Pariseaults come to Seattle

We had an awesome week with Dick and April and the kids when they came to visit Seattle last week. It was great to have some RI family out here and to show them some of our favorite spots in the city. They stayed pretty busy, visiting the Woodland Park Zoo, Pacific Science Center, Museum of Flight, Children's Museum, assorted parks, beaches, festivals and other places. Uncle Charles played lots of basketball with Andrew and Hannah, while Max and Angela ran around playing games. The highlight of the week for the boys was when Uncle Charles got free tickets to Safeco's suite at the Seahawks pre-season game, along with field passes. We ate like kings (especially Andrew), got to stand right next to the huge football players and had a great time in prime seats. The girls had fun too, painting Max's toes. We're looking forward to them coming again ... or anybody else that wants to come out to the Great Northwest!

Old men and roller coasters

A couple more notable Max quotes from lately:

• Sometimes when he sees an older man, he says "That's another Paw-Paw." (That's what he calls his grandpa.) Well, the other day he was in the store with mommy and he saw a short old man and he said "That's a little Paw-Paw!"

• He was at the park the other day and a man who had a long beard rode up on a bike. He said a very friendly "hi" to Max, who said "hi" back. As he was walking away, Max looked up and said "That's a Santa, mommy!"

• Max put this little pose together. He grabbed the scarecrow and put on his helmet and said "Go get the camera and take a picture, Daddy! It sure will be cute." He was right.
  

And here's some from a recent trip to the Fun Forest at Seattle Center. Max rode the little roller coaster with mommy and loved it!

Mr. Manners

Max said something the other day that made mom and dad's head spin. I asked him if he wanted a bite of my sandwhich, and he replied "Ummmm, no thank you daddy ... but thanks for asking." First, what great manners for a two-year-old, and second, Max turning down food? No way!

Last weekend, we randomly ran across a yard sale benefit for an animal shelter, and they had pony rides. So Max got a short ride on Toby (he called him Togy); he loved it!