they so wish, so that they know how cool we are and all of that".

    The first attempt over at 360.yahoo.com was a Charley Foxtrot for several reasons. First reason being my wonderful employers blocked my ability to go to the site. Not that I can blame them too much. They do pay me to work and not to surf the net and write up blog posts (I think). Second reason being I was just to damn lazy to do it. Third reason was the yahoo site sucked and was not easy to use or customize.

    Hopefully the new blog will be much better kept and the above reasons squashed. Work does not block blogger.com, its easy to customize and that just leaves me lazy. 2 out of 3 aint bad!

    Honestly though, I'll post regulary including lots of pics.