Sharing our life - all our adventures and bumpy rides. Family of four with two young boys - moved back home to allow them the similar experiences and opportunities we had living in North Carolina. Come explore with us!
Santa came to our home in Seattle!! Yup, between Mommy & Daddy and Santa, Brock made out pretty darn well this year. :)
Happy boy coming down the stairs
Brock was super excited for Santa to come (we've been prepping him for over a month), but thankfully he's not yet a crazed kid who wakes us up in the middle of the night begging to open presents. We leisurely made our way downstairs at 8:30 in the morning after he woke up. :)
Brent and I decided our tradition would be to allow Brock ONE present to open (of his choosing) before breakfast and then we'd open the rest after. Right on cue, he picked out the very largest of them all.
After a nice breakfast, we set up skype (from Aunt Marsha's recommendation) with my mother (and Brian and Nancy) so they could watch Brock open the rest of his gifts.
Unfortunately two-thirds of the Eason household were coming down with a cold, so after a nice nap had by all, we woke up just in time to try out the Plasma car with the last bits of daylight! Below is a little video of him driving his Plasma car around the neighborhood.
I think he liked it!
The remainder of pictures are of him enjoying his various presents and other holiday fares.
Melissa & Doug puzzles from Great-Aunt Carol & Great-Uncle Jeff
Silly smiles while showing off his new table & chairs from Mommy & Daddy
Hot cocoa mouth!
Collection of construction vehicles from Grandma Debbie
Last week Brock and I traveled to Seattle to have a little fun downtown taking in the sights of Christmas.
First we stopped at the Sheraton and checked out the cool Gingerbread "houses", made with gingerbread, yes, but also all other sorts of candies.
Then we headed to the Fairmont Olympic Hotel to see the Teddy Bear Suite.
I think he enjoyed looking at all the teddy bears and touching as many of these ball ornaments as he could!
Here is a video of him pointing out all the teddy bears.
Next we walked back to Westlake Park to ride the outdoor carousel. This didn't go as well as Busch Gardens... he was slightly scared when I first sat him on the horse, but then he settled down. Once the horses started to move, no way! Poor Brock had a look of complete terror on his face, so we scurried over to sit in one of the sleigh for the remainder of the ride.
Brock was calmed with some nice hot mini donuts while we walked back to the car to meet Brent for lunch at his office. A very fun day!
Here's what started our donut obsession - donut holes at Issaquah's Gilman Village when we stopped to see Santa and the fire trucks. "Dough-Nut" :)
Today was the day Brent and Diesel had been training two months for!! It was the annual K9 Candy Cane 5K Fun Run! Diesel may have exerted a little too much energy saying hello to all the dogs before the race.... But in the beginning he was PUMPED!
Brent said Diesel relished passing all the dogs he could - he definitely has a competitive spirit.... too bad his endurance is that of a true inside dog (and not a working sled dog!).
Brock and I kept warm in the gym for a good twenty minutes waiting for the runners to navigate the course, then made our way outside just in time to see Daddy and Diesel rounding the bend.... with a very tired husky.
Stopped so suddenly he popped the collar right off!
And then he stopped. Just like that. FORTY FEET from the finish line he just said "THAT'S IT!" So what did Brent do?
He carried him across the finish line. Yes. Brent explained it was "easier" to pick him up then waste the time to put his collar back on and Brent and Diesel had a time to beat! And yes..... Diesel weighs about 88 pounds.
Fun run with Diesel - and 15 minutes after the race, he was perfectly fine.... just a little sleepy today. And yes, even with that finish - they beat their time from last year. :)
After a little rest for everyone (and a little Seahawks), we headed up to Bellevue Mall for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (compliments of my winning ticket on Halloween) and to see Santa!!
Brock was excited to see the reindeer flying from Santa's house and pointed out Rudolph's shining red nose about ten times. Things were looking up for our visit to Santa.
He wanted to play with all the toys in Santa's village! And really liked peeking at Santa with the other kids in the window. Then it was Brock's turn.
He did not like it one bit. He's more of a "watch from a distance" kind of toddler. :) Poor Brock.
After a little shopping at the Disney store, we made our way to the street for Snowflake Lane - a musical holiday parade with costumed characters. They close down the street every night at 7pm for the show from Thanksgiving to Christmas! Brock enjoyed the dancing, bubbles, and "snow" that filled the street, but again, was not interested in taking pictures with ANY of the characters! I got a nice video of him dancing - so adorable!
A very fun, holiday filled day! And with that.... we are all going to bed!
We are taking full advantage of the many Christmas activities going around this area. It's been so much fun taking Brock to things this Christmas now that he's a bit older and we can really see his face light up with excitement!
