Updates Along With Grandpa and Grandma Grant's Visit

I keep meaning to blog about this or that, but life gets busy, and time gets away from me.  One of the things I had meant to blog about in May is that Eli learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  I was fearing the worst (lots of crying, bruises, possibly broken bones), but it turned out to be surprisingly easy.  Eli decided he wanted to take off his training wheels when Josh was at a conference in Seattle.  I begged him to wait until Daddy came home because I really did not want to be the one to teach him.  He insisted that he could do it, and he was right.  I held on for a little bit, and before I knew it, he was riding by himself.  I told him where to position the pedals, and after a few tries, he was starting by himself.  Phew!  I'm not sure it is that simple for everyone, but I'm definitely glad it was for me.  Now he loves riding his bike and is very proud of his new accomplishment!

Eli also took swimming lessons for the first time in May and June.  He has never really liked swimming, so I have been hesitant to invest in lessons, not because I don't feel it's important to learn, but because I didn't want to waste money and time sitting on the sidelines with a screaming little boy.  Since he started to show improved interest, I enrolled him in a class, and it was probably perfect timing.  He was certainly one of the oldest in his class, but because he was a little more mature, he could sit still, listen, and follow instructions much better than some of the others.  Also, most of the other kids had been in the class two or three times because they weren't ready to move up to the next level.  By the end of his class, Eli was one of the few kids who the instructor said was ready to move up.  The difference was probably his age because he certainly didn't love the water better than any of the others.  In fact, he had one day where he suddenly freaked out and started screaming (the instructor came out of the pool and carried him in), but by the end, he was quite proud of himself.  I had told him he would only have to take this one class and then he could choose if he wanted to continue.  I was surprised and pleased to hear him tell me that he definitely wanted to take another class.

He likes practicing his swimming in the bathtub.

Over the 4th of July my parents came up for a visit.  This was their first time visiting us up here, so we went quite a number of places.  For the 4th, we stayed here and went to Aberdeen's Splash Festival.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the event because I didn't realize my camera needed to be charged until we were already out of the house, but my parents have pictures that I'll have to get from them.  At any rate, we got to go aboard the Lady Washington, which was built in Aberdeen.  The Lady Washington was the ship they used to portray the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.  We went to a comedy magician routine, and since Eli loves magic these days, he loved the show.  We also saw fantastic fireworks that they set off over the Chehalis River, which is right next to where Josh works.
 
We took my parents to Westport, which is about half an hour from us.  Westport is one of the two beach towns near Grays Harbor where Aberdeen is located.  The other is Ocean Shores.  Westport has a large marina, so we took a stroll along the pier, and then we went to the beach.

 One of the reasons Aberdeen gets so much rain is that it isn't that far from the only rainforest in North America (and by rainforest I mean temperate, not tropical--either way, there are lots of trees and rain, but one is warm and one is cold).  We took about an hour drive up to Lake Quinalt, which is part of the rainforest and home to the world's largest spruce tree.  We took a beautiful hike to some waterfalls, and then we let Eli play in the lake.

This was the world's largest spruce tree.

This was just a cool tree on our hike.

 Josh had scout camp while my parents were here, so we had to leave Josh out of some of the activities.  (In case you were wondering, Josh is the scoutmaster in our ward.)  We went into Olympia on one of the days and toured the capitol building.

 

We also drove up to Bremerton and took the ferry into Seattle.  I had taken the ferry a couple of times before--once when I was eight and once when I was dating Josh--but Eli had never taken it.  It was his first time in downtown Seattle also.  We had a very enjoyable day.

My parents left a couple of days after Josh came back from scout camp, and Eli was sad to say good-bye to them.  He always has a hard time when family leaves or when we leave them.  He says it's too quiet and boring around here without more people, and he's probably right. :-)                

Lilac Gardens

After heading up North past Seattle to the tulips last week, we decided to head down South towards Portland to see some lilacs this week.  I guess that's an advantage of living in Aberdeen.  We're located almost halfway between those two major cities.  Anyway, we didn't quite go down into Oregon, but we made it to Woodland, WA, which is about half hour away.

Woodland is home to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, which were absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  Lilacs are my favorite flower because they're not only gorgeous, but they smell heavenly.  They were even my wedding flower.  The florist told me that since lilacs don't last long once cut, they aren't typically made into the wedding bouquet, but she said she would oblige the bride, and she did. :-)  The bouquet turned out beautiful (I'm not sure what she had to do to get the lilacs, but it probably helped that my wedding was during lilac season), and I have to say, if I could have had my reception at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, I definitely would have had it there.  I think you'll see why from the pictures.  Once again, I didn't realize there were so many different varieties of lilacs.  Josh's favorite was the "Sensation" lilac pictured above.  He liked the white border around the purple center. 

Tulip Festival

The other day on Josh's day off we went up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival about an hour north of Seattle.  It was a little bit of a drive coming from Aberdeen, but it was a beautiful day, and the flowers were beautiful, so it was worth it.  We picked up Josh's mom and grandma along the way and had a great time.  I didn't realize there are so many different varieties of tulips.  Of course, I liked the light purple ones (I pretty much love any light purple flower), but I really loved the yellow and red tulips which were called the Flaming Parrot Tulip.

