Ella want's to be a cow girl!

Ella wants to be a cowgirl, if you want confirmation see how much fun she has riding this cow! Even better, she gets to ride the cow with grandma.

Like the post card photo of the Tulip field? Momma's doing, I was at work. Hanna has no idea why she can't open her eyes, she hasn't had this problem in so long, someone should turn the lights down.


We took grandma to the Multnomah falls. We confirmed Ella still doesn't like waterfalls. We also went to Bonneville dam and the fish hatchery. We can add big fish to things that scare Ella. A month ago it wasn't scary but today it is. Can I be the obsessive parent and claim it's because she is soooooo SMART she is figuring out that some things are dangerous? Yeah, she is the smartest girl in Oregon! Reality check: some things are scary to little kids including loud large waterfalls and prehistoric huge fish. I wonder if a giant Easter Bunny will be Scary? Tune in next week maybe we can answer that.

Water Can Be Scary

Dad, "Are you afraid of water?"
Ella, "No."


Dad, "Are you afraid of loud noises?"
Ella, "No."


Dad, "You really like water, swimming, bath time and all the fun, right?"
Ella, "Yeah."

Dad, "OK lets go."
Ella, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! LETS GO THAT WAY!!!!" A way from the water fall.



We spent the day at Silver Falls State Park and it was beautiful and scary. These water falls have a lot of water, force and noise with 100+ feet of drop. Completely scary to a 3yr old and the only thing we have found that Ella is afraid of. Even so she had a great time today playing with Jackson and hiking around. We hit a good weather window with no rain for our hike, picnic and play time for about four hours. Yet the drive down and home the wipers ran clearing rain from the windshield.

Hanna eats rocks, so does her sister. Our girls keep getting bigger and heavier, they weigh so much I think they must eat rocks. They don't give it a second thought to making momma and daddy work hard to show them the world. Today Ella probably hiked 3 of the 5 miles we covered, she did great. Hanna maybe .5 of a mile walked, but what do you want from a one year old?


After a hard day of hiking Pizza and a movie hit the spot.








Dad got a new toy this week, a Ridley Track bike frame/fork from e-bay. I have never seen a frame shipped like this, it took me 40min to get it unwrapped it was so well packed. I'm excited to get this bike on the track next month.





Today was not Dad's best day, yet I still had a great time. Here are Dad's errors.
1) I got us lost on the way there and we stopped to get directions. We were way off course and added 30-45 min of extra drive time.
2) Jackson cleaned my clock with a rock, rung my bells. I was actually thinking it could happen given how much arm control the under 5 crowd has when playing 'Rocks-in-Water.' As we learn at work if you think something is unsafe you better act on it and I didn't. Better that I was hit than one of the kids. As a result we held a post mortem, updated spec and then trained the kids on the new best known method (BKM). Remember where I work, this is how it is done!
3) I almost got our our van towed tonight and paid $110 to get it unhooked from the truck. I parked in front of our drive and half on the yellow curb as our drive way was occupied. It was my decision and I didn't think it would be a problem. It's kind of a scam for the tow truck operators to hook up and get a car. Our neighbor saw this in action and called to save us. If they hadn't called and truck had driven off it would have been about ~250 with impound. Its quite the scam as there is almost no extra parking around here.

Those things are life's lessons and nothing to keep this (good?) man down.

Seattle

Hanna enjoys running down hill even if he is not so good at it. But a few bumps and scratches cant keep her down. Hanna's supper power is supper human hearing, she hears any food wrapper open anywhere and comes running to get a bite to eat. She can be crying in her crib and hear you tip toe up the stars and then stop crying to confirm that you are coming to get her. But that brings to question what is Ella's supper power? Well she is pretty good at time in being a terrible two, but probably not supper power level tantrums because mom and dad don't (always) cave to her demands. I guess she hasn't shown her power yet.






We loaded up the car Saturday to check out Seattle. First stop was the Museum of Flight. Outside you can check out a Concord plane and Kennedy era Air Force One. It was cool with lots of interactive exhibits.









Its attached to the Boeing airfield and here Ella and Hanna run the show in the air control tower. We had a fish and chip dinner at the Pike Street Market. Yummy fresh fish. And then some time swimming in the hotel pool.









Sunday we went up the space needle. Not the clearest of days for mountain views but still spectacular to see the city. Ella liked it, momma didn't even if it is 99.9% impossible to deliberately get yourself off the roof.




We finished things up at the Ballard Locks. Pretty cool to watch the big boats go inland to the lakes. Also the fish ladder would be neat if fish were in it.

Ella had a whale of a time! Hanna's favorite part was stomping in the rain puddles.

Marching Forward!

Lets start with all pictures food: Ella starts her day by applying a cream cheese mustache. Then to celebrate the early time change Anita bought some chorizo from the 'outlet store' (an actual food factory) around the corner. It was a delicious lunch burrito of egg, potato and chorizo just like we would make at home!

It was then capped with a pizza dinner!

We spent the morning at the zoo, in a new area that just opened, Bear Canyon. Check out the Mt Goat that guards the entrance. Ella played on a tractor similar to what her Great Grandad used to give her dad rides on when he visited grandma's family farm. Hanna has found her legs and just loves to walk and run as much as she can.

Ella also took a little train ride around the Zoo.



Sunday we went to a St. Patrick's Day parade in the Currier's neighborhood. Check out this Irish Wolfhound, there must have been 30 in the parade. They are the tallest breed of dog and this guy was 2yrs old and 170lbs. The parade was participatory, Jackson biked and Ella scooted. We also took a break to get some candy and watch the parade go by.