Almost October?

It has been a busy couple of weeks.

2 weekends ago, we took Hayden to the Puyallup fair (the Washington state fair). Of course, he loved all of the animals. We took him on three rides and he wanted "more" of each of them. The little guy made it pretty much all day. He even took an hour nap in the hobby barn.

Then early last week, we made a last minute trip to Wisconsin. We took a red-eye Thursday night and got into Wisconsin at about 10:30 in the morning. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, Hayden slept the majority of the flight. He did wake up in Houston and had breakfast with us. Even ate a breakfast burrito and watched the buses. Our time in Wisconsin flew by; not the best circumstances, but it was nice. We got back into Washington on Tuesday night about 8:00. Again, Hayden slept most of the flight. We got our seats upgraded which was extremely nice, plenty of extra room.

This weekend was great. We did n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Relaxed at home and did some errands. Little man is doing new things by the day; his vocabulary is expanding and so is his attitude. He takes after his mother. The leaves are starting to change so next weekend we are probably going to take a drive though the mountains and go apple-picking. Nothing like some fresh Washington apples.

I think we will leave Hayden at home.

Road Trip - Ollmann Style

Amanda and I decided last Tuesday that we were going to take a road trip with Hayden. We have been talking about how we both wanted to check out the Redwoods. So we called around, rented a cabin for labor day weekend and took off after work on Friday. We knew it was going to be a challenge keeping little man occupied for the proposed 8+ hour car ride.

When I got home from work I saw that Amanda had packed up the entire place. There were 2 suitcases filled with clothes, 2 laundry baskets filled with odds and ends and of course, Hayden's entire toy box. The term "everything but the kitchen sink" comes to mind. But then I looked in one of the suitcases and she packed the sink too. (Amanda: It wasn't that much stuff. I just wanted to make sure we had everything we needed.)

Friday night since we didn't take off until 6:00, we decided to stop at Grandma Melissa's for the night. It worked out great, plus she had this shampoo called "Big Sexy Hair". Let me tell you, it works! On Saturday morning we headed out on the 5 hour trip to Port Orford, Oregon. We stopped there to see a friend and took US 101 along the coast. What a beautiful drive. If anyone has not driven the Oregon coast, I would recommend it. After a couple hours visiting with Shelia, we said our good-byes and finished the final hour and a half drive to Crescent City, California.

We stayed at a KOA campground and rented a cabin that had a full size bed and a bunk bed. Seriously, that was it. It was about 15x20 and we had to bring our own bedding. Simple, yet just what we needed.

The campsite was surrounded by small Redwoods, walking paths, and of course a playground. There were berries growing all over. Some nice fellow campers showed us where huckleberries were growing as well as a ton of blackberries. After Hayden ate half a bush of blackberries, we took him to the swing to go "wee". That night, we cooked hot dogs and marshmallows on the fire.

After we put Hayden to bed, I taught Amanda how to play Rummy 500. Of course, I won every game, and now she is hooked. We didn't get to sit by the fire very long, it started raining. Luckily there was a large porch on our 15x20 cabin.

On Sunday we went to the Trees of Mystery. There were three paths all under a mile and some monster trees. It was humbling to look up at some of those 350ft trees and realize just how small you are in this world. Hayden had a great time, running in the woods. Amanda also had a great time chasing him down the paths. I got some great pictures of that.

Monday morning we headed home. It was a quick trip, but well worth it. I forgot how much fun camping is, and it was really neat to see how much fun Hayden was having. Amanda is putting up a bunch of pictures on Flickr, so check them out. There are some great scenery ones.

Quick Hayden updates:
- He loves Disney's "Bolt". Watched it almost 13 times in the car, kept Amanda and I sane.
- All the boy needs is berries and a forest to have fun. Add some puddles he can jump in and he will have the time of his life.
- The ocean in northern California is cold, but Hayden will still run into it.
- He is talking in consistent 2 word sentences. Most common one so far is "nono dada".
- He is extremely good at putting puzzles together. Kind of scary, really. Some seem way too hard for a 20 month old.
- He ate dirt this weekend. Evens out the puzzles...think "not as smart as advertised".
- This is a really fun age, seeing him react to new things in the world just make me smile.

OK, well that was our redwoods weekend. I would recommend to anyone reading to go see time if you haven't. Breathtaking/humbling/awe-inspiring are really the only way to describe the views we saw.

This weekend Grandma Melissa is coming to visit and we are all going to the Washington State Fair. Should be a good time as long as Hayden doesn't eat any of the brown "dirt" there. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

September Already

I can't believe it is already September. Where does time go? Both Jon and I have been busy with work and trying to get our apartment arranged so we have more room and less clutter. We bought a new Samsung 40 inch tv. A great buy considering our other tv kept buzzing every time we watched tv. It was rather annoying. So that meant that we needed a new entertainment center plus we had to rearrange our living room to fit the new entertainment. But we finally have everything the way we want it.

Hayden news!!!! We the kid his talking more than ever. However you still cannot understand him. He is doing puzzles like crazy and without help. It is unbelievable! He can sing his ABC's well, you can kind of understand him. This week daycare is out so they can go to conference so it is Mommy and Hayden time all week.

For Labor day weekend we are taking off to see the Oregon Coast and heading down to spend a couple days camping in the Redwoods. We will let you know how it goes, 12 hours in the car may drive us crazy! Hope everyone else has a great Labor Day weekend.

