Abe tuns two!

Children's Museum

Making a hat with feathers & pom poms

Abe is quite good at making dots and lines.

When Abe pushed the button, a puff of air would send a ping pong ball up the tube. After the big kids left, he kind of hogged this spot.

We were part of the museum parade.

Last week Guy (Grandma) and Ba Pa (Grandpa) took Abe to the Children's Museum. As you can see, Abe had a good time.

Casper Babypants!!!!!

One of Abe's (and mine) favorite bands is Casper Babypants. It's a kids band started by the lead singer of the Presidents of the United States of America, Chris Ballew. And one of the cool parts of living in Seattle is that Casper Babypants perform free, live shows (quite a lot of them around now, actually). And they played last Friday at the Tukwilla community center, which is pretty close to our house. Even though the set was during Abe's nap time (noon), I decided to take the chance and take Abe to see the show. I asked Scott to come along to join in on the fun, which he gladly did.

The day was hot and Casper Babypants were playing outside on the grass. They started the set with "Babies getting up", which happens to only be Abe's favorite song, ever. When we first got the CD (Emily got it for me for Father's Day), he only wanted to listen to this song. I'd never seen anything like it. After it would finish, and we'd try to listen to another song on the CD, Abe would say "Lil' baby" (the first line in the song), and we'd have to listen to it again. Even sometimes when we listen to other CD's, he'll shout out "Lil' baby" and we'll have to listen to it again. I'm glad they played it.
Pretty festive crowd. I'd guess there were about 100 people there.
There is a water-park-type play-thingy right next to the grassy area where the concert was. And of course before it started, Abe kept trying to go play with all the other kids in the water fun.
Uncle Scott and Abe enjoying the show.
Abe and Dad enjoying a sunny Friday afternoon. With Abe sporting his new smile.

Seafair!!!

So I'm a few weeks behind, but Seafair was two weeks ago. On Saturday the Lorimer's had a July Birthday/Blue Angels party. Emily's Uncle Pete was nice enough to snap a few photos of the festivities. We had a great view of the planes, and they flew right over the house a few times.

The Blue Angels are part of the US Navy. Who knew?

WHHHHEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!
$40 million well spent.
After watching the Blue Angels, Abe is really good at pointing out every airplane that flies overhead.

On Sunday we decided to continue the Seafair fun by using the location of our new house to our advantage. We are probably a little less than 1.5 miles to Lake Washington, so we decided to walk down on Sunday morning with Sarah, Katie and Franny to watch the hydros race. While we didn't pay the $30 to go inside the fence to hang out in the pits, we did have fun right outside.
Our little parade procession down to the lake. Abe enjoyed dragging his little hydro behind him in the wagon.
Franny sporting her cool pink noise-cancelling headphones.
Abe decided he wanted to give them a try as well. He liked him so much, they were the reason he wanted to go to the Sounders game on Saturday. "Hea fones. You you!!!" (Abe seems to have confused 'you' with 'me', and refers to himself as 'you')
Abe and Dad hanging out by the fence.
Sometimes it pays off to have a Dad that's 6'4". Especially when you want to catch a view of the hydros, and don't want that chain-link fence in the way.
We were able to watch a few heats of the hydros before heading home.
Here is the beginning of one of the heats. They are on the approach...
...and they sure make large roostertail as they zoom by. How on earth do they drive with all of that spray blocking their view?

Random Summer 2011 Pictures

Since I haven't been so good at writing up-to-date entries this summer, here are some pictures of our random going-ons around Washington.

Back in June, my Dad's sister, Aunt Val, visited from Idaho. Here we are enjoying some Viet-wiches on our ferry ride to Friday Harbor. While she was in town I introduced her to Banjo (she had two poodles, are recently the last one died), showed her our new house, and took her to Geraldine's.
Here are Emily and Abe tending to our awesome garden. Those giant stalks in both boxes are our peas. We had no idea they would take off like they did. We pretty much had to pick them every 2 or 3 days, or they would get too large and tough. They sure did make for a yummy summer snack, especially with humus.

For Father's Day, we took Abe to his first Mariner's game at Safeco, my Scott and my Mom and Dad. Here we are waiting for the light rail under Beacon Hill.

I don't think Abe noticed the game too much, but he did seem to have a pretty good time. We walked around a bunch during the game, and he liked looking at everything going on.

Summer means the farmer's market in Columbia City is now up and running. On Wednesdays we try and meet Emily there after work to pick things to eat that night. We have only done it twice so far, but it's fun. This night we had lobster ravioli, fresh bread, and pea vines (I think - they may have been something else) and garlic all bought fresh from the market. And with a little homemade pasta sauce, it made for a tasty dinner.

We have enjoyed many camping adventures this summer. In early July we went to Kalaloch, on the Olympic Peninsula with our friend Rachel. As you can tell from the picture it wasn't the best of weather at the beach, but it was still fun.

Abe enjoyed having his own seat at our campsite.

When we went camping with our church last week, we had a juggler in our midst. After he put on a little show with his Chinese Yo-Yo, he let Emily and I try out. She was a little better than me (of course), but not by much. We could both throw the diablo and catch it.

And what would the summer be with a trip to The 'Juan for my birthday? Here Emily and Abe are inspecting what lives on the rocks during an extremely low tide.

Abe didn't want to be left out on our walks, so he wanted his own walking stick.

Abe enjoyed it when Grandpa would pull him around the basement in the Ore Thingy. Not a bad way to travel.

Me and Abe at the tail end of the 4th of July Parade.

Abe wouldn't be Abe if he didn't enjoy pushing things and traveling with his bears, Baby and Groovy.

The happy fam enjoying some sun on the pavers by the water.

Abe's first Sounders FC game

We took Abe to his first Sounders FC game a few weeks ago against the Colorado Rapids. While it was a loud for the little guy at times (like during the beginning of the game festivities), I think he liked it. It was a one o'clock match, so we packed a lunch, but I somehow lost Abe's sandwich. So I shared mine with him..

Abe enjoyed it when the fans would clap. And there was a lot to clap for in a 4-3 Sounders win.
The noise was a little much for Abe at times. So we went inside the Club Level to eat our lunch to give his eardrums a break.
The fam enjoying another Sounders FC win!
Since Abe's normal nap time is around 1PM, when the game started. He conked out at halftime, and pretty much napped on my shoulders for the whole second half.
Even though it's loud, the little guy can still find a way to nap.