Salmon release day

My school has had a salmon tank this year, and after two sad episodes of the fish not surviving, the third batch was the charm. So on May 1st, the school community was invited to come to a park with a stream and help release the salmon into the wild. Griffin and I went, along with about 50 kids and parents from the school, and Griffin had a chance to release four of the fry into the stream.

Here he is waiting for his first fish.

He's very proud of his fish. He named it Freddy, in the 2 minutes or so that they got to know each other.

Here's Freddy the Fish!

Griffin walking down to the stream to release the salmon.

And there Freddy goes, to spend some time in the stream before he travels out to the ocean in a year or two.

Chef Griffin

We baked an apple pie for a friend's dessert auction, and Griffin was a master chef. He insisted that I call him "Chef Griffin" when he was wearing the hat. He helped mix and taste-test the apples. Then he wouldn't eat any pie, go figure.

Museum of Flight

We visited the Museum of Flight next to Boeing Field during our spring break. Griffin loved being up close to all the planes, and walking through Air Force One and the Concorde. When I asked him what his favorite part was, he said, "Everything!"

Self-portraits

By the boy himself:






By the boy himself:

Goodnight

As Doug was tucking Griffin into bed tonight, rubbing his back and getting him settled for the night, he forgot to turn on Griffin's music box (Griffin has heard this music every night since he was born). Griffin turned to him and said, "Music, Maestro" and pointed at the music box.

I think I would have fallen on the floor laughing if it had been me.

Where does he come up with this stuff?

Emerald City ComiCon

We went to the Emerald City ComiCon this weekend, first on Saturday without Griffin because we knew it would be crowded and we had panels we wanted to attend. Then we went today, Sunday, with Griffin, because we thought he would have fun seeing all the costumes and comic book-related things. He even wore his red cape from his Cargoman Halloween costume to get into the mood!

We found out that Griffin is the same height as R2D2

He found the perfect t-shirt at my favorite library comic Unshelved's booth, so of course I bought it for him

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (who knew there was a brand-new Hard Rock in Seattle? Not me!) and Griffin showed off his amazing face painting of a cheetah

On the ride home, Griffin was engrossed in his new comic books, so I think he is hooked!

Birthday

Griffin and Doug helped me celebrate my birthday recently, after a fabulous 40th year where I did my first half-marathon and passed my National Boards. They know me so well, giving me a gift certificate to my favorite local independent bookstore, Third Place Books, and another to Olympus Spa, to spend the day luxuriating in heated rooms, pools, and saunas.

The highlight of the day was the cake, baked by Doug, but decorated by someone else. I'll give you two guesses who the artist was:

Santa!

We rode the Santa Train last weekend, from North Bend to Snoqualmie and back, and Griffin had a chance to sit on Santa's lap and eat some yummy cookies while at the Snoqualmie Depot.

November art

Here are some recent artworks by Griffin, just for fun. A person (with legs now!), a submarine, and a triceratops!

Halloween

Griffin has been talking about "Cargoman" for months now, and decided he wanted to be this new superhero he created for Halloween. So he drew a picture of Cargoman's outfit for me and we pulled it off together! He had a great time trick or treating with Grandpa around their neighborhood. I have a feeling he may be wearing his red cape some in the near future!

Cargoman before going to Grandma and Grandpa's

Pumpkins in jail. The big one is Griffin's (if you look at last week's post with photos of the pumpkin patch, you'll begin to recognize his love of big pumpkins.)

Happy Cargoman after trick or treating!

He says he wants to be a witch next Halloween, but I think I'll wait before making the costume, since it might just be possible that he changes his mind in the next 364 days.

Pre-Halloween Weekend Craziness

We had an amazingly busy but fun time this past weekend. Evidence below:

Griffin's first tennis class, courtesy of Grandma's great suggestion!

Griffin's first bumper car ride at the Seattle Center, courtesy of his friend Quin's birthday.

A muddy trip to the South 47 pumpkin patch (Griffin got a pumpkin about the size of the one he is standing next to, and Doug and I are arguing over who has to scoop it out - I vote for Grandpa!)

Griffin is contemplating all the pumpkins he didn't pick, that are feeling lonely and left out. (Or he's looking for the boot he lost in the mud for a few minutes.)

Memories of Summer

I'm trying to finish scanning some of Griffin's amazing artwork he has produced lately, but until I do that, here are some photos of Griffin's first swim since he was a baby. Hopefully this will all make us think of summer and how warm we were then! The life vest makes a huge difference in his comfort level!

Garden happenings

We will post photos from our fabulous trip to Saturna Island, BC, soon, but Griffin and I had a gardening day yesterday that we wanted to share. We went to the South 47 Farm in Redmond where we learned about spiders, had a hayride, and picked carrots, which Griffin immediately washed and ate!


We then visited our garden after a few days away and found lots of tomatoes ready to pick and eat. Our lettuce is growing well, too!



Griffin enjoyed one of the tomatoes straight from the garden when we got home.

Midsummer's Garden

Here are a few photos of our pea patch garden, much changed since last May!

One cherry tomato, ready to be picked!

One tomato picker, ready to eat his long-awaited tomato!

Another tomato almost ready for us!

Lettuce is starting to show up and the sugar snap peas are holding themselves up in the background.

Corn and sugar snap peas.

The sugar snap peas were pulled up this week, and we have planted more lettuce, radishes, and carrots, hoping we can get a crop in by early fall. We'll see. This whole garden is one big experiment for Griffin and me, and we're really enjoying it, no matter what thrives and what fails.