We interrupt the blogging of Josh's party ...

To present the boys with their ribbons from last night's All Comers Track Meet!

Local running store Foot Traffic hosts family track meets every Tuesday for several weeks in the summer. We met some friends there last night and participated in several events (it is organized with the same order of events as official track meets, according to John). The first event was the 60m sprint. Lucas was in the third heat and did very well, winning a purple participation ribbon. Later, Josh and Terence finished first and second in their heat, winning blue and red ribbons!

Then it was on to long jump, where Josh, his friend Terence, and Lucas all did very well, while Terence's sister Fiona was busy on the high jump (which played out more like a toddler toss by her mom onto the large landing mat). We also did the softball throw and rope climb before retiring for a picnic.

After we fueled up, Josh ran the 400m and was doing pretty well, in about 6th place through the second turn, when he fell and got a track burn on his elbow and withdrew. He recovered in time for the 200m though and did great, though he was slowed down by his repeated checks of his scrape while running. Lucas also ran the 200, this time with an assist from Mom. I was sure he was going to turn and ask to be picked up somewhere along the way, but with everyone cheering him on (the fans are great about that) and Mom running by his side and holding his hand, he chugged right along to the finish line, went straight past the ribbon guy, and into Daddy's arms with a huge smile. It was super cute.

Here's Lucas with his two purple participation ribbons (for the 60m and 200m):



And here's a very proud Josh with his purple ribbon from the 200 and his BLUE first place ribbon from the 60m!!

Blogging Josh's Party -- part 1

This is the fourth time I tried to upload photos of Josh's party -- thank goodness it finally worked, I was getting very frustrated.

We had planned for 30 minutes of play before the reptiles arrived, to give everyone a chance to arrive and settle before the activity began. Well, our reptile hosts had two reptile rescues that day, on opposite sides of town, so they were about 40 minutes late, meaning the kids had more than an hour to play before the "real" party began. So play they did. Fortunately we have a great backyard for 5 year olds.

One view, mainly of the parents:



And the other side of the lawn:

Enjoying the swings:

Even Lucas got to play some ball:

Blogging Josh's Party -- Part 2

They're here!

And thus begins the big questions of the next hour: what's in that box? well what's in that box? what's in the pink box? what's in the one that's moving??!! It was all very exciting.



We managed to get the kids seated, mostly. Josh and Max couldn't help themselves and just kept creeping forward:




First out: the "safe" snake. Red and black, friend of Jack. But I still wouldn't take any chances:

Next up, a slightly less inviting looking, but still small, snake:

Then they just started getting a little crazy with many snakes out all at once. Some kids, and lots of parents, moved back a seat or two:

And then there was this big, strong one:

And thankfully, that did it for the snakes!

Next up -- other reptiles, in a post later this week!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Here are Josh and Lucas meeting Allie the Alligator at Josh's reptile party yesterday. It was a lot of fun.

Happy 5th Birthday Josh!!

More party pictures to come later.

Lucas' 2nd Birthday

The birthday boy fresh from bed. It was like Christmas morning for Josh. He was up at 6 am, crept into our room, and then just kept asking, every 5 minutes, "can we wake Lucas up yet? It's his birthday!" I resisted, but eventually Lucas heard this and woke up anyway, so there we were, ready to celebrate bright and early.





Lucas opens his presents, with some help from Daddy and a very interested onlooker:



The first birthday cupcake! And modeling one of his birthday presents, a Yo Gabba Gabba tee:



We bought a helium balloon kit for his birthday party after school and work (we had two other families over for pizza, cupcakes, and balloon fun):

Lucas' birthday party, cont'd

All four boys playing with balloons: (Lucas, Josh, Hayden, and Hayden--coincidentally, both our guests share the same name)



I had hoped they could play outside as well, but a vicious and very uncharacteristic storm swept through Portland that evening, whipping up cyclones of dust, knocking down tree branches (including a big one from our neighbors' tree), taking out power lines, raining, and causing chaos. So we kept indoors.

Blowing out his two candles:



Watching his brand new Yo Gabba Gabba DVD before bedtime, with his loving big brother:

Next up: Josh's 5th birthday next week! It's a month of birthdays here (with John's after that on 7/1).

Happy Birthday Lucas!!

Two years old!