Phew!

Grandma and Grandpa Westerbuhr arrived yesterday afternoon and I was worried after he was such a mama's boy in WA that he might continue the trend with his grandparents this month. But either he remembers them from our CO trip in July or he just prefers visitors to his house over going to their house b/c he took right to them! He spent the car ride home from the airport throwing his new Huskers football back and forth between Grandpa and Grandma and laughing (thanks Uncle Mark for the cool football and Jersey, I can't wait to wear the jersey on Husker Saturday!!) and as soon as we got home he gave Grandma a big hug. He took Grandma into his playroom to show her all his cool toys and showed her his firetruck and school bus (his 2 favorite puzzle pieces....which was his way of saying I like you;-). They went and got the mail and took Fifi for a walk and he didn't even care that I didn't go with him. Grandma gave him a bath and he had fun playing with the bath toys with her, when she asked him if he went on a boat in WA he said "yep". When Kyle and I get him dressed and put on his diaper he usually runs from us but he just sat and let Grandma do it! When he went to bed he ran and gave Grandpa a big bear hug and blew him kisses goodnight and gave Grandma a big hug too.
Excited to spend the next few days with them and daddy and I are excited we get to go on a date this weekend!!

"Duck"

Yesterday I was in the office and Kyle was playing with Kayden. Kayden decided to go over and get 3 magazines out of our magazine holder, one was OneStepAhead, and two were my therapy magazines with therapy toys/materials in them. He brought them over to Kyle, opened Onestepahead and turned to the halloween costumes and pointed to the duck and said "duck" over and over. He then preceded to open the therapy magazines and point to toys he "wanted", daddy said it was the cutest thing ever. So when I was done I came out and Kyle asked him what do you want to be for halloween and handed him the 1stepahead magazine. Kayden promptly opened it to the costumes and found the duck and said "duck" several times. We tried to go to different costumes, like the monkey, fireman etc and he would say "no" and turn back to the duck and say "duck". So unless we can persuade him otherwise we might have a little duck this year:-)

"Roll like a pumpkin"

Kayden's favorite book right now (other than Goodnight Seattle) is 5 Little Pumpkins. At the end of the book the pumpkins "roll out of sight", when we ask Kayden to "roll like a pumpkin" he gets on the floor and rolls across the room. It is so cute and he is SO proud of himself when he does it.

New words!

He LOVED these ferry boats! And would say "boa" over and over as he pointed to them!

I need to write these down before I forget, Kayden's latest words are:
Boat-of course the bay motivated this word, seeing boats coming in and out all day for 7 days made him love boats too:-) It sounds like "boa"
Kurt-On Monday when we got home he was excited to have his picture wall back, so we were going through the pictures and when we came to the one of Uncle Kurt holding him he smiled and goes "Kua" for Kurt. Uncle Kurt said "finally" when I told him:-)
Mountain-picture wall motivated this one as well, we were looking at the picture wall again and I was telling him about Mt. Rainier and that he had just been there to see it, and he said "mou-in".
Ghost-we were reading 5 Little Pumpkins (yay, it is fall and we can prepare for the fun fall holidays!) and he pointed to the ghost after I had said it and said "gho" and everytime he saw the ghost he said the same thing. That night I had my clients so I asked daddy to read him the story to see if he'd do it for daddy and he did:-) Ever since then he says "gho" everytime we read the story.

A new phrase he said yesterday was "where daddy?". Around the time daddy gets home we walked into the kitchen and he looks at me and goes "whe dad" and put his little arms in his "where" sign. I said I don't know where is daddy? and he ran to the door to see if he was coming.......Daddy LOVED this one;-)

Airplanes!

Pointing to a waterplane coming into Orcas Island.

He loved seeing all the planes in one spot on the island.

On our trip Kayden decided he has a new occupation he is considering...he might want to be a pilot. Before our trip he had started loving looking into the sky and finding airplanes, if he heard one he could usually spot it before Kyle and I could. But our trip made him fall in love with airplanes. He LOVED the waterplanes and spent so much of the trip with his eyes in the sky or pointing to an airplane to show daddy or I the wonder he was seeing. I find it pretty ironic that I the person that used to cry when I had to fly and ran down the airport because the plane was having engine problems and refused to get on it (daddy had to chase me down and I told him my Auntie Martha would drive me from Dallas to NE b/c I was NOT getting on that plane!) have a child that loves planes. I guess it is a good thing b/c we have to fly alot to NE to see the family so he will be glad he doesn't have my fear.
Tula-maybe your grandpa can give him a tour of his plane when he comes to town sometime:-) He'd love to meet a real life pilot;-) When we were riding on the shuttle from the rental car place to the airport he was spotting all the planes and pointing them out to all the other riders on the shuttle and one of the men said his brother had a love for planes this early and it never stopped and he is now a pilot for private jets.............I can't even imagine if my baby was flying in the sky everyday, I would be a nervous wreck!

