Hunt Family Connection

Lunch Date

We were off from work last Thursday for Veteren's Day, and on Friday too for a furlough day (furlough day = days we are forced to be off because of budget cuts). On Thursday Wil and I did some work on the old house (for those that are keeping track, it's still not sold - we are lowering the price again and hosting an open house this weekend). On Friday though, I made a lunch date with my son :) It is rare that I get to spend time with Graham alone, so I wanted to make a point of setting up an activity just for us. 

I picked him up for lunch - he picked Red Robin. I brought a toy catalog for him to look through while we waited for our food and he was more than happy to point out all of the things he needed. I also encouraged him to look for some things that Eleanor would like too.

We had a nice lunch together, though he was a little bit distracted by a HUGE table of high school aged girls sitting right next to us....

Of course after lunch we had to go check out the video game - it's a car one so he just likes to sit there and pretend to play. He also got a treat from one of those coin machine thingys...a tiny little LED flashlight that he was pretty excited about. It was nice to spend some alone time with him and I'll definitely be trying to do it more often :)

Lane County Fair 2010

Grandma Chery wanted to go to the fair and so did we...so we joined forces on Saturday to check it all out.

This is what we saw when we arrived at the fair - Graham was sooo excited and wanted to ride it. Unfortunately, he's a bit short yet...maybe next summer :)

Enjoying our fair food - Chery and Graham had corn dogs and I had a funnel cake....YUM! 

We at our fair food while we waited for the pig races....that's right, PIG RACES! I've never seen it, but I have to say it was rather entertaining - look at 'em go! 

And you know that saying about pigs flying??

After the pig races we wandered off to find the rides Graham was tall enough for.

He was pretty excited to ride the airplane....

...he had fun floating in the boat....

....but his favorite was driving the car.

He loved it so much that he wanted to go again.

He actually loved all of the rides and would have been quite happy to stay there all afternoon, but we moved on to the animal barns.

We saw a LOT of sheep, chickens, rabbits, and this giant pig and her babies...it kind of looked like she was smiling :)

We stopped to play here before leaving the barn - finally something that was just perfect for Ellie. The girl LOVES taking things in and out of buckets. She carried these vegetables around putting them into and taking them out of the baskets. I had to laugh because another child came in at one point (a boy probably closer to Graham's age) and he started gathering up all of the vegetables and tried to take the ones Ellie was hanging on to.  He got one out of one of her hands, but when he tried to grab the other she just looked at him and held on TIGHT.  He gave up and she walked away with her ear of corn - she's going to be a tough one...I'm afraid her brother is raising her that way :)

After this everyone was getting a bit tired so it was the perfect time to head back home for naps. It was a very nice day to be at the fair - thanks Grandma Chery for coming along and treating us to a whole bunch o' fun!

Graham Goes Swimming

(Guest writer: Daddy)

"I can't wait to go swimming, Daddy!"

"I'm so excited to go swimming!"

I arrived at Sabrina's house this morning to pick up Graham for his swimming lessons, and that's pretty much what I heard for the next half hour or so before the swim lessons started.  (Well, there was one, "Daddy!  I missed you!" when I first arrived.  That was a great emotional lift in these stressful days.)  But Graham was *so* excited about swimming lessons.  It was incredibly fun to talk to him about it on the way to the Sheldon Pool.

Daddy was surprised when we got there, though.  Apparently parents don't get to participate.  In fact, we're not really even supposed to be in the pool area at all.  The pamphlet they gave out said they wanted the kids to participate without the distraction of their parents... which makes sense.  I can totally see the mental image of 15 over-protective parents squealing at the side of the pool.  They do allow us to be there (down by the pool) for the first and last lessons, though; but when I asked Graham if he wanted me to stay down there with him he said, "No, Daddy.  I'm Ok alone."  He's trying so hard to be a big boy.

