Spring Photo Mish Mash

With the warmer weather, Ian has really enjoyed venturing outside. A side effect of the occasional rainstorm is that it's now pointless to clean the bottom two feet of our windows.


Ian expresses his more serious side in his playground also known as our kitchen.


Grandma sent Ian some Easter cheer, and he loved his giraffe basket! At first, he would crawl up to it, and gently kiss its nose.


Then his affection became a little more aggressive.

We ventured over to Spokane to celebrate Easter, and Ian enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt at Manito Country Club.

He eyed the eggs and prepared himself mentally for the challenge ahead.

As you can see, the competition was fierce. However, Ian's cousin Savannah played very nice.

And they're off! Sadly, 5 seconds later before any eggs could be reached, his shoe fell off, he fell down, and started crying for Da Da. And so ended his first Easter egg hunt.

The dowel for locking our screen door sometimes makes its way out for a good demonstration in mixed martial arts. The sippy cup makes a deadly combination. Robbers beware.

Another favorite pass time is to grab anything in each hand, walk around the house, and wave them wildly in the air. Today, it happened to be diaper wipes.

Never a dull moment.

Rick and Lisa came up for the weekend, so we spent some time touring the zoo and Whidbey Island. The below is from the grass fields at Fort Casey. With our regular wide-angle lens broken, I was relegated to the zoom lens. I had to stand about 6 miles away to get some shots, but Ian helped out by being extra cute.

Though just a bit chilly with the ocean air blowing in from Admiralty Inlet, it was nice to get some time in the sun.

Ian and Rick horsing around.

Laura, these two pictures are for you. There's a great lighthouse there with a nice museum regarding the history of Fort Casey. Next time you visit, we'll add it to our itinerary.

Before we headed back to the car, Ian though it would be fun to sample some of the local vegetables before Mom could swoop in to stop him.

Keep Your Camera Out of Reach

We apologize for a lack of picture posting recently. Grabby little fingers grabbed the camera strap dangling down from the kitchen table. Like a kitten with a ball of yarn, chaos ensued, and now we are waiting for a new lens to be delivered before we can resume posting pictures on the site. Please stay tuned as UPS is set to deliver the new lens shortly. In the mean time, here are some pictures fortuitously snapped before the camera carnage.

We recently ventured out to a local park in Snoqualmie overlooking the valley and Mt. Si in the background.



Ian, before wrestling with the camera, looked for the perfect spot to take his pictures.


Mom helped provide some support in Ian's first attempt at walking on gravel. Naturally, he quickly advanced to eating gravel.


He found the best place for the tripod, but wasn't quite sure about the lighting. He kept looking back to the oncoming weather to decipher when the perfect shot would be available.


He snapped this one, and it turned out rather well.


As all great adventures tend to end with a meal, this one was no different. However, the meal seemed to end without a significant mess. Not sure how we lucked out on that one.

Baby Frankenstein

Ian likes impressions. Here, he impersonates baby Frankenstein on his way to storm the villiage.

Bye Bye Flip

This is generally the last thing a video camera sees.

Nearly Walking

Our little man is already over a year old. His Uncle Mike and Aunt Kassio were gracious enough to host the party in Spokane so that both sides of the family could help him celebrate.

Below is mom presenting the ceremonial cupcake. He didn't quite know what to do with it, especially since he'd never been served food with a flame on top of it.

With everyone crowded around, Ian took the opportunity to regale us with an impassioned speech about the life lessons he'd like to impart on his family from his vast 12 months of life.

Towards the end of the speech, he pounded his fist in demanding social justice for those oppressed with cold wipes during diaper changes.

With the speech out of the way, the party was afoot. And you can't have a party without a silly hat. Ian donned his and quickly declared, "It's good to be the king."

He then enjoyed the most delicious paper plate ever.

Ian was flying from the top of the sugar high, but we forgot to warn him about the crash that quickly follows.

Within three minutes Grandma had him sound asleep, so all is well that ends well.

Once we returned to Snoqualmie, we were able to complete Ian's final photo shoot. And I think he was a little excited about it.

Ian and Dad enjoyed Gonzaga's victory over Florida St. together. And by "enjoyed," we mean having a heart attack while yelling at the TV as an 18 point lead nearly slips away.

"Ha ha. Daddy's loud."

Finally, the below captures why you don't drink milk and drive your wagon. When not hopped up on organic whole milk, Ian is nearly walking. He can take up to about 10 steps before he's back to crawling. As he stumbles along, our life as we know it is very close to taking a giant leap forward. Pretty sure we're not ready for a walking toddler yet.

A Year In Review

Walking Along

After riding in and playing with our radio flyer for months, Ian has learned to push it himself. This video is for Aunt Joey and Aunt Elisa...the toy has gotten endless use, thank you!

Ian's first GU game

Ian loved his first GU game. He hopped from lap to lap and did great. He wanted to strip down to his diaper and streak the court, but I wouldn't let him.