Little Buzz!

Yes, it's true...Josiah is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear! In case you live on a planet where there are no little boys, Buzz Lightyear is a character from Disney's Toy Story. Ever since Josiah's first time seeing this movie, life around our house has been all about Buzz & Woody. Well, Uncle Chris recently took a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida & sent back tons of Buzz souvenirs. He sent him a Buzz t-shirt, a stuffed animal, a ball & figurines from the movie. Well, we haven't had a warm day since I washed his new shirt...until today.

Josiah wearing his new Buzz Lightyear shirt that Uncle Chris gave him.

As soon as Josiah put on his new shirt, life has been different around our house. It's like I poured a cup of sugar down his throat. He has been bouncing off the walls & EVERYTHING he picks up starts flying "To Infinity & Beyond!"

I posed Josiah along side some of his other Buzz Lightyear things. Granddaddy & Grandma gave him a Buzz shirt as well. Papa Bear has received the pleasure of wearing this shirt today.

And They're Off!

Monday afternoon we headed to the train station for the dreaded goodbye! Granddaddy & Grandma had been with us for two weeks & now that time had come to an end.

To Granddaddy & Grandma: Thank you so much for sacrificing so much to come across the country to see us. You will never know how much that means to us. We had a great time with you & made memories we know we will keep forever. We love you guys more than words can say.

Here is Conductor Jo!

While we waited for the train to arrive, Grandma & Josiah couldn't wait to get in one last story (or five...ha!).

Goodbye hugs were given to Grandma & Granddaddy!

I guess it really is over. They are boarding the train.

And they're off!
"GOODBYE! WE LOVE YOU!"

Day Thirteen with the folks!

How sad it makes me that today is our last full day with Dad & Mom. So, we decided to spend it well. Mom has been talking all week about taking Josiah to Baskin Robbins to buy him some "tockwet" (chocolate) ice cream.

So, we headed out this afternoon to get him some.

Josiah did get some chocolate ice cream & got it all over his face. He was a happy camper!

My two boys dressed for the occasion by wearing their Seahawks shirts. They finally won a game! Go Seahawks! After shoving our mouths full of ice cream, we headed to Wight's Garden Center to see their beautiful snow village display. My parents have a snow village & love to add to their collection. We looked at every corner of their villages just oohing & aahing over every little piece. We then came home to enjoy the wonderful Seahawks game on television. We watched football all afternoon until we headed for dinner at Outback.

As we were leaving Outback, Josiah took both of his grandparents hands to walk with them to the car. I couldn't pass up this sweet moment. I had to take a picture. I think he is really going to miss having them around.

Once we returned home, it was time for a story. Josiah climbed up on the couch with Granddaddy & Grandma to read some books. He loves it when they read to him. Grandma then took Josiah to his bathtub to play & bathe him one last time. At bedtime kisses & hugs were given to all. What a wonderful way to go to sleep!

Days Eleven & Twelve with the folks!

I know...I know...I have been slack the past few days with posting blogs. We have been having so much fun that I forgot to blog & even forgot to take any pictures. Forgive me!

We spent Friday & Saturday spending quality time together around the house. Friday we played around the house with cars, reading books, watching movies, etc. etc. etc. Granddaddy & Grandma then took over the house & Josiah to let us go on a date. Dustin & I were so excited. We got to go to dinner & a movie while Granddaddy & Grandma played like crazy with Josiah. We returned home to all happy campers who had a wonderful time together & no problems. We then watched another movie with Dad & Mom.

Saturday we spent the morning playing & talking. Saturday afternoon the women left the house to do some shopping & to catch a chick flick. The men stayed at home & watched college football. When we were out of time & money, we headed home to pick up the men for dinner. We then went to our family favorite restaurant, "Olive Garden." We ate until we couldn't eat any more & even refreshed our Spanish at dinner with our bus boy. It was tons of fun. Again, after Josiah went to bed, we watched a movie together.

It has been so much fun having them here, but we know it will soon come to an end. :(

Day Ten with the folks!

Today we decided to head out & see more of the Seattle sights.

You cannot come to Seattle & not experience the culture by going down to Pike's Place Public Market. Pike's Place has just about anything & everything a person could imagine. It is loaded with fruits, vegetables, art, purses, seafood, jewelry, doughnuts, flowers, clothing, nuts, blue-haired people, etc. etc. etc. It was very exciting to show them all of the neat finds there.

We started by looking around the courtyard & observing all of the boats on the Puget Sound.

We then headed inside to look at the gorgeous bouquets of fresh flowers they have.

These flowers are prettier & larger than any flowers I have ever seen.

We, of course, loaded up on fresh fruit to bring back to our house. We also couldn't pass up Daily Dozen Doughnuts. They are yummy! We have to make a stop by there every time we go.

We ended our trip by taking Granddaddy & Grandma to the very first Starbucks.

It is really neat to go there & see the historical articles & photos.

Granddaddy & Grandma had to order some coffee while they were there.

There is nothing like a hot cup of coffee from the original Starbucks...yummy!

We ended the day by sitting in the living room on the couches while Josiah & Grandma read books together.

There is no better way than to have some cuddle time with Josiah before bed!

Day Nine with the folks!

Yesterday we decided to take a day off & chill around the house.

After breakfast Granddaddy & Josiah went out on the deck to have some one on one quality time.