There are only three kids in his lesson group.  (In fact, he was the only kid in his original time slot, so they moved into this one... what a huge group, right?!)  I'm pretty sure he is the youngest of the three.  From my vantage up top it looked as though he was sometimes having trouble following directions, but he was definitely just as brave as the two girls.  And he didn't break down crying like one girl did.  I felt  bad for both the crying girl and the instructor.  I'm sure they're trained what to do with that situation, but I know I'd be at a total loss.  Graham did bite his lip toward the end, so they had to take him out of the pool a minute before the lesson was supposed to end, but he was really good about it.

As a slightly amusing note... the instructor, a girl named Chelsea, seemed to be pretty good with the kids, but apparently reading names isn't her strong point.  When it was time to collect the kids she came over and asked, "Are you 'Gray-hamm?' "  Graham didn't even realize she was talking to him.  I tried to tactfully use his name (correctly pronounced!) in front of her a few times, but she wasn't taking the hint, so I had to tell her.  It's Graham... like the cracker.

Bleepin' teachers these days... don't they teach our kids anything?  Oh wait... I'm a teacher... Doh!

So that was day one of swimming lessons.  Graham did great, and Daddy had to (got to?) sit up in the balcony area and read the Eugene Weekly while he did his thing.  I tried to watch, but you can only watch the same activity over and over again so many times.  Oh, the first thing they did was pretty cool.  Chelsea poured water over the kids' heads to get them used to being wet.  Graham was a little unsure at first, but he did fine.  Then after that she let the kids pour water on her.  Turn about is fair play, and Graham loved doing that!

Yay for swimming.  Graham and I are both excited about going back for round two tomorrow morning.

a little more from last weekend...

We were very lucky to have nice weather last weekend, so we took advantage of it and made our way to "the big park with the mountains" on Sunday.

Ellie and I hung out on a blanket.....

...while Wil followed Graham around the play structures

almost feels like a "where's Waldo" kind of picture :)  It was a busy place, but Graham had a great time. Hopefully the weather will continue to get warmer - I'm very ready for Spring.

Fun at the Fair

We wandered out to the Lane County Fair this afternoon and had a great time - here's a bit of what we saw there...

1 - Graham was quite entertained by simply watching the carnival games - thankfully he's not old enough to know that if you play them you get to take home crazy looking toys to clutter up your home :)

2 - While not quite big enough for the rides, this little covered toddler area was perfectly sized and outfitted for Graham. How cute is this little girl that came over to play with him?!

3 - Award-winning garlic

4 - "Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!" - Graham's rooster impression cracks me up every time :)

5 - Creepy canning mannequin and a scene that you will never see in my kitchen

6 - Sitting on daddy's shoulders to watch performing dogs catch frisbees

7 - Goat that got a little fresh and aggressive with Wil as we walked by

8 - Men on motorcycles flying through the air - scared mommy a bit, but delighted the boy

9 - Daddy and Graham watching the merry-go-round - next year G should be big enough to actually get on some of the rides

Not pictured: One Fri-Jo for daddy and one elephant ear for mommy - both shared with Graham

Last Weekend at the Coast

I know it was a week ago, but with all that's been going on I haven't been able to update as quickly as I'd like.  I finally edited some pictures though and want to make sure I share what fun we had staying with Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop!

 

We were very happy to leave our house and the construction workers behind on Friday and tried to coordinate our departure with a nap for Graham. He slept maybe half the way and did a great job of entertaining himself with a couple of toys the rest of the way there. I would say it's one of the better car trips we've had with him.

We enjoyed visiting and settling in on Friday night, then it was off to the aquarium on Saturday afternoon. Graham was there last summer, but I doubt he has many memories of that - it was fun to watch him rediscover it all.

 

 

Graham was especially excited about any large fish that he saw and commented often on the "BIG ONES!" He was a little nervous about the touch-n-feel opportunities and didn't want me to touch the fish either. He did get brave and touched this little pokey plant thing...

