Sprint Cars and Semi's

 Off to the races at Skagit Speedway

 

Ryker saw these broncos and decided he'd like to be a "pusher" when he grows up and use his own bronco.  I told him it wasn't a full time job so he'd also need to keep his job as Costco as the "swiper".  He informed me that he wanted to be a fireman now, not a swiper.  I asked what happened to roofer.  He said he might do that just to help his friends out.

 

 

Liz, Colton, and Adam met us there for the action.

So close we got hit by flying dirt clumps.  Glad we had sun glasses. 

Their favorite part was the wrecks, of course.  Ryker also liked when there was a little fire under one of the cars.  He really wanted it to get big after the guy got out.

Late night, but well worth it.

Good Ideas and Great Plans

Kya kept pooping in the shower, so I devised this sweet plan.  So far, so good.

The view from inside Mom's restaurant.  Order from outsidethe window, don't bring your grubby little hands and food covered faces in my house!  If there's not snow on the ground, we eat outside kids!

Seth replacing the window in our shop, getting it all fixed up for our tenant.

No idea what's going through his mind here.

Let's take a closer look.   Yep, still no clue.  I now know what happened to the other half of my laundry bra ball now though.

 

 

Yep, still no clue.  Lines, rings, and hooks though lead me to believe that he's imitating something he saw his Dad do.  Seth?  Any comments?

Scars are Cool

Miss Tina always takes the class to Guemes Island on the last day of school before summer break.

Waiting for the ferry

Listening to the rules of the beach

And they're off....

Did you know that these are no longer called starfish?  I didn't either.  They are now technically called sea stars.

Finn and Ryker exploring

 

 

Root beer floats

Ryker's best bud, Travis

The concrete wall that Ryker's best bud Travis pushed him off resulting in one bloody little man, some first aid work on the beach, an early ferry ride back to the mainland, having to wear Kya's pink shirt because we didn't have spare clothes for him in the car, a couple hours at the doctor's office as they flushed and flushed and picked and picked sand from his full thickness wound, and another root beer float when it was finally over.

One tough little man.  As much as I hate being there when these things happen, it amazes me how he reacts.  He was hysterical when running to me with blood gushing from his head, but he is so easily calmed.  The paramedic Dad that helped us on the beach, the teachers, the doctor, and nurses all were amazed at how still he held while they were working on him even as tears silently rolled down his little cheeks.  It's amazing how much he trusts in what we tell him.  I think he has a high tolerance for pain too, but he will calmly fight through anything if he knows there is an end to it.   He kept asking the doctor if she could put the stitches in yet.  I had told him in the car that the numbing shot and the cleaning of the wound would hurt, but the stitches wouldn't.  Therefore, he just wanted her to get on with it.  Because it was so deep though, they had to give him numerous shots to get it numb so he felt a lot of the cleaning.  After it was all said and done: "Can I look in the mirror before you put the band aid over it?"  That's my boy!

 

When we went to our regular doctor to have the stitches taken out, he said they were the cleanest stitches he'd ever seen on anyone under five.  He had heard from the nurses that he had held really still, but now he could see that they meant REALLY still.

 

Thanks for making it easier on you mom, bud.  Next time though, let's stay off the concrete block.

Anacortes Public Works Open House

I accompanied Ryker's class on this one since it was on my home turf.

 

Yeah buddy, Engineers in training!

We even made the PW's newsletter!  Maybe I'll dig that up someday and add it to this post.

Kya and I to the Rescue

The boat was hauled out in Port Angeles this spring and Ryker was all set to bring the boat back to Bellingham with the crew.  I cannot even begin to describe how excited he was.  Seth and his crew picked him up from preschool, had lunch at Dad's diner (bbq trailer), and headed out.  They were to spend the night and get put back in the water the next day.  All was well until they picked up the boat and broke a rolling chock. 

I got the call, skated out of work (it was a nice sunny day for a drive), picked up Kya and headed out on our 4 hour journey to rescue those silly boys.  If it had just been Seth and the crew he could have stayed, but Ryker can't live on a boat for too long or at least Seth can't get much work done with him there.

 

Lunch on the ferry. 

When we picked them up, Ryker was full of stories.  He was the scissor lift operator (I wish I had pictures.  No one went up and down without him at the controls), apparently loved the port a potty (possibly because it meant another trip down on the scissor lift), had some good meals (he rattled off about 5 items that he had for breakfast, must have ordered the captain's plate), got a Platypus Marine hat, and got to hang with Dad doing big guy stuff!  One other funny thing was after I picked them up and we stopped to eat.  We were headed through the parking lot and I told Ryker to hold someone's hand on the way in, meaning Seth or I.  He ran to Jordan and grabbed his hand.  I had to laugh because Jordan is about 22 and I figured he'd had his fill of the 3 year old in the last couple days.  Jordan is at least 6'6" too so Ryker's arm was fully extended up if you can picture that.  Jordan didn't even miss a beat when he took his hand.  Turns out he has a ton of niece's and nephews so he's used to it.  I cannot even begin to tell you how great this crew Seth has right now is.  They've all been with him for a while and they are all hard working, easy going guys and they are so nice to Ryker and Kya.  Ryker talks about them all the time.  

Ryker did finally get his ride after they fixed the boat.  It was worth the wait!  They even saw some killer whales which is a pretty rare sight especially if you aren't even out looking for them and just traveling as they were.  Again, I wish I had a picture of him sitting on top of the house with Seth in their camping chairs, but apparently Seth's iphone camera must be broken (jab, hint, jab jab). 

When he got home, the next few days were even heavier as far as tying things up.  He must have learned a few new knots.

 

Yes, Seth, while you were eating, they tied your chair to a trike and they are now going to attempt to pull it out from under you or maybe pull you away.  I'm not sure what the end result of the plan was, there was just a lot of scheming and a lot of knots involved.

This picture is for anyone who values a clean car.....don't have kids.  I'm embarrassed to even put this up, but this is what it looked like when I took their car seats out.