Fun Times in Boise, Idaho!

Jeremy gets a few weeks a year for vacation. He decided to take a week off now so we could make it to a family get together in Boise. My sister LeAnne and her husband Rick live in Boise (for the time being). My cousin Carolyn and her husband Andy and their little son Archie also live there. Archie was having his 3rd birthday and my parents and my sister Laura were going down.

I hadn't been to Boise in 2 years (for Archie's 1st birthday). Jeremy and Nathan had never been there. We decided it was time for Nathan's first airplane ride. It seemed to be a better idea than spending 7+ hours in the car. He's also under 2, so he was "free." If we would have had to pay to take him on the plane, we would have either driven or not gone!

On Friday morning, we left for the airport. We learned a few things about flying with a baby. Bring a stroller. We parked at the airport and had to carry a heavy squirming 30 pound baby and 3 suitcases a LONG way. Then, we're trying to check luggage and he's trying to run all over. Things would have been a lot easier if he had been stuck in a stroller.

Then, at security, they had to search both of our bags because there were things that weren't supposed to be in there. Apparently baby food raises a red flag. Security was kind of a hassle because Nathan took off running without his shoes on and we were trying to get our shoes on and our bags put back together. Fun times.

After that, things were easy. I made Nathan a big bottle of fake milk right before we boarded the plane to keep him quiet. We were on a completely full flight. We decided to sit next to another girl who had a baby. Nobody wants to sit by the babies right? As the plane is backing out, the flight attendant tells us we have to move because there are 5 people sitting in a row that only has 4 air masks. So, Jeremy and Nathan had to jump across the aisle. Nathan did great the whole plane ride. I had a nice chat with the girl. It was a QUICK flight. It only took about 50 minutes. It seemed we had just leveled out when we started descending.

LeAnne's husband Rick came and picked us up at the airport. He had a spare carseat with him that belonged to Archie. We got Nathan in there and headed off to my cousin's house where we would attempt to make Nathan nap. Yeah, that didn't happen. He cried for an hour and would not sleep. We eventually gave up. We had a nice barbecue dinner that night with my cousins and LeAnne and Rick. Nathan and Archie had a fun time playing in the bathtub. Nathan did ok sleeping that night. Jeremy and I had to sleep in the same room with him and we've never done that before. We had to do a sneaky method to get in there after he went to bed!

Saturday was the day of the big party. Saturday morning, all the men decided to head off to Cabella's for Men's Day. I stayed and helped Carolyn with party preparations. Then, I went running with my friend Dustin who lives in Boise. I've got Bloomsday coming up next week and he was nice enough to run 7 1/2 miles with me to help me prepare. I'm still a little sore! I was only used to running 5 miles.

After lunch, we actually got Nathan down for a nap! In a strange house! It was the first time EVER he slept somewhere besides his own crib or carseat. More family including my parents and sister Laura showed up after this. The big birthday party started. There were 15 little kids and babies running around. It was a little bit crazy! It was fun to meet some other Moms and watch Nathan wonder about those other kids. The birthday party was great. Again, Nathan did great sleeping that night!

Sunday morning, we went over to LeAnne and Rick's house. They are busy packing and preparing to sell their house. It was quite a disaster area! I got to meet LeAnne's new dog and see their house for the first AND last time. Carolyn and I brought the little boys back home to nap. I laid down too and had a hard time getting back up I was so sore from running. Jeremy and Rick and my Dad went out to get stuff for the house.

Jeremy came back with a brand new shotgun! He had been talking about getting one, and he did. It will be nice to have his own shotgun in the car instead of the county issued one. And really, it just makes sense to go to Idaho and bring back a gun. Doesn't everyone?

