Birchwood Dairy

It may seem a little funny to be posting pictures from the summer but I never got around to posting these and I'm wishing for summer days. Especially considering the depressing weather forecast for the next 2 weeks.

We hadn't taken the kids to Birchwood Dairy previously but had heard from people that it's a fun place for kids so off we went. Kyra really enjoyed getting her own ice cream cone and took it pretty seriously when I asked her what flavor she wanted. She ended up choosing chocolate(she's a girl after my own heart). Jayce got stuck with his cheerios and raisins but he enjoyed them:) It was especially fun being able to go on an outing with daddy.

Eagerly waiting for her ice cream

Mmm . . that first bite is so good.

Mommy, it's all over my face!

It's okay, I got it.

Showing off our ice cream choices.

Mmm, mmm good.

Down to the last drop.

Jayce with his cheerios and raisins.

What a cutie!

Swing time

"Look mommy! It's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!" That's one of Kyra's favorite movies so we of course had to take a picture.

Checking out the animals. Kyra was not impressed that the donkey was so close to her.

Really, really not impressed.

It's a must to try out the tractors. I love Jayce's face in this picture.

The following pictures are what happened when I tried to take a picture Kyra & Jayce together.

It makes me laugh looking at them. Just a few pictures of some of the truer moments in life:) See you tomorrow!

Aquarium

And we're off.

The aquarium surprised when we first saw it. It doesn't look like much from the outside and it's not very big. At least not compared to the one here. I honestly didn't believe that's what it was at first but once inside we had lots of fun. We went to the aquarium in the afternoon, after SFM/EMP so Jayce is napping which is why you don't see him in the first part of the pictures.

The first thing you see when you walk into the aquarium is a huge wall of fish. Kyra could have stayed there for a lot longer looking at all those fish and people watching.

Helping Kyra to touch a starfish. I don't think she actually did it, but she came pretty close.

Funny picture with daddy

A whole lot of starfish plus an anemone. They had 2 different pools with different sea creatures in them and you could even feed the anemone's for free. It was pretty interesting to watch them eat.

There was an interesting ring display that had jellyfish floating through it. I was trying to get a shot that showed the jellyfish more detailed and this was the best I could do.

The ring display changed colors as the jellyfish floated around and these are few of the shots I got.

Kyra checking out the jellyfish. One of her favorite displays. She would weave her way through complete strangers to get to her coveted spot. And yes, that is a snowman she's wearing around her neck. She found him in the van and wanted to bring him inside since we forgot her baby.

They had some more hands-on activities for the kids and Kyra definitely enjoyed dressing up like a diver.

A little more costume pieces.

Kyra had to be patient and wait her turn for these flippers so once she got to put them on we had to take a picture:)

More fun for Kyra.

Another fun picture with daddy

Beauty of the sea

I have always had a fascination with seahorses, not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's the male who carries the babies until they're born.

A real octopus

Seals playing

Kyra having fun with posing:)

Kyra's mad photography skills

These pictures were taken in the underwater dome. The animals were swimming all around you, even above your head. Another place that Kyra could have spent a lot of time in.

Kyra checking out the fish

Lots and lots and lots of fish

I can't remember the names of these animals but they were interesting to watch as they dove into the water and swam super-fast.

This is where Jayce finally woke up and after getting over his disorientation, he was excited to see all the animals.

Sea otter

Unfortunately the camera batteries died so there are more exhibits we saw after this but have no pictures. The kids had lots of fun though and I really would like to take them to our aquarium here.

Family

Just a small post tonight to say that I appreciate my family. I love our Tuesday night dinners, I love the chances to hang out with my siblings & parents, I love seeing the cousins playing together. Family is so important and I am incredibly blessed to have such wonderful family surrounding me. I love that Kyra and Jayce have such a great relationship with their Nana and Oma. I love being part of a big family. I love telling people I'm the oldest of 5 kids and seeing some of the funny reactions I get:) It's so much fun to look around the table and see/hear all of us laughing at something funny my brother just said/did or something the kids said. It's great to know that I'm supported through the good times and the bad. To any of my family that reads this, I love you all and I'm so blessed to have you in my life.

Surprise in Seattle

At least it was a surprise to me to find this restaurant

in the states. I always thought the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurants were a Canadian chain. Who knew they have about 40-50 in the states! I was quite excited to find it on our way to the Aquarium and the kids were just happy to finally be able to eat lunch.

See?

That was a fun and delicious lunch although Jayce made quite a mess on the floor with his mac & cheese. He wasn't as skilled eating by himself then, as he is now. That's what I should have taken a picture of:P Next stop - the Aquarium! Which was a surprise in and of itself . . .

SFM/EMP

Going back to Seattle again:) On Monday we decided to go tour the Science Fiction Museum and the Experience Music Project. They're both housed in the same building and I thought the Experience Music Project would be fun for the kids with hands-on stuff to enjoy. Boy was I ever wrong. The Experience Music Project is definitely not a place for kids. It's not even something that all adults would enjoy. You definitely have to know your guitars and know your music to really be able to enjoy that place. They had a whole wing dedicated to Jimi Hendrix and another wing all about different guitars and how they've evolved over the years. Kind of a cool exhibit but we got out of there pretty quickly since everything was behind glass and what wasn't said Do Not Touch everywhere. Definitely not a place for kids.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the Science Fiction Museum after touring the EMP and was again disappointed. It's definitely fun for adults who are into science fiction but again, not a great place for kids. We did manage to sneak in a few pictures there(you're not supposed to) since Eric and I both enjoy certain aspects of science fiction but we didn't stay too long.