They read books, drew pictures, played with puzzles & toys & drew pictures on the doodle pad.

Later that afternoon we went outside to show off Josiah's bike riding skills.This time we let Josiah show that he could ride for blocks around our neighborhood.

He is quite the bike rider now.

During Josiah's nap time, Mom & I left the men in the house while we went to have some quality girl time. We, of course, went shopping & had a blast. We came home & cooked a great southern dish & had some fun watching a movie & eating brownies...chocolate dreams!

Day Eight with the folks!

Get ready...lots of pictures today!

Today was a whirlwind of excitement & fun! We went to the Seattle Center after breakfast this morning to show Dad & Mom some of the great Seattle sights. The most important of the sights at the Seattle Center is, of course, the Space Needle.



Here we are standing in front of the Space Needle!

Dad, Mom & Josiah listening to the locals play music while posing in front of the 605 feet tall Space Needle!



We played in the fountain at the Space Needle & unintentionally got wet. Josiah loved every minute of it!



We are all chocolate lovers, so of course we had to stop in for some Seattle Fudge. Evidently the boys were tired & needed to take a break for a foot massage. How cute!



While eating fudge in the Seattle Center Food Court, the workers set out Little Tikes cars for all of the kids to play in. Josiah ran at full speed to beat all of the other children to the cars. He rode in every one of them & then lined them all up like they were in a parking lot.

After loading up on fudge, we headed to Kiddyland to let Josiah ride on the real rides. Our first ride was on Dumbo. Josiah got to control the handle that makes Dumbo fly.



Dustin & Josiah rode on the carousel. What a beautiful horse!



Our next ride was on the Ferris Wheel. We went high in the air & got to see all around the Space Needle!



Josiah enjoyed our family Ferris Wheel ride!



Josiah's next ride was the Snow Convoy. This is his absolute favorite. He gets to drive around in the cars while they move at full speed. He gets such a kick out of this one!



His final ride was on the frog hopper. Dustin didn't think this ride would be worth the ticket, but it ended up being the best ride of them all.

Carla decided to try a new look & Josiah thought it was super funny!

Josiah took his first monorail trip from the Seattle Center to Westlake Center. While we were there we did some shopping in their four-story mall. WOW! A girl's dream!

What a fun day for all of us!

Day Seven with the folks!

Today has been an eventful day with my parents! We started the day by taking Josiah to the Lynnwood Library to check out our weekly stack of books. After showing Granddaddy & Grandma around, playing with puzzles & checking out books, we headed to Wilcox Park. At the park Josiah had a blast playing with his grandparents.

All three of them rode together on the seesaw .

They pushed Josiah "To infinity & beyond" on the swings.

Josiah even took the time to show off his skills on the slides!

When we returned from the park, we prepared a lunch buffet for the Lee family. Dustin's parents (Papa & Meme) & grandmother (Nan), came from Yakima to have lunch with us.

My parents haven't seen the Lees since Josiah's baby dedication when he was four months old. They have never met Nan. Today was really neat because Josiah has never been in one room with all of his grandparents (including his only great-grandparent) at once. It was a very exciting day for all of us. We had so much fun. They stayed all afternoon talking & laughing until we cried. It really was loads of fun.

Before Josiah's nap, he treated us all by singing his new favorite children's book, "Baby Beluga." Josiah then took a nap while we were talking & having fun. He woke up just in time to say goodbye to the Lees.

It was an exciting day from beginning to end.

Day Six with the folks!

It is Sunday...Sabbath. That will be my excuse for not having taken any pictures. Sorry! We did have a great day today, though. Granddaddy & Grandma got to come to Holy Seed Community Church for the first time. They said they thoroughly enjoyed our home community group & look forward to coming again next Sunday.

After church, Jon & Tracey stayed to watch the Seahawks lose in overtime. Boo hoo! The guys hung out in the living room watching the game. The ladies hung out in the kitchen talking about shopping & looking through the sales papers. Yes, it was very stereotypical.

After nap time we had our traditional Sunday evening movie night in the living room while eating dinner. Josiah watched a new movie that was encouraged by some toys Uncle Chris gave him. He received Mr. Incredible & Dash figurines from the movie, "The Incredibles." Well, Josiah doesn't have this movie, so he didn't know who the characters were. Well, then he had to have the movie, right? Granddaddy & Grandma bought the movie for him yesterday. Josiah was excited to finally see who these characters were & couldn't wait to play with them after dinner.

After Josiah's bedtime, the grownups finished the evening by watching a movie together.

Again, sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll try harder tomorrow!

Day Five with the folks!

Today we woke up to a gorgeous day. So, we decided to head to the beach. We have several beaches within driving distance & decided to head to Brackett's Landing in Edmonds.

One of Josiah's favorite things to do is to throw rocks into the water...& that's what we all did.

It was a great day to go to the beach, though, because the scuba divers were everywhere. Brackett's Landing has a Scuba diving park. We all sat on the rocks & watched them enter, exit & swim around in the water.

Today was also exciting because there were crabs everywhere on the beach!

Josiah really enjoyed seeing the crabs because he has never seen one before...only in books!

Later this evening, Mom cooked us all a wonderful southern dinner & we headed out afterwards to show off Josiah's bike riding skills. We all had a fun day outside!