Fun Filled Weekend

Ashton had a fun weekend!  It was cold and wet, but we still took advantage of an empty schedule.

On Saturday, Daddy took him golfing at the golf range. He liked it so much he kept asking for another bucket of balls. Mark had to stop after 2 buckets and tell him they had to go home.  He did promise to take him back another day.

Not quite Tiger Woods when he was three years old, but at least he is making contact with the ball! 

Next was North Creek Park in Bothell.  Ashton's favorite thing was for Daddy to push him on the swing and sacrifice him to the moon.  Ha!  Just wait until Ashton can really comprehend what "sacrifice" means.   I doubt he will think it is funny then. 

He still loves to sit in the little baby/kid swing.  I think he feels more secure in it, and daddy can push him really high!

 We were hoping to take the Wetlands trail that I heard about, but it was closed for renovations. We did find an amazing tree.  It was so beautiful how it was growing.  

Sunday we decided to try the Seattle Pacific Science Center.  

They still have the dinosaur exhibit there.  One of the first things he said was "Toby would like this".  His Cousin Toby likes dinosaurs, and Ashton does not like dinosaurs. When we would approach one, he kept asking if it was a nice one or a mean one. He likes the nice leaf eaters better. We kept telling him they were pretend, and by the end of the day if we asked him if he liked dinosaurs he would say he liked pretend ones. Funny. I am trying to let him know they are all pretend, but I am sure he won't change his mind anytime soon on dinosaurs.

Saw the lives bees.  They had an insect area. A lady was holding a gigantic cockroach and asked Ashton if he wanted to touch it.  Ashton said no and I think Mark was relieved.

Even though today was Monday, Ashton had no school so it was a continued weekend for him. He got up and played tennis with daddy and then his swimming lesson.  Teacher Hannah taught Ashton about goggles today.  He did really well with them, but he preferred to not wear them. I am sure he will get used to it soon.

He likes jumping into the pool.  She had him jump once with his goggles on and once without them.  He said he liked it with out his goggles.  Perhaps he will start to realize he won't get any water into his eyes with them on. 

He really likes his teacher.  She is so great with him.  We are lucky that he has one on one lessons right now.  That could change any week, but for now it has been great. 

Learning to blow under the water.

The snow kept coming today!

The kids had another day off of school, and we just found out that they have Thursday off too.  They are loving it!  I don't think they love the thought of playing in the snow, but they love the thought of not going to school and having to think.  

Took some fun photos of Ben and Hannah on Tuesday with us!  They seemed to have a fun time, but later told me they were pretty much done with going outside.  Perhaps the hills weren't much of a challenge for them, or they didn't like the 1 mile hike to the hills.  Ha!  It seemed longer then it normally does because of the snow we had to trudge through.  Ashton was lucky to be able to get a fun sled ride all the way there.

Hannah was having fun sliding down and falling in the snow that Ben decided to pretend to run her over. 

Mark still had to work a bit today, but luckily most people are not coming in so has been able to be home a few more hours then normal this week. It has been great!  We had a fun snow day with daddy today!  Ashton was ready to go home quicker today then the last two days. Apparently the novelty of it has warn off or the blustery, colder weather today had something to do with it.  Who knows what made him want to leave, but it was still fun in the beginning.

I love this photo.  So much white all around our vibrant little guy!

It was great watching him pull his sled up the slippery hill by himself. He was amazing.

He had such a great time going down the hills.

SNOW

The snow was beautiful today.

It was perfect for building a snowman!

Ashton wanted to be by himself on one side.  (Love my new tripod!)

Then Daddy and Ash had some fun of their own!

We came inside to refuel and then went back out for some sledding!

(Don't worry - He thought it was fun after hitting the fence, but we did go and find a bigger, longer hill for him after that)

He even hauled his sled up the hills each time.

Ashton's pretty strong these days......  Ha! Just kidding. Some big kids left this behind.

Some great Tennis!

An exciting Weekend for Mark and Ben this weekend.  They both entered the same 4.5 Non-sanctioned USTA tournament and are in the same draw!  (Juniors can only enter Non-sanctioned tournaments) Thankfully they are in the opposite end of the draw, but they both made it to the Semi-finals tomorrow.  If they both win their match against different opponents, they could possibly play each other on Monday!

Ashton and Hannah have been great at these matches.  Keeping themselves busy. It is extremely cold there, but we have been bundling up and keeping warm!

There's Benny in the background!  

Happy New Years!

O' Boy- Sometimes the weeks just fly by.

Christmas was great!  It was so cute to pretend that Santa was coming to the house.  Ashton loved it.  The big kids played along with it too.  At times I thought we slipped with our words, but this year we didn't have to worry too much about it because it went over his head.  His Christmas list consisted of a lot of trains. He is still collecting trains this year.  I think that "Collecting" is a good word for it too. He wants them all, but only plays with a couple.

The new year is starting off great. Just last weekend we had a great family walk to the town center.  All 5 of us going can be a rare sight lately. We don't make the kids come, and we were very glad they all wanted to join us. The town center is a mile away and we decided not to bring a stroller for Ashton.  He was so funny because he kept looking at everyone to make sure we were all right there.  If he was in front of Hannah he would constantly look back to make sure she was still there.  If they were on the sides of him, he would look from side to side.

He did great in the beginning.  Full of energy.

But had to be on the shoulders on the way back.  (You ask him to smile and you get a silly face)

 Ashton seems to be getting more tennis time in with daddy, but loves it when daddy sets up an "obstacle course" for him to do on the tennis court. It reminds him of the Wii Fit Plus game we play at home.  Marks objective is for him to warm up and learn about moving your feet.  I tend to think Ashton likes the fun obstacle course more then the tennis lately.  But either way he is out there having some fun!

We just started Ashton in swim lessons today.  We had an opportunity to put him in lessons at a good price that we just had to do it! It was supposed to be a group lesson, but so far he is the only one at that particular time.  We got lucky with some private swim lessons for a little while.  We were worried about him in the water with someone that he had never met before, but he did great! He seemed to enjoy himself and he was a good listener.

Ashton is definitely a active little guy. He even loves to exercise.  His push-up's have gotten pretty good.  I wish he would eat more so he could keep up with the calories that he burns off every day with all of his daily activities!