R2-D2

Stormship Trooper

This picture I took for my dad. It's Captain Kirk's original chair from the first years of Star Trek. I have fond memories of watching Star Trek with my dad when I was a kid.

The outside of the building was very architecturaly interesting.

A picture to prove that the kids were in fact with us:)

Asthma

The last 2 days I actually hate asthma. Its not as if I was ever excited about my kids having asthma. I never celebrated the fact that both my kids have to deal with all the medicines and sickness and coughing that comes with asthma. But I never hated it. It was just something I dealt with. Until yesterday. Kyra has been coughing so much lately and the last 2 days it's gotten to the point where she coughs and coughs until she dry heaves and then coughs some more. Almost to the point where she can't breath. Yesterday was the first day in a long time where I had to give her an extra dose of her emergency inhaler. It all came about so innocently too.

After I picked Kyra up from preschool yesterday it was nice enough out that I decided to take the kids to the park for a bit. They had a blast swinging, running in the leaves and playing on the merry-go-round. After a bit Kyra told me that she was ready to go home. A little odd coming from her since she usually doesn't want to leave so maybe it should have tipped me off that something was wrong. We ran into someone we knew so we ended up being there for a couple minutes longer. Once we finally got the van that's when the attack hit. Kyra coughed and coughed so much and so hard, I was honestly scared. I gave her some water to drink hoping to help calm it down a bit. It worked for a second and then the coughing started again. I drove home pretty quickly and had to stick her on the nebulyzer right away. Not a good feeling. After that Kyra told me doesn't like going to parks anymore. That's when I hated it. This disease, this unseen thing that attacks my daughter's lungs has now made her dislike one of her favorites things in the entire world? It happened again today. I took the kids to the park again this morning seeing as how it was so beautiful out and actually felt warm. She had another attack while we were at the park. Not as long this time but still not fun. She stuck it out this time and ended up having a great time again but it's so hard for me to watch her go through this. She comes and cuddles up to me with tears in her eyes saying "mommy, I don't feel good. Mommy, it hurts". How I wish I could make it go away. How I wish I could stop the pain I see in her eyes. All I can do is hold her until the attack goes away. All I can do is pray for the attack to end quickly.

It makes me wonder how this winter's going to go. I've never put restrictions on Kyra just because she has asthma. That changed this year. I've already cancelled her swimming lessons for this fall because everytime we take the kids swimming, they get sick. The actual act of swimming is good for them but the air in the pools and all the chemicals makes their asthma worse. Now it seems, to avoid these attacks, I'm supposed to keep Kyra inside? That will make it a very long winter for all of us and honestly, that's not good for them either. For now I'll make sure her inhaler is close by and continue to pray that God protects her and Jayce through another winter. For now I'll continue to hold her while she coughs and give her the support she needs. For now I'll love her and hate this disease.

More from Seattle

This is the sight that greeted us after the day we spent at the zoo. Apparently we tired them both out.

This video makes Eric and I laugh each time we watch it.

Beautiful sunset.

We went to Red Robin's for dinner that night and the kids were each given balloons after dinner. Unfortunately Kyra's flew up to the ceiling before we left but they were kind enough to give her another one. Here she is having fun with her balloon while we went for a walk. Notice how tightly she's holding on to it:)

To make the day even longer, we decided to go up the Space Needle again at night. Unfortunately we didn't have the tripod with us so the shots at the top didn't turn out well but here is another from the ground looking up.

Baby Giraffe

Today I decided to take the kids to the zoo because I had read that mama giraffe(can't remember her name right now) had a new baby. Kyra was quite excited once she heard that and has been talking about the new giraffe at the zoo since I told her. Unfortunately our trip was cut a little short due to the rain deciding to come down, but we had fun while we were there.

Here she is in all her cuteness. Not the best quality of picture, I know, but she's not allowed to be outside yet so I had to get this through the glass. It actually turned out pretty good considering what I had to do to get this shot. She's un-named as of yet but was born at 6 feet tall weighing 127 lbs. Yikes!

Of course we had to go check on the other giraffes while we were there. Aside from the animals in the Vivarium, I think the giraffes are Kyra's favorite animals. This picture is of big brother and he was quite friendly today. It actually looked like he was happy to see us:)
Before the rain came we managed to see the giraffes, spend some time in the Vivarium and have a chance to go down the snake slide. The Vivarium was completely empty of other people, so it was great to just let the kids wander around by themselves. Jayce was fascinated by the fish and the monkeys and Kyra really enjoys finding all the reptiles. Not sure where that love comes from:P We might head out to the zoo again a different day this week, depending on the weather, so that we can spend a longer time there. Kyra and Jayce love the zoo and we haven't been for a while. (On a side note, Kyra's reading "The Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and it's so cute. If our camera wasn't broken I would be taking a video right now). Our new one better come soon! Happy Nov. 2 to you all!