Saul's 2nd Backyard Birthday Party

Apparently, the rule for blogging is to wait a month to post about it. The advantage, I suppose, is that I'm fully living in the moment and then remembering back to post about it. On the other hand, for those far away who are using this to keep up with a certain grandkid, it's slower than snail mail!

Saul's mid-June birthday has proven great for an outdoor party two years in a row. This year was very different than last year though. Last year involved keeping a close eye on two little crawlers (Saul and Claire) as they explored everything that might be worth putting in their mouths. This year they both tried very hard to keep up with their big cousins, Kelsey and Trevor, in the pool and all over the yard.

It was a very warm day, as seen by the lack of pants and/or anything but underwear on the kids. Playing in the pool got everything wet and it was warm enough no one worried about it. Oddly, there are pictures of the kids and a few adults, but no pictures of the three grandparents who were in attendance.

Two of Saul's three aunties.

Eating cupcakes. Claire eating hers on the run, as she eats many things.

Saul sitting in his birthday throne.

Todd, Trevor and Kelsey enjoying their cupcakes in the sun.
Weighing the options before devouring.

Licking off the frosting. The warm sun made the frosting extra soft.

Opening one of his very nice gifts. Though he's enjoying all of his gifts, two favorites at the moment are the Elmo from Julie and family and the hot rod tricycle from Papa Tom. Elmo has joined many conversations and the tricycle is the envy of both kids and adults on the block.

We all want one....in our size!

2nd birthday and 1st international trip

Saul got to celebrate his 2nd birthday in Vancouver, BC. We were there for dragonboat competition for Aaron and had a great time visiting the city. It turned out the weather was much better in BC than it was here in Portland!

Saul loves to cheer for Aaron's team. "Go Wasabi Burn!" he yells. Then, as we were watching Aaron's team getting ready at the start line for one race, Saul started getting more creative. "Go Wasabi Burn. Dadda's boat, please. Go dadda!" Not only is Saul enthusiastic, but he definitely gets others into the spirit.

Vancouver has so many parks along the waterfront of False Creek. Alot was rejuvenated for the Olympic Winter Games and then generally the city's just really park and outdoor friendly. Saul and I did a lot of walking between races, covering at least 4 miles on Saturday, including a short ferry ride. Every time he'd see a park, he'd say, "Another slide, Momma." After a few more trips to the area, we may need to write a book on the slides of Vancouver.

Trying out his new Elmo backpack. "It's my birthday. If I can't go out in just a diaper I'll 'take a little rest' for a while longer."

2-year-olds don't need their moms to go down the slide with them!

Saul's, "No, Mom!" this trip confirmed that he can tackle nearly any slide alone.

A "smile" while riding a horsey on his birthday.

Carefully scooping sand to place at the base of the yellow slide.

We later learned that this is one of the fastest slides ever! He loved it!
Hard at work. Notice his tongue. He spent a lot of time at this.

Getting lined up for a race. I think you can click in and get a closer view.

Aaron and his team are on boat 6 and Aaron's in the second to the last row.

"I don't need a back seat driver, Mom!" Playing at a park right in the midst of the race venue.

Yes, that's a Canadian military vehicle in the background.

They help with the event and then showcase some of their vehicles.

The kid slept this trip!

Three hours in the car both ways, even after not waking up until nearly 8:30!

Saul is two!

Yes, Saul turned two. We were in Vancouver, BC, on his birthday and will be having a small little family party this weekend. For now, here are his two-year stats. Recent pictures to come:

Weight: 28 lbs.
Height: 34.5 inches

This means he's only gained 2 pounds since December but has grown 2 inches. And, he's in the 65th percentile for both height and weight. He's a healthy little guy!

Day 8 to 10: Moab to home

Yes, we did ultimately make our way out of Ouray, on to Moab and eventually home. Moab and Arches National Park were fabulous! The scenery is so unique and beautiful and made me want to return to Bryce Canyon. Another trip.

Aaron was feeling better. So, on the last day and a half we actually got out and did some light hiking, which was just about the right pace for Saul. On Saturday morning, the last day of the trip, we woke up on Saul schedule, finished packing quickly, picked up breakfast at a great organic coffee shop/breakfast place and hit the road at 9 a.m. mountain time.

We stopped just north of Salt Lake City for a lunch/bathroom/run around break. And, we stopped again someplace in Oregon. Then, we had an unplanned stop to accommodate a very over-tired boy who should have been sleeping but wanted nothing more to do with car seats.

Rather than helping him fall asleep we apparently helped him find his third wind, which resuled in some of the funniest songs of the trip. The kid loves to sing. And, make up songs. Aaron and I love to be entertained. We sat up front trying so hard to not laugh too hard, but it was difficult. Let's see, we heard, "Cows...cows...hi, cows. Cows, cows, cows. Hi, cows....hi, cows.....Josie have a birthday. Josie have birthday. Hi, cows. Josie have a birthday and cows.....Josie have a birthday. And cows. Josie have cows. Josie have cows. Josie have a cow...." and we were in tears laughing so hard about here.

The next round of funny singing was about the shocking kiss I gave Aaron, literally. At the time, I nearly jumped back and definitely hollered, "Ow!" Aaron was driving and I'd simply leaned over for a kiss on his neck. The song was something like this, "Momma kiss Dadda. Ow. Ow. Ow." Good times!

