It's fun to be Max!

Max, Uncle Brian, and I went to River Front Park in Spokane last weekend and had a total blast! We were trying to keep Max out of Tommy's hair so he can work on building his play set in the back yard. Brian was nice enough to help me entertain Max.

Mostly it was a great day. Max did have a little issue with barf in in Uncle Brian's car. Yikes. So we pulled off to the side of the road. I stripped down Max, cleaned him up and gave him fresh clothes. While Brian had the yucky job of cleaning out the car seat. What a great uncle!

We walked around River Front Park and looked at the pretty rivers, saw the neat train, and took a ride on the carousel. Max really liked that and probably would have stayed on it for hours if we let him. We followed up with a trip to the new Apple store and various retail therapy... and Chinese food from PF Chang's! It was a great day. Thanks Uncle Brian for sharing is a special time.

I know we just spoke of how much Max likes to water ... but look at the joy on this boy's face! We can get an hour of "free" time if we just turn on the hose and give it to Max. I'm not quite sure what we'll do this winter to keep him occupied.

This is the look he gets on his face just when he's about to water Mama!

Sunflowers from the garden.

Green Thumb

Daddy makes sure Max gives all the plants a good drink.


Max loves to do anything that daddy does! So, without question, one of Max’s favorite things to do is work in the garden. He LOVES to water; as Mema would say, “water bug”. Tommy has done a wonderful job with a beautiful garden in our yard. He’s grown strawberries, several types of lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, chard, and various flowers, etc. Let it be knows, that mama complains about the garden a lot because it’s taken a lot of precious time, but the results are truly amazing. Tommy (and Max) have a lot to be proud of.

These are just a couple of pics to show Max doing one of his favorite activities and Tommy’s green thumb. The great thing is, we can give Max a hose with dribbling water, and he’s good to go for an hour. LOL





Here is an off topic video ... Max daning to "They Must Be Giants"... sooo cute!

Summer Vacation - Take 3! Seattle!

We had the final installment of summer vacation; we went to Seattle to see the Ranalli family. What a blast we had on our short visit! We did a 6 hour car ride from Sandpoint to Seattle and Max was an absolute champ! He did very well on his first big road trip. He did have one minor incident where he barfed all over the car about 20 minutes from our destination. But, us pulling over to clean up kept us from being caught up in an accident that wasn't too far up the road. God works in mysterious ways.

We went to the Woodland Park Zoo and it was the best day ever! It was a little overcast and cool, but that made all the animals out for our visit. Max and Nicholas were two little peas in a pod and it was so much for to see the zoo through their eyes. It was also heartwarming to see these two little guys get used to each other and play. Just darling!


Nicholas and Max ... bosom buddies.


Nicholas and Max check out the kimono dragon. This was super cool and very impressive ... for the parents too.


The best way to travel? On Daddy's shoulders of coarse!


Nicholas investigating the bear cave ... Max is going to make sure Nicholas is safe before he goes in too.


Look at this darling face! I think Nicholas was just about to tell Daddy it was OK for him to explore the bear cave ... even though Daddy had reservations.



It was really fun to watch Nicholas and Max RUN through the zoo! They were both so excited and just took turns chasing each other ... The Daddies are not far behind!



The Rowell and Ranalli family. Great Friends!



Mama and Max checking out the elephant. Max was so happy to see all these animals in real life! I already can't wait to go back.


Darling Christian! He is the most perfect baby ever. He's smiling all the time and had a great disposition. I forgot he was there sometimes he was so good. And look at those big blue eyes! He looks just like his pretty mama.


Nicholas and Max getting ready to ride the carousel.

Max was kind of freaked out on his first carousel ride, partially because some guy stepped on his fingers right before the ride. He cried when we rode by and waved at Daddy, but then wanted more once the ride was over.

We went to this great Castle Park near the Ranalli home; the boys had all kinds of fun running around. There were also great black berry bushes to pick berries from along the way.

Nicholas is a master balancer!

Max loves to slide!

Super Mom Kelly can do it ALL! Truly, the most amazing Mom!

Max and Nicholas both have a great love for Thomas the Train. This is them watching their favorite show together.

Kelly and Chris .... we had an amazing weekend! Thank you so much for your hospitality ... and Nicholas for being so generous, sharing his toys with Max. This was the best weekend in a long time! I can't wait to do it again! Love you!!

