Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

Mukilteo Ferry

Gabe really likes water!

Pointing to the boats at Ballard locks

Everett Arboretum

A few weeks ago, my parents came to visit for the week and we had a great time hanging out, seeing Seattle, enjoying the nice weather, and shopping. Gabe thoroughly enjoyed his grandparents and all the extra attention. He really liked following Grandpa around. Mike and my dad made a small cabinet with drawers for the pantry so I can store the massive amounts of food and household goods that I have from "couponing". Now the pantry is all neat and organized!

We thought we wouldn't see any family again until next year, but last week Mike found out that he will be able to take 2 weeks off around Thanksgiving and we will all fly back to Indiana for a visit. Gabe will be so excited to see all the family again!

What we've been up to lately...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we have been busy and Mike has been working a lot. Gabe is doing well, growing and playing more and more everyday. His favorite toys include cars, trucks, trains, planes, and anything with wheels. He also loves animals. He gets pretty excited every time we see a dog or cat out on our walks. Annie must not be that exciting though, because he just tries to poke her eyes and throw toys at her. We're still working on "being gentle."

Mike has been in California flight testing for the 787 and came back last weekend. He is back to his crazy schedule at work--working long days and 6 or 7 days a week. We can't wait until it all ends... which won't be for several months, unfortunately.

I am spending my time taking Gabe for play dates or outings and use lots and lots of coupons to get great deals on groceries. I'm sort of addicted to it since I have so much time with Mike not around and I love saving money. Gabe loves going on couponing adventures, it means getting out of the house, snacks for him, seeing new people and things, and having a pantry full of snacks and containers to play with.

We went to the zoo with friends, played in the backyard most days and watched the hummingbirds. Gabe recently discovered that the ottoman is actually a toy box and loves to get inside. He also really likes it when Mike or Annie chases him around the house.

I can't publish too many pictures of Mike in CA because they are actually Boeing property, but the one of 787 is taken from outside the fence, so it's legal :)

What my living room looks like...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but Mike has been very, very busy with work and has worked at least 10 hours a day for the past 20 days, but he had yesterday and today off! Yesterday we went to the MOAG (Mother of All Garage Sales) with our friends, the Mullans. We found lots of good deals and Gabe is thrilled with his new Matchbox cars and wooden train. Today we spent the morning at church and came back for a lazy afternoon at home since it has been raining. Mike and Gabe decided to build a fort in the living room and play with cars and trains inside it. I took a few pictures to document the fun and distressed looks on Annie's face (since the couch is her sacred domain where she sleeps 16 hours a day).

Strawberries

A few weeks ago we went to pick strawberries and some raspberries together. It was fun for Mike and I, but Gabe didn't enjoy walking in the fields, because the ground wasn't very level and he kept falling over into the berries. He didn't realize that you could eat the strawberries and how good they tasted. Later that weekend, we made strawberry jam and ended up with 9 jars. We also had lots of strawberry shortcake and strawberries and nutella.

Rocking Dachshund's Cross-country Trip

At Christmas I wrote about a "rocking horse" that my dad made for Gabe that is actually a dachshund (just like our dog). Well, as you can imagine, it wasn't going to fit in our carry on, so it was stuck in Indiana for a while. Since no one in our family is planning a cross country drive anytime soon, my dad shipped the dachshund via FedEx. So about a week ago it came to our front door and Gabe was thrilled that it came in large cardboard box and grandma had packed a Gator Golf game in with it. He is already a golfing pro (which means he follows the ball around the house, occasionally hitting it).

Milestones

I wanted to document a few milestones for Gabe. We recently (in the past few days) started brushing his teeth and letting him feed himself yogurt with a spoon. He loves his "Thomas toothpaste" and the taste of it. He believes stabbing the cup of yogurt with the spoon will get the yogurt to stick, so it's a pretty messy event.

Sunshine & Rocks

We recently went to the Mukilteo ferry park and enjoyed the water, played on the swings, watched the ferries go back and forth, and played with rocks. Gabe picked up a few rocks, two in one hand and one in the other and wouldn't let go of them for the rest of the time at the park (actually 2 of them are still next to his car seat in the car). Even while he was in the swing, he would hold onto his rocks tightly and lean back in the seat with a serious look on his face.