House Progress

This is Ryker's new buddy Blue.  He belongs to Dave who is working on our siding and finishing the tongue and groove under our eaves.  I think Ryker is confused by his name because he talks about him being black and calls Chacon the black dog often now.  I'm with you buddy...Who names a black dog Blue?

We're no longer the "Tyvek house".

 

I'm very pleased with the way our siding is turning out.  Dave is doing an awesome job.  He's very detail oriented and seems to be a bit of a perfectionist.  We had a bunch of old growth timber that was much darker than the rest of the siding and he matched it all up and put it on the same sides of the house.  It was the best looking stuff and most of it is on the front of the house where it will be seen the most.  I would have never even thought of that, but I'm glad he did.

Ryker talks about Dave "working" on our house all the time.  No wonder he's so facinated with him though.....look at the cool machine Dave rented.

We pulled up in the car and he couldn't stop talking about this thing.

Seth hauled dirt all weekend a couple weeks ago.  Ryker was fascinated with that as well.  He spent the day running back and forth from window to window whenever he heard him pulling in.

He was always yelling out the window at Seth, but he couldn't hear him over the truck.  His vocabulary this day basically consisted of "Dad back, Dad more dirt, Dad dump it, Dad Steve's truck, Dad's backhoe load it."  I'm pretty sure we didn't talk about anything more than that.  He was pretty focused on the job Seth was doing.

Festival of Family Farms

Hayride and tour with Liz and Colton at Hedlin farms in LaConner.  Fun fact:  We were talking about how our new baby has a good chance of hitting 10-10-10.  I knew that Colton shared a birthday with Dr. Suess, which is plenty cool, but Liz also told me that it happens to be 3-2-1-0, March 2, 2010.  Crazy.  That never dawned on me before. 

 

My camera battery died after this shot so I didn't get any of the pony ride or the zuchini car races, but Ryker loved them both.  Liz took a picture of Ryker on the pony so if I get it, I'll post it later.

After Ryker's nap we headed down to the Golden Glen Creamery.  They had a nice petting zoo with some baby calves and goats, but you had to crawl over some haybales to get in and it was packed with kids.  It was no place for a 40 week pregnant lady so I don't have pictures of that either. 

Ryker was just as excited about the big cows though. 

He was highly entertained by this cow drinking and splashing water out toward him.  It seemed like the cow was really trying to get him wet, because I've never seen a cow drink and splash the water forward as far as it was.

Sunday after he opened his birthday presents, he went to Randy's with Dad for a little football, then I picked him up for one more farm.  We went to Sakuma's, a place Ryker knows quite well as we were there about every weekend this summer getting some sort of fruit, usually strawberries.

Tractor Train ride

He played in the sandbox and tried out about every vehicle they had to ride for about an hour.  I finally lured him away with the promise of some strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.  Thank goodness for free samples.  That was enough to get him back to the car without a struggle.

There were 13 farms on the tour, but we only made it to the 3 with what looked like the best kids activities.  Schuh Farms didn't make the cut only because they offer activities until Halloween, so we'll go another weekend.  Next year, maybe we'll try some of the others.   Thanks for the fun weekend Farms!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Ryker opened his presents from Seth and I on Sunday.  We didn't have a big party for him because I didn't want to invite a bunch of people over only to run out to the hospital.  Wishful thinking on my part.  No, I didn't have the baby and there are no signs that it is coming anywhere in the near future!   I brought out 3 party hats, one for Ryker, Seth and myself.  While we were getting presents and the camera ready, Ryker was gearing himself, Hippo, and "Weyeore" up with the hats and was all concerned that there wasn't one for George.  Oops, my bad.  I grabbed 3 more hats.  I wasn't aware that we were having a party for 6.  By this time I was thinking that hopefully we weren't going to have to prop all his friends up at the table for cake as well. 

The toolbox was a hit.

He'd been asking for a backpack (??) and he loves Thomas the Train, so this one was a no brainer.

We finished strong with Mr. Potatohead.  I wouldn't have picked this for him in a million years, but everytime we passed it in Costco this summer, he got all excited.

Wearing Mr. Potatohead's glasses didn't work out so well for him.

He was excited about his birthday cake, but much more excited once we lit those candles.  This kid loves FIRE!

He ate about 3 bites of his cake and he was done.  He's never gets cake or ice cream so I always think when he does, he'll go nuts and love it.  It always ends up being the exact opposite.  He's excited, but then he doesn't really eat it.  I guess I should have made him birthday cookies.  I've seen him pack those away at other peoples parties.

Throwing in the towel.  He wanted down to play with his toys.

Thanks for the birthday contributions to his GET account!  When he is older, he'll appreciate them much more than his forgotten Mr. Potatohead!

Safety first

He basically spent the rest of the day outside and in the other house "working" with his tools.  Now that he has his own, he doesn't have to talk about Dave's (Salyer-working on our siding) and Dad's tools.  "Ryker's tools" are way better.

It was a hard ride back from the mailbox.

Hopefully he quits putting random pieces of twine in his mouth soon.  There's no telling where that thing has been.

One week to go.......

Probably more like three weeks for me if this one is as timely as Ryker was, but we'll see. 

Guess who these two jokers think they look like?

mailbox

Ryker and I had to install a new mailbox this summer.  Ryker really wanted the cordless screwdriver, so I finally gave it to him without the battery when we were done.  Once we got back to the house though, he figured out how to get the battery on real quick.

He also found some new uses for our old mailbox. 

Maybe he'll be a bull rider. More likely, just a sheep rider at the County Fair.  Hopefully he's a better Muttin Buster than his aunt Kara. 

After I took it out of the wagon, it became a garage for his trucks and motorcycle.

He also puts our mail in it sometimes when we get back from the real mailbox and wants me to get it out.  I think he thinks he's delivering it directly to our house. 

Yes, it's still sitting in our yard.  I haven't had the heart to throw it away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA Z AND AUNT KARA

Ryker and Hippo hope you both have a wonderful birthday week!  We are looking forward to a fun celebration next year when you both hit the BIG ones!