In August, Ryan started attending preschool 3 days per week. He's in a classroom with 2 teachers and approximately 18 kids (all around 3 yrs old). Everyday all the kids get a half hour of Mardarin lessons and a minimum of 1 hour outdoors (rain or shine).
We were pretty nervous that Ryan would have difficulty adjusting since he's only been cared for by family members. But we also knew it was time for Ryan to start associating with kids his age...
We arrived at school early so that Ryan could adjust to the classroom before the other kids got there...
The class pet is Spike the Hermit Crab….
When the other kids started arriving, Ryan ran right up to them and tried to become friends. I think the other kids were more intimidated than Ryan...
Meals consist of breakfast, lunch, and two snacks….
We were expecting some separation anxiety and tears when it was time for Brooke and I to leave, but Ryan simply waved goodbye and continued playing...
We took Ryan on his first camping trip, a one-night stay at Deception Pass State Park. We arrived about midday and hiked from the bridge down to the beach. (Ryan loves to throw rocks into the water). Afterwards, we hiked back up and drove to our campsite. The campgrounds are perfectly situated between a pebbly beach to the north, a fresh water lake to the south, and the typical Washington, driftwood-filled beach to the west.
We purchased a new tent (REI Half Dome 4) the night before this trip and didn't bother reviewing the assembly instructions. My old REI tent has a simple 2-pole criss-crossed design…and we kept trying to assemble the new tent in the same way with no success. We eventually had to pull out the cellphone to find pictures of an assembled tent.
After we setup our tent, we walked down to the beach area by the fresh water lake. We didn't realize how developed and popular this area was. There were kayaks and pedal boats for rent, a snack shop, and a nearby amphitheater (with a Canadian folk band playing that night).
Cooked and ate our turkey quesadillas back at our campsite, watched the sunset, made some s'mores…
and the whole time worked endlessly to keep Ryan from falling into the campfire...
In the morning, after cooking eggs and bacon, we headed down to Fort Casey, a coastal fortification built in the 1890s to defend against invasions into the Puget Sound…..
Canada Day (July 1st) at Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia
Canada Day fell on a weekend this year, so we decided to make the drive up to celebrate with the locals. Unforetunately, it was a miserable cold, windy and rainy weekend. The bad weather left me uninspired to take many photos...
Redmond Derby Days (July 13th-15th)
The Derby Days isn't the most exciting festival, but the parade and bike races take place directly in front of our apartment, so it's almost unavoidable. There is also a small fair with amusement rides two blocks away. Ryan is still afraid of most rides, even the mini pirate ship. It took some coaxing but we were able to get him on the carousel and giant slide...
Brooke's pregnancy has been going well. She's had a little more morning sickness and pain than the last pregnancy, but otherwise okay. We can't believe the due date is less than a month away. I'm worried we're taking this second child's arrival too casually. We don't have anything ready, including the crib or having a name picked out.
Here's a picture of Brooke from this weekend (at 36 weeks)…
He's a contrarian. Several times a day, he'll get in a mood where anything you say is objectionable. Here's a typical conversation:
Mom: "Ryan, let's go potty"
Ryan: "I don't want to go potty"
Mom: "Let's just try"
Ryan: "I won't"
Mom: "Fine, we'll try later"
Ryan: "No, I wanna go NOW"
repeat conversation 5 more times…
While in the car, we can always expect one the following three requests from Ryan:
"I want to play with your phone"
"Stop talking!" (whenever Brooke and I are trying to have a conversation)
"I want to hear it louder" (referring to the radio)
He's still a really good eater in terms of variety and volume. He loves all the same fruits and veggies as before. We've discovered he hates onions and tomatoes. His favorites meals when eating out are:
Ivar's fish and chips (his record is 3 pcs of fish)
Chipotle kids menu #2 - chicken quesadilla, rice, pinto beans and milk
Spaghetti with sausage
Wonton noodle soup
Teriyaki chicken
Here are some photos from his birthday party at Idylwood Park on Lake Sammamish….
