Splash, Splash, Splash

While we were in San Diego, Kallen got to play in the pool a ton. He was a little hesitant at first, but after awhile he loved it. We would go down and play with everyone almost every day. It was so much fun. Having all of his cousins there made it even better. By the end of our trip, he would put his face in the water all by himself and he even enjoyed being dunked! Now that I know he enjoys the pool so much, I'll have to find one around here to take him to.

Look at Kallen's strong abs. Those are definitely muscles not rolls. :)


Splash, splash splash!


Kallen enjoyed lounging in his baby inflatable toy.


Tyson and Kallen gave me some great smiles at the pool. Here is one of my favorites.

Here is a video of Kallen bobbing up and down with Grandma. This was the first day we took him to the pool. At first he wasn't so keen on the idea of jumping up and down, but then he loved it and even started to laugh and splash.

Up, Up and Away!

Kallen went on his first plane ride this past week when my family went to San Diego for our annual Family Reunion. Tyson and I didn't know how Kallen was going to react to the plane, but he handled it like a champ. He was so interested in the plane and loved looking out of the window. He especially loved seeing all the bright lights outside of the window on our fight back to Seattle. It was dark and so he could see all the bright lights of Seattle as we made our landing.

Here is a picture of Tyson and Kallen waiting to board. Kallen decided it was time for a little nap. I was really hoping he would have waited for the flight, but oh well, Kallen is the boss right?


Here is Tyson and Kallen waiting for all the rest of the passengers to board. Kallen loved looking at all the gagets on the ceiling.


Here they are looking out of the plane for the first time.

I had to take this picture of us getting off the plane in Idaho where we had a layover for a few hours. I thought it was really cool that we got to get off on the tarmac. It isn't often that you can take a picture standing next to the plane you just rode in, so I made Tyson stand there while I took one. He thought it was silly and didn't like posing very much...but he is such a trooper. :)

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.