Malibu

In late September we had the exciting opportunity to travel up to Malibu, which is a Young Life camp about 100 miles north of Vancouver, BC.  Malibu is at the mouth of the Princess Louisa Inlet and surrounded by the beauty of mountains and water!  Brad was asked by a friend to be the "medicine man" for a weekend retreat.  The whole family got to go and it was a great time.  We had a lot of time to relax and play.  Here are some photos from our weekend at Malibu...

Soaking it all in...

Robin and Adeline at Chatterbox Falls

Brad and Anderson at Chatterbox Falls

Conversations with a 3-year-old...

For breakfast Anderson had a bagel with cream cheese and asked "Mom, what does this bagel have?"  I told him that it was a plain bagel.  He asked "What's plain mean?"  I said that there is nothing extra in or on it.  Later when Brad came home from his over night shift and asked Anderson what he had for breakfast Anderson told him "I had a nothing bagel and cream cheese."  Ha!

When Brad was putting Anderson to bed he started asking about Bella, our chocolate lab that is now at a new home.  He started crying saying he missed her and asked "How do we know that she is OK?  How do we know if they pet her enough?"  I guess we should schedule a visit to Bella's new home...such a sweet heart!

Anderson asked "Mom, why is your phone smart?"  I explained why and he said "I want to be a grown up so that I can have a smart phone too."

When feeding Adeline..."Mom, why is it called nursing?"  Stunned...I reply with "I'll have to google that!"

After using the bathroom..."Mom, why does some food turn into poop and some food doesn't?  You should google it."  Ha!

Prayers from Anderson

We try to say a pray, as a family, before dinner and, with Anderson, at bed each night.  We usually let Anderson pick if he wants to pray or not at dinner time.  And at bed-time, we ask him who or what he wants to pray about.  It is so fun to get a snapshot of what is going through a toddlers mind!  Here are some of the recent prayers...

Before dinner..."Dear God, thank you for this food.  Thank you for my milk.  Thank you for Adeline.  And, thank you for mommy for popping Adeline out. Amen."

At bed-time..."Thank you for Auntie Aly.  Thank you for her letting me borrow her snow board at Christmas (about 6 months ago) to go snow boarding in the snow (really she used it as a sled during the huge snow storm we had last winter).  And, I hope she doesn't die."

Before dinner..."Thank you for food.  Thank you for Adeline and I hope she never dies.  I hope I never die.  I hope I get to sit in a booster chair. Amen"

At bed-time..."Thank you for Uncle Josh.  Thank you that he gets to see Elleanor soon.  I hope Elleanor doesn't take toys from me when I see her next time. Amen"

Feeding Giraffes

Grandma Suanne volunteers at the Woodland Park Zoo and got to help with feeding the giraffes a couple of weeks ago.  We went to the zoo and Anderson got to feed the giraffes with Grandma!  Here are some pictures... 

The giraffes eat big maple leaves. 

It was pretty cool  to see them this close!

Anderson wasn't nervous at all.  He walked right up to give the giraffe the leaf.

Whoa...look at his tongue!!

Adeline's Cheap Entertainment

Adeline is changing and developing so fast!  Her sweet and gentle personality continues to radiate!  We just love her to pieces...

She has started giggling!  It's so fun to watch and hear.  Anderson really got her going the other day when we were listening to some music.  He just absolutely loves his sister and is very into playing with her.  Sometimes it is a little difficult to help him understand that she is very fragile still.  He loves it when she responds to him by watching him play, babbling with him, smiling, or laughing.

BTW the music you hear in the background is a gift from our dear friends, Andy and Joy, and it has classic kids' songs that are personalized with Adeline's name.  So cool!!  Great gift!

Going, Going, Gone...

Anderson and Brad spend a lot of time outside in the backyard playing sports.  Brad is very patient and encouraging.  Anderson and Adeline are very lucky to have such a creative, attentive, and loving dad!! The games that Brad comes up with are so cool.  Last night he made an obstacle course and the whole family competed.  So fun!!

One of Anderson's favorite things to do is play sports...soccer, baseball, football, and a classic...croquet.       We've said, from very early on, that if Anderson doesn't end up being some kind of big hitter (baseball or football) then we would be very surprised!  Since he could walk he's loved to wrestle and tackle.  It's nice to see him putting that energy and desire into a focused place.  Here is some video of Anderson swinging the bat with dad...he's quite the athlete and a lefty (although he still switches sometimes)!!

Skiing 2012

No...the mountains didn't just get a dumping.  I'm just a little late in posting some videos of Anderson skiing for the first time this past March at Snoqualmie.  He picked it up really quickly and after about 45 minutes of practicing on the magic carpet Brad had him riding up the lift to practice on bigger bunny hills.  We only took him up once last year but will hopefully get him skiing a few more times this coming season!