10 Year Anniversary

March 23rd marked our 10 year wedding anniversary. Bob and I really wanted to go somewhere for our 10 year anniversary, but we didn't feel we should go far away. Since neither of the boys have ever stayed overnight with anyone but Bob and I and have never spent the night away from their own house except for when Ethan was in the hospital, we didn't feel that this was the right time to see how they would do with someone else in another place. The closest the boys have come to being away from us overnight was last summer when Bob took me out for my birthday and we went out to the Mukleshoot Casino. My dad came over and watched the boys. We didn't come home until like 4am and by the time we came home, Dad had put the boys to sleep and he spent the night too. When we woke up though, mommy and daddy were home; this would not happen this time. We did prepare the boys by telling them that we were going to stay overnight somewhere else and that they were going to stay with Gung Gung and Po Po, go to sleep with them, and wake up without us being there.

On a side note, Jonathan's friend Mia was having a birthday party on Saturday at noon and we would not be home in time to take him so Katie's mom offered to come pick him up and take him so he had that to look forward too and ended up doing very well. That also meant we would have to make sure to be at Mia's house to pick him up on Saturday at 2pm.

We left around 1:00pm on Friday afternoon. Our first stop was Shilla on Denny Street downtown. I hadn't been there is years and I used to really like going there and getting the tekka don. Tekka don is a bunch of raw tuna on a bed of sushi rice. It was SOOOO good. Bob got a sushi plate. Our next stop was at the hotel, The Edgewater Inn. This hotel is a famous hotel that a lot of famous music people have stayed at. We'd never been there so we thought we would try it out. Our room was not supposed to be ready until 4:00pm, but when we got there at 3:00pm, we were told the room was ready and we could check in. The room was nice and the view was spectacular. We got a full water view room. The other cool feature about the room was that the bathroom was open to the rest of the room only being separated by sliding doors. We could sit in the tub and soak while looking out at the sound or even watching the tv. That was a cool feature that i'm sure was a renovation. I took pictures of the room and then we decided to go for a walk. On our way out, we stopped at the hotel gift shop to look around.

The hotel is pier 67, so it was pretty close to the end of the waterfront on the Seattle Center side so we walked down to the sculpture park. I'd never been there before and luckily it was a really nice and sunny day, so we took our time walking though the entire park. It was really nice, with nice views of the sound although I have to be honest. I didn't get some of the sculptures that were there.

Sculpture park looking away from the water at the needle.

There were a lot of birds and people feeding them.

It was really relaxing watching the birds, but cool that the space needle was in the background.

A bird and the needle.

The sound

More sculpture park

There's something artistic about this shot

A ferry and a beautiful reflection of the sun on the water

After our walk, we came back to the hotel for a soak in the tub and then we went down to the lobby where there is a restaurant called Six Seven for pier 67. One entire side of the restaurant is glass so diners could see the sound. The hostess stand was also very cool. The entire bottom was a fish tank.

Six Seven Restaurant

Hostess stand fish tank

I ordered king crab, which was very good

Bob ordered the fish

Dining at sunset

Entrance to the Six Seven restaurant

When we got back to the room, Bob had ordered chocolate covered strawberries. We set those aside and got ready for our massages. The hotel does not have a spa in house, but they do have people who can come in and do in room massages, so Bob got two masseuses to come to the room. It so SOOO nice and relaxing. We got hour massages and then pretty much laid down and fell asleep. Right before we fell asleep, we did decide to have breakfast brought to the room, so we filled out our choices and hung the order on the door. It was an absolutely wonderful anniversary day.

Chocolate covered strawberries

Together at dinner

The next moring, we slept in for a while and then waited for our breakfast to come at 10:00am. We were so glad that we had decided to have breakfast delivered. I got an omelet that was really good and bob got eggs flourintine. We ate in chairs facing the water with the window open looking at listening to the sounds of the birds flying by the window. They flew so close that we could probably touch one, though we also hoped one wouldn't fly into the room.

Spinach omelet

Eggs flourintine

Ferry

Close up of the ferry

Eating breakfast

After breakfast, we took another soak in the tub. Then we got all packed up and checked out of the hotel. We were so bummed and wished that we had decided to take the whole weekend away. I was proud of myself in that I didn't call to check on the boys once, though I did think about them often. This was my first time staying overnight away from both boys too. We got our car out of the hotel's valet parking and started making our way to Pacific Place shopping. What we didn't know was that the viaduct was closed, so we got stuck in traffic. We ended up going in a big circle to get home since the freeways was also a parking lot. We skipped shopping since we had to get back by 2pm to pick up Jonathan. I decided I wasn't going to let the traffic ruin my good mood. I dropped Bob off around 1:45pm at home and I went to pick up Jonathan at Mia's house.

Jonathan had a lot of fun at Mia's party, but once I got him home, he and Ethan both took very long naps. Bob's parents said the boys did well. Jonathan had planned out the whole day playing trains, cars, race, etc. though they did stay up really late and had trouble falling asleep. We had let Jonathan choose where he would sleep since his bed was the guest bed where Gung Gung and Po Po were sleeping and he chose to sleep on the living room couch so Ethan slept there too. Jonathan apparently kept going upstairs saying stuff like Ethan was too loud, it was too bright...just excuses. Overall though, the boys did great. So proud of them. Jonathan also got ready to go to Mia's party and Katie's mom Susan was running late so I guess Jonathan had to wait unexpectedly. Susan told me that when she got there, Jonathan asked her why she took so long and made him wait. Oh well. I guess we'll work on our manners.

I would call this a success. Bob and I had a great anniversary and the boys successfully had a night without us. This summer we'll have to work on this, but it was a good start.


