Weird Science

Today we went to the Seattle Science Center. They have a new dinosaur exhibit that we all wanted to see. We also got to see a 3D IMAX film on dinosaurs. Kallen didn't really watch any of this. Instead he enjoyed eating some cheerios and occasionally yelling out in delight and making a ruckus. I'm sure the people around us were not too happy. For lunch Grandma treated us to some tasty food and we all had a little picnic on the grass. We also had some fun at the outdoor children's park which had a whale fountain and some statues that the kids all posed on.

For dinner we went to Grandma and Grandpa's and had some pizza and played with some bubbles outside! Kallen really liked them. However, I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to use my Mom's camera. She will soon send me some pictures, which I will post for you all soon...stay tuned.

Oh, and one more thing. Kallen got two new teeth today. His top two front teeth came in. Hurray! That now makes three teeth for the little guy in one week! Ouch.

These next pictures are of the outdoor water exhibit, which teaches kids how water can be used as a power source. This little contraption is like a giant hamster wheel. You get in and make it turn by walking and then it acts like a waterwheel and makes some things in the outside lake start moving. You can see this on the second picture. The kids had a lot of fun with this.


The Science Center also has a butterfly exhibit just like the zoo. Here are a few pictures I took. The one below is of two butterflies that were just hanging out on a bench. The next picture is of Kallen sitting next to them, but not paying them any attention.




This is a picture that I actually took at the zoo, but I forgot to post it, so I'm doing so now. Kallen is a Caterpillar. Tyson and I really like this picture even though it has a really bad glare from the sun. I think we really like it because Kallen's favorite book is the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Here are some pictures from the dinosaur exhibit. There are not any pictures of Kallen because he was asleep during the entire thing.


Rylan, Emberly and Sharlie are digging for fossil eggs.


Here are a few pictures from the children's statue park. They all got wet and loved it...except for Kallen. He stayed dry.

Zoomania

Today, my family and a few friends went to the Woodland Park Zoo and we all had a blast. The plan was only to stay a few hours, but it turned into a great long day. We got there at about 10:00 and didn't leave until 3:30! That's a long time for little squirts. We had 8 kids with us, and by the end of the day, all had either cried or gotten hurt at some point. Rylan was the only kid who didn't experience either. Needless to say, by the time we went home, all were very tired, including the adults. :)

We had so much fun at the zoo. I got tons of pictures, and I couldn't choose which were my favorites...so I posted tons. I hope you aren't too overwhelmed. If so, just scroll down super fast.

The first thing we did was visit the zoo store. Grandma ended up buying Kallen a zoo hat and some sun screen becuase his silly mom forgot to bring one from home. Here he is. Isn't he cute?


We started out by seeing the Gorillas. We read that there are two large families of gorillas living there right now. They are so fun to watch. Here is a good portrait of one. Also, even though the next picture isn't the greatest, I wanted to include it because the gorilla was so funny. He was just lying there with his tongue out the entire time. Silly gorilla.



We also saw the Jaguar, which is amazing because I've never been able to see him at the zoo before. He has always been hiding or sleeping in the background. However, today was our lucky day. So here is a picture of him. It isn't the best, but I had to post it to prove that I really did see him.


We also visited the tropical rainforest part of the zoo. I didn't capture any fun animals here, but I was able to take some pictures of some pretty flowers that were around.




Baby Kallen got pretty tired after all this. So he sloutched in his chair for awhile and then eventually went to sleep.



Later that day, Kallen also got a little beat up and received his first real bump. He must have wanted to run around like the big kids, because before I knew it, he was squiming in his chair trying to get out and then he suddenly fell forward onto his face. I felt so bad. Poor kid, he started screaming and he received this little bump on his forehead. He was super tough though, he cried for only a few seconds. Don't worry, by the time I took this picture he was just fine...he was just trying to eat Grandma...he does that a lot.


Here are some of the other animals we saw during the day.



Here is my little niece Sharlie. Isn't she the cutest? I captured this moment when I think she was sneaking some fish crackers from the stroller. So sly.


One of my favorite things we visited today was the butterfly exhibit. It was great. I loved seeing all the butterflies and I loved taking their pictures. However, Kallen didn't pay any attention to them. Instead, he thought it was much more fun to play in the dirt. That is why he thought this exhibit was so great...it had nothing to do with the butterflies.







Here's a short video of Kallen doing what he does best...getting dirty.



Finally, here is a picture of everyone we went with, except for me and my Mom...we were taking pictures. It was such a fun day at the zoo!

Snoqualmie Falls

My best friend from college, Megan Ruth, was in town for a few days, so we decided to show her Snoqualmie's majestic falls this morning. We went with my sister, her kids and my Mom and hiked down to the falls. Here's a scenic picture of what the falls looks like for those who have not seen them before.


Here is a picture of my Mom holding Kallen downstream from the falls. Isn't the river beautiful? I love the rocks and the rushing water.



By the time we got around the bend in the river to the bottom of the falls, little Kallen had decided that he had had enough and took a little nap. I didn't mind, because I was pretty tired and hot from carrying him around. Hey...give me a break...I know I'm out of shape, but the kid weighs 25 pounds and is a complete dead weight.

As I was sitting down holding Kallen, the others played in the river and on the rocks for a bit. Here are the pictures I was able to take while I sat holding Kallen. This is one of Megan Ruth!

Here's Rylan. He was a little monkey and climbed everything, even this huge rock.

This is the way we had to go in order to get back on the trail. I thought it made a cute picture of us all.

These were some of the rocks by the falls and I thought they were pretty cool. I don't think my pictures do them justice.

Finally, Kallen woke up and was super happy to be with everyone. Here is one with Grandma.

What's Better than 1 Fish....Millions of Fish!

My sister is in town! I've been looking forward to her visit for months and months...and now she is here with my nieces, Emberly and Sharlie and my nephew Rylan. Hurray! I'm so happy and so is Kallen. He has been having so much fun hanging out with his cousins. And the good news is that they will be here for almost a whole month! Double hurray!

We decided to go on our first field trip today to the Seattle Aquarium and we all had lots of fun. Originally we were planning on going to the zoo, but Mother Nature had other plans. She decided that Seattle finally needed a good rain, so that is what it has been doing all day...raining.

I was surprised that Kallen enjoyed the aquarium as much as he did. I wasn't sure if he would like it, but he just kept looking big-eyed at everything. He loved it.

Here is a great picture to show the versatility of our stroller for all sorts of weather. I'm glad we had this cover or little Kallen would have gotten very wet and I don't think he would have liked that.


Here are some pictures of the first exhibit that we saw. The aquarium just did a huge addition where they created a giant walled tank of all the native sea life in the Puget Sound. Here are a few pictures of the kids in front of it. Sorry they are so dark, it was really hard to get good lighting and I didn't get a lot of time to take pictures...it was so crowded.




















These next pictures were taken of the jelly fish. They have them floating along a circular tank with fluorescent lighting, which changes color. It was amazingly crowded, so I didn't get the pictures like I wanted, but a few turned out okay. I'm glad that this picture of Kallen turned out. It is my favorite of the trip.




















Here are some fun pictures of the kids playing around with some toys and on some of the sculptures there.

Here are a few more pictures for you to enjoy.

Finally, here is a short video of Kallen watching the Seals. I kept trying to get his attention for the video, but he kept watching the seals instead of the camera...he was mesmerized.