May 28, 2010

Helicopter

No matter when or how many times you ask him, the response is the same.

There is something about this word. I called them "Hawkers". Henry

called them "Helibacters". And now Charlie, well, your guess is as good as mine.

But at least he is consistent.

And yes, I totally get the irony of his shirt, which says "college".

The Graduate

There comes a time in your life,
when you know its time to trade
in your sand shovel for #2 pencils
and your nap cot for....oh wait, I
guess you still get to nap and play in the sand box in Pre-Kindergarten!
Never mind!

Meet the Nike Child Development Center Graduate:

Henry sure is going to miss his girl, Alia.
His last day is June 24th.


I know, they sorta remind me of Danny and Sandy, too!

We go together like

rama-lama-lama

ke ding a de dinga dong
remembered forever like
shoo bop shoo wada yippitee boom de boom
Chang chang changity chang
shoo bop
Thats the way it should be
Wha oooooo YAH!
Henry graduates in a fabulous Nike ceremony at the
Tiger Woods Center
on June 18th at 7:00.
His proud mama will be snapping photos
and video like you've never seen. Not only to share
with you, but mostly to hide my "stop growing up so fast" tears.
Congratulations Big Guy!

Silliness


May 27, 2010

Happy Days!

A glimpse into Henry's preschool class.
This is "cot dance"
A time when the kids go wild and crazy using
their outside voices inside and let it all hang out.
One of his teachers captured a very sweet moment.
Too sweet to not share.
That's Oliver attached to Henry.
A very sweet little guy, but I'm guessing by the looks of this photo,
Henrys girlfriend, Alia, must be out today.
And just prepare yourselves. Tomorrow I will unveil
Henry's graduation photo. I get goosebumps even thinking about it, it's so precious!

May 17, 2010

It was warm...ONE day!

One day this past weekend, it was warm!
So, maybe it was only like 67 degrees,
but after the winter/spring we have had, we were like
"Holy Hot Cakes, put on the bathing suits, hook up the AC, slather on the sunscreen, close the blinds and get me a cool glass of sweet tea!"

May 15, 2010

HAVE PASSPORT! WILL TRAVEL!



The Light Supper

This is what a high-calorie meal can do to your table.
On the flip side, we are getting very good at balancing our beverages on our knees.

May 12, 2010

He's got the beat

We stopped for a snack at the Seattle Center,
which just also happened to be the West African
Drum Festival. And Charlie had the beat!

And then he used his feet as he took off towards
the door. I'm starting to think the "child leash"
isn't child abuse after all....

Public Market Beauty

This is how I envision my days will look like living
in Weesp....at least this is what I HOPE they look like.

















May 11, 2010

Take us Out to the Ball Game!

Or as Henry told his classmates today:
"I went to the baseball game and saw Angels!"
Well...sort of, I guess.

Everywhere we went, we were handed old baseball cards.
They might as well have been $100 bills as far
as Henry was concerned. He even wanted to include it
in his pictures. Yes, this is Henry, Charlie and Tom Nieto.
And there is Me, Henry, Charlie and Tom.
A true father and son moment....the walk up the
stairs to the ballpark:
Now see, one of the things I love about Nathan is
the giddy feeling he gets from the time he walks into
a ballpark to the time he sees the ball field.
It's as though the angels sing
the moment he lays his eyes on the field.

This is Henry's first view of the baseball field.
This isn't an overexposed photo, people. This is the light from the angels
halos as the choirs sang in perfect harmony as Nate introduced
his boys to the field. AHhhhhhhhh...




And then it was time to walk the park.
Not only because we wanted to show Henry the park,
but because we were there 1.5 hours before the first pitch.
Boy howdy did that come back to haunt us.
"And that is how you measure the distance between the pitchers mound and home plate"
And then we found the kid zone:

The boys spent the next 45 minutes in a continuous loop:
up the ladder, down the slide, up the ladder, down the slide,
nearly missing boys twice their size as they battle for
their turn down the slides.
I was nervous at first, but then found myself obsessed with
my cheese drowned chips covered in jalapenos
and then we were all having fun.


The Bartons:
This is where we sat, except we really didn't sit because
sitting next to Charlie was like wrestling a squirrel.
In fact, the nice, attractive young couple that sat next to me
and the squirrel likely won't have children for several decades
after watching me wrestle him.
I sat on Charlie so that I could use both hands to take this photo:
Having a moment:

This must have been before the game started, because Charlie is sitting still.
As soon as they announced "Play Ball!" Charlie was off to the races.
Backbends, screaming and even lodging both feet in the fold of the chair
which took me upwards of 10 minutes and the help of several people around me
to get him undone. And I didn't even charge the nice, young, attractive couple
next to me anything for the buttcrack show I gave them. You're welcome, young couple.
Henry's pre-hot dog snack:

Proud Papa and giddy little guy:
So, we finally gave up after the 4th inning.
This was about the time that Charlie started playing the "break away" game
where he runs away as he looks back at you only to crack headfirst into
immovable objects.
We said goodbye to the ballpark and finished watching the game in the
comforts of our hotel room.
Which in the end, was just fine with me.
Angels won in the 10th inning 4-3.

Seattle Art

Breathtaking building
Brilliant Color
Darth Vader Helmet (above; according to Henry)
Iconic reflections

"The Music Experience" in Seattle.
Amazing.