in a perfect world of yancies: February 2014

23 February 2014

Take Two

Birthday Cupcake
Great time celebrating Franklin the other day! Thanks to everyone for coming! And thanks to Jen and Wendy for the great photos!

Two!
He loved the cupcake. Waiting to eat it while we tried singing Happy Birthday? Not so much... :)

Great gifts too!
Opening Wendy & Roman's Gift

With the Ferry Boat

Yes this train set has 47 pieces, but at least they're all pretty solid, and at least it's under 50!
With the Train Bridge

Pretty awesome that he has favorite library books, and that he made this face when he realized that he now owns his own copy of one:
Dinosaur Dig!
Okay, due to the intricacies of national and international shipping, the gifts are still rolling in (might have to rent closet space from the neighbors!), so don't be surprised if there's more soon!

17 February 2014

Huzzah for My Favorite Big Kid!

Here we are already, with a two-year-old in the house! Had a small gathering in his honor today, but I don't have any photos quite yet...

In the meantime, I've been enjoying thinking back on the last couple of wonderful years. Here's a little glimpse:


In other news, here's how our big kid sounds lately:



Happy Birthday, Franklin!

10 February 2014

Snow Play Area

Great weekend at Mt. Rainier! Amazing to live so close to such amazing sights!
Mt. Rainier!

Got off to a strong start on Friday where we served Franklin some hot cocoa in these great cups in our cabin at Stone Creek Lodge:
Hot Cocoa?

Will he like it?
Hot Cocoa!
Yes indeed!

Still haven't talked Franklin into sleeping late on weekends, but at least we had this view to greet us in the early morning:
Cabin View

Not sure if it was the cold or the excitement of travel, but he sure worked up an appetite:
More Pancakes Please!
Finished the whole kids' pancake breakfast at the National Park Inn... and then demanded some of "dad's pancakes please!" :)

(Ha! I just realized that website has the menus: feel free to print out the kids' breakfast menu and reenact the morning—just be sure you have plenty pancakes on hand!)

After we (finally!) finished eating, we drove on up the mountain. Pretty snowy and icy this time of year, though, and given the winter weather rules at the park, we first picked up a set of tire chains (!). Not sure if I'm more proud of us for getting them on the car so easily, or more amazed that it took us seven years in Washington state before we actually had to do that!

Pretty chilly up at Paradise (the car's thermometer said 19ºF!), so we didn't do much other than take the picture up top, watch a couple of runs on the sledding hill, grab a quick snack, and run around the gift shop.

Okay, just to be clear, it was really Franklin's idea to _run_ in the gift shop. But I have to hand it to him: even at that speed, we made some good finds, including an adorable stuffed marmot. Emily's been looking for something like that for years; so glad we finally spotted one!

Anyway, a great day for more cocoa by the fire!
Snack by the Fire
What I like best about this photo is the look on Emily's face as she watches to see if Franklin is actually going to dip the basketball toy Madhu gave him (thanks again!) into his cocoa...

I definitely can't match the exterior cabin photos I posted the other day, but here's my attempt:
Cabin Window

The woman who runs Stone Creek Lodge was great, and even lent us a sled to pull Franklin on. Took him a minute to get used to it, but eventually he was giggling and saying "again! again!" Awesome. No photos, alas, but we did get a couple of videos of him with snowballs:


This one is too dark to see much, but I love how it sounds:


And then of course more warming up by the fire:
Fireplace Roar!
Roar!

One more breakfast at the National Park Inn, and then we went outside for some fun:
National Park Inn, Mt. Rainier

It's just under a mile, and pretty tame, but the Trail of the Shadows seemed like the perfect short snowy hike:
Trail of the Shadows

On the Trail of the Shadows

All right, well, looks like it's Monday again...
Trail of the Shadows Forest
Thanks for an awesome weekend, Emily and Franklin!

07 February 2014

After a Good Week,
On to a Great Weekend!

The last time we went to Mt. Rainier, Franklin was still inside of Emily. Seems like it's about time to let him see the place for himself!

(Not my photo (thanks Stone Creek Lodge!), but it sure is pretty!)

Been quite a week. Franklin sure loved watching those Seahawks! And the victory cupcake from Jen and Madhu:


You probably saw this already, but here he is getting ready for kickoff:


Please also feel free to enjoy the hilarious and charming New York Times write-up about the giant celebration on Wednesday. (No, we weren't there; just read about it afterwards...)

Totally off topic (there's a topic here???), but we've had less time for cooking lately, but this is a recent standout recipe:

Pasta with Parsnips and Bacon. Yummy!

Okay, meanwhile, we've got to go pack the car!

See you soon, reader!