Winnie The Pooh

Today was a very strange day chez Max and Zoe. It started this morning as we were getting ready for zoo class when Max said he was sick and his foot was broken. Zoe said that she had'owee boobies' and she couldn't walk at the zoo. So I took the stroller. When they got there Max was fine, but Zoe just whined the whole time. Not too much fun. I figured they'd be fine after a nap, and planned to spend the afternoon at the wading pool. I had all the stuff packed and was all ready to go and told them so when I got them up. Max just said 'NO WAY', and then lay there on the couch. Very odd, I have never seen him do this before. Obviously he was under the weather or something.

So I let them read all of their friends blogs instead and saw that Cassie and Leah had just been to see Winnie the Pooh. Great idea,(Thanks jamie!) I thought and 5 minutes later we were out the door and on our way to our very first movie. I had no time to talk it up, but did tell them we were going to watch a really big TV show in a dark room. I told them it was Winnie the Pooh and as soon as we got there, Zoe kept saying "I no see Winnie mummy, he not here." She was eventually distracted by the bag of popcorn, which according to Max was 'Super nummy."

They loved the movie and sat and watched the whole thing. Zoe gave a very detailed running commentary of everything that was happening and even screamed that the Owl should go in time out as he had taken the donkey tail. She could recall her favorite part, 'when pooh bear climbed up the ABC's', and kept saying 'I so happy.' Max mostly ate his popcorn and laughed at tigger. When I asked him about his favorite part he said 'popcorn.'

Anyway we all had a great time and it was the perfect way to spend a happy afternoon with two very grumpy children.

Shiver Me Timbers

Dress up has just started to be fun for Max and Zoe. I don't have much for them to play in yet, but yesterday they found the box with last years Halloween costumes in so we decided to play pirates. They have developed an in depth knowledge of pirates lately, from watching Dora's pirate adventure. It is a musical version that includes a waterfall and a bridge in the middle of the ocean, and a talking bull, but whatever-they love it. This game of pirates mostly involved Max jumping off the bed, Zoe having about 10 different hair styles and a lot of arguing about who was the singing bridge. In the end I was the singing bridge and they were both Dora and that kept everyone busy until bath time.

Sunny weekend

It has been a lovely weekend in Seattle. Blue skies, sunshine and a light breeze-perfect. Here are a few pictures of M and Z enjoying being outside.

Circus!

As a parent it is important to prepare your children for all you can in life. Bearing that in mind I signed M and Z up for a circus arts just in case they decide to run away with the circus. They have attended 3 classes so far and I have mixed feelings about the class. The teacher is a little serious, and the warm up takes 15 minutes of a 45 minutes class. However Max and Zoe love the blue circus room where they get to practice trapeze and tight wire. They are almost insane with joy when trampoline time comes around. Not sure we'll enroll again for the Fall, but we'll stick with it through the summer and see what happens.

Wallingford Kiddie Parade

Each year there is a kiddie parade in Wallingford. I have to be honest, I don't love parades, but for some reason kids do. This parade has loads of marching bands, fire trucks and school buses so it was just heaven for Max and Zoe. There were also some bouncy houses and pony rides. So once we'd practiced our climbing and balancing on the walk up, we hung out with our friend Maya and enjoyed the morning.

Oh what a busy week

Well it has been a busy week here is Seattle so I should have lots of great pictures to post right? Well not really as I just never seemed have my camera along at the right time. The week started on Sunday by running into my friend Sarah and her family at Matthew's beach. It was a cloudy day so I had just planned to feed the ducks and play at the park there, but Max and Zoe had other ideas. As soon as they saw Sarah's boys in the water in their swim suits, they too thought playing in 60 degree water was fun. I wasn't prepared so an impromtu skinny dipping took place.

Monday was 4th of July holiday and the biggest celebration in Seattle is held at Gasworks park about 5 blocks from our house. That means that our neighborhood is overrun and that we get to walk to all the festivities. There is a massive blow up statue of liberty head that had been there all week. For some reason M and Z started calling it "Our lady of the horns", and they weren't very happy to be around her as she was "Too big, Too scary." They kids enjoyed watching all the people and going on the bouncy houses, but we headed home to BBQ as we have a great view of the fireworks from our deck.

The rest of the week included 2 beach trips, zoo class and circus class, 3 play dates, the opening of the local wading pool, my first solo swim trip with both of them, numerous trips to the park, and 3 really long bike rides. So this afternoon we decided to stay home and garden and pants were strictly optional:)

Strawberry fields

This week we went strawberry picking with our friends Jacob and Emily. We drove over to Harvold berry farms in carnation, which is a very simple U-pick strawberry field. For the kids it was more of a U-eat berry experience and the only people picking seemed to be Stephanie (Jacob and Emily's mum) and myself. To be fair to Emily she made a very good attempt, whilst Zoe fixated on the lady birds, Max fixated on the wooden marker sticks and Jacob just about ate his body weight in strawberries. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we ended up with nearly 8lbs of strawberries each. So this week we have been enjoying A LOT of smoothies and jam making starts this afternoon.