Summer Vacation - Take 2!

Tommy's sister, Cindy and the rest of the Govett family came to Sandpoint to visit for a few days. Max so loved having his cousins, Abbey and Chase, here to play with. Max instantly looked up to Chase when he realized he can ride the skateboard. They took turns, Chase on the skateboard, Max running his truck, up and down the walk way.

Chase was so sweet with Max; he went out of his way to get down to the little guy's level. Max just loved having a dude to look up to.

Chase and Abbey got Max in the lake! They did a great job of collecting rocks for Max to throw in the water. I don't think Max really cared what they were doing, as long as they were together.

Abbey helping Max navigate the lake.

Max and Abbey had a fun time playing with blocks in his room. They also had some mad tent/tunnel time and of coarse, snack time.

Grapes, strawberries and cheese .... Max likes to feed Abbey. Awe....

Max's adoration for Abbey is very apparent. He watched this video of the two of them about 50 times in a row!

photography by Abbey!

Two hot mama's ... that's why we hit the shade. :)

It was GREAT to see everyone! Max is still asking for , "Aaaace?" and "Abbeeeey?" Soooo darling, I just wish we all were closer together so we could enjoy the company more often.

Summer vacation ... take one!

Just finished a great week's stacation! It was wonderful to have time off and not be traveling anywhere. We live in such a beautiful place, why leave? Especially during the brief summer.
Grandpops Bobby came to visit us for a few days; we were thrilled to have him join us. Max was a little shy at first. The great thing about Max is, if he closes his eyes, the situation just doesn't exist and he hides in his little "Max world" until it's safe to comeout. Needless to say, it didn't take Max long to warm up to Grandpops.



Grandpops spoiled Max with a huge bag filled with terrific books! There was so much loot that we couldn't give it to him all at one time. He also got some cool planes, a back pack, a jack in the box (which was a little scary for a few days) and a retro top! That was a huge hit! Max loves to watch things spin so tha was an instant winner. It was hard to tell who got more enjoyment out of the presents, Max or Grandpops. They both were tickled pink, very darling to watch them together.



Mostly we bored Grandpops with our small town family fun stuff: running trucks up and down the walk way, goig to little kids birthday parties, swim classes, etc. We did some local sight seeing, like the Kootanea Wild Animal Refuge ... we saw a squirrell. That kind of stuff. But the weather was perfect, Tommy made us food that was outstanding, and the company could not have been any better.



All in all, it was awesome to have Grandpops visit and a few extra days off. I can't believe the week is over so quickly! Next on the vacation agenda: A visit from Grandpa from Corpus and the Govette family. Then, off to Seattle to see the Ranallis! Let summer begin ... finally!

Independence Day!

Independence day came a day early in Sandpoint. We signed up to walk the parade with a bunch of other Creekers. Great fun for sure, but went by very quickly! I think it lasted, maybe 15 minutes. Just about the time Max was starting to get excited about it, it was over. We realized after that it was the kiddie parade the not the "big" parade.

Ollie (the dog), Ami, Hadli, Mama, Max, Val, Matt, Dallen & Chase, Necole, Chandra and Casey.

Uncle Brian got roped in for another parade! :)

We were excited to see Jennifer and Chloe back from vacation; Max missed his buddy. They were running just a few minutes late and missed the big hurrah!

Max and his VBFF, Chloe! It's so much fun to watch these two play and grow up together. They've been friends since they were about 6 months old. Nothing makes Max happier than being with Chloe.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

PLANES .....


Max is 100% boy and loves planes, trains and automobiles. This past weekend, our friend Robert, took us to check out his plane. It was super cool; Max dug it a lot. He got a little freaked out when Robert went to put him in the plane … I think it was because Mama was out of sight for 4 seconds. We didn’t go up flying… this time. But did have great fun putting our arms out and pretending we were airplanes and “flying” around Robert’s hanger.



TRAINS....



Yesterday, we took our first train ride. Our little town did a free train ride promoting train safety, etc. We went with some friends and really had a blast. Max was sooo excited about the train. He kept making Uncle Brian go look down the tracks with him as we waited for the train to come. He loved looking out the window, pointing out trees and cows while making his “wooo-hooo” train sounds. It was really lots of fun!







Automobiles .... see post below on playing in Mama's car. :)