Trip to Seattle, Swimming, Visit from Jon Ditto

Two weeks ago we took a trip up to Seattle for Jane's blessing. We left from Portland Friday night and hung out until Sunday. On Saturday we all went to the "Locks" (the things boats go through to raise up or down to a certain water level). The Ocean and a river meet there and they're on different levels. It was cool to see all the boats go through the locks.


There was a nice park there where we ate some lunch and hung out, and we could go down inside the dam area and see the "fish locks" (like locks for fish). We had a great time.

Saturday night for dinner Logan took me to a little po dunk Mexican taco restaurant where they make the biggest burritos I've ever seen! We picked some up and took them home to feast on with the ladies. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time. Especially Claire...


SWIMMING
Malia and Jacob have been in swimming lessons the past two weeks. After the first week the Malia and Jacob kept telling us how all the kids had cool goggles and that they needed them so they could look under water. So we went to Target and found the kids some goggles. Jacob was so excited to have them that he wore them the whole way home from the store (even though he couldn't quite figure out how to put them on right...). Jacob loves to do "bobs" (dunking his head under water) and constantly asks his teacher if he can do one more "bob". Malia was very proud of herself for swimming on her own for the very first time today!


A Visit from Cousin Jon Ditto
My cousin Jon Ditto has been in Portland this summer working for Dish Network. Before he went back to BYU he wanted to come visit us. We were so happy that he called to let us know he was in the area. He drove down from Lake Oswego Sunday and spent the afternoon with us.

It had been a long time since I'd seen Jon, so it was great to catch up. The kids were so happy to have a visitor. They repeatedly asked Jon to pick them up twirl them around and throw them on the couch. Jon was a good sport and kept the kids entertained. Malia was especially enamored with Jon. After Jon left she told us that she wanted to marry him. It was the first time we've seen Malia act so "boy crazy". At least she likes good men. Jon, good luck at BYU!

Learning to ride a bike and loosing teeth...

This week was quite eventful with bike riding and loosing teeth...luckily they did not happen at the same time. Jacob came up to me today and said he wanted me to take his training wheels off so he could learn to ride his bike without them. I couldn't help but think of the last time he tried to ride a bike. He tried one time and gave up. I did all that work of taking off his training wheels, putting his knee and elbow pads on, buckling up his helmet and trying desperately to build his confidence only to have him give up after 10 seconds. Maybe today would be a new day. I could only hope.

Jacob was really excited to give bike riding another chance so what could I do. I dutifully removed his training wheels and got him all prepared to try riding his bike. Malia, Cole, Deena and Claire were all watching anxiously as I held the back of Jacobs seat and slowly started walking with him while he pedaled. I took four steps and let go. To my complete and utter astonishment Jacob was riding his bike all by himself. Now I know what your thinking...can he turn?...or stop??. Amazingly I answer yes to both questions. Jacob picked up bike riding faster than anyone I've known. I was quite impressed. He could turn and stop like a pro and stop without any help from me. Needless to say he was super excited and wanted to go around the block several times. We declared the day "Jacobs special day" and let him lead us (Malia, Cole and I) around the block. This is a big deal because Malia and Jacob always compete to be the one in the lead.

Jacobs success motivated Malia not to be outdone. Malia's two top front teeth have been getting more and more loose. For several days she had been commenting "tonight I'm going to lose a tooth." So the very night Jacob learned to ride his bike, Malia again said to me, "I'm going to lose my tooth tonight." There was only one difference, this WAS going to be the night. Malia bravely let me twist and tug on her tooth. I managed to get one side of the tooth out, but the roots on the other side were hanging on for dear life. The blood and occasional "ouch dad that hurts" was enough for met to lose the heart to finish the job...and for Malia to lose faith in me. So she went to mom. Deena laid Malia over her lap face up, and started working on the tooth. After a few minutes, Deena turned to me and said, "I can't get it, I can turn it all the way around, but it's not coming out." I told her to just keep twisting it and 10 seconds later Malia's tooth popped out! She was thrilled...now the tooth fairy could come leave her some money.

In the morning Malia was so excited to see that the tooth fairy had left her $2. When I go home from work Malia showed me the two dollars she had got, then quickly added, that one of her friends got $10. What a cheap tooth fairy.

The next day Malia's other tooth came out. The tooth fairy was out $5 that time.