 

We stopped at the gift store before leaving and got a swimming shark tub toy (fun!) and a new book for his collection that we have read almost every night since - Mister Seahorse - it gets our highest recommendations :) It's actually quite a timely story in that it talks about caring for fish eggs before they hatch, focusing on the fish in which the father is the one that carries this burden....what an interesting idea! (tee hee)

On Sunday morning Graham and I made our way to the beach/ocean for a visit. Graham has no trouble walking right up to the water, but has a nice and healthy fear to not get too close or into the water. The noise still scares him a little bit, but he decided it was very fun to pick up and throw rocks into the ocean.

 

We also made some fishy sand castle-type things...

 

We went Sunday and Monday mornings and were there before the crowds arrived so it was really nice. As you can see by his outfit, it was considerably cooler on the coast than it was at home - I loved it!

This trip we also decided to try letting Graham use my iPod Touch (with some supervision) to watch his favorite tv show - Jack's Big Music Show.  He needed a couple of reminders to just watch and not touch, but did such a great job that we also used it on the drive home when he prematurely woke up from his nap.

 

This is very exciting as I look ahead to future plane travels :)  Graham also watched an episode or two of Jack on my computer - here he is watching with Pop-Pop...

 

Graham was also presented with that really awesome quilt that Mum-Mum made for his big boy bed and I don't think anyone could have anticipated just how excited he would be about it.

 

He wanted to hide in it, play in it like a fort, and just generally loved rolling around with it! Of course it helps that it is covered in airplanes :) 

 

He is very lucky to have such a talented Mum-Mum that makes him such special things like this quilt - we all really appreciate the hard work that went into it!

Thanks again Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop for a very fun and relaxing weekend on the coast (I think I forgot to mention that I was able to get away for some shopping at the outlet mall all by myself - heaven!!) We had a great time and look forward to seeing you again soon :)

Happy 4th of July!

I’m sitting in bed and just got done editing the pictures I’ve got so far from the weekend. The neighborhood fireworks have just started and I have the perfect view of what must be an illegal fireworks display in someone’s yard (they are far too big and pretty to be legal!)

There are a lot of firecrackers going off on our street and I saw some of those parachute ones floating outside of my window. So far I’ve seen a couple of the cats race in here and under the bed. Graham hasn’t been fully awakened yet, but I do hear him fussing in there a little bit.

The picture is from earlier today as we were getting ready to head out to Art in the Vineyard. I went out there last night too, but with some girlfriends…

 
from left to right: Kara, me, Louisa, and Teresa

We set up our chairs in the shade, everyone that could got a glass of wine, and then we headed over to the food court. Kara and Teresa really seemed to enjoy their buffalo burgers (with giant chunks of bacon on top – YUM!)

After dinner we walked around to check out the art – I didn’t take as many pictures as I usually do, but  here are a couple of my favorites…

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are always so many creative and colorful things to look at. Also a lot of fun and pretty jewelry to admire.

After browsing a bit we went back to our chairs to chat before the music started again, and before long someone mentioned dessert and we were back in the food court. We went back to our chairs with ice cream and spent the rest of the evening people-watching, listening to music, and chatting. It was a wonderfully relaxing (and yummy!) evening. We went back to Kara’s and caught a fireworks show taking place after the Ems’ baseball game.

I was pretty tired this morning, so Graham and I played at home this morning. G did a fantastic job of letting me rest up a bit. After his nap we got dressed and ready to head out to Art in the Vineyard. We saw Grandma Chery and walked around with her a little before she had to leave, then we found a shady place on the lawn to put down our blanket. We went for a walk and found a nice little kid area where Graham went “fishing” for some little toys/prizes. His favorite is a whistle (that he is still learning how to use!)

We walked over to the food court and got pad thai and a fruit parfait for dinner, which we enjoyed together on our blanket while listening to music. Once we finished that up it was time to get back in the stroller and make the trek back to the car and then home to play a little more before bedtime. Here’s a shot of Graham playing with his new little toys while I cleaned up…

Which brings us to where I started this post – Graham is still sleeping and the fireworks are still going strong….seriously, who are these people?? For a backyard display, this is pretty awesome! It will be fun when Graham is old enough to stay awake for this :)

The Park, a Picnic, and Our Pool

What a busy day we had here! Graham and I were invited to play with some friends at a local park and bring along a picnic lunch. We got to the park (a rather large and impressive park at that!) around 10:30 and played with Jeffrey and his mama, Jenna.

