The Butterfly

Earlier this month we headed to Newman Lake and the Butterfly lake cabin. The boys daycare was closed for almost a week and Tom didn't have any time off. So, my mom agreed to help me watch/play with the boys. I'm wondering if she regretted this after the level of crazy we brought! Something tells me, she loved it even with the extra energy and work. 

 Gabriel wasn't totally sure that he enjoyed being in the water. Charlie was being a great big brother and trying to help Nonnie with Gabriel.

 Here I am with my two little guys. I can't seem to get them to both look at the camera at the same time.

 These days we have to place tons of toys in front of Gabriel. If we are missing the toys, he screams. Toys are a must in his mind. This picture doesn't highlight the fact that Gabe can now sit up all by himself. Big guy!

Charlie is learning how to be comfortable in the lake. For the first few days he wouldn't jump into the water by himself. As you can see from this picture, he graduated to solo jumps.

 Aunt Beth brought her friend Emily out along with her son Aiden. Charlie and Aiden had lots of fun playing together as you can see above. Good times.

 Charlie and Boppa spent a morning mowing the lawn. Boppa bought Charlie his own lawn mower just for this occasion. This is wonderful training for the future.

Gabriel loved to flirt with his Aunt Beth. Beth sure is good with these boys.

Salivary Gland Infection

We experienced a rare infection in our home recently. Apparently, the pediatricians see only one to two cases of salivary gland infections and/or stones a year. Charlie was one of those cases for them in 2012. The poor kid. Here are a few shots we took of his face all swollen. The treatment was wet warm compresses, sucking on sour foods/candy and lots of pain medicine. Apparently this is quite painful. He was a trooper, but we did have bouts of huge tears. Luckily, the infection cleared up on its own in a few days. 

Over the pass to Yakima!

Recently, we drove in our new van over to Yakima for the weekend. We were having so much fun I almost forgot to take any pictures. But, I was able to take a few cute ones when uncle Matt came over... 

 ...and when Charlie finally got to ride on this huge tractor. He had been patiently waiting all morning. Charlie, Grandpa Bud and Pat Favilla drove this tractor a few miles down the road to Pat's house. Quite the thrill. Look how big just the tires are on this thing!

 Charlie had his own special seat for this ride!

Charlie's First Play

Way back on June 9th, I took Charlie to his first live play - "The Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. We were both quite excited for this adventure. Before the play, we went into the Seattle Center and found some live music and yummy dinner. It sure was a fun evening.

This is us getting our dinner. I sure couldn't get him to look at the camera. There were too many interesting people and activities going on for posing. 

 If I had let him, he would have run down and into the fountain. He loves running through water!

 There was a packed house that night. I loved that they specifically announced that this was a "no shushing" play. There was lots of happy chatter during this play.