Visit with the great granparents

Scott, Nora, and I took a trip to SLC last week. We want to make sure Nora gets to know her great grandparents. Of course, we wanted to take some nice pictures. The problem? Nora doesn't like "cheeses." We couldn't get her to cooperate. However, she was willing if we hung her upside down. These pictures will make a great story when she gets older.

Happy Birthday Ezra! And Month in Review

Happy Birthday to our Little Man!  It's hard to believe it's been two whole years (actually, it's not that hard to believe, given that those first two months FELT like two years).  We are so grateful for our awesome little man, and are looking forward to sharing pictures and videos of his special birthday party this Saturday!

It's been an exceptionally long month for the Thompson-prangs (hence, the paucity of posts).  We thought it would be nice to do a long post showcasing what's been going these past four weeks.

Dad was nice enough to come down to Tucson and heroically shoulder the burden of a 25-hour drive, in tandem with Emily.  Here we are taking a selfie right before hopping in the cars and getting out of the desert.

Although Dad drove alone, I had the pleasant company of our decrepit 22 year-old cat, who proceeded to vomit on the floor of the Mazda approximately one hour into our journey.  Fortunately, she did pretty well the rest of the time.

It was a LOOOOOONNNG trip, but a great way to end the journey was meeting up with Mom, Cameron, Ezra, Bub, Ashley, and Ito at Snoqualmie Falls.  Mom and Dad (a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa) gave Ito a special birthday present.

We arrived on Sunday, and our stuff was supposed to arrive Monday.  We spent that first night in a hotel. Ezra woke up a little early, but was happy to fall back asleep when he got into Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Ezra immediately took to our new house.  A new thing he does is to come up and give people snuggles if they are laying down on the ground.  We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa helping us out!

Showing his true Mackelprang colors by demanding Grandpa's Diet Coke.  Grandpa also helped him play with a fun "punching bag" at a local restaurant.

The movers ended up taking THREE DAYS longer than they said they would.  It was really frustrating.  While waiting for all of our stuff to arrive, we ended up eating a lot of Subway.  Ezra liked playing in there with Grandma.

Grandma also found an ingenious way to get Ezra to eat his food—reverse psychology (now why didn't I think of that?)

It's so nice to  be able to take Ezra OUTSIDE in the summer.  He's loving the flora and fauna of the northwest.

Wielding his stick aloft.  He found this stick and subsequently had to stop every 10 steps or so to scrape it on something—the grass, the pavement, a tree, it didn't matter what.

 I didn't realize how many new things we would need to buy moving into our new house.  We went to Sears to get a microwave.  Ezra enjoyed the lawn mower.

We also didn't have a washer/dryer for the first few weeks. Ezra was cool with the machines at the laundromat though.

  

Ezra LOVES trucks.  All things trucks.  Cars and trucks.  He could watch them, play with them, and talk about them all day.  Thus, we felt some new wall decor was in order.  He loved helping Mommy figure out where to put things on his wall.

Tacoma has a lot of really great playgrounds.  Ezra and I checked out several of them during the days in the two weeks we had before I started work.  Ezra really loved this spinny green bucket thing.  Whenever I took him out of it, he would immediately sign "more, more!"

We drove Cameron to an initial training for his job in Bellevue. Little did I know about the wonders of a local mall we happened to go to with an AMAZING kids play zone (thank you, Bub, for showing me the wonders of Highlight Reel).

We also took a fun trip to the zoo, where Ezra got to play around and meet the goats.

Representing his UW pride.

He loves the trees at the side of our house.

 

After 5 years in the boonies of Tucson, we really like living so close to things.  There is an AMAZING ice cream shop just around the corner, with ice cream made from scratch every day.  Ezra is also a fan.

Ezra is very sweet with the kitty.  He gives her gentle touches and is always cautious around her.

Sleepy Mommy, sleepy baby.

I finally caved and have allowed Ezra to ride in this shopping monstrosity.  I regret nothing; he loves it so much he doesn't want to get out of it, leaving Mommy to shop in peace.  Worth it.

We've loved being closer to Bub, Ash, and Ito!  We've had a few meals out together.  Ito is very happy and interested in touching and sharing with Ezra. Ezra has been unsure about this.

It's been really tough for me to have Ezra in full time daycare.  So far though, he really enjoys it, and his teachers say he is doing great!

Playing with a fun noise-making board. 

Hamming it up on the way home.

Ezra HATES fruit.  He has a sixth sense about when we're trying to feed it to him and immediately revolts.  The only way we can get fruit to him is through these little toddler squeezy packets of pureed fruits and veggies.  He got a little too excited about it and squeezed some right onto his face.  He was a bit confused as to how he should proceed.

Ezra rediscovered his Bumbo chair.  Amazingly, he still fits. 

 Best. Picture. EVER.  We got Ezra this Batman jacket (he picked it out from a variety of choices).  We didn't realize it came with a little mask in the hood.  Ezra loves it, and we love seeing how happy he is wearing it :)

Fun playtime with Daddy!

I turn my back for one second and he's stolen my sunglasses.  This look says, "What?  What are you looking at?  I didn't do anything."

We went out to breakfast for Labor Day.  Ezra made sure to keep a firm grip on BOTH his beverages.

Overall, we are really happy with our new home.  It's closer to family, has way more amenities, and the climate is far superior to Tucson (at least, it is for now.  We'll see how we feel in a few months...).  Here's looking forward to an exciting year!

Camping Part 2

Such attention to detail and scrutiny! Nora was very enthusiastic about smores, she was so cute to put a marshmallow on a stick and give it to us, ready to roast.

I noticed a few times a little crooked grin on Nora's face. This is the closest I got to capturing it, but it reminds me of my dear wife's beautiful crooked smile.

"Nora! You are not supposed to walk on your hands! You are supposed to walk on your feet! Silly girl!" :-)

"This statue is my favorite - it has everything: goats, corn on the cob, and Star Wars." Said a random off duty tour guide at Hearst Castle.

Nora chugged water for about a thousand seconds. 

Scott shooting some epic landscapes.

Sisters!

I wanted to jump off this gilded diving platform so bad. This place would make for an excellent pool party.

This was immediately after Nora gifted Scott with a large brown sticky object she had been holding for some time and stated, "it came from my nose."

Nora is a great runner!

Aunt Becky getting a workout in chasing Nora's shadow. It's a good thing those two both have a high tolerance for silly repetition. 

"Don't you move, Nora, cause I'm gonna get your shadow!" Over and over and over...

Followed by Nora's adorable laughter.

This is not a shot of the impenetrable poison oak patch where Becky chose to immediately throw our Frisbee. But that patch is off and to the left of this frame.

Nora did not want to say goodbye. Neither did we. She does melt my heart with her hugs and kisses.