We also bought him a book called "Goodnight Seattle" and it has all the fun things to do in Seattle in it and one of the pages is the Museum of Flight with airplanes, he opens the book everytime and turns it to the airplanes page and claps. Then he precedes to point to each airplane while you tell him what kind it is and what color it is! He loves this book so much that at the airport while we were watching the planes come in and out, he went and grabbed the book out of my bag, walked over to the window, opened the book to the planes and pointed to the plane on the terminal and then the planes in his book over and over, you could tell in his eyes he was SO happy he had pictures of those amazing machines;-)

Flight #5

Checking out what goods Allie has

Pulling the 38 year old telephone by his teeth;-)

Kayden's 5th flight was to Seattle, WA. We left on August 30th to Seatac for a week long vacation to show Kayden Seattle and have him meet some of my family he hadn't yet. Kyle and I love Seattle, we went there 3 times to visit after we started dating, lived there for over a year and love going back to visit. This was our first time to return since we moved to AZ and it was hard to imagine that we left. When we were moving from WA to AZ I told Kyle we shouldn't and was sad that we did but it was a great career opportunity for him so we decided to call AZ home for awhile. Going back to Seattle made us wonder all over again why we left. We love it there, we love the bay, the culture, the urban life, the green landscape, the ferries, the smell of coffee on a cloudy day, basically we just love it;-)

-We arrived in Seatac on Saturday around 11am and were suprised to find a huge wait at the rental car location, I guess everyone wanted to escape to the NW for the long weekend. After getting our car we went to Auntie Irene's house and headed to Metropolitan Market to grab some lunch. I love MM, it is kind of like a Whole Foods but w/ more character and I grew up going there w/ Auntie so it is a favorite for me. We also met up with Helena and Allie at MM and it was exciting to meet my cousin Troy's new baby and her mommy. That night we went to dinner at Sakura's, a local hon machi resteraunt and the babies loved watching the cook make our food in front of us and the big fire glowing.

I LOVE fire hydrants!

Adventures at the bay...so this is what 3 kiddos feels like;-)
-Sunday we started the day with Starbucks (you can't visit WA and not hit up Starbucks everyday, they might send you back to where you came from;-) and then helped Irene get ready for the bbq we were having that night at Troy and Helena's (okay mostly we played in the backyard with Kayden and Allie but I did help a little:-). Then Kyle, Katelynn and I took the babies to the waterfront and Allie decided she loved the Ergo and napped in it and Kayden enjoyed seeing the boats coming in and out, the waterplanes flying over the water, the train driving by and seeing the fire hydrants-to his surprise they were silver instead of yellow but he recognized them quickly and was so happy to see them! That night we bbq'd at Troy's and Kayden loved exploring the new backyard.

Allie & Kayden at Point Defiance Zoo
-Monday-Kayden's 2nd labor day! We went to the Point Defiance Zoo for the day. This is the zoo my grandpa always took my cousins and I to when we'd go to WA to visit so it was fun taking my own baby there and seeing all the new changes at the zoo. It made me a little sad that my grandpa wasn't there to watch Kayden discover his zoo but I was glad I took him there, it brought back lots of memories. Kayden liked most of the animals, but the walrus scared him to tears! I was amazed at how smart a walrus is, he followed the trainers commands, such as shaking his head yes and no, blowing his nose when they told him to, going in and out of the water when told to, all things I had no idea a walrus could learn. But I think the shear mass of the walrus was too much for Kayden and Allie too, they both wanted nothing to do w/ them. That night we had pizza at Troy's and watched a movie in his "theatre room". Now daddy thinks he needs one of those....thanks cousin Troy!

Kayden spotting an airplane in the sky.
-Tuesday we headed to downtown Seattle for the day. We went down to the waterfront and walked along, ate fish and chips and visited Pike's Place Market. Kayden loved all the bright colors in the market and people watching all around him. Onward to Westlake Center to shop a bit and then down the Harbor View steps. After we had our fill of downtown we headed out to snoqualimie falls while Kayden slept. He awoke to us in the mountains and loved watching the waterfall, running through the grass and riding in his Ergo as we hiked to the bottom of the falls. Mill Creek was our final stop of the day, this is where daddy and I lived while we were in WA. It is about 15 minutes north of downtown and has a cute little downtown of it's own that we loved walking through. We took him to the park we would always walk Fifi at and then to Mill Creek's new downtown (crazy that this historical area has a town with a "new downtown").