 
Graham played some on his own and also played with Jeffrey a bit. It’s still hard to share and take turns, but we’re working on it.  You can see they were both quite content on this play structure – Jenna and I took turns cranking the bar that made this ‘boat’ travel across the river.

We had a yummy picnic lunch in the shade around 11:15 – Graham and I traded one of our Oreo cookies for some goldfish crackers. I’m told it was Jeffrey’s first Oreo – such an important milestone I think ;) After lunch we had one last swing (I need these in an adult size please!) before heading home for naps…

Graham was more than ready for his nap and slept for 2 hours (yay!) After nap, we asked daddy if he would help get the swimming pool blown up and filled. I picked one up that was on sale at Target…I had no idea it was going to be as big as it is!  I am excited though that there is more than enough for Graham and I  - in fact I think there’s room for the whole family in there!

Graham had fun helping to fill the pool – it looked a little like this when we started…

Then he got brave and started playing a little more with the water (and squealing because it was a nice cold shock to the system!)

And finally he was getting so wet that I finally stripped him down and got him into the pool as it finished filling up – he had a BLAST!

I think he’s really going to enjoy having the pool in the backyard and I know that I will – it’s much easier to sport the maternity swimsuit in the privacy of my own yard than with all of the ‘pretty/skinny moms’ at the tennis club pool.

I’m going to shop for a little bug strainer and some pool toys tomorrow while G is at daycare – the next few days are supposed to be pretty hot so I think we’ll be more than ready to spend some time in the pool. I’m also planning to reward myself for all of the hard work organizing and decluttering by going to a movie tomorrow.

This weekend is Art and the Vineyard so I’m hoping to spend time there with Graham and with my friends. Lots of fun summer things to look forward to :)

Yurt Camping – Graham’s first time!

We decided it was about time Graham came out camping with us. Not wanting to rough it entirely (I am rather pregnant after all!) I decided a yurt was a good option.  For those that don’t know, a yurt is a glorified tent – has beds/futon, table/chairs, electricity, and a hard floor. Oh – and heat….heat was definitely a good thing to have this past weekend :)

The adventure really started in the wee hours of Friday morning when Graham woke up crying…and then threw up all over his crib. Wil helped me get the crib stripped and we took G to bed with us…where he threw up again. We eventually all got to sleep and Graham was in great spirits when he woke up Friday morning. I got him into the bath tub and gave him some breakfast…which he threw up :(  Do you see the pattern forming here?? Apparently several children at the daycare had the same kind of evening, so between Wil, Jim, and myself we stayed home with Graham on Friday.

I thought Graham was doing much better by the time evening came – he had no fever, was running around like a mad man, and had kept down everything he had eaten since breakfast. I also thought it would be much easier to travel in the evening instead of the next morning…so off we went to our campground at Honeyman (on the coast!)

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Graham threw up (twice) on the way over – oops.  We finally made it and got beds set up quickly – we all really needed that. 

We all slept quite well and Graham even slept in a little since we got to bed later than usual. He was ready to go when he woke up, so we (cautiously) ate breakfast then headed outside to play a bit. It was chilly and a bit misty at times - not ideal, but Graham was prepared with his raincoat and frog boots. We tried to take a walk to explore a bit, but Graham wanted to turn around and head back after just a little bit, and wanted me to carry him - good workout for me I suppose! 

While Graham napped after lunch, Wil and I enjoyed some quiet time outside. I had my book (thanks mom!), a magazine, and my word find puzzles to keep me busy. Wil did some reading and also walked around exploring a little. He got fire wood for the evening and learned that there was a program about butterflies at the Nature Center at 3:00. Graham woke up in time to get to the butterfly presentation, but when he saw the HUGE playground next to the Nature Center, there was no way he was going anywhere but there.

