Saying Goodbye to Burke Ave N

Our neighbors Julie and Nate had a farewell party for us at their house on Saturday night. Julie and Nate have a 5 month old son, Grant, who is the proud owner of Quinn's hand-me-downs. Also in attendance were our neighbors Anne and Ansgar and their 5 month old daughter Viviene; and Tiffin and Jason and their 15 month old son Elan. They have all been such nice neighbors.

Here are the kids Quinn, Grant (in one of Q's outfits), Viviene, and Elan. The babies were making a little noise in the picture and the big boys were checking them out.

What cuties!

Quinn has Sushi!

OK, no fish but an avocado roll and some miso soup. And he really enjoyed it. We found a place in the funky little Fremont neigborhood that had lots of great vegetarian sushi rolls. We're trying to get out and about and enjoy our last days here.

Here's Q hamming it up!

















And his avocado roll.
















And one last picture of Mr. Cutie-Pie...

Saying Goodbye to my Mom Friends :(

Last week my mom's group had a farewell playdate for Quinn and I at a local community center. I met alot of the mom's in this group in my first couple of weeks in Seattle so Quinn has known these kids since he was about 5 -6 months old. The kids are all a similar age so we got to see them start to crawl, take their first steps, celebrate first birthdays, etc. This great group of moms and kids will be one thing I will miss most in Seattle.

Here's Quinn having fun in the playhouse.

And here's Quinn with his buddy Kieran. The push lawnmower's are a favorite for Quinn and his buddies.

Here's Quinn doing a little work on the lawnmower.

And Shosonna and Spinoza reading a book.

A great day in Seattle

On Sunday we had our first sunny, beautiful day in Seattle in quite some time so we were out enjoying the sunshine. We also had an open house so we needed to vacate the house. The good news is that we had quite a bit of traffic through the house. In fact so much traffic that our agents asked if she could keep the open house open later than originally scheduled. So, hopefully a good sign of things to come.

I took my first stab at putting together a video montage of our day out. It's about 5 minutes so sit back and enjoy!

In the Wading Pool

Here's some fun video of Quinn walking around the Wading Pool. It's nice and open with lots of sticks and things to check out. He was having a great time!

Peek-a-Boo

Quinn and I made our afternoon walk down by the lake yesterday and the sun was actually out :) Quinn learned how to throw pebbles, and whatever else, in to the water to make a splash. Here we are playing peek-a-boo around a tree.

Quinn was throwing pebbles and sticks in to the water which was attracting the ducks. They came flying in from all over the lake. Here are a couple of ducks making a bold move for some "food".

At the Aquarium

On Thursday we met our buddies Stella and Kira at the Aquarium (for our first visit). Thursday was a special Toddler's Day so they had lots of activities for the young ones. We had a great time checking out the Toddler's Activity Room with stuffed aquatic animals, lots of books, and quite a bit of other stuff to get in to. Quinn was mesmerized by the tunnel of jellyfish. There were lights behind the glass so you got to see right through the jelly fish. And of course we had lots of fun getting our hands in the water and touching the seastars and anenomes.

Here's a not so great picture of Quinn and Kira having some fun in front of the Windows on Washington Waters. It's a huge tank with all local sealife and they pump in water from the Puget Sound. And actually, the water is about as clear as this picture :)

We hung around for a special toddler's dive show in the Washington Waters exhibit. Here's Quinn and I with the diver in the background.

Down by the Lake

We had a broker's open at the house on Tuesday so Quinn and I headed down to the lake. He fell asleep about half way around so I ended up walking around the lake 2 times so Quinn could get in a decent nap. We just got him this fleecey lumberjack bunting/bodysuit to help keep him warm when we're out and about. The hands and feet have flaps that fold over to keep him nice and toasty. Here he is hanging out by the lake.

And he thinks it's pretty fun to get his hands in to everything when he has mittens on!

Wear 'em Out

Quinn and I hung out with the 80's Ladies the other day at a local community center. It's a big gym/basketball court that they load with toys, walkers, tricycles, bouncy houses, etc, etc. Quinn had a great time pushing all the walkers around and checking out the other kids.

He especially loved this push lawn mower.

This isn't a great picture of Quinn but you can get a sense of the mayhem.