Owen Beach....he wanted to JUMP in the COLD water! Mommy had to stop him!
-Wednesday we decided we would stay by Aunties house, Kayden was a little sick of the car so we thought we'd have a day for him. We went for a morning walk along the waterfront and had a picnic at Owen beach. Kayden loved all the doggies there and throwing rocks in the bay. He was too interested in the surroundings to sit on our blanket on the beach to eat so daddy and I took turns eating while the other walked with our curious little boy. After lunch and play at the beach we went over the Narrows Bridge to Gig Harbor and had ice cream and went to Gig Harbor's cute little downtown. Some guys about daddy's age were docking their boat and loved Kayden and kept telling him he "had good genes and was the cutest little stud they had ever seen", just what I need, a little boy with a big head;-) That night we had dinner at Auntie's house with the family.

Watching the islands pass by on his ferry ride, heading back to mainland from Orcas Island.

The sunset we got to see b/c we missed the earlier ferry.
-Thursday was another adventure day, we woke up early and headed north to Anacortes. In Anacortes we got on the ferry to Orca's Island, one of the San Juan Islands. Kayden loved the ferry ride and watching all the boats drive by and the planes flying. We spent the day on Orca's island eating on the waterfront, going up to the top of Mt. Constitituion to the observation tower, hiking on Mt. Obstruction and then returned that night on the evening ferry. We had tried getting on the 4:20 ferry but missed it.....saw it driving off, we were a little bummed but took the opportunity to spend more time on the island and it let us ride home with a gorgeous sunset on the water so we couldn't complain! Kayden LOVED the ferry ride home, he was running all over, pointing to everything he saw and the people on the ferry couldn't get enough of him.

Touching a starfish at the Seattle Aquarium
-Friday Auntie Irene took the day off of work to spend with us so we stole Allie from her mommy and went to the Seattle Aquarium, both of the babies loved watching the fish in the tanks and Kayden even got to touch a starfish. We spent alot of time at the aquarium looking at all the marine life and then walked along the waterfront and had lunch by the bay. It is so nice eating by the baby, it keeps the babies entertained with the boats coming in and out and the seagulls and planes, like a little tv for them! Friday night was our last night in WA so the family all came over for Auntie's famous carrot cake and drinks and then Auntie watched Allie and Kayden while Troy, Helena and daddy and I went out for a drink at Katie Down's on the water. The 3 of them had to head out before me b/c for some reason whenver I have plans to go out Kayden can sense it and takes a long time to put down. Luckily after I got him down Uncle John wanted to keep visiting b/c Kayden woke up while I was in my car chatting w/ UJ and he freaked when Irene got him out of the packnplay. So I had to go in and settle my hysterical baby and then took off down to meet up with the 3 of them. Thankfully Kayden slept while we were gone because I think Auntie would have had to call me to come home had he woken up.
-Saturday was our travel day, we hung out around Auntie's played in the backyard with Kayden, went to Starbucks and the Procter district farmer's market and then out to lunch with Auntie, Helena and Allie and then were on our way. Kayden was a champ and slept the whole flight home!!

It was a great trip, Kayden loved Washington, he loved the cool air and all the green. Every morning he woke up and brought daddy his shoes to let him know he wanted to go outside and then went and waited at the backdoor for him to take him out. He was a huge mama's boy on the trip, didn't let anyone really hold him but daddy or I, I'm sure this will change as he gets older and he'll want everyone but us, so for now we soak it all in. He found a new love for airplanes while on the trip so we get to add that to his fire hydrant and bus facination, such a little boy we have! When we returned from our trip he was SO excited to see Fifi and all his toys and I could tell he was glad to be home.

Seattle

Airplanes.Ferry boat Rides.Tugboats.Point Defiance Zoo.Seattle Aquarium.Orcas Island.Gig Harbor.Fresh Organic Washington Blueberries.Sakuras.Pikes Place Market.Westlake Center.Snoqualmie Falls.Bay.Space Needle.City Lights.Waterplanes.Trains.Buses.Green Grass.Owen Beach.Great Auntie's House.Family.BBQ.Mill Creek.Starbucks.Car rides.Mt. Constitution.Rustin Way Walks.Seals.Islands.Narrows Bridge.Apple picking.Movie night.Seattle Streets.Waterfront Dining.Touching Starfish.Ergo Rides.Seagulls.Beach Picnic.

Some of the words to describe Kayden's trip to Seattle, a little preview of all the fun he had! Journal of trip to follow after I get situated from returning home.