Love/Hate relationship

The Seattle Mariner's (our favorite baseball team...and favorite summer past time) really suck this year.  And I'm not just saying that.  They are in last place for the entire league...dead last.  Sweet.  We went to a game anyway.  We gave C tickets for Father's Day.  They played the Toronto Blue Jays, and you know the home team sucks when nearly the entire stadium cheers against them.  I guess the stadium wasn't that full to begin with, and there were quite a few Toronto fans there.  At least I hope they were the Toronto fans booing at the Mariner's.  If not, the Mariner's have big problems.

It was fun nonetheless.  The outing began with a shared popsicle, melting at the speed of light in my kitchen.  Yes, it was yet another scorcher.  K was already having a really good day, so this made it even better.  Then we headed off to the ball field, picked some seats way up and out of the way of anyone who might be annoyed by a busy 1 year old.  And he was busy.  I'm not sure how much of the game C and I got to watch.  We spent most of our time managing the boy. 

"Don't stand on your seat"

"Be care not to trip over the aisle"

"Don't eat the peanut shells off the ground"

and on and on...

K had most fun point out all the airplanes that flew over head (I liked that a lot too).  For a while, we'd try to draw his attention to the ball as it was pitched.  But from that high up, you're lucky to see the players running the bases, let alone the tiny ball flying at 95 mph.  Oh well.  We'll keep coming, because we love it!

Hot weather + humidity = more curls

Check out these curls!  Ringlet style! 

It is unbearably hot here, and we have busted out the fans for official use.  Now I just have to keep K from sticking any objects into the blades, most importantly fingers!  Last night, I went into K's room to check on him only to find that he was drenched in sweat!  Poor little dude.  He looked as if he'd been swimming...literally that wet!  Our windows are open with little relief.  If it doesn't get better soon, we'll have to

 invest in a portable A/C unit (and then we can just huddle in one room with the door closed all summer).

I must admit, it was pretty darn cute watching K run around in just a diaper all day.  It's eerily reminiscent of our first days/months at our Salt Lake house...no air conditioning ...temperatures pushing 100 deg!  At least then it was dry, hot air.  Here it's not only hot, but it's muggy.  You just have to deal with your skin being moist and your clothes sticking to you all day.

By the way, K has started to count to 10.  He needs a little help when he gets to the number four, but he pretty much plows through the rest (he likes us to say each number after he does, however).  It presents a challenge when I'm attempting to discipline him by telling him I'm going to "count to three."  He just gets a big smile on his face, and bounces up and down as he counts to three with me.  Hmmm....

Same thing goes for "time outs."  I used to hold him tightly on my lap when he was really naughty (hitting, or throwing things) and count to ten...then ask him to apologize.  Now that counting to ten is a fun activity for him, we've progressed our "time outs" to the high chair, facing the wall, with a 90 second timer.  He doesn't like this much, so it works beautifully!  

Birds and Bees at the Zoo

To celebrate Father's Day with C and Papa, we served brunch at our house (steel cut oatmeal, spinach & ham quiche, OJ, and fresh fruit).  Uncle Collin and Aunt Shandy came over as well. After nap time (for everyone), we went to the Woodland Park Zoo!  Yay!  We saw gorillas, elephants, hippos, flamingos, lions (you know...the zoo).  Anyway, thank goodness K is only 19 months!  We were treated to quite a show at the lions lair.  As we stood, admiring the "king" laying just 15 yards from the glass, a lioness came bouncing over and threw herself down on the ground in front of him.  Well, to our amazement/horror/surprise he hopped up and had his way with her!  The viewing area was already packed before this happened, so you can imagine the gasps and giggles...and the questions asked by the innocent little ones standing around.  "Daddy, why is that lion trying to piggyback the other one?"  Yeah, it was like they say...it's hard to watch a train wreck, yet hard to look away (or something like that).  Every last one of us was busted. Like I said, I'm glad K can't ask questions yet!  

So after the X-rated show, we moved the party over to the east side where Collin & Shandy fed us grilled, marinated flank steak, stir fried veggies, artichokes and other yummies.  K spent a good portion of the evening learning how to rub his hands together to brush off the dirt.  He was so pleased at his new discovery, he kept going over to the flower bed to put his hands in the dirt so he could do it all over again.  It brought a huge smile to his face each time.  Maybe we are overcoming the dirty-hands phobia?  Hope so.  By the way, the weather couldn't have been more perfect for the entire day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!