Rock Garden transformed into waterfalls
On Wednesday evening, we checked out the Garden d'Lights, a huge display of lights transforming the Bellevue Botanical Gardens in to an evening wonderland! (This is the same garden Brock explored this summer) So much fun and I'll say I enjoyed it more than the Zoolights Woodland Park Zoo sets up because it was a little more condensed for a toddler to walk around.
Garden d'Lights was really pretty - lights set up as various flowers complete with butterflies, mushrooms, vegetable garden items and water features. Very pretty - and free for the first two weeks in December!
Wouldn't you know it would snow the first weekend of December! Just a little - enough for Diesel to have a taste and Brock to get his boots wet.
While we were in North Carolina, Brent informed me of a house around the corner that was gradually getting more and more decorations and even had a countdown to "X days until we light 'er up!" Saturday evening was the big event and it was amazing! Doug is a Fire Chief for the Redmond Fire Department and knocked on our door Friday evening to hand out a flier to the big event! Hot chocolate, hay rides, beer brats, and the big countdown.... Santa made an appearance coming in on a Renton Fire Engine.... they only asked for a bag of canned food for a donation.
Lots of people!
Super fun time and excellent that the event was only four houses down. It will be nice to take a walk down there with Brock and see it with a little less people anytime between now and Christmas too! :)
Just one section of the house/yard - yes, Santa is on the chimney!
Note about talking to Brock about Christmas.... he loves it! Our Christmas tree is set up in the front room and Brock loves walking in there and naming all the ornaments he can touch. If you ask him who's coming to our house on Christmas Eve, he'll tell you Santa. If you ask him what will Santa bring, he'll tell you "presents!" He loves shaking the snow-globe (while jumping) and loves ringing the Santa bell. I hope he's as excited about seeing Santa in person because tomorrow night we're headed to see the big guy and have Brock sit on his lap!! I am one hundred percent sure we will have another crying picture.
On Wednesday, November 12th, Brock and I took the red eye back to North Carolina. Thank goodness for a wonderful lady who switched with me so I could get two seats for Brock and I (since this was the last trip with him officially as a "lap child").
Brian and Nancy were able to come up from Charlotte over the weekend and spend some time with their nephew too!
On Monday, my Dad took off the afternoon and took us to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh. Brock loved looking at all things "BIG!"
He was a little wary of the dinosaurs at first.
Watch out Dad - it's going to get your hat!!
It didn't hurt to have Papa hold him way up high so he could give the dinosaur a belly rub!
The majority of the time was spent just hanging out at Grandma's house playing with Uncle Brian and Uncle David's old toys. This boy loves his trucks!
That scowl!
We did venture up to Chuck E. Cheese one morning and played some games and ate some pizza. (The pizza wasn't terrible...... or I was just really hungry)
Enjoying the show
Another "fine" food stop at Bojangles. Brock thoroughly enjoyed their ketchup.... I mean, their french fries.
I was able to get in a dinner/playdate with Helen and Jill and their children - here they all are piled up on Ryan's kitchen helper stool (minus Nate who may need a few more months before he can do this too)!
Brock, Ryan and Alexandra
And lastly, one picture I snagged from the photo books of me when I was around Brock's age..... yup, we're related. ;)
Another really fun week in North Carolina. Unfortunately we won't be back until some time in the new year. We are staying home for Christmas this year.
Thanks for having us Mom! Brock already misses you and Mia!
Yes, I know. I'm a little late on this post. But please give me a little slack this time... I've been dealing with a toddler SOLO this weekend since Brent went hunting and I am JUST getting over a lovely little sinus cold.
Here's my little pumpkin on the front porch of our house. We went out a little early (6:15pm), and even though it was definitely dark out, it didn't seem like many houses had their lights on. We went to 3 houses (4 if you count the house that DID have their lights on, but no candy - hello people, it's Halloween etiquette!).
Brock did really well - he was too shy to say "trick or treat" after the door opened, but he always said thank you ("ee oh").
We returned home and left a little bowl of candy on the doorstep. The church where we meet for MOPS had a costume carnival that evening and I thought it would be more fun to hang out with Zoe than hang out at home watching Mom pass out candy.
Brock and I dressed up at MOPS the week before Halloween
I didn't get too many pictures here as Brock was a little clingy. They decorated the hallways, rooms and sanctuary (even had a bouncy house!), so it was a little overwhelming for my little boy.
They had games set up all over and as most of the games involved throwing something, Brock softened up. The game where Brock had to throw a hackie sack and knock over some cans was probably Brock's favorite.... followed by the game of the bean bag toss to make tic-tac-toe.
It was almost time to head home, but they were calling for the raffle to start in 5 minutes. We stayed and so very glad we did! The church gave away 3 prizes and we won one of them! $50 gift certificate to Cheesecake Factory and $30 to Regal Cinemas! What a treat for me! I've got a date with my awesome husband and Jennifer Lawrence the weekend of November 21st! ;)
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