Disneyland

It has always been a dream of mine to go to Disneyland during Halloween time. Something about the decorations, the Haunted Mansion all decorated up in Nightmare Before Christmas, and of course because it is my favorite holiday. We were originally going to wait until Ethan was a little older before we went but when our friends invited us to go with we couldn't resist.

We had such a fantastic trip and it was a great age to take Ethan. He absolutely loved Disneyland and he loved the rides especially, and of course Mickey Mouse. We went on the majority of the rides at both parks with his favorites being the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland followed by the Toy Story ride at California Adventure. Can you see a theme? Ethan even rode the roller coaster the Matterhorn that was a little scary. Not because of the ride but because of the monster noises in it.

We ended up spending the extra money to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel and boy was it worth it. I loved having our own entrance into the park and they even upgraded our room to the Park view. Ethan is already asking to go back.

Here are a few of the pictures that we took. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch.

We had a very rainy weekend but the clouds finally opened up just a little to let us go and get our pumpkins at the Stocker Farm Pumpkin Patch in Snohomish, Washington. We have been going there since Ethan was born and it is a great place to go and pick your own pumpkins. When the weather turned a little better in the afternoon we took our chance and our rainboots and headed out. Ethan found two right away that he really liked. They are the little ones in the pictures and Jeff and I picked out ours. Ethan found several others but finally settled on his favorites. We are going to wait a week or so to carve them and when we do I will post the finished results.

Rainy Day Sunday.

The Seahawks played today and since one game seemed to be enough for Ethan and we thought that daddy needed a break to go actually watch the game Ethan and I headed up to Bellingham to visit my dad. The day started out rainy and dreary and the whole drive up to Bellingham was that way. When we finally got there the rain stopped for a little bit in order to let us make a trip up to Ferndale to Hovander Homestead Park to explore. Enjoy the photo's.

Iron Girl 5K Seattle

My friend Courtney had told me about the Iron Girl 5K/10K race in Seattle so I thought that I would give it a try. I signed up for the 5K a couple of months before the race and then sort of forgot about it so I had done no training what-so-ever before race day. The race takes you around Green Lake so the views were nice and it made the time go by pretty quickly since you had things to look at. I totally surprised myself by running the race, especially since I am not a runner and that I had done zero training as stated above. I don't think I have ever ran more than a mile or so so running three was pretty good if I do say so myself. :) I finished the race in 39:14 which is pretty good considering. Also, you can't really tell in the pictures but this race had a ton of participants. I believe that there were 3,000 total women running.

Here are some photo's that Courtney's husband Jeff took at the finish line.

(That's me in the white shirt.)

(Heather, Courtney, and I at the finish line.)

Jeff took Ethan to his first Seahawks game and he had a great time until the game and fireworks started. Then it was a little to much for Ethan to take so they unfortunately had to leave during the first quarter, much to Jeff's dismay. Maybe some noise reduction headphones will be in Ethan's future for the next game so it is not so traumatizing but Jeff did manage to get a cute picture of Ethan before the game started in his Seahawks jersey eating fries, with his new friend Blitz that daddy got him.

Evergreen State Fair

The sun was out in Seattle and Jeff was off to PAX so I decided to go ahead and take the afternoon off from work and took Ethan to meet up with my dad and Jackie at the Evergreen State Fair. It was the perfect day to go since there was not to much of a crowd and the weather was just right. Ethan had a great time eating the huge brick of french fries and going on the rides. He also got to go on a Pony ride and pet some animals. He was especially excited when he received a balloon sword and a lollipop (thanks Jackie).

Splash Playground at Crossroads Park in Bellevue Washington

We decided to beat the heat today and headed over to the Splash Playground at Crossroads Park in Bellevue and what a fun time we had. This is a great spot to take kids of all ages and they even have some sheltered picnic areas right near the Splash zones. I am thinking that this may be a great place to have Ethan's birthday party next year. They also have a playground that is great for kids of all ages right next to the water area. Plus, since we were near the Crossroads mall we had lunch in their great international food court, followed by some ice-cream. A perfect summer day!

Official Soccer Mom...

We signed up Ethan today to start soccer in the Fall at Arena Sports in Redmond. So beginning September our Saturday's will be spent driving Ethan to soccer practice so he can shoot balls into a net. I bought him a soccer net for his birthday and he really enjoys kicking the ball into it so I figured that it was about time to get him started in the world of sports. Thankfully it is indoor soccer during the rainy months. Plus, it's early enough that it will not interfere with the Seahawks games since Ethan is now a season ticket holder with his daddy.