The Woodland Park Zoo!

Today is a very special day! Six years ago Nathan and I were married on a beautiful summer day. It is so hard to believe it was 6 years ago because it feels like yesterday. We were given a 1 year zoo pass as an anniversary gift this year and decided to use it on the very first day so Grandma and Grandpa Holstein and the three of us headed to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle (the pass is for Portland, but works in Seattle too).
As I was uploading these pictures I had to giggle because we may need Grandma with us on our zoo trips. Baron can see alot more in the arms of his nearly 6 foot grandma than he can see from his barely 5 foot mama! He loved looking at the animals and eating a picnic lunch. He did not love running and falling on the asphalt, but that is part of being 17 months.

I think the elephants were his favorite. They were big and do not try to camouflage themselves. They were also playing with balls (sooooo slowly), but I am pretty sure it reminded Baron on Gus.

Baron and I went into the petting zoo which only had a few goats in it. Baron's eyes were as big as ever as he looked over the area.

However, at 17 months you can miss the goat right next to you as you peer through a fence. This was at the end of the zoo so apparently he felt he had to look through fences to see animals.

Hanging out in Quincy

A few (okay alot) pictures of the three cousins and their moms and grandparents. My intentions were to do captions for each picture, but because there are so many I will let my readers come up with their own.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Nathan! You are an amazing dad and husband.
Nate had to work out of town this week so we decided to stay in Quincy to see friends and family. Baron loves being on the farm and quickly acquainted himself with it again. His grandparents seem to enjoy having him around too! I think Grandma pushed Baron about 100 miles over the course of the week in this car.

Baron was taking his driving very seriously. He was also very serious about eating dirt, but was not good at hiding the evidence.

Honk! Honk!

The new apple orchard is planted now behind the house and it has given Baron (and Gus) a whole new place to explore!

Working Hard

Nathan took Baron to Leavenworth today to visit his parents while I was at a church reunion of sorts with life long friends. They worked hard and played hard. I think Gus had the most fun running through the tall grass with Ruby Sue and Griswold, but that is a different post for a different blog. Baron thoroughly enjoyed cutting the grass with his grandpa!

Waking up on the right side of the bed

When we have to wake up Baron from his nap or in the morning, he usually goes from looking like this:

to looking like this:I wish I was able to wake up this cheerfully and quickly every day!

Intense Fun (and picture overload)!

We had beautiful weather this weekend so we took advantage of it today. We live within a 5 minute walk of a small park so we started our day there. It is nice because we usually have the entire park to ourselves (Baron is expressing this in the first picture).
Baron loves to climb and does not have much fear which leaves me a little fearful! I have decided that fire polls are the worst invention ever because they leave a tall, wide-open space for children to fall off the toy.

This is where the intense part begins. Baron gets VERY excited while he is playing. I can see his little muscles get tense as he squeals with delight.

He used to like to go down the tunnel slide, but today he wasn't sure about it so he just sat at the top. It could have to do with a small incident we had last week with a very wet slide, slippery pants and a little boy who wouldn't listen when his mom said "Baron please do not go down the slide." Down he went (on his stomach) so fast that he flew about a foot off the end and landed on his stomach! I made sure he was alright before I laughed.

Nate will love that I posted this picture! The entire family has fun when we go to the park!

Here is the series I couldn't leave out. I think Nate had our camera on a sports setting so it catches the entire trip down the slide which includes the start where Baron and I both have the same expression.

After nap time we put Baron in his swim trunks and told him it was time to try out his new swimming pool (and sport his new sunglasses). He was so excited. We were excited because he left his hat and sunglasses on the entire time.

I sat in the pool with him. It only had about 3 inches of water in it, but I decided that we might live in this pool on the hot days this summer.It felt so refreshing and Baron had a blast. In fact, after dinner we decided to empty the pool because it is not supposed to be warm this week. Somehow Baron ended up back in the pool and all wet again before bedtime. He should sleep well tonight.

Hello PINK!

Everything is different for the 2nd child and the one thing that is very different in our preparation for Harper than it was for Baron is the completion of the nursery. We are not even remotely close to being finished, but we keep doing as much as we can as time allows. Baron's nursery was nearly complete when I was 23 weeks pregnant. I will be 32 weeks on Monday and let's just say...she better not come early! At least this time around I realize that the nursery doesn't get used much in the first two months so we'll still have time if she does arrive sooner than expected. Baron has even helped us by moving parts and tools (to places unknown) and unpacking all the things we really won't need for awhile, but are sitting in her room. He is so helpful! Perhaps that is part of the reason this nursery is not together yet :)

And for all of you who know baby safety - this is not where the crib is going permanently. I did notice that it was too close to the window/blinds so it will move soon.