Reese the Artist

Reese took a few art classes this summer. The first was Young Artists Camp for 4-6 year olds.  He absolutely loved it. This bear was his final project.  They sketched it, then used sharpie to outline before painting it.  This school has samples around town of artwork with the artists photo.  The teacher took Reese's photo and color copied his bear to use for that purpose. His was the only one. So we're excited to see if we can find it.  There are some hanging at Reese's speech therapy office, but his isn't one of those. I may just have to call to see if I can found out where his is so Reese can see it. :)

Northwest Trek

 The last weekend of July we visited Northwest Trek.  Unfortunately it was the coldest day of the summer. You get on a tram that drives you through the park with a narrator tram driver, then there is a walk around part.

This moose was practically on the road. I could have literally reached out and touched him.

 There were a handful of bison babies.  The mama was absolutely gigantic. I wish there was something for size perspective.

 This cutie really enjoyed the tram ride, but it was hard to know if he was actually seeing a lot of the animals that weren't right in his face easy to see.

 I think these were elk, also really large animals.

 This guy was super cute!! A beaver specifically trained for special programs. She doesn't get to live with the other beavers anymore :( so she'll remain engaged with the humans. But apparently she is always given an option to perform or not and she seems to thrive on the attention.

 This bear seems super close but there is a huge fence between us.

 These cheese balls had a great time checking out all the animals.

 Though they frequently moaned about how tired their legs were.

 This beaver kept dive bombing the window and high fiving the boys. It was pretty hilarious.

Family portrait with the bear. I'm about 12 weeks along at this point.

Visiting the Aquarium

 One of Gus' birthday gifts was a membership to the Seattle Aquarium. Way back in late July we walked on the ferry and strolled down to the aquarium for our first time ever. 

The boys really liked the tide pool stuff and the octopus. They couldn't get enough of the Octopus photo ops.

 We may have spent more time on this section than anything else!

 But the conversation was focused on sharks. I was afraid we may actually experience the end of the world if this place did not produce a shark for viewing.  Luckily we found a few. I failed to snap a photo but in one of the other tanks like this shark one was a diver who played with the boys through the window for quite sometime.

 My favorites were the cute seals. The weather was so perfect we were actually able to enjoy the outside pools.

 We are looking forward to many more visits for the next year because both boys loved it and the walk on ferry option makes it an easy walk!  Who else can walk to their city's aquarium? :)

Birthday!

 Back on July 6 I turned 27!! Woo Hoo! No not really. Well, yes I did turn 27 on July 6th, but not in 2012.

 We went to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner.  Look I was still wearing regular clothes then. (aka NOT maternity) The boys generally fight over sitting next to Dad. Then they all squeeze in and I get lots of elbow room. But since it was my birthday Reese decided he could probably sit next to me.

 Gus tasted the lemons...several times.

He practiced posing for the camera too.