Family and Friends

By far the highlight of any trip home is the time we get to spend with friends and family. The difficult part is that it's a delicate balancing act--trying to fit everyone in and trying to feel like we got good quality time with them. It's even more important and fun now that Ethan is older and most of our close friends have kids, too. One evening we stopped by to visit our friends, Rich and Allisha and their son, Skyler. I've known both Rich and Allisha longer than I've known Tristan and we spent a lot of time together while Tristan and I and Rich and Allisha were dating. It's fun to have kids close to the same age and to get to spend time together.

Enjoying his accomplishment of making it to the top of the hill
After being tickled by Tristan all evening, the boys decided to gang up on Tristan and get him back!!

Skyler was so sweet! He kept giving Ethan hugs, which as you can see, Ethan didn't really know how to react to it. It was fun to watch him play with his older friends and see what we can look forward to as he grows up!

Ethan LOVED rolling down the hill with his dad!
Watching the airplanes

Rich showing us how to play baby polo...I know you can't really tell in this picture, but Skyler was CRACKING up. I promise you, he was not being tortured!

Have I mentioned yet how very much we appreciated having a house to stay at with lots of space and great baby stuff? Thanks again Tom and Julie!!! It was nice that sometimes we could ask people to come to us instead of traveling to see them! Ethan loved being outside, especially with his Grandpa Walker!

Grandma Bernard had a birthday present she had saved for Ethan to open and play with while we were there visiting. He seemed like he would have been content with just the ribbon! Too bad it was attached!
Starting to figure out this unwrapping thing...

Trying out his new ride with Grandma

He's not having fun at all... ;)
Checking out all the bells and whistles

Playing with Aunt Tennille
This is Tristan...well, being Tristan! I love seeing him around his family because he is usually at his finest. Although I can't blame him for this--Desiree's peach cobbler was super yummy!
We cherished every minute that we had to spend with our family and friends while we were home in Washington. It was fun to see Ethan interact with those we love and miss so dearly. Another visit to see all of the special people in Washington can't come soon enough!

Puyallup Fair (Part II) and a Trip to Tolmie State Park

So I thought I had finished posting about the Puyallup Fair, but apparently the pictures downloaded from the camera funny and there is more! After a quick lunch, we hit up the petting zoo. I was excited to see how Ethan did with free-roaming animals. It was a long line, but it moved pretty quickly. While we held the spot in line, Ethan checked out some of the other sights like the baby chicks!

Petting the goat while watching the other animals...he tried really hard to multi-task!

After all that time out at the Boyer's home on the other side of the fence, he FINALLY got to get up close and personal with a sheep! This one was named Oatmeal, and he was really hairy...he kind of had the sheep version of an afro. He was super soft and sweet!

Petting 5 week old bunnies
I brought a stroller with us to the fair, but Ethan really didn't want to be in it. He was much happier roaming free, which made me panic a little--the crowds were rather large and it was very busy. Fortunately he had Grandpa Walker as his shadow and Grandma Walker and Bernard as back up! He did great and LOVED everything that was going on around him!

Ethan was fascinated by the rides. He especially liked the kiddie roller coaster and loved watching it pass by over and over again. He was a little too short this year, but maybe next year!

Having fun at the fair! (This was before we waited in line for scones for 2 hours--and yes, they are THAT good!)

After the fair we decided to stop by Kelly and Justin's and give the boys some play time (and deliver some scones!). Anderson and Ethan had a great time playing with all of Anderson's fun toys. While we were home Ethan really discovered his love for riding on things. He loved this little car that Anderson had (he also really liked Maddy!).

Two little boys ready for bed!
Story time on the iPod Touch with Tristan

After a fun start to our second weekend in Washington by going to the fair, we continued the fun with a trip out to Tolmie State Park for Ethan's first trip to the beach. It wasn't as warm as we were hoping it would be while we were there, but we decided to bundle up and do it anyway! Grandma Bernard had all sorts of fun beach toys to take with us. He wasn't sure what to do with the shovel at first, but luckily Grandma Bernard showed him how to use it.

Checking out the rocks on the beach...he kept trying to put them in his mouth at the beginning.

Ethan was not a fan of walking barefoot on the beach, although, I don't really enjoy walking in my bare feet on seaweed either, so I don't blame him!

Learning about the beach from Dad

Tristan, Ethan, Aunt Desiree and Grandma Bernard relaxing on the beach

While the weather wasn't what we expected from Washington in September, it was still nice to be in cooler weather and get a chance to introduce Ethan to the great outdoors! We sure enjoyed the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

More from Our Trip to Washington--Time with Grandparents

Ethan loved being home and spending time with his grandparents. It was nice to be able to get together with both sets of grandparents at the same time and all spend time together. There is so much to do in Washington that, as usual, we had time fitting it all in! This year we ended up being there during the Puyallup Fair (the big fair in Western Washington). We decided to go on the first day when they were doing free admission if you brought a canned food donation. We met my mom and dad for breakfast that morning at IHOP. Ethan had a great time walking around the restaurant making friends and just being silly in general!

After breakfast, we met up with Grandma Bernard and headed up to the fair. We had a great time at the fair! We decided to take him to see the little piggies (Grandma Bernard's favorite).

Getting a better view from Grandpa Walker

"Wow!"
Taking it all in

We were so excited that our friends Tom and Julie allowed us to house sit for them for the first few weeks of our visit. It was nice to have space to stretch out and call home. They have a large piece of property with animals and lots of toys and baby gadgets (since they watch their grandchildren during the week). It was a perfect fit!

We decided to host a dinner for both of our parents one night so we could all get together again and play! There's that car again!

Running around
Tom has a herd of sheep right now and Ethan loved going out to visit them.

Aunt Desiree making friends with Dhali the llama

Getting in some play time outside was one of his favorite things to do. He would seriously throw temper tantrums when we would bring him inside...guess he is an outdoorsy person just like his daddy!

"Helloooooooooooo!" It was so nice that there were lots of fun toys to play with out at the house.
Getting caught by Grandma Walker
Playing with Grandma Bernard
Even Mom got a turn to play with him!

This was really the first time that he ate lasagna/spaghetti...it's kind of a tradition in our family to take a picture of that moment. He wasn't nearly as messy as me or any of my brothers were in our pictures, but we still took it!

Even with all of the wonderful toys there were to play with, Ethan LOVED the stairs. Between the stairs at Tom and Julie's and the stairs at Grandma Bernard's, he even learned to climb downstairs, too! He is learning all sorts of new tricks these days.
Ethan loved exploring the HUGE backyard...I was really worried about how he would adjust to coming back to Louisiana where it's too hot to be outside all of the time.

Because it's so stinkin' hot in Louisiana he doesn't really play in the dirt much. He wasn't sure about having that stuff all over his hands! Someday I'm sure we'll look back on it and laugh--he is a little boy after all!
We are so thankful for the generosity of the friends in our lives! It was nice to have a place to call our own and pretend that we live in Washington for a few weeks!