Hummm...Maybe Daytripping Would Be A Good Idea

Padon and I camped our first SCA event this season alone and it didn't quite end up the weekend I hoped it would be. I think I thought it would be a special weekend because Padon and I don't get whole days together very often and the romantic notion that he would really enjoy hanging out with me for roughly 48 hours totally over ruled my knowledge that he is steadily and confidently moving into a stage where he talks back, enjoys playing the games of reverse child psychology, and whines a lot.
He had me up at 5:50am on Saturday and at 7:20am on Sunday. After the "Oh, ma gawd! Really?!" wake up on Saturday I piled every blanket and sleeping bag we had (except for the thick tapestry blanket which I horded for myself) on top and underneath of Padon, in his pack'n'play, Saturday night; which I greatly attribute to the extra hour of sleep I got on Sunday. Through this fatigue for both of us (Padon's a guy who likes to sleep in til 9 or 10) the play ground was barely interesting and playing with his new ball, eating all meals, and being in our tent was accompanied with mind altering whining. His only interests were going in other people's tents including the back sides of vendor's tents, and doing the opposite of everything I said until, and finally, Saturday afternoon he was introduced to Boffers.

In the SCA Boffers are weapons created out of PVC pipe and foam. Mock battles are created for kids ages 6 to 17(?) who also have to wear protective armor and have to follow rules. I believe it was our group that introduced the Boffer Wars to our surrounding Baronies and so someone in our group always has a ready supply at hand. There was a large field behind where we were camped and just about all day kids were playing with the boffers. Hunter, 16, was acting as mediator for the kids playing and he totally took Padon under his wing with help from Aiden, 5. It was so awesome that with a little introduction to being the smacker and being smacked Padon was soon growling, charging, laughing hysterically, and smacking away with what was supposed to be a dagger, but because of Padon's size looked like sword.

Thanks to Hunter and Aiden I was given a lovely reprieve from toddler chasing for a while.

But after a weekend of toddler chasing, being self conscious of the noise we were making in a sea of sleeping tents, and having little sleep I'm not sure that camping at SCA events this season, even with Walter, maybe such a good idea. Walter, I think, wants to give it another try, but I see a lot of day tripping in our future.

Good Time With Friends

We got the awesome opportunity to go back to Leavenworth with Erin, Evan, Eliott, and Ivor over the weekend. We had such a great time and felt so tickled to be able to go since we often talk about places we would like to go with Erin and Evan but don't often get the chance.

Eliott was excited to be able to help Padon with his harness and make sure he didn't wander too far away from us and surprisingly Padon loved it! Loved it so much he couldn't stop laughing, as if it was the greatest game ever. I wish he felt that way when I have hold of him.

They moved in and out of the crowd in such a way that made me realize they had yet to see the world from my height and totally took for granted the solid view of hips and waistbands. They were oblivious to the people coming in the crowd and moved as if there was a force around their bodies that would propel people around them. Instead people were scrambling last second trying not to trip over them and Padon and Eliot just kept on moving. They were so cute.
We made a second trip to see the horse in town and this time Padon didn't have a problem petting her. The first time he looked at her he was overwelmed by her size and didn't care to talk about her eyes, nose, ears, and feet.

The weather was so awesome and Walter and I were so excited to be able to share good beer, brautwurst, and memories with our very good friends.

2nd Annual Warren Holiday

For our second Annual Warren Holiday (April 4th) Walter and I thought it might be nice to go to Anacortes, WA thinking how nice it would be to go to a sea side town not too far away, have a nice seafood lunch, walk through the quaint shops and then mozzy home for a fab steak dinner with a baguette and brie and a bottle of wine.

We made our hour excursion to Anacortes and found that it was quaintly boring. It wasn't on the water, well the shops weren't, and the shops that were to be found weren't very interesting. The restaurants were slightly over priced and because we had Padon with us we couldn't go into the two pub-ish restaurants that peaked our interests because they didn't have family seating. After walking up and down the street 4 times and finally deciding on a place to have lunch we opted to go home. The place was a bust and we were disappointed.

Until Walter said in our pity us conversation on the way home "It's too bad we didn't go somewhere like Leavenworth..." We both looked at each other and instantly agreed, well why not?! Let's go tomorrow!

