Oh, the blog post I could write about my analysis of the male fascination with being a fireman... but instead I'll just post these pictures of Carson playing outside this afternoon, and leave it at that:)

 

Evergreen Air and Space museum is an amazing part of our community and a great place to spend an afternoon with a couple of rowdy boys - one of which is fascinated with rockets and planes! Having two small kids means the word "museum" doesn't come up a lot for us, but they've done a great job of providing activities for kids that do not involve actually going inside - correctly knowing that years of museum memberships will be in our future once they're hooked.... and a little older. Carson calls it "airport park" and he and Nolan flew a helicopter in the playground and ran around the grounds under the planes on display outside (see Carson in the picture below going "nose-to-nose" with a MiG-23 - literally!). Inside there are even a few activities free of charge, like a bi-plane ride for the little ones. And rumor has it there's more to come with the addition of an indoor water park planned in the next couple years. (Complete with a 747 on the roof of course!) This mommy says, "Bring it on!" We love our outings to "Airport Park" and welcome more kid-friendly activities sprinkled with educational opportunity in Mac!

       

After a few days of being cooped up in the house because of rain, we got back outside this afternoon for some fun in the sun. Nolan discovered that he could successfully take on the big slide in the backyard (so much for that toddler one we kept for him) and Carson's friend Jake came over for an evening bike ride. Now let's just hope this weather hangs on through the weekend!

One of my resolutions post-Nolan was to simplify my life by reducing the number of volunteer commitments I have (an ongoing problem for me). With that in mind, after four years of working with the Community Leadership Development Program through the local Chamber of Commerce (a year taking the class and three years on the planning committee) today was my last day to coordinate. I'm a little sad about it, since I have really enjoyed being a part of the program, but it remains one more thing that takes time away from work and home - which is enough to balance at this point! To ease any sadness, I chose the "Travel, tourism and agriculture" day as my last one so that I could spend it touring a brew pub, a local olive oil mill and wine tasting... not a bad way to say good-bye!

We took off Friday afternoon for a weekend with family and friends in Kirkland & Bellevue, WA. The typically four hour drive took about 6+ hours with stops for play-breaks and potty-breaks and we finally arrived around 9pm. The kids were so excited about seeing their cousins they managed to come alive and play 'til almost 11pm, which messed them up for most of the rest of the weekend. Oh well!
BIG THANKS to all of the people that hosted us this weekend.... Melissa for coffee, Kristi for water, Maureen & Karen for Sat. lunch and Sun. breakfast, Pat & Donnah for dinner and especially Chris, Tia and the kids for letting us base out of their house for a few nights. We had a great time and Carson is anxious to come back! After six more hours of driving and breaks today (although I can't complain about stops at Cabela's & Costco!) everyone is tucked in bed and sound asleep...

So for the last few days we've been repeatedly losing our son. It's not hard to guess where he is when he disappears - it's always the same place.
Out the dog door!
He discovered this little trick a week or so ago and has become completely enamored with it. So much so that we've had to start keeping the door closed, which has caused Bogart to perfect the art of wedging his nose between the slider and the dog door insert and sliding the real door open himself. (Which of course, defeats the purpose.) We've also had to cover our little concrete back porch in the old patio cushions (and one very ugly old couch cushion from our trailer) in order to stop Nolan's fall when he dives head first out the dog door. (Mom & Dad had a hard time accepting the scraps and blood flow coming from his nose. He, on the other hand, apparently thought it was worth it!)
So we've dubbed him "the tank" whose ongoing mission is apparently to charge forward at all times. (Oh, and to carry as many things as possible out with him... is that my sweeper??)

Carson caught his first frog last weekend when he was out for a walk with Daddy. Mr. Frog spent the night in our fish tank until the next day when we could put some water in the swimming pool and really let Carson play with him. He was pretty darn excited about the whole thing (Carson - not the frog), as you can see from the smile plastered on his face in both this video, and this one as well. After a very social day (for a frog), Mr. Frog was last seen hopping towards the back fence croaking, "Freedom!!"

A freak afternoon windstorm brought down all of the cherry blossoms on our street this afternoon covering the cul-de-sac in a "dusting" of pink petals that Carson dubbed "snow". He played outside with his truck for a couple hours running through the "snow drifts" and throwing "snow balls".
It was beautiful - and more importantly - it felt like spring!

 

You wouldn't believe the money we save on soap this way...!

Apparently I'm regressing because when Scott asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I finally settled on Enchanted Forest! So we packed the kids up and spent a day with Alice in Wonderland and the Three Bears. It was perfect! Pictures from the day are posted here. Once we were home Daddy took over the kitchen and produced and amazing dinner of Greek Cinnamon chicken, which I highly recommend.


But the real news of the day was the arrival of our newest nephew, Andrew "Andy" Layne Pankion - on my birthday!! Sheri and Michael called at 5 o'clock this morning to share the news that Andy had arrived at 3:01am Alaska time and everyone was doing fine. He was 19", 7lbs & 2oz. Welcome to the world little Andy! I will gladly pass my birthday over to you and willingly give up having them myself:)