Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY

Eli and I went to the zoo again yesterday.  Unfortunately Jess wasn't able to make it was a Tuesday and he had to go to work.  Eli and I went with our good friends the Lunde's, Missa, and some new friends from Spokane.  It was great!  The weather was gorgeous.

I didn't take many animal pictures, but focused on people this time around.  I have been working on people's eyes in my pictures.  The eyes say it all - so I've been trying to capture that if possible. With the gorgeous weather we had yesterday, I was able to get a few fun shots.

Missa gave each of the boys a quarter and they rolled them down the....whatever this is called.

 Melissa and her gorilla. 

Little Miss Megan.

The boys ran in this cove of trees.  We were all crouched under the branches (except the boys).  While I was taking the picture people kept looking in to see what I was taking pictures of. 

Listening to the zoo keeper talk about the owl.

LOL  Eli wanted this picture of Megs with her squishy face.

Getting a drink out of the fountain completely unassisted.

Chasing after Eric.

 Yep.  That's Missa.

Scott and Leigh-Ann.  And their camera.

My handsome boy.

Best buddies, Eli and Eric.

At the elephant pond - seriously, I had no idea this was even here!  It was great.  You can sit on the cement bleachers and relax while watching the elephants.

Continuing to watch.

Eli jumped in on their family picture - then I missed the smile.  Of course, when I asked if he'd take one with me the answer was "NO."

Eli, Scott, Megan, Eric, Leigh-Ann

Finding our way to the spiders.  Eli HAD to go see the spiders before we left.

We're boiling

Here we are.  The greater Puget Sound region is setting heat records!  At 1:00 we surpassed the record and hit 91 degrees.  At 5 o'clock, we were at a balmy 95 degrees.  Of course, if you know Seattle, this means there is also humidity involved.  Currently, it is still 75 degrees and 75% humidity.  Over the past 2 days I haven't seen the humidity below 73%....you do the math.  We are hot.  We are sticky.  We look for places with air conditioning.

Today, knowing it was going to be hot, we decided to go to the Museum of Flight.  Today was Eli's first time there, and he loved it.  When we left he was already talking about what he wanted to see on his next visit.

Shortly after arriving.  Jess had the camera...proof I was there!

 Watching the planes on the runway.  

He was so excited to sit in the planes and fly.

He really wanted to go downstairs and sit in more planes.  

I knew Alaska was big, but have never seen this comparison.  Holy heck batman!!!  That's a lot of land!

My turn again.  We "flew" something...it had an ejector seat, so it must be fast and for fighting!

Jess's turn!

Eli said he wanted to ride this to the moon.  Tonight.  Sorry kiddo.  Didn't happen.

He's an astronaut!

Aren't they cute!?!  Eli kneeled down just like Jess at first, but the ledge dug into his shins.  Two peas in a pod these days.  

Summer and the Farm

Have I mentioned how much I love summer?  Hours spent playing outside.  Having fun.  Just playing.  (Ok, so this makes it sound like there isn't anything else.  Why yes, we still do all those boring things....clean, laundry, blah blah blah...but who wants to read about that? Not me!)

Anyway, a few days ago, ok, lets be real, it was probably a week and a half ago now, we played outside and I took pictures, another major shocker?  Right?!?!  NOT!

Away he goes!

 Don't you just love the pure joy on his face? He LOVES riding his bike!

 After riding his bike, he and Daddy decided to play a little catch.

Watching Daddy try to his the "Little Dude Green Guy" with the baseball.  It made a funny thunk sound when it hit.  You can see said Little Dude Green Guy in the background of the above picture. Eli named him. He will not be naming any future children we have down the line - who knows what kind of weird name we'd end up with.

My boys being silly together.

Today Eli and I ventured to Fox Hollow Farm in Issaquah to meet up with an old buddy from high school.  We had a great time!  Unfortunately, we weren't able to catch up very much as Eli wanted to head one way and the little girl she nannies for wanted to go another.  Maybe next time!  Eli had a blast though!  

Yes Mom. See, I can pet the miniature horse.  

Ok, now get me outta here before he poops on me! 

(Yes this was about the gist of the comment he made)

He was right in line with the ducks.  Hilarious.  

C'mon duck.  Where could you possibly want to go?  

A special treat of cotton candy!

Definitely the best part of the farm.  We stood in line to drive the John Deere's twice.  He was SO excited - and strangely enough, he did a great job "driving."  

Lassie in pink, "Excuse me, sir, is this your John Deere?"

Strapping young lad, "Why yes, yes it is.  Does your father know where you are?  Do you often jump in with strange young men?"
Lassie, "It's ok.  My mom is watching me."

Lad, "That's good, because I have no idea who you are, but you're a little young for me."

Lassie, "Thanks for the ride!"

Lad, "Sure thing dollface."

He's already picking up chics! 

An interesting rooster.  Chicken?  Rooster?  Hen?  

I don't know, and frankly, don't really care, but I like its colors.

Adventures in Backyard Swimming

Eli is a total crack up.  HILARIOUS! 

The warm Western WA summer weather brings out the annual appearance of the backyard pool.  This year we had to invest in a new one as the one from las summer would no longer hold air.  Just a tad problematic for an inflatable pool. 

Anyway, Eli has spent much of today splish splashing in his pool.  While he was going down the slide, he actually asked me to get the camera.  It's a toss up how Eli responds with the camera.  On some occassions he actually requests pictures, like today.  Other days he is either puts up with me taking pictures or he'll turn away from me and let me take pictures of his back.

After these were taken, he decided he was done with his swim trunks and that he wanted to go swimming in the buff. I guess there's nothing wrong with a little backyard skinny dipping!  He really enjoyed going down the slide skin to plastic.  Man almighty, he slid down in a hurry.  We were both laughing pretty hard after a few trips down the slide.  What a goof!

JBLM Air Show

We went to the Joint Base Lewis McChord Air Show on Sunday.  Let's just say that was an amazing experience.  Eli has been enamored with jets ever since, flying around the house, playing with toy jets, looking for them in the sky.  When we got there it was overcast and pretty cool.  By the time we left, 4 hours later, the clouds had mostly burned off and it seemed like a nice summer day.

Two of the Patriot team jets 

The Patriots were by far the highlight of the day for me.

I am so glad we got a better zoom.  However, this was the first time I actually wish it was bigger yet!  LOL

The C-17 always reminds me of our good buddy Brian who is currently stationed in Afghanistan.  This one's for you buddy!  Two and a half more months until you come home.  We hope you're safe and think of you often.  XO

I'm pretty sure this was during the F-18 demonstration.  Eli liked the jets but thought they could tune down on the noise factor.

An F-18 and unknown jet (for me) 

Jess loving the demonstration, Eli was a little unsure of the noise

Checking out the cockpit of an F-18 (??)

Showing the speed capabilities, this jet broke the sound barrier for us!  It was amazing.  Of course, timing is crucial to capture.  This was the initial boom, you can see the break through.