Sunday we packed Padon and Roadie in the car and made our way to Leavenworth, a smallish trip of just 2 hours and what a great idea!
Aside from being limited again to where we could go because we had the dog with us the weather was gorgeous and we had a really great time. It was practically a mirror image of Rotenberg, a small town we stayed in in Northern Germany on our honey moon, and it brought back such nice and homely feelings.
We ended up having lunch at a pub that had outside seating and mulled over their scarce selection of sausages but good selection of beer.

Padon picked out rocks from behind where we were sitting examining them with Walter. Each of the rocks had writing on them (notes from visiting people) and there were hundreds of rocks to choose from.

After lunch we walked all over Leavenworth, window shopping, wishing we had thought to go here in advance because we would have totally stayed the night. It was a lot of fun, Padon really liked the new sights, and Roadie was so well behaved.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter All!

This year I contrived to give Padon a traditional Easter, as he will probably grow up with and become used to Easter and Easter Egg Hunts, and I think I did a pretty good job. More than once I felt a similar feeling to the panic attack I usually get around Halloween when attending costume parties and handing out candy, but I marched on, got the two pictures I really wanted, and let everything else take its course as can only happen when following an almost two year old around.

I bought Greg and Billy the most adorable little lambs for Easter and from the larger of the two made a pattern from the seam measurements. I then made Padon a little Easter rabbit from the fabric I already had and really felt excited about it. To me it looked like it was made of Easter basket grass and little green eggs, not to mention the tail of the bunny was made out of ribbon and so formed one of Padon's most favorite things, a tag. I did tell my self, as any smart Mother should, that there was a chance that this bunny would not inflict squeals of happiness and excitement and to be happy with the thought of making and giving this Easter bunny to Padon.

Thank goodness for this foresight because the site of the box of jelly beans sitting in the basket, between the bunny's legs, was far too wonderful to note the bunny behind it and a week later Padon still takes no notice of the rabbit. It's sitting on my dresser now where I like looking at it and will later try giving it to Padon again when it is completely forgotten. I was really just as pleased to see him so excited about the jelly beans and he horked them by the fistful.
When Jane and Jason arrived Jane started working on the most adorable cupcakes ever. Little chicks with black licorice eyes, Good & Plenty crest and toes, almond beak, and icing covered with coconut feathers. It was really wonderful, and when Padon finally got to eat his at home he really liked it. It seemed to bother him at first that it had a face, like he didn't understand why I gave him a toy in a bowl. But when I showed him that he could dig into it with his spoon and pick at the crest and toes he really went at it and ate everything in the bowl.

It was wonderful to see Billy again since I hadn't seen him since a few weeks after he was born and he had already grown a lot and developed more of his face. Very adorable it was hard to hold back while others held him, impatient to get in Auntie time. Padon had trouble with me holding Billy so we spent about 10 minutes, both of us holding him, until Padon got bored. He was so good about holding Billy although needed to be held back a little as he checked out his eyes and ears; there was a lot of head petting.
We had our (and I mean our) first Easter Egg hunt. My Mom had put together two baskets, each with 6 eggs, and Sarah and I went out in the rain (heck we live in Seattle, when is ever going to stop raining) and dropped the eggs into the green grass where Greg and Padon would be able to see them but still have to twirl around to see them all. I think Padon and Greg were mostly interested in the egg until we started opening some and Greg found a sweet little truck inside. Padon still loved the slippery egg and this distraction was perfect for Walter who kept plucking the found eggs out of the Padon's basket and laying them (yes laying, as he was walking around like a chicken, clucking) again somewhere else in the grass. This made the egg finding last three times longer which was awesome because Padon and Greg were having a good time being outside.

~Thank you to Jane for taking pictures during the hunt.~

One of Sarah's co-workers had given her a dozen real Easter Eggs filled with confetti. I had pictured the act of smashing them above each other's heads, like you were supposed to, would be a group thing, kind of like when we did the poppers at Christmas or celebrated midnight on New Years Eve but after Walter did one down my shirt and my Mom did one to my Dad at the table the game was on! I believe I got one down Walter's shirt too.
The Easter dinner and dessert was really good, the boys had a really great time, and it was nice to see family again.

In case you were thinking, Chloe, what the heck kind of pants-suit is it that Padon is wearing?! Jane gave Padon the outfit last year for his 1st birthday, the jacket size 12 mns and the pants 18mns. The jacket he had worn quite a few times and now that they fit the pants seemed perfect for Easter. Just on the spur I tried the jacket and what do-ya-know the jacket still fit too! So what if he looks like a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman!

"I don't want to look like a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman!!!!"