Moving Christmas Party

A rare glimpse of Jetty being sweet to his brother. There are usually bats swinging, guns firing and balls flying but occasionally, they slow down long enough to hug.


The gun is up, things are about to get rowdy!


Jetty has taken a liking to all of Maddox's CARS stuff. Sometimes Maddox will tolerate it and sometimes not. Jetty likes to snatch toys from Maddox and run wildly away.

Moving is hard work! We had the joy of traveling to Bozeman for the weekend to assist Rob and Addie in moving to their new, fabulously large and pretty home. There were no official babysitters on hand so there were lots of breaks for naps, snacks, discipline and light saber dueling.






Mom and dad stayed at a hotel with a water slide so we spent one evening swarming the small pool, and the two lovey couples shamelessly hanging all over each other, in order for the boys to have some fun. Maddox and Blake enjoyed it the most but we managed to get all of the wee ones down the slide at least once. It was not a tame slide, they really shot out at the bottom unless care was taken to slow down, Matt did a great job with all three of his boys...


Mason


Mad-man


Blakey and papa


Unamused Jetty


Smiggy


Schuyler Clan

I must have caught Sawyer on Mom's camera, there is proof somewhere that they all did it.

We also had Christmas for the kidlets, as we are all going separate ways this year we wanted to celebrate as a family. Reese was in Denver enjoying other family and so we missed her but, I'm sure her weekend was far more relaxed than it would have been otherwise! Pop tarts and camo was the name of the game and they thoroughly enjoyed being showered with goodies.











It was a delightful time together, and though I know we were a help, I feel like we hardly made a dent in the mountain of boxes stacked in the Bedford's garage. Also, it is interesting and funny to hear what comes out of Maddox's mouth after a full weekend with his cousins. The chore becomes deciphering what he picked up from his dad(crapface) and what he learned from the younger crowd(poopyface, I'm gonna fart on you). What have your kids learned from us recently?

Ornery little buggers

This progression cracks me up. They already grab at each other and pick and poke just to bug the other. It is funny to watch but, I wonder how long I will think it is funny before I just get sick of it!


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Awhile back, Bing got permission from his docs to run another half marathon... he wanted to take Jetty and even the score. Well, he did it. Just to say he had. Jetty made it about 3/4 of the way before I picked him up and snapped a few pics. I like his wonky legs in this one :)

Going Coastal

We hit up the coast of Oregon, yet again. It was a lovely time of relaxing, eating, coffee drinking, waterfall hiking, rock throwing and generally just playing. Bing and I had a weekend away in Portland while Grammie Marcia and Grandpa Barney watched the yahoos, with only one, almost trip to the hospital :) Maddox pretended to have pain somewhere, and wouldn't stop crying until grandpa was half way to the hospital, pistol!


I have a whole bunch of these that look awesome when viewed quickly but, I'll spare you the repetition...

He even started going down this backwards. I'm sure I will be well acquainted with the E.R.

Youngs River Falls

Fuzzy-wuzzy caterpillar

Trying to hit the big, spawning salmon

Jetty likes to dance, we call this his "pimp hand"

Oh what mischief they will cause together!

One of many coffee dates at Coffee Girl

Maddox claimed all boats as "his boat" and we made many special trips to one in particular

Sometimes he refuses to nap and then he passes out at dinner, I caught this right before he tipped and then I caught him :)

Grandpa Barney indulging Maddox in boat watching

Jetty had some sort of reaction and his eyes were super puffy and red, he healed right up though

Our date to the arcade, Maddox looks an awful lot like me in this :)

After the arcade, we had ice cream for dinner and kicked at seagulls on the beach

And then, we saw a shark exhibit. After the first shark eating pic, Maddox insisted on taking one with ALL of the sharks, and then an Elvis painting on the way to the car. Funny kid.

Jetty slept through most of the adventures, so he has fewer action shots

Jennifer and Julian joined us for "Iron Chef Goes Coastal", which is a benefit for the local chapter of United Way. There are a ton of fabulous restaurants in the Astoria/Seaside/Cannon Beach area and they get together and compete for titles, there is a silent auction and tons of food for sampling. We had a nice time out sans kids (except for Julian), eating and chatting and bidding on silly things. I came home with a few dozen light bulbs and two big bags of Boy Scout Caramel Corn... Bing is still cursing me :)



Under pressure


Trying to catch us crab for dinner, turns out, dinner came from the store that night :)

Saying goodbye to one of his boats

Trying to scare the poo out of Jetty before we loaded him into the car :)

The only picture I have of our time at Auntie Sis' new house. We had some fun visitors while we were there. Love you Bob and Teresa!

We look forward to coming back soon! I just hope we get to see more people next time. We missed out on Auntie Piper, cousins and all of Bing's grade-school buddies. There sure is a lot to fit in to 2 weeks!

Travelers

Bing had a meeting in Rapid City with a very wealthy oil man, a client of his, so the whole family went to enjoy the many sights and attractions in the area. I had no idea that there were so many fun and interesting things to do there and it is only 5 hours away! On our list of things to do:
*Mount Rushmore
*Reptile Gardens
*Art Alley
*Water Park
We skipped the water park for lack of time and nap-time conflict but it looked really awesome, the other attractions were quite fun and the boys were content in the hotel pool/hot tub. Bing's work partner and his family came and Maddox claimed the youngest girl, Kody, as is best friend, literally... he called her his best friend. Not sure where he even learned the term but it was stinking cute to hear.




Mount Rushmore was unexptectedly cold





The reptile gardens were really warm, muggy, and disgustingly stinky. Bing and I both thought we might throw up from the smell.
A domed building, kept at the right temperature for several hundred reptiles combined with the things they eat and expel = horrid smell. It was still really neat to see, and Maddox ran from one tank to the next, excited to see what could be in the next one. He loved the crocodiles and repeatedly called them caca-doodoos.

This is Maniac, he is HUGE, 15 feet 7 inches!

At the end, they did a live, snake show. They brought out a cobra in a plexiglass box and it struck several times at the box, Maddox thought it was HILARIOUS and busted out into a contagious giggle each time. He was thrilled to pet the albino Burmese python, so much so we were the last to leave.



Art Alley is an entire block of alleyway that is covered in extensive graffiti work, mostly tasteful and very vibrant.



The boys love to wrestle and play together which is really a blast to watch. They are going to be such great friends :) Maddox talks to his baby sister and every so often will give her kisses. Jetty, we are teaching him "nice", "gentle", and "soft" in preparation for a new baby. Otherwise, his default is hair pulling, scratching and slapping the face... awesome.