Happy Birthday to Mommy!

This picture is merely a place-holder. Once I come up with a better one I'll put it here, but I wanted to save this spot!

Meet Ben

The swing is a huge part of our day. This is the swing in our back yard, but the one in the park is also good. Maybe there is something about the motion that brings forth creativity, for today we got to meet Ben. Ben is Erika's first imaginary friend!

In this picture, Erika is handing Ben to Jackie.

From what we can tell, Ben is a red firetruck. He likes to climb high. He likes to snuggle, he often needs a diaper changed. He is small. I think she got the idea for Ben from the Cars movie. Although she does not care to watch the movie, she has a Cars postcard which shows all the characters. She studies it every night with a magnifying glass and a flashlight. What punnishment it is to have the postcard taken away. It makes Ben sad.

Erika and the Alphabet

Wedding Party

Erika knows all about parties. Well, Birthday parties at least. This past weekend we attended cousin my Mary's wedding party and Erika enjoyed showing off her dress and doing nose kisses with the guests. Nose kisses are performed by touching noses. Saying "Beep!" is optional. Such cuteness cannot be stopped.

Toddler Miffed

Erika is not happy with the amount of diaper changing necessary. Four of her favorite animals all need changing at the same time. I think the names of the stuffed animals are: Bunny, Big Meow-Meow, Little Mew, and Moo-Moo. What's a pants less toddler to do!?

Company Picnic

The annual company picnic involves an extensive toddler area with pony and hay rides. Erika found lots of things to do, but most things were too much for a cautious cupcake such as herself.

I don't remember this piece of a car from last year. Anyway, here we have a glimpse into the future.

Mountain Meadows in North Bend, WA is a place to hold corporate events. It easily held the nearly 4,000 of us.

Here Erika enjoys the pink plastic house. Forget the 30ft inflatable slide! There is a pink house!

Edmonds Underwater Park

This beach is on Puget Sound, so we are getting some salt water action here. We spent the morning with the Hayatsus at a beach in the nearby town of Edmonds. Here you see Ilene and Kaemon getting acquainted with water which is most likely around 50F. The sand is a lot of fun for digging, but you can easily grasp the reason for Seattle's temperate climate. Note the passenger ferry in the background and if you look carefully you can see divers. This particular area is an underwater park and there are sunken boats and all sorts of things out there for divers to explore. It was a beautiful day and I got a sunburned knee. Just one.
Speaking of sunburn, Jackie was quick to notice that there are a lot of very pale people in Edmonds as the Scandinavian influence is still strong. Everywhere you looked, there were people in the sun who really shouldn't be. A lot of very white skin with alarmingly red patches- tanning was simply not happening. Jackie felt right at home.

Non serviam

This is Erika's portrayal of the word "no." Just in case you didn't know what "no" looked like.

A Very Brief Visit to Idlewood Park

Saturday, June 30th, 2007. After our delightful visit to Ohio, and the beach at the Springfield reservoir in particular, Erika is up for more sand and surf. On the east side of Bellevue, about a 20-minute drive from our house is Idlewood Park on Lake Sammamish. Idlewood has a charming bit of sand and the lake is quite inviting. However, Erika was not in an accommodating mood that morning. She failed to comply with mommy's instructions and was given the ultimatum, "Do you want to go home?!" to which Erika replied with a spirited head butt! So we went home. It was a long, tearful 20-minute ride back. I hope that on our next trip to Idlewood, we can break the elusive 2-minute barrier and actually touch the water. Or even the sand.

Grumpy Baby

We spent this week in Springfield celebrating Gramdma Kathy's 60th birthday. Although we got some good video, we didn't get any good still shots. Here, Erika practices the face she calls "gumpy baby". When we get some photos from grandma's camera, we'll post those here. Until then, just join Erika in a scowl.

Grandma Glady's 80th Birthday

Here we made our way to Vashon Island to Aunt Jayne's house to celebrate Gramdma's 80th birthday! Cupcake and Mommy enjoy the ferry ride.

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Mrs. Beasley Glasses

Erika is quite interested in glasses these days; she has stolen a pair from Mrs. Beasley.

Swings, Bees, and Binkis

It's time for fun on swings!


Despite the alarming and mysterious shortage of honey bees these days, we've got plenty of bumble bees in our yard.

A two binki habit forming?

Playgroup and bubbles

Today, May 31st, Erika and I (Jackie) went to our playgroup at Zane's house. This is the playgroup of moms and babies that started when we took the same parenting class at the local hospital. Even after 2 years, we are still meeting and enjoying each others company.

Zane's Mom provided the backyard and bubbles for all the kids. Erika learned to blow bubbles all by herself. Even when she is swinging in the cool toddler bucked swing, she is practicing blowing bubbles. Oh, the pink hat is her Easter outfit hat, and the only one that reliably stays on her head.

Here Erika demonstrates the finer points of bubble blowing to Zane. Zane is happy to chase and pop the bubbles the other kids and moms produced.

Zane's mom also provided frozen chocolate treats for everyone. Erika took one lick and pronounce it "tasty". That's my chocolate loving girl!

Kelsey Creek Park

We explored a different park today. Besides the play area and the toddler swing, there is a farm with an assortment of animals. Erika was only somewhat interested in the Rabbit Show which was wrapping up when we got there.
Cows, pigs, horses, and goats didn't do anything for her. Chickens? Forget about it.
In Erika's world, there are cats, and then there are the lesser animals.

Sticking tongue out

What could be more fun than stamping yourself with Hello Kitty symbols?

May 12th

Erika is mostly occupied these days with stacking, unstacking; putting things in and taking them out. Here she has filled her doll stroller with an assortment of items which were each placed most carefully.

This evening we went to one of our favorite parks. No one was there but us! A perfect time to play on the tire swing.

More evidence of that nasty winter storm. Many trees came down in the park. Here Jackie and Erika are in front of the root system for a Douglas Fir which was uprooted. Interesting to note that the roots to these trees are not deep at all. I estimate the tree was around 100 years old.

Humorous video

Click here and watch a funny video starring Will Ferrell. The girl looks a lot like Erika! See for yourself!

Pink Moods

What kind of look is this?! This is the "do not photograph me!" look. Right after this shot was taken she turned away and would not face me until I gave up photography completely. That's a stick of mozzarella string cheese in her hand in case you were wondering.


Actually, I just pretended to put the camera away. I shot this next one from the hip and she was none the wiser.

As a side note, a couple hours before this picture Erika was down for the count with a 103F fever. Amazingly enough, she responded well to acetaminophen and sprung back to life requiring both an apron and a wide-brimmed hat.

Swimming class

Sunday morning means toddler swim class! Erika is very good at the back float pictured here. She really dislikes climbing out of the pool. Why can't daddy just lift her out and place her on the edge? Climbing out is very inconvenient and bothersome in her opinion.


Erika and I both enjoy the bonding experience of swim class. Although I suffer soft-tissue damage at nearly every encounter with her, I think it's well worth it.

After swimming, we always go to CrossRoads Mall in Bellevue and have Thai food. Erika is hooked on Phad Thai with chicken. She and I share a plate and it is lots of fun. Jackie tried to photograph Erika feasting on noodles, but the camera batteries were spent at the pool!