Wil built a fire when we got back to the yurt and I got started on dinner. Graham definitely got lots of good outside time to play.  I thought it would make him good and sleepy, but instead we had trouble getting him to sleep (he sat on the couch with us and watched a movie) and even though he went to sleep at 10ish, he was still wide awake and ready to go at 5:30am Sunday morning - EEK!  

I had not slept very well at all, and Wil wasn't feeling well Sunday morning so it was hard to get started. Once I got up and moving though, Graham and I headed over to the dunes/beach. We had lots of fun building and stomping on sand castles (I'll let you guess who did which). Graham was also quite entertained by some birds that were dropping into the water looking for a morning snack :)  We heard a lot of noise coming from the dunes right behind us - G was convinced they were airplanes and there was no telling him otherwise. He firmly told me "NO Mama - AIRPLANE!"

After the beach we went to the Nature center for a talk on slugs and "thoroughbred" slug races. We learned a lot about slugs - they tried to get Graham to touch one but he wasn't havin' it. He managed to stick out the whole presentation AND our slug won the race - woo hoo! Of course we had to visit the playground when we were done though.

We packed up and headed for home around lunchtime - Wil was feeling much worse by then and got sick in the car on the way home - luckily we still had the throw-up bowl handy.  As a side note, I think it's funny that Graham has the same reaction to daddy throwing up as he does to mommy's singing and dancing - "NO DADDY/MOMMY NO!!" I assured him that daddy would be just fine - he asked Wil many times on the way home..."daddy allright?"

And so the yurt adventure came to end and we are left with piles of laundry and things that need to be unpacked. My sweatshirt has that great campfire smell - love it!  Despite the less than ideal moments during the weekend, there were some very good and peaceful ones. Wil and I have always enjoyed hanging out at the yurt together - reading, soaking up the great outdoors, etc. It's fun to experience it all through Graham's eyes now - definitely an adventure :)

Quick Suki update: She looked good when we got home - I think a little stronger and definitely eating more as evidenced by the kitty throw-up upstairs....seriously, as if we needed more of that this weekend?! We will be talking to the vet today to see what kind of follow up is needed. We are cautiously optimistic about her condition...will have to wait and see I guess.

I will be heading home after work to get the house cleaned up a bit from our weekend away - Graham is excited to be spending the afternoon/evening with Pa-Paw.  I have a few more pictures from the weekend and they can be found HERE – enjoy!

More about our weekend

So at the end of my last post I mentioned that I was sure Graham would fall asleep eventually for his nap….ummm, not so much!  For a whole hour he just chatted, sang, and bounced around in his crib until he decided to call for me to come get him. I got him up and ready to head out – a little nervous about what the rest of the day would hold with a little boy who hadn’t napped.

We were on our way to Saturday Market, but after chatting with Kara, I decided to change direction and meet her and Sammy at Skinner’s Butte Park. Of course Graham fell asleep on the way there :)  When we arrived at the park we went for a little walk in hopes that Graham would sleep some more (he never did really fall asleep, but was resting quietly….almost asleep). After the walk we hung out with the boys at the playground.

Don’t they look super-serious about getting down that slide?! It was so crowded but we managed to find places to play without getting knocked around too much :)

It’s funny how much difference a year can make at this age. It’s even more amazing that in another year or so, we will hardly be able to tell that there is much difference in their age at all. I feel so lucky to have so many friends with children Graham’s age – we are never at a loss for playmates and I really appreciate the “mom” support we give each other.

Speaking of my girlfriends, I was able to get out with a few of them to a Lia Sophia party thrown by our friend Teresa on Friday night – very fun :)  I even came away with a little treat for myself – these silver earrings.  Thanks again Teresa for good food, drink, and fun!

We were outside again today – it was even warmer and sunnier! I have more pictures but will save them for another post. It’s getting late and I have a very busy Monday ahead of me.