Island Parks

The boys and I headed over to Mercer Island today to play at one park they knew of well and one that we've never been to before.  Both were successful in hours of play time!  The first is what the boys call "The Dragon Park" - it's really called Deane's Children's Park.  We first went there last year on Spring Break and were excited to go back today!  It did not disappoint!

The next park we went to was Luther Burbank Park - right on Lake Washington.  I had heard about this park and hear it was a good place to take pictures, which is why I wanted to check it out.  I didn't think they had any play structures and I had warned the boys...well, I was wrong!  There went my plan of trying to take some pictures of the boys with a pretty background...they bolted for the playground!  And I don't blame them - way more fun!

These next two pictures crack me up.  Once Landon was on the zip line, he didn't need anymore help but Zane was worried that it would be too fast or be too big of a bump at the end for Landon, so he was insistent on running alongside and helping the entire time.  Thankfully Landon didn't care - because he is all about "doing it himself" these days, so that could've been a major meltdown - but he actually told Zane "thanks" after!  It was cute!

Landon's Room Make Over

You may remember back in August Zane and I made over his bedroom into a soccer themed room (per his requests).  In that same post - I said to stay tuned for Landon's room make over.  Here we are 6 mos later and his room is finally done!  Poor second child! Thankfully he could care less and didn't even realize his brother got a new room and he didn't!

Zane & Landon have been at their grandparents since Wednesday due to mid-winter break; so I thought this would be the perfect time to make over his room.  This way, it could be uninterupted and a surprise for when he gets back tonight.  I've talked about it for a couple weeks, but I don't think he gets what I mean - so it'll be fun to see his reaction tonight.  JoAnn if you're reading this - do not show Landon this blog post before I pick him up today :)

I had so much fun doing this!  I really wanted and needed to do this on a budget.  Other than a few pieces of wood - I didn't buy anything.  I made it all or re-purposed things we already had (frames etc).

Here is/was his room BEFORE:

Now without further a-do (no idea how to spell that or even if it's a word) - the AFTER:

I made the C car T truck photos on Photoshop and had them printed at Costco.  I also made the road L on Photoshop and had printed at Costco.  I framed all 3 photos in frames I already had around the house.  Then I glued cars onto the glass of the "L road" frame.  Hot glue would not keep the cars on, so I had to use a super glue type glue...this frame will have to be trashed after he's done with it, but that's ok - it has had many good years in our home and hopefully many more in his room! 

Thankfully my husband is a license plate hoarder!  He has TONS of them - and thankfully he shared them with me.  I knew I wanted to use some in Landon's room, but wasn't sure how without making a ton of holes in the wall.  So thanks to a little search on Google (Pinterest was no help actually this time) - I found the plans on how to make a little wooden frame (not pictured, forgot to take one) and then I screwed the plates ontot he frame and just hung the frame.  I went to Home Depot to get the wood and totally misread the labels - I was so mad.  I thought they were $.99 per board (it was like a molding type board) and so I cut them to the sizes I needed at the store with their handy saw - got up to pay for them and apparently, they were $.99/per linier foot - oops.  So my $2 project ended up being $25, dammit.  Oh well, live and learn.  I was having some trouble with this project and almost just gave up on it - then I remembered how much I paid for the wood and knew Josh would kill me when he found out - so I knew I couldn't admit defeat and had to persevere - so I did and I'm so glad I did.  In the end, I think it was worth the accidental $25 - you agree, right Josh?  Love you!!!

Josh got the poster in the frame at some car event he went too - I just cut it down a little and framed it with a frame we already had in the house - looks so much better than just a poster taped to the wall.  I'm not a fan of anything taped to the wall - so this made me happy!  Everything else on the dresser were things we already had around the house or garage!

I found something similar to this stop light on Pinterest, so decided to have my own take on it.  This was super easy and free!  I already had the canvas', so painted them black.  I already had the vinyl, so cut each color into a circle and stuck it onto the canvas and voila!

I'm so happy with this room - I may just have to sleep in it myself!

Museum of Flight

We headed to the Museum of Flight today and the boys had a blast!  I don't remember the last time I've been there, so it was pretty cool to check it out myself as well.  The boys' favorite parts were getting into the seats to pretend they were flying and then to walk through the old Air Force One!

And we couldn't let this gorgeous day get away from us without heading outside - we stopped at a new (to us) park not far from our house!  It had some pretty spectacular views - definitely one we'll be back to.

Dentist

The boys each had their 6 month cleanings today and both did wonderful.   I didn't get any pictures of Zane because he has decided he's too old to have his mom go back to his appointments with him now!  But when the dentist came out to talk to me after, she said he was just "darling" - I'll take her word for it, ha!

Landon of course still needs his ol' mom to tag along with him and I was happy to oblige!  He had his first x-ray done and did awesome!  The hygentist said that usually kids aren't cooperative and able to stand still long enough for it until 5 or 6, but they always try at 4 - he did wonderful - they were impressed; as was I!

Until their next cleaning...

Hearts Day

Josh had to work on Valentine's Day, so it was just me and my smallest Valentine's - we had a great day.

The boys woke up to little Valentine's and Zane made me an awesome Valentine!  Then they enjoyed some heart shaped meals - glad they don't mind the girly  hearts once a year!

Our weather has been exceptional lately and we took full advantage of it!  First we headed to downtown Snoqualmie to walk around and look at all of the cute little shops that we usually just drive right past without thinking twice about.

Then, I had found a screaming deal on soccer cleats for Landon the other night, so he was dying to try them out.  We headed to the park and the boys kicked the ball around for a bit, then headed over to the playground.

We took the trail through the woods home and then once home the boys played in the back alley with the neighbor kids - made swords and made forts in the woods!  After Josh got home, we enjoyed a nice dinner at home and called it a night!  A great Valentine's Day - a day with my two special little boys!