We had a nice family dinner Sunday night. Everyone was quite tired. Nathan did great again Sunday night. Monday morning we packed up and Carolyn drove us to the airport. This time we checked more luggage so there was less to carry through the terminal! The flight went great. Nice people around us kept playing peekaboo with Nathan to keep him busy. He started to throw quite a fit about the last 10 minutes. Overall, I would say his first airplane rides were a a success! We were home by noon and Nathan was down for a LONG nap an hour later. I unpacked and did laundry.

I'll try to put up some pictures tomorrow.

Our next vacation will be in August when we head to Wenatchee for another cousin's wedding. That should be fun!


Nathan and Archie on the way to Cabellas



Me and my sister Laura. She lives kind of near me in Spokane.


Me and my sister LeAnne. She currently lives in Boise, but is in the process of moving to Utah.


Nathan is obsessed with Laura's i-phone. He can't say her name, he'll just move his finger back and forth when he wants her!


My cousin's husband Andy and their son Archie. Nathan is chowing down too!


My cousin Carolyn and her son Archie


Nathan hoodwinked Aunt LeAnne into pushing him on the swing.


All these boys are wearing Cougar shirts! Uncle Rick (LeAnne's husband), Jeremy and Nathan. 2 of the 3 are WSU graduates. One is a future WSU graduate!


Nathan and Archie playing. Archie just turned 3. Nathan is 20 months.

Dirty Floors? A New Innovative Solution!

Dirty floors?

Are you having a hard time keeping your floors clean? Is it because your little kids are running all around, tracking in mud, and walking across wet floors you've already mopped? Do these same small children not want to help in the floor cleaning process although THEY are the ones that made the floor dirty?

I have discovered an innovative new solution to solve this dilemma. Involve your child in the cleaning process in a fun way! Behold, the Child Mop.

Instructions:
1. Place child in old pants.
2. Put some Mr. Clean on pants.
3. Slide your child around the floor (shown in training video below.)
4. When floor is clean enough, remove pants.
5. Put on a clean, dry pair of pants to buff.
6. Observe your clean floor!
7. Repeat with another child if necessary.



*For extra fun cleaning, make sure your child is dressed in a white shirt. You might also want to shave their little head and place a clip-on gold hoop on one ear (unless ears are already pierced of course). This is for extreme cleaning purposes only. Not to be undertaken by all parents and children.

Disclosure: You may find you are now mopping your floors on a daily basis because your child loves being a mop so much. Your floors may be the cleanest you've seen them in years...heck, ever! You may also find your floors are clean enough to eat off of. Actually, if you have a small child, they are probably already eating off the floor. It will just be safer now.

Thanks Bryan for the idea! Thanks Amy for the costume idea!

GOODBYE Snow!

We've had snow on the ground since December 12th. In fact, we had over 98 inches of snow this year. That is over 8 feet of snow. It was an all time record for the Spokane area.

It appears the last of it will be gone tomorrow. (Or possibly the next day)


That's the last of it!! Nearly 4 months it's been on the ground.



Nathan trying to carry it away for me. He starts fussing pretty quickly and drops it because it's so cold. Too funny!

Our trip to visit the Grandparents

During Jeremy's last weekend, we went to visit the Grandparents. Grandparents Spragg live in Royal City. Grandpa Wakeman lives in Yakima. It was a very windy trip! Generally anywhere in Central Washington is quite windy during April.

On Thursday, we visited Grandparents Spragg. Nathan had fun hanging out in a new house. He liked to turn the ceiling fans on and off. He even had his own little table to sit at!

No trip to Royal is complete without visiting Nathan's friend KJ! The boys had fun playing together.

On Friday, we went down to Yakima to visit Grandpa Wakeman. Nathan had fun playing in the ditch and leaves. Uncle Brian was there too. For lunch, we went to Miners. It was Nathan and Jeremy's first time there. Those burgers sure are good!

On Saturday, we spent some more time back in Royal. Nathan got to go visit some of the neighbor's lambs. He really liked those. We were back in the car Saturday afternoon and back home by 3 so Jeremy could get ready to work for the night! It was a fun trip-other then the wind blowing constantly!


