Our Weekend

Redmond Derby Days Parade.
We had forgotten about the parade, but luckily for us, the parade route began just outside our front door....




On Sunday, we made another trip to Woodland Park Zoo. It was about a year ago that we let Ryan feed the giraffe and birds. Last year he was extremely afraid of both, so we were curious to see how he had developed.

Ryan enjoyed feeding the giraffes. He even wanted to hold the leaves himself....




Ryan enjoyed feeding the birds. We had to restrain him from petting the birds. I'm certain Brooke was more afraid than Ryan....




Oddly, he was afraid of the carousel horses. He cried and refused to sit on one. We finally gave up and let him sit in the carriage instead....


The dancing elephant. Ever since we saw this at the zoo, Ryan's has been saying "elephant" and trying to do the same dance. We're still trying to get it captured on tape....


Ryan loves penguins....

Rattlesnake Ledge

On the 4th of July, Brooke, Ryan and I hiked up to Rattlesnake Ledge and a little beyond. The total distance was about 5 miles with an elevation gain of 1300ft.

Here's an explanation of the slideshow below:
Slide 1: We arrived at 10am. Already the parking lot was full, so we parked along the road.
Slide 2-3: At Rattlesnake Lake, the start of the hike.
Slide 4: At Rattlesnake Lake, with Rattlesnake Mountain in the background.
Slide 6-10: At the first, largest, and most popular ledge. This ledge offered great views of the lake, Snoqualmie Valley, and Mt. Si.
Slide 11-12: Many people stopped for lunch at the first ledge, but it was far too dangerous to let Ryan loose. We chose to walk further up to find an open area, but finally settled on a small fallen tree to have our lunch.
Slide 13-16: At the second, smaller ledge. Same great views, plus you can look down and see the first ledge.
Slide 17: A video of Ryan singing his ABCs. Ryan would only sing while we were moving. Maybe it was the rhythm of the footsteps.



...and of course we had to replenish all those expended calories at the XXX Root Beer Drive-In...

Ryan's Birthday BBQ

We held a little birthday party for Ryan at Marymoor Park....


Here are some videos of Ryan playing with his new toys. I love his ambitious Lego design....

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan turned 2 yrs old this week. Here are some facts about Ryan:

• He's 36.0" inches tall and weighs 30.0 lbs.
  
• He likes to mimic everything we say, including all the bad words.
• He sleeps 10pm-7:00am and naps for 2 hrs starting around 2pm.
  
• He's a really good eater, eating just about anything.
  
• He loves all fruits. His current favorites are blueberries, nectarines, mangoes, strawberries, pears, and grapes.
  
• He likes most vegetables, but especially broccoli, zuchinni, carrots, spinach, asparagus, and cauliflower (but only after telling him it's white broccoli).
• He likes eating chicken, pork, and fish, but he's not able to chew beef yet. However, on occasion, we do feed him some ground beef.
  
• His favorite toy is his Lego Duplo set.
  
• He likes playing Angry Birds on my phone, but his birds always fly to the left.

We're seeing development in his imagination and creativity. For example, after taking a few bites out of his naan, Ryan noticed it resembled a horse and began walking it around the table like it was a horse....


There's no entertainment value to this set of videos. I just like to document how Ryan eats. The videos show him eating grapes and broccoli....