Class Picnic

Will had a picnic with his new class today and we got this hilarious photo of Mr Will with two girls in his sights. He was playing with Jasmine but was distracted by Finley for a brief moment.

Sailing with Dad

On Top of the Clouds

Will and his dad took a special trip up to Mt Rainier this week. They stayed in a hotel and hiked during the day. When Will came home today he told me that he went into the clouds and then went on top of the clouds on the mountain. We suspect that the highlight of this trip was the hotel swimming pool and going 'into the clouds'.

Solid Food

Tonight Will dropped some scraps of scrambled eggs on the floor which Marmalade discovered to start his foray into the world of solid food. I'm so relieved to see that he can feed himself. After he ate several little pieces of egg, I showed him his kitten kibble inside of his dish. He actually ate it! Hip hip hooray! He is finally an independent cat!

Picking Cucumbers

Today is the last day of my summer vacation with Will. For the next two weeks he'll be out and about with Paul while I prep for school to start. The summer just flew by!

Birthday Parties Galore!

It seems like all of our friends have similar birthdays so from July through October we have birthday parties one after the other. Today Will's good buddy George turned three with a great backyard party and homemade chocolate cake.

Low Tide

Checking out some limpets and sea anemone at low tide. Will is the guy in the red hat.

Chloe Turns 3!

Will attended Chloe's 3rd birthday party today complete with a train cake AND ice cream cones.

Naptime Woes

For the past few days Will has been distracted by the kittens during naptime. Unfortunately they are rather active during the noontime hours which is difficult for anyone-- least of all a three year old--- to tune out. This means that he cuddles them and plays with them all afternoon from 12:30 until dinnertime. I haven't intervened much other than to mention that he spent the entire afternoon in bed and we didn't have time to go to the park or zoo or beach.

So today I was hoping to gain his cooperation when I mentioned that after his nap maybe we could go to the skate park or something like that. Afterwards I asked him, "Are you planning to nap today?" He said matter of factly, "Actually, I'm going to waste my whole afternoon in bed."

Sunflower Picking at the Farm

Will and I picked sunflowers today at a local farm. We also were lucky enough to take a tractor tour around the farm.

Sleeping Arrangements

Sitting on Paul's feet and climbing his legs is one of Marmalade's favorite activities.

Now that the kittens have taken free reign over our house I've noticed some interesting sleeping arrangements. This was an extremely precarious sleeping location for Marmalade. Just one wrong move....
This is the typical arrangement with Jasmine on Will's pillow and Marmalade at his feet.

Kitten Play

The kittens are getting to be quite comfortable in our house now. They have a box suite in Will's room and as soon as they hear him awake in the morning they both leap over the sides of their boxes and come trotting over to our bedroom for breakfast. They are now reliably litter trained and Jasmine is on solid foods. I had to laugh today as I watched them playing in the kitchen. They are both so small that they look like lab rats yet here they are posturing and fluffing up as they play. Jasmine leaps around the kitchen on furry feet while Marmalade chases after her posturing sideways and arching his back. Mandarin usually just sits by the screen door looking out or laying down in the sun with just a crack of an eyelid open to watch. He seems to take barely an interest but I know that if he really didn't care at all he wouldn't be going through all the trouble to stay in the same room! Maybe he thinks they are as cute and funny as we do!

Birthday Present from Grandma

My mom sent Will his dream come true: a giant dump truck and a giant backhoe. Since someone seems to have left a sand pile right in the middle of a field at our local park you can just imagine where we will be spending our days. Hopefully the parks department will approve that Will is moving this pile dumptruck load by dumptruck load to the sandbox across the field.

Will's Threebilee at the Beach

Passing out cookies.

George is carefully scrutinizing the "3" shaped cookie.

Playing at the creek.

Keenan's stomp rockets were the hit of the party.

This is about as much of the group as we could get together at any one time.

Singing Happy Birthday to Will.

Passing out the "3"s to his friends.