Father's day weekend and the strawberry festival

We went to the Lee Farms Strawberry Festival in Tualatin this year for the first time on June 16^th.  It was a warm beautiful day and we went to the festival in the morning as it was supposed to get up to the 80’s.  We ended up going with Brooke, Taylor, and Logan, which was fun.  There was a kid hay maze that the kids really enjoyed that ended with a slide (although Brandon got scared as the slide was really fast).  Brandon and Sean went down a huge slide together and Brandon giggled the whole way down that.  We went on a tractor ride that gave us a tour of the farm and Sean and Brandon went on a little train together.  We got a yummy homemade strawberry milkshake that they made fresh in front of us and a yummy elephant ear that I ended up eating most of! We ended our time with the bouncy house which Logan and Brandon loved!  They could have bounced forever in it!  Brandon had a great nap afterwards.

Going down the tunnel slide-it kinda scared Brandon

Going down the slide

Mommy and Brandon on the John Deer tractor

Mommy and Brandon on the tractor

Going down the slide and loving it with Dad

Brandon loved that slide!

Hay maze fun!

Playing in the hay maze

Family shot on the tractor ride

Daddy and Brandon on the tiny trains

Logan and Brandon playing with a goat

Brandon bouncing in the bouncy house

Concentrating while jumping in the jumpy house

And we all fall down!

Later that day I took Brandon to a park in Wilsonville that had tons of fountains and waterfalls and even a stream that kids can play in.  Brandon ran around and had so much fun.  He loves water now and was sticking his face completely in the fountain and was sitting in the stream.  Him being the social butterfly also made some new "friends" that he played with.  It was a great way to cool down after our first hot day in the 80s in June.  We finished the day with yummy Mexican food at Maztlan in Tigard.  Brandon loves Mexican food especially and enjoyed it immensely.

Playing in the fountains in Wilsonville

Fountains were so fun and plentiful

waiting for the water to come out

All covered in water!

In the stream of water

Sean had a fun father's day.  The three of us went out to breakfast at Davidson's and Sean got his favorite biscuits and gravy there.  He went golfing with Thomas and Stokely at King City Golf and played a good round of golf.  I gave him a break even and took Brandon to the park in the afternoon.  We went over to Rosie and Thomas' house for pizza and to hang out. Good times all around and a busy weekend!

Sean and Daddy Father's Day weekend 2012

Sean and Brandon on Father's Day weekend last year (Brandon was 6 months old)

Brandon: 18 months old!

On June 2, 2012 Brandon turned 18 months old.  I can’t believe how much he has grown in the last 6 months.  He went from being a barely walking, wobbly baby to a running and talking little toddler.  He is looking more and more like a little boy each day and less and less like a baby.  It is sad but also happy at the same time because Brandon is at such a fun age.  He is interested in everything and is learning new words and taking in so much so rapidly.  He is also starting to get more independent with his playing and definitely more defiant about doing what he wants to do.  We have had several tantrums lately when he has not gotten to do what he has wanted to do.  The worst one he had was when he had to wait 20 minutes for his chicken enchilada to cook!

Brandon playing on his toy at 18 months

Brandon at 18 months playing with his soccer ball

Brandon is so much more social with other kids lately.  He loves his friend Logan (my best friend Brooke’s son who is 7 months older) and has really been engaging with kids his own age at Gymboree class.  He loves to hug his new “friends” although he sometimes ends up tackling them because he does not know his own strength and size!  He still loves his friends at daycare, especially my daycare provider’s daughter Kaylee who just turned five.  There are two baby girls at daycare too now who are 6 and 7 months old who Brandon is really good with.  Brandon is now repeating what we say often.  He can say a few sentences, like “what is that?” and “let’s go” after we say it.  He can probably say about 30-40 words and seem to be learning new words each day.  He is getting better at sitting still and letting us read to him again.  We try to read 2 books each night before bed.

Brandon and I at 18 months

Brandon on the stairway at 18 months

Playing with Daddy

At his 18 month appointment, Brandon was too big to be weighed on the baby scale (it only goes up to 30 lbs).  They weighed me and then me holding him and estimated him to be at around 31 lbs.  He was 34 ¼” (although I think they measured him wrong and he was a hair taller).  He was in the 93% in height and 96% in weight.  My doctor was not concerned about his weight and height at all and just proclaimed him to be a proportionate boy!  He is about the size of most two years and is in 24 month and 2T clothes.  I am excited for the changes that the next six months will bring!

Brandon playing in his toy car in the backyard

Watch out mom, before you know it I will be driving1

Memorial Day 2012

Our good friends Brooke, Taylor, and Logan Mowery (Logan is 7 months older than Brandon) along with our friends Rosie and Thomas  and their dog Dixie got a beach house in Seaside about 4 blocks from the ocean for Memorial Day weekend.  Brooke, Logan, Brandon, and I drove over to Seaside in Brooke’s minivan as the husbands had to work later.  The boys enjoyed riding together in the van.  Brandon got to have his first Happy Meal in Seaside for dinner and of course he liked it!  When we got to the beach house, the boys went crazy after being cooped up in the car all day.  They ran around the house like crazy kiddos.  I had to run around the house and baby proof it quickly.  

                                           Happy Brandon before leaving for Memorial Day weekend

                        The Daddies and their boys-Brandon and Sean and Taylor and Logan the first morning

                                Logan and Brandon playing on Logan's fire truck at the beach house

                                             Brandon and Logan loved to hug after naps

                                                          Happy boys after their naps!

                                                                      So cute!

                                     Playing in the grass in the back yard of our beach house

                                                  Brandon pretending to "sleep" on the coffee table

The babies got up early around 6:30ish the whole weekend.  The first day we went to the beach.  Brooke and I went shopping during the babies naps at the Seaside Outlets.  The boys really interacted with each other the entire weekend.  It was so cute; they would look for each other in the morning and after naps and hug each other.  Logan called Brandon “B” and I swear Brandon said “Logan” (which is easier to say) several times.  They would run around looking for each other in the house all the time and babble to each other a lot.  Watching them interact made me realize how much Brandon will eventually enjoy having his own little sibling in the future (not now though!).  They loved the beach house because it had a huge fenced back yard that they could run around.  We went on a walk at the Seaside Boardwalk and went to little shops and got yummy candy at this huge candy shop.  We found swings on the beach and Brandon loved swinging.   That night we BBQed and played board games and went into the hot tub after the babies went to bed.

                                           Brandon playing on the beach in Seaside

                                                Brandon and Daddy at the beach

                                                   Walking on the sand

                                                                Brandon and I

                                                     Brandon getting a lift back from Dad

                                                         Smiling on the swing at the beach

                                               Logan washing Brandon's hair in the bath

The next day we went on a walk in the morning and played on the beach near our house.  Logan and Brandon loved digging in the sand and playing with their buckets.  We went into Cannon Beach for dinner at this yummy fish and chips restaurant that Taylor and Brooke had gone to in the past.  The boys loved playing at the beach before dinner.  Brandon ran towards the ocean and even stuck his feet in the ocean and was good about not running into the ocean and being careful.  It was a really fun weekend and when we got home we were exhausted!

                                             Thomas pushing Brandon in the swings

                                    On the swings at the beach 4 blocks from our beach house

                                              Brandon, Sean, and Rosie all swinging away

                                                   Running on the sand at Cannon Beach

                                         Sitting in the sand near the ocean at Cannon Beach

                                      Logan and Brandon playing in the sand at Cannon Beach

                                Look how far they came: Logan and Brandon Memorial Day weekend 2011 in Tilamook
                                                  (Brandon was almost 6 months old and Logan was one year old).