I decided to try to catch up on my blog posts. I often do this by backdating posts and remembering the stories by looking through the pictures I've downloaded. When I was looking through June's pictures I just noticed that we were pretty busy with cool activities and that my phone was pretty new so I was snapping alot of pics. I decided that I am going to recap June in one post and go through the fun stuff we got to do. 
June 3rd/4th: We didn't go on any cool adventure these days but Ailbe discovered that she could get up on her knees in preparation for crawling. She also discovered that her tongue can hang outside her mouth and she let it spend a great deal of time there.
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| Kaibre recovering from her unexpected swim |
June 7th- Waterworks Gardens: This park was a bit of an adventure to find. It is hidden in Renton next to a treatment plant without very visible signage. The park was very cool and interesting. They combined art with treatment storm water which results in a beautiful and calm spot in a noisy, industrial area. The kids had a pretty good time and Rooney's friend Kaibre took a tumble into one of the ponds. She thought the marshy pond water was solid and stepped right into a pond that was about a foot deep. The kids all learned a valuable lesson that day: look before you leap. I feel like they've already been taught that lesson before but maybe it just needed to be revisited. Kaibre eventually borrowed some dry clothes and she was as good as new. Good thing about hanging out with a group of moms is that when something like this happens someone will have what you need.
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| Rooney and Lily chilling out in the Grotto |
June 12: BBQ at the Howard's in honor of Cousin Becky's visit: This week my cousin Becky visited from Minnesota. Although she was born and raised in Illinois, she has lived in Minnesota for several years and now considers herself a 'sotan. It was great to reconnect with her. Since my family lived in CA for the first 1/2 of my life we weren't able to form close bonds with a great deal of our family that lived back East. Becky was alot of fun and effortlessly fit into our family. Rooney and Felix weren't shy at all with her and pounced on her the first chance they got. We're so glad she chose to come visit and for a brief time Mike didn't have to feel so alone while she was here. They were able to speak their secret 'sotan language and kept us all guessing.
June 15th: Caspar Babypants concert and Sierra's Fish and Pets Tour: Wow what a great day this was! Rooney and the kids got to rock out to their man Caspar Babypants in the morning and then tour some furry and scaly friends at Sierra's Fish and Pets. Caspar rocked as a one-man show and Rooney got to get down with his interesting dance moves. I have some video but decided to not post it thinking of his teenage years. At the pet store tour the kids got to hold a bunny, lizards, a rat, guinea pig and Rooney came home deciding he would like a chameleon as a pet. He keeps asking for one for his 5th birthday. The kids were also allowed to pet a snake but Rooney chose just to look at it with his eyes. This was a fun day.
June 17th- Museum of Flight: This museum is one of our favorite places to visit. For a kid Rooney's age there is so much information and so much to absorb that the trips never get boring. The section on Space seems to be his favorite and he especially likes to visit the section of the space station they have there. Once we've gone through all the space exhibits we like to hit the floor with the planes/jets. This part of the museum is great for Ailbe because there is alot of space for her to crawl/roll around. There is also a section of plane from the 70's. I can't remember exactly but it might be a 747 or whatever the equivalent is that Boeing made. I get really upset everytime I go in this exhibit because the amount of leg, seat and aisle room we used to get has to be double what we get now. I walk off disgusted and vow to never fly again in rebellion. Lucky for me we can't afford to go anywhere so I don't have to betray my morals. After touring the floor with the all the cool planes/jets we'll head to the control tower where Rooney can listen in on actual pilot conversations with the control tower, watch planes & helicopters as they land at Boeing Field and find Momma's car in the parking lot. So far he's 2 for 2. They recently redesigned the control tower and they have some cool little exhibits in the hallway. One of the little exhibits even talks about the first bird Archaeopteryx of course. Did you know that Archaeopteryx means "ancient wing"? I didn't either but I see the correlation with the Museum of Flight now.
June 23rd- Coulon Beach: Finally we are getting some summer weather. I've been worried since we got our summer swim membership at the pool we have not really been able to use it up to this point (other than swim team) but with the weather reaching the high 70's it was time to cool off. Rooney has been asking since January about going to the beach so we gathered up Grandma and headed out. It was a nice afternoon. Rooney built sand castles and Ailbe got her first mouthful of sand.
June 24th- Earthworks Park: Every once in awhile it takes a visitor or some other pressing matter to get you to visit places in your own backyard. While I was working on the Active Moms and Tots calendar I was feeling pressured to find an interesting new place that was outside and preferably free. We've hit most of the local parks time and time again but as I scoured I came across Earthworks Park. What a great park! I cannot say enough about how cool this park is and how much fun the kids had that day. The kids played in a creek for a good half hour then moved to the lake where a whole Lord of the Flies thing was happening. They skipped rocks on the water, found sticks to poke things (and possibly each other) with and they got to jump over inlets of water. There was a big stage built into the park. I'm not sure if they hold shows there or used to but the boys used it as wrestling ring. Next the boys moved on to some of the cool artistic features built into the park but really they just saw it as a big hill and knew they needed to roll down it. It was a great afternoon and the kids had a ton of fun, real fun. I picture Rooney and Felix playing here for some reason. One of the kids said the best thing. When he arrived at the park he noticed right away that there was no "playground" and was unhappy about this. He thought he was going to be bored. Midway through the day he turned to his mom and asked if they could come back again with their swim trunks (because the kids got all wet from the water). Once again before leaving he asked to come back. As Mike would say "impressive".That wraps up June. What a great month.
