Snoqualmie Falls

Saturday we took a little family trip up to Snoqualmie falls. Here are the falls from the lookout at the top. They are pretty cool - not nearly as impressive as Niagra Falls but way more accessible and not a tourist trap, which makes them really fun.

We decided to hike down to the river and see the falls from below - it was not a hard hike at all, although I still managed to fall and scrape up my knee. It was kind of embarrassing, not only when I was sprawled across the path but also because of the huge hole in the knee of my pants that people saw for the rest of the day.

Ian was really concerned about my booboo and gave it lots of kisses, which, now that I think about it, is probably part of the reason it is so pink today.

Down below you could get really close to the falls and feel the spray of the water. There were even people kiaking up to the falls and then riding the rapids down the river.

Our family picture

Ian hanging out in the rocks.

After we finished at the falls we went a couple miles down the road to the old train museum. They had tons of old trains out on an unused part of the track.

Some of them you could touch but the coolest ones were all behind this fence, which ian tried to climb several times.

We were just in time to catch a ride on the old train from the museum - Ian was so so excited to ride a real choo choo. I thought an hour and 10 minutes was a little long but totally worth it for Ian, who tried out at least one seat in every car and made us chase him throughout the train several times (thankfully it wasn't very crowded and lots of other kids were doing the same thing).

The mountain and town from twin peaks.

The train actually goes over the falls - which was kind of creepy - heres a look down at the river.

And since I haven't blogged in forever, some highlights from last week with my favorite little boy.

1. Some of Ian's favorite books are Curious George and in one George eats a piece of a puzzle, at which point Ian puts his hand out in a stop position and screams "STOP" every time we read it.
2. He is suddenly really aware of what he is wearing and wants to wear jeans like daddy's every day.
3. On friday we had some workmen here to fix some things in our house and every tool they got out ian got out his toy version and was helping (his favorites are his "ammer" and both of his saws). Although they were impressed with his handy work I finally had to take him to meet curt for lunch so they could finish.
4. My very favorite word he says is sorry, pronounced "wauwy" and is always accompanied by the sweetest sad face and usually a kiss. He surprises all the time with new words we had no idea that he knew - which makes me think that we need to be a lot more careful about what we say around him.

Forced Potty Training

(not his potty - just a funny picture)

Things I love about Ian this week:
1. The way he calls curt while he is at work on his fake cell phone and says: dada you ome?
2. The way he puts all his tools in the trailer of his bunda and then pretends to fix it.
3. The way he kept saying "bye bye hammer" so sadly after he threw it down the vent in the kitchen.
4. The way he loves to read all the new tractor books that aunt ashley sent him, over and over and over (one is especially good at getting him to do almost anything in order to hear it again).
3. How cute his little little bum looks in his little Thomas the Train underwear.

Which leads me to the real reason for this post. For the last couple of weeks Ian has decided that he wants to go to the bathroom on the toilet - and who am I to say no to that (although in my head I wasn't going to have to deal with potty training for at least another six months or more and I feel totally pressured into it and unprepared)? He does really great when he is running around the house naked (his preference), or with very little on but as soon as he has undies and shorts on he forgets altogether that he is supposed to go in the toilet. Has anyone else had this potty training problem? Please please please tell me all your potty training secrets - I need some good tricks.

On another note - I won this amazing virtual baby shower on this mom-blog that I love. Check out all the great stuff - the indulgent and the practical kind of stuff that all makes me happy. It has already started coming in the mail and it is like Christmas everyday - I love it.

Mt. Ranier

We live in a pretty place.

The hike:

The lake:

The mountain:

The belly - for Ashley, and Eve's cute hat so I always remember:

Danger Boy

Michelle and Joe made this tee-shirt for Ian for his birthday because he always, always does something crazy and gets hurt at their house. It seemed particularly appropriate that he had it on while doing stunts on his new bunda.