-Dina

Soccer Class

The City Kids Preschool partnered up with a company called Happy Feet and is now offering soccer classes at the school. We let Jonathan try the class out and he loved it so much that we had to sign him up. There are no kids that he knows in his session, but he laughs and frolics around like he's having so much fun. The class he attends is on Mondays after his regular class and the extended care class he goes to. It makes for a longer day, but it has been money well spent. Ethan is still going to speech on Mondays, so I can't pick Jonathan up on time so he has to go to City Kids extended care and now soccer after his regular class.

His first soccer coach...actually his first coach, Coach M. He's learning how to dribble.

He's learning how to stop and keep the ball still.

Learning throw ins. Balls up.

Behind the head.

Dribbling. Look at him go!

Stop. No hands!

Having so much fun.

The balls are all yellow and they have a smiley face on them. The coach refers to them as Bob. His favorite phrase is "Stop Bob! No hands." Jonathan has a little trouble with not stopping the ball with his hands, so we are working on that, but i'm so glad he loves soccer.

-Dina

Gymboree Art Class

If you miss a class at Gymboree Play and Learn, you can participate in any class that is offered in your age group as a make up. Ethan has missed a couple of classes due to snow and illness, so he got to try out the art 2 class as his make up. He loved it as can be seen in these pictures.

To start the hour off, children get to free paint. They get to choose the color and where on the wall they want. After painting, the children do their first sit down project that fallows a theme. This week's theme had to do with shapes and textures.

Painting

My little Picasso

The first project involved glue, paper and foil shapes, glitter, and crayons. The glue bottle was a little difficult for Ethan to squeeze, but he stuck with it and was able to figure it out by himself. After he put some glue down on the paper, he took some shapes and glued them on. Then he put more glue on the paper and got some glitter to make the shapes bumpy. He finished off the project by using a cool circular crayon to put more color on his project. In the end, Ethan's project reminded me of a Horiuchi collage.

Glue

Right.....there. Perfect.

Dotting with glue

Glitter and coloring

Watching Teacher Josie hang up the artwork

After everyone was done with the first project, the kids got a snack and listened to a story. The snack was water and animal crackers. The story is made interactive by asking the children questions and having them point out things in the illustrations.

Where's the orange ball? Right here!

After snack time, the children get to do another project. This project involved glue and different foam shapes. Ethan would put a dot of glue on the paper and then put a shape on. The teacher noticed that Ethan was doing a dot of glue and then glue shape on technique, which she said she hasn't seen other kids his age do. Normally she sees little kids glue all over their paper and then start gluing on things. Ethan must be doing this one to one technique because he is has seen Jonathan do it.

I put some glue here and then put the shape on it.

In August, Ethan will grow out of the Play and Learn 6 class, which is the last class in the series. If we decide to continue on with Gymboree, we are going to need to find him a new class. The art class might just be the right fit. At age 3, parents can drop off their child in the art 3 class. There is also a music class, sports class, and school skills class we could choose for him.

 

-Dina

CFM Study @ Seattle Children's

At Ethan's January Craniofacial appointment, we were asked if we wanted to particpate in a new Craniofacial study to try and find out more about Craniofacial Microsomia. We agreed to because we would like to help out other families who may be dealing with this disorder in the future. The study is being conducted by Seattle Children's Hospital's Craniofacial Clinic, but the hope is that it would expand to other hospitals around the country. We visited the research clinic at the main campus. Jonathan went to the playroom for a while, but kids are only allowed to stay for 2 hours at a time and we were there for longer that we had to pick him up. I turned in the paperwork that we had gotten earlier in email and then we finished up any paperwork that was needed. Then we went to the photographer who was the same guy who takes pictures for Craniofacial. He had gotten into a bicycle accident the day of Ethan's clinic visit and was still in a wheel chair when we saw him. While Bob took his pictures, I went with the lady who was conducting and organizing the study, Linda Peters.

Ethan would also get his pictures taken after Bob and he apparently did ok until they put a hat on him so they could get a good picture of just his head and face. We got a copy of this picture, but Ethan is crying in it, so i'm not sure how helpful it will turn out to be. After the pictures were done for them, they would return to the clinic and give spit samples. Ethan's cheeks would be swabbed and Bob had to spit into a container up to a certain line.

In the other room, I had to give a spit sample too. I don't usually spit, so it took me a long time to get to the line. I did it while I answered a long series of questions regarding my overall health and things the occurred from 3 months before getting pregnant to after Ethan was born. Some of the questions I couldn't remember very well, but I did my best and was honest if I couldn't remember for sure the answer to the question.

The week following this appointment, I would get a call and have to answer another series of questions that would take about an hour.

After I was done with the questions in clinic, it was my turn to take pictures. I had to make different faces, which is what Bob had to do too. Ethan had to get more indepth pictures taken for the study.

Waiting to get started

Bob making a face for the camera

Jonathan waiting to go to the playroom

Ethan and Linda Peters

We were at Children's for a few hours and then we were given gift cards as a thank you. Of course, we would have done the study anyways. We are so glad to be able to participate in a study that will hopefully help researchers learn more about CFM. This study probably won't help Ethan at all, but if we can help future generations to learn more about the causes of this disorder, we are happy. It was an honor to be able to be asked and participate in this study. We are always willing to help out in any way that we can.

 

-Dina

More Parties

Jonathan was invited to several birthday parties so far this year. He and another boy had their birthday parties in January, which kicked off birthday season among Jonathan's friends. Here are some pictures from two parties he attended.

At Ryan's party, the kids made masks and did a treasure hunt

Pinata time

Jonathan with his treasure map

Waiting to eat

Dress the pirate (A version of pin the tale on the donkey). Jonathan didn't want to be blindfolded.

Making a bird house

Pizza time!

Bouncy house

Jonathan with the birthday girl Payton

-Dina