First real hike of vacation. Resting on some red rocks.
The hike back to the car. I love watching these two walking together. "Momma, look. Saul funny! Pacifier on your head."
We heard this quite a bit beginning in Moab.
He could crack himself up and got some good laughs from me -
the first 20 or so were probably real. Tired, hungry boy looking at the camera. Because his mouth is closed I am fairly certain he wasn't screaming at this point. Unfortunately, the option of, "Saul, you need to stop screaming or we'll need to go outside," doesn't work when outside is more interesting. Motorcycles. Babies. Cars. After a "punishing"trip outside, Saul screamed again, quickly adding, "Outside?!" Wearing my bandana and playing while we were all getting ready.
He was pretending to paddle.
A hike! Yeah.
Playing at Sand Arch. A perfect place for kids, the arch area is eroding away and creating a sand hil that kids love. Lots of families obviously make it a destination. The good news is that Saul got to walk the big kids and figured out how much fun it is to run down a sand hill at full speed. And, sand is crunchy when you get it in your mouth.
More playing.
Taking a little break on the hike back to the car. He really didn't want to leave.
And neither did we.

Days 5 to 7: Ouray

We love Ouray! We want to spend more time in Ouray!

Unfortunately, we experience a few not too pleasant things in Salida. I mention them here, as they followed us to Ouray. We think Saul was impacted by a combination of elevation and change in foods. The result was a long night of vomiting and a very sleepy day recovering in Salida while Aaron went out mineral collecting. There was further vomiting in the car on the drive to Ouray and we ended up taking the whole car seat apart at our Ouray hotel in order to get as much smell out as possible.

Then, whatever Aaron had for breakfast in Salida caused a couple of days of food poisoning (the entire time in Ouray). The first 24-hours were awful and he compares it to Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico. All I know is that in a small hotel room, the sounds coming from the bathroom made me feel awful for him. By the next morning, Saul and I ventured out and got some activity and fresh air while Aaron took a warm bath and slept. They took their afternoon nap together while I escaped, er, I mean, went for a walk around the beautiful little town and sat in a great coffee shop and read my book. Saul clearly wasn't 100% yet. Aaron called when I was only 2 minutes away and all I could hear was, "Mama. Cuddle you!!" It was one of the only times he didn't wake up happy during the trip.

Aaron was determined to get some good pictures of the gorgeous terrain and scenery in the Ouray area, so he drove a portion of the infamous "million dollar highway" and called that good for exploration. We ventured out to get dinner and then both boys were asleep by 8ish. Unfortunately, Aaron's system was only partially improved and his sleep remained very broken. The next morning we drove on to Moab. I insisted on doing the driving! Aaron was still quite weak and very tired. It was the only driving I did the entire trip!

Saul exploring.

"Hello?!" I'm seriously thinking about sending this to Smartwool!
They pay extra in City taxes to have a view like this! (child not included)

Enjoying the day.

I finally bought new sunglasses and Saul immediately claimed them, even though I got him his own pair! There was a 30 minute crying/whining fit in the car on the drive out of Ouray because I wouldn't let him wear these sunglasses. Yes, he's almost two!

Saul was so sweet while Aaron was feeling awful. At random time Saul would say, "Feel better, Dada, soon!" Here he is checking in on Aaron who clearly is not yet better.

CO Trip Days 3 - 5: Denver to Leadville to Salida

On Saturday morning we went to a gorgeous community center in one of the burbs outside of the city for a dragon boat team practice that Aaron found. While he was paddling in a boat held stationery in a pool, Saul and I went for a very crisp morning walk and then ended up playing on the playground at the center. It was a great way to burn off some energy before sitting in the car for a while.

Dry air = static electricity + bright sun = hair-lo (halo)

Fortunately, we had room for Saul in the car! This is his one nap of the day while driving from Denver to Leadville. We experienced a brief snow storm cloud and beautiful but very cold weather on the drive. So amazing and such beautiful mountains.

Saul sleeping while surrounded by luggage.

By the last few days he would say, "Move bag. No bag!" (Also notice the winter sweater.)

Salida is one of the towns we visited on our honeymoon. We fondly remember the pizza and brew pub and the rose quartz location. It really hadn't changed that much in the historic area off the main highway. We had coffee and explored the little shops on a quiet Sunday morning, also letting Saul burn off some energy before the drive to the Sand Dunes.

The next few are at Sand Dunes National Park. It was really cold and ended up snowing on our hike back to the car. Saul was NOT pleased with this, was tired, and generally was ready to be done. However, on the way up and while exploring the dunes during Aaron's 33 minute hike up and 6 minutes down, Saul definitely had fun walking in the sand with bare feet.

Fussy cold face.

"Go this way," he would tell me.

I'm not sure what his directional sense was telling him,

but he definitely knew which way he wanted to go.

CO Travels Days 1 through 3: Denver

We had the opportunity to meet Aaron in Denver at the end of April and drive home as a family. This was great for a number of reasons: (1) We really, really needed a family vacation; (2) We'd wanted to get back to some places in CO for some time, as we hadn't been since our honeymoon - nearly 13 years ago!; (3) We have a little guy that we love to spend time with and want to introduce him to the joys of travel and exploration. Off we went!

Saul experienced his first plan trip. It was a breeze! He's so interested in life and people and his surroundings! At the airport at the gate while we were waiting to board, he entertained everyone around him with his activities and communication about them. "See planes. See big planes. Get down. Go see baby. Little, little baby. Come see mamma. More planes. Lady sit down." I really don't think it stopped.

Below are pics from the first few days.

Saul giving a fist bump to the mamma bear statue outside the Denver REI and right along the gorgeous pathways around the city river rapids.

Baby bears get fist bumps, too!
The new "smile" on command. Showing off his whole teeth and fabulous cheeks.

I really don't know, but it's so opposite his personality, it just makes me laugh!