Play Dough Print

Today Quinn had his first fun with Play Dough. The smell took me back about 40 years. He had some fun squishing it and making a mess. Here's a piece of Q-Art that he created.

London Bridges

Here are a couple of videos of Quinn pushing his walker around and finding out that there are a couple of obstacles in the house.

And here's another one. I'm holding the camera upside down, hence the awkward angle at times.

Poker Chips

One of Quinn's favorite toys is a shoe box with a slot cut on top filled with poker chips. The chips make great noise when he puts his hand in there and mixes them up. He loves to put the chips through the slot. Here are bunch of pics of Q having some fun today

The Walker

Quinn's main choice of transportation these days is walking. He rarely crawls anymore. He has alot more confidence in his walking and if he plops on his butt he will get right back up on his two feet and start walking again. Here's a video of him chasing me around the house and playing peek-a-boo on the corners.

And here's a short little one of Quinn walking down by the lake. It was a pretty chilly day but we had a showing and needed to get out of the house. So, we got out and got some fresh air. At the end you can see Q's red little nose.

My Kitchen Helper

Quinn and I made some Oatmeal cookies today for our bedtime snack. I measured out all the ingredients and Quinn helped turn the mixer on and off and on and off and on and off.... The cookies turned out great and I think Quinn enjoyed his first cooking experience with his chef mom.

While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Quinn was rustling through the drawers and looking for hidden treasures. He was spending a bit of time over near the trash can and I glanced over and he was trying to get a large lid to a pot in the trash can. Well, I guess he had been at it a while because I found another lid, a ladle, a box of sugar, and a jar of Nutella (ahhhh!) in the trash. It is pretty amazing where I find stuff these days.

(And needless to say I'm still having formatting problems that I can't seem to fix. Ughhh!)

Children's Museum

Today my friend Jesse and her son Kieran treated Quinn and I to some fun at Seattle's Childrens Museum. There was lots of stuff to do for kids of all ages. I can't believe I'm just now finding out about this great place.

We started off in the toddler room where there was a water table which kept the boys occupied for quite some time. They were having so much fun -- Quinn was busy splashing everyone and Kieran was taking boat loads of water and pouring it everwhere! Fun, fun!

And here's Quinn having some fun on the soft play structures.

Then we headed off to the big kids room where the current theme was Mr. Potato Head in Space :) Kieran found this great truck to drive and Quinn hopped on board for the ride. Quinn's talking in to the CB radio while Kieran says 10-4 buddy.

Oh, how Q loves the Camera

It can be difficult to get pictures of TMQ these days because he just wants to get his hands on that darned camera. Here's a really cute picture of him with his finger on the lens.

A Year Ago

Some of my favorite pictures of Quinn were taken a year ago on New Year's Day. We thought we would try and recreate some of the pics, but our little one doesn't lay quite as still as he used to :0)

Here he is in January 2008. He was just shy of 3 months old.

Don took these great pictures of Quinn and I on New Year's Day last year.

And here we are a couple of days ago. This is what most of them looked like ;)

But here are a couple of good ones. (I have on the same shirt and Q has on the same diaper so don't get confused by our outifits.)

The Olympic Sculpture Park

Don had not yet been to the Sculpture Park so we made a visit there today. It was a little bit chilly down by the water but good to get out and get some fresh air. Quinn was having a great time pushing his stroller around. We got him a new pair of shoes to keep his feel dry and warm on these cold days. He is crying in these pictures because we took him away from pushing the stroller :(

Playtime

Here are some cute pics of Quinn playing outside in his little orange jacket. We have had some difficult nights lately so I'm trying to get him outside every day to play and walk around to burn some energy and get fresh air. (These pics are from my phone so not the best quality.)

In this picture we were on our driveway pushing the little red wagon around.

Down at the Greenlake playground going down the slide.

At the Lake

Quinn and I took a walk by the lake yesterday afternoon. I put him on my back to get down to the lake and then he walks around once we get there. He enjoyed picking up sticks, rocks, pine cones, etc. He was also having a good time checking out the kids on razor scooter, dogs walking by, and the ducks in the lake. Quinn was gettting lots of admiring looks as he toddled along ;)

Here he is at just about sunset. (These pics are from my phone so not the best image quality.) You can see the Seattle skyline to the left of him.

A great picture of Greenlake at Sunset. Again, you can get a glimpse of the skyline in the center of the pic.