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Apr. 13th, 2008 08:28 amWhat a wonderful day we had yesterday! It was beautiful, even boarding on hot. Everyone in the city seemed to be out and about, enjoying the lovely weather. Several people had their motorcycles out for the first time this year and Chris even took the top off his jeep. Just a lovely, lovely day.
First thing in the morning I took the boys to a safety fair sponsored by the Kiwanis club. We went through a car seat check and found out several interesting things. First, by Washington law, a child cannot sit in the front seat until they are 13 (that is, if there are other seats in the car for them. If the car is full and this is the only seat, that is an exception.) Second, Petey should be in a booster seat still. As part of their service, they gave me a free booster seat for him. He was mortified at first that he had to go back into a "car seat." However, after a while of riding around in it, I think he realized that it was actually more comfortable. I know it makes the seat belt fit him better. Another service the safety fair provided was free bicycle helmets to all kids ages 3-16. I'm so glad we went.
Next, after a quick trip to Zip's for lunch, we went to Petey's first official soccer game. I'll just cut to the chase and tell you that he scored two goals!! It was so cool to hear the whole crowd yelling his name: "Petey! Petey!" When he scored his first goal (and his second as well), he ran down the field, hamming it up for the crowd. He waved his arms in the air and gave the crowd a huge grin, topping it all off with a "YES!" and a thumbs-up. I laughed so hard that I had tears streaming down my face. It quickly became clear that he was playing "Mario Super Striker", not just normal soccer. He ran with his arms up in the air behind him, just like Super Mario, and every now and then he would let loose some sort of imaginary explosion onto the field. Also, if the other team scored, he would collapse to the ground and in my mind I could perfectly imagine him singing the your-character-lost song from any Mario game. During half-time Chris and I had a talk with him about how great he was doing, but to remember this was real life. I mentioned that hamming it up for the crowd was funny one time, but not every single time. He understood and started to chill out after that. After the game, he told me that scoring those goals was the greatest feeling in the world :)
After the game, we still didn't want to go home so we went to check out the Riverside Park. I can't believe that we've lived 15 minutes away from this place and never been there! It has camping and so many hiking trails. Finally, after living here for eight months, I got to walk in the beautiful evergreen forests that Washington is famous for. Now that we know this amazing place is there, I'm sure we'll go much more often. The boys had a wonderful time, climbing on rocks and throwing rocks into the river. The river was moving so swiftly, because of the snow melt I assume. It was definitely not the type of river you would swim, canoe or fly fish in. Maybe white water rafting would be fun. I've always wanted to try that.
I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day. But, it was the best kind of exhaustion, the kind knowing that you spent your whole day with the people you love.
First thing in the morning I took the boys to a safety fair sponsored by the Kiwanis club. We went through a car seat check and found out several interesting things. First, by Washington law, a child cannot sit in the front seat until they are 13 (that is, if there are other seats in the car for them. If the car is full and this is the only seat, that is an exception.) Second, Petey should be in a booster seat still. As part of their service, they gave me a free booster seat for him. He was mortified at first that he had to go back into a "car seat." However, after a while of riding around in it, I think he realized that it was actually more comfortable. I know it makes the seat belt fit him better. Another service the safety fair provided was free bicycle helmets to all kids ages 3-16. I'm so glad we went.
Next, after a quick trip to Zip's for lunch, we went to Petey's first official soccer game. I'll just cut to the chase and tell you that he scored two goals!! It was so cool to hear the whole crowd yelling his name: "Petey! Petey!" When he scored his first goal (and his second as well), he ran down the field, hamming it up for the crowd. He waved his arms in the air and gave the crowd a huge grin, topping it all off with a "YES!" and a thumbs-up. I laughed so hard that I had tears streaming down my face. It quickly became clear that he was playing "Mario Super Striker", not just normal soccer. He ran with his arms up in the air behind him, just like Super Mario, and every now and then he would let loose some sort of imaginary explosion onto the field. Also, if the other team scored, he would collapse to the ground and in my mind I could perfectly imagine him singing the your-character-lost song from any Mario game. During half-time Chris and I had a talk with him about how great he was doing, but to remember this was real life. I mentioned that hamming it up for the crowd was funny one time, but not every single time. He understood and started to chill out after that. After the game, he told me that scoring those goals was the greatest feeling in the world :)
After the game, we still didn't want to go home so we went to check out the Riverside Park. I can't believe that we've lived 15 minutes away from this place and never been there! It has camping and so many hiking trails. Finally, after living here for eight months, I got to walk in the beautiful evergreen forests that Washington is famous for. Now that we know this amazing place is there, I'm sure we'll go much more often. The boys had a wonderful time, climbing on rocks and throwing rocks into the river. The river was moving so swiftly, because of the snow melt I assume. It was definitely not the type of river you would swim, canoe or fly fish in. Maybe white water rafting would be fun. I've always wanted to try that.
I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day. But, it was the best kind of exhaustion, the kind knowing that you spent your whole day with the people you love.