 After the tulips, we went to a small dairy creamery nearby where they give little tours and have a small store.  Eli likes tractors and would pretty much do anything to drive one, but the smell of the cows was a little overbearing to him.  His Grandpa Grant would probably be disappointed. :-)  In fact, even when we were looking at the tulips, we could smell some manure (probably being used for fertilizer or coming from nearby farms), and Eli kept saying, "Mom, it smells like goat.  Why does it smell like goat?"  I think he associates the smell with petting zoos.  Anyway, Eli is definitely very sensitive to smells--even at home.  

We ended our day with a yummy salmon barbecue that the Kiwanis Club puts on at a nearby park in Mt. Vernon, WA. 

Easter and the Birthday Boy

Eli was born that time of year where his birthday is on or very near either general conference or Easter.  Last year it was the same day as Sunday general conference.  This year it was the day after Easter.  And as always, his birthday is on April Fool's Day.  Fortunately, April Fool's isn't a major holiday (but one of these years we're going to have a really fun birthday party).  However, there are many activities surrounding Easter, and general conference is all day Saturday and Sunday, so planning birthday activities gets a little tricky.  Since this is the first year we've actually lived near family, we decided to invite Josh's family over for Easter dinner and celebrate Eli's birthday as well.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great time with everyone.  Eli loved it!

Earlier in the week we did some Easter activities--painting eggs and having an egg hunt.  I have to admit, the whole Easter bunny and eggs thing is really strange to me.  I know that many of our Christian holidays incorporate pagan practices, so the Easter bunny is a symbol of spring and fertility and all that, but how it ever got blended with celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a little strange to me.  I know, Christmas has the same problem, but at least for me it is easier to relate Santa bringing gifts to wise men bringing gifts and celebrating the birth of the Christ child.  Christmas definitely has too much commercialism, but at least there is still the idea of charity and the spirit of giving and being Christ-like.  But bunnies and eggs?  What exactly do I teach my child about the most significant event in history--that of the Savior being resurrected so that we all may live forever--by having him look forward to bunnies and eggs?

That being said, I still let my son enjoy coloring eggs and finding candy (we just try to keep it separate from Easter Sunday) since it's a tradition of the holiday that we celebrate here in America, but Eli doesn't get a basket full of candy on Sunday morning.  He also knows there is no Easter bunny, and we don't even try to pretend that there is one.  The tricky part is getting him to keep it to himself and not anger his friends' or cousins' parents, who may still want their children to believe. :-)

This year I did not want to dye eggs.  I never welcome the mess, but this year I just didn't want to deal with it or the many hard-boiled eggs that neither Eli nor I enjoy eating.  We decided to blow out the egg whites and yolks and paint the eggs instead.  Unfortunately, blowing out egg whites and yolks is not a very fun process either, but I have to say that I much prefer the painting to the dyeing.  At least once the paint dries, it stays on the egg, unlike the dyes that rub off on fingers and clothes and everything else.  Anyway, enough about my rant. :-)  Eli enjoyed coloring eggs here and at his Nana and Bampa Pratt's home.  Then he enjoyed a fun egg hunt with his cousins.

We tried blowing out eight eggs; only half survived.

I love Eli's expression in this picture!

Eli pretty much only ate chocolate on this day.  On the car ride home, he complained of a tummy ache, which was a good opportunity for us to remind him why we encourage healthy eating.

Afterward, Josh took Eli and I and his twin nephews to his Grandpa Earl's grave.  Josh was really close to his Grandpa Earl, and I know he has a good testimony of the resurrection because of his grandpa's death.  Josh was able to talk about the resurrection with Eli and Brennen and Camden (his nephews) while visiting the grave.

On Easter Sunday, we had dinner and celebrated Eli's birthday with cake.  Eli said he wanted both cupcakes and a cake, so I thought that I would make a two layer cake with two different flavors so that I could have leftover cupcakes.  The two flavors were coconut and chocolate.  Well, the chocolate accounted for one layer, but the coconut cake made a TON, so I ended up with a three layer cake (two coconut layers and one chocolate) plus coconut cupcakes.  I also ended up with some scraps and leftover frosting, so there are now undipped cake balls in my freezer along with some frozen birthday cake.  It all tasted really good though. :-)

Since we took Eli to Disneyland for his birthday, the cake was mickey mouse themed.  I carved a mickey mouse face on the oreo cookie creme centers and used mini oreos for the ears.

I should have gone with all cupcakes.  They were much more simple than the cake.

By the way, the coconut cake is Martha Stewart's recipe, so if you ever make it, just know that it makes a LOT!

Yesterday on Eli's actual birthday, Josh had the day off because that's when his work gave him off for the Easter holiday.  We took Eli to see The Croods movie in 3D.  Eli is so funny to watch because he tries to grab the images in front of him.  Then we took him to Baskin Robbins for a free birthday scoop, which he loved.

Eli is now super excited because he's been waiting to turn five so he can go to kindergarten.  I have to keep telling him that it's not for several more months.  He is just so proud to be a big boy, and the truth is, he is definitely growing up fast.  In some ways it doesn't seem that long ago that I was rocking a crying baby and changing diapers, but in other ways it feels like it was forever ago.  Maybe because I haven't changed a diaper for a long time (and truthfully, I don't miss that part).  But there are other things I do miss, which of course is always harder when I realize I might never experience them again.  Being my only child, Eli and his birthdays are always connected with a bunch of emotions, one of which is the extreme gratitude I have for being his mother.  He is a wonderful, big boy, and I certainly love him!