All the Wakeman men



Playing with Uncle Brian's I-Phone



Family Photo

Hanging out in Royal City

This is a perfect chair!

KJ and Nathan drinking from cups together. So cute!

Night Shift and Hail

Jeremy's just gone back on night shift for the next 3 months. It takes a little adjusting too. He now works 5pm to 3am Saturday-Tuesday. So his days off are Wed-Friday. The weirdest part for me when he's on night shift is cooking dinner at like
2:00 pm. And then he eats it hot, and Nathan and eat if we're hungry, but we've usually had lunch around noon so we're not hungry. So then, we end up reheating dinner around 6 or so for us. So weird.

I am very blessed though that I do not have to work with Jeremy's schedule. If I was teaching, we would never see each other. Him on nights, me on days, him with no weekends off. It would be really tough. We're heading down to Royal this weekend (Jeremy's weekend) so that should be fun. We haven't been down since Thanksgiving.

I've been trying to take long walks when the weather is nice. It's been really cold and rainy and windy lately so it's hard to find the time to fit in a good walk. Bloomsday is in a little more then a month so I need to get ready!

We had some crazy hail today! It's the biggest we've seen. The thunder and lightning were also pretty intense. Nathan didn't seem too scared, but was very curious as to what was going on!



The hail was huge!



Two Cougars!

Graveyard of Tools

We've had a ton of snow this year. Over 6 feet. We've been able to play out in the shop during the winter. Nathan began to develop this habit of grabbing Jeremy's tools and throwing them out into the snow. We're wondering what we're going to find under the snow once it's all gone? How many tools will be under there? Most of the time, I managed to catch Nathan and stop the tools from going under the snow, but we'll see! Jeremy already knows of a missing 10 mm ratchet. Hmmm...likely buried. Hopefully the snow will be gone in a week or so...hopefully!

Nothing gets past Nathan!

Nathan is so observant. Almost too much so for his own good!

This afternoon, Nathan and I were almost home from our walk. I try to take him out in the stroller most days that are decent and not too cold. It was about 4:55. We were 5 minutes from home.

All of a sudden, Nathan sits up straighter, puts his pointer finger out, and says "Dada!" Now, Nathan does not say alot, but when he says Dada I know what it means! I look around and sure enough, probably a block or more up the street, a police car is parked. How did Nathan even see it? I figured it probably was Jeremy as it was 4:55 and he gets off work at 5:00. It was an abandoned house and sure enough as we're walking by, I can see Jeremy up there in the yard. Nathan keeps saying Dada. Jeremy eventually sees us and waves from a distance.

I keep walking and know that Jeremy won't be too far behind. Nathan starts throwing a fit and keeps saying Dada and trying to climb out of the stroller. We get home a few minutes later and he does NOT want out of the stroller. Usually he is dying to get out of there since our walk is usually about an hour. I put the little screamer down and he starts pounding the driveway with his little fists.

THEN, he turns and starts marching out of the driveway into the road yelling "Dada" and crying. I run after him and grab his little hand. He pulls me down the street in the direction where he knows Jeremy is. We get just a little ways when I see Jeremy's car pull out on the road and start driving toward us for home. When he gets closer, Nathan's face lights up and he gets all happy.

This is what happens when he sees Daddy when he's not supposed to!

A similar scene took place a few weeks ago when Jeremy left one morning to go skiing with another off-duty deputy. Usually, Nathan is fine with Jeremy dressed up in his uniform and getting in his police car and leaving for work. He knows that the uniform and car mean Daddy has to go to work. On this morning; however, Jeremy was dressed up in regular clothes for skiing. Then, he got into the other guy's regular car. Nathan's little lip started shaking and he broke down in tears. Usually when Jeremy is dressed up in regular clothes, Nathan goes along wherever Daddy goes. It took me almost 40 minutes to calm him down after Jeremy left to go skiing! I think someone is becoming a little attached to his Daddy!