Back from Vacation

Well we are back from vacation although not back into our old routine. I still have to upload pictures all 300 of them so please be patient with me.

We all had a great time. Hayden and I went out to Wisconsin a few days before Jon did so we could spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa Ollmann, Auntie Haliee and Auntie Lisa. We were even able to do a play date with Brooklynn and Ruchell. Hayden's favorite thing was playing with "Woof" or Codee. They were like the best of friends. Hayden wasn't intimidated at all by the dog. During vacation I did put up a video on our youtube bar showing Hayden playing fetch with Codee. It is a really cute video you will have to check it out sometime.

Saturday July 25 we left for Rhinelander. Hayden rode with Grandma and Grandpa, while Jon and I headed to Madison to the Nitty Gritty and to view the city. We had a good time and best of all with didn't have to entertain the little man for a 5 hour car ride. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Vacation in Rhinelander was relaxing. The weather wasn't the greatest so we spent most of the time fishing, playing cards, and relaxing. We were able to ski on Friday the nicest day of the week, and if you can believe I actually got up this year. I guess it paid off getting a gym membership.

It was sad when we had to leave, but we were able to have dinner and a bonfire with Nick, Ruchell, Brooklynn, Mike and Mel on Saturday. On Sunday we were heading to Ben's birthday party. We had no idea the family set it up so it was also a surprise party for Hayden as well. Thanks everyone for doing that, we had such and great time. Special thanks to Ben for sharing his birthday party with Hayden. We know it must have been hard to do since Hayden loves being the center of attention. As we know if he isn't he will run out into the street....

Monday Hayden and I met Estelle at breakfast. Then went to see the grandparents at the nursing home. It was a very busy vacation. Jon headed home Monday and then Hayden and I followed Wednesday. Tuesday Aunt Nancy took us to the Racine Zoo. It was fantastic, Hayden loved the lion and tiger. At the zoo you get really close to the animals it was pretty cool. Plus the lion was roaring what a cool added bonus.

Well thanks to everyone that made vacation so special. We miss you all! I will post pictures and update our blog photo tomorrow.

Our 4th of July Weekend Update

Well, I already posted our 4th of July Weekend pictures, but I am sure everyone wants to know how our weekend went. On Saturday morning we went to the parade that started at 11. Jon was already there because he judges certain entries and has to help official the parade. So, Hayden and I packed our cooler parked a mile away, and hiked to Dairy Queen to enjoy the parade (same spot as last year). Only problem was I forgot they remodeled the Dairy Queen aka no more shade. We then found Jon and set up camp over by where he was patrolling the parade.

The parade this year was quite long: 2 hours. There were parts Hayden loved: motorcycles, horses, helicopter, and of course the loud cannon, and there were parts that Hayden wasn't too fond of: the loud cars and the sirens from the firetrucks and police cars. I am not sure why they bothered him so much. We were going to have a picnic after the parade but our little man was pretty tired which means he was starting to get fussy. He went down for a 3 hour nap! We couldn't believe it.

After he got up from his nap we went to the park to swing ("weeee" as Hayden calls it). You wouldn't believe it until you look at the pictures, but the kid actually hangs on and you can push him pretty high. The higher the better according to him. After the park we went to the festival, but only lasted maybe 20 minutes. He isn't quite old enough for the bouncy floats they had there, and was upset when Jon and I were playing the bean bag game because even though he had his own bean bags we weren't paying enough attention to him.

At dinner, Hayden practically ate out the restaurant. Well not literally, but close enough. He ate off Jon and my plates from the salad bar and also his dinner. Two mini grilled cheese sandwiches and apples. We didn't think he could put anything else in there. Then after he was done it all came out. His face turned red and he grunted.... Jon asked if he was pooping and Hayden actually replied "yeh" and nodded his head. It was pretty funny. At dinner Hayden learned how to do a big smile and how to bat his eye lashes (all I am thinking is great now he really knows how to work me over).

Hayden went to bed early as usual but we woke him up for the fireworks ("boom booms"). He loved them! We sat on top of our hill and watched them and about 30 yards away a house was setting off the great big ones and he just watched in awe. Only problem was they kept setting them off until 1 in the morning and Hayden was wide awake every 20-30 minutes wanting to go watch.

Sunday we went to our friends house for a BBQ. Hayden had a blast. The girls have this bright pink guitar that plays different songs (What a girl wants, Survivor, etc). Anyway Hayden loved it, he wouldn't let it out of his sight nor reach. Jon was thinking great my son loves hot pink and girly music! It was pretty funny to watch his reaction. Hayden had such a great time, the kid didn't stop running until we got in the car to go home. At the end of the night the two girls were exhausted from playing with him, Jon and I just had to giggle because they are 9 and 12, too young to be worn out in 3 hours of play time.

Anyway, now that I have blabbed on and on I guess that comes to the end of our weekend. This week the only thing that is new with Hayden are his new words. He can say cookie... although you can't tell it is cookie, and he is starting to use Thank You. We are also working on Lisa and Hailee since we will be seeing you two very soon! Well I hope everyone has a good weekend and miss you all very much!

Happy 4th of July!

I know it is no quite the 4th yet, but I figured we could tell everyone Happy 4th of July early. We have been keeping pretty busy since our last post. My mom (Grandma Melissa) came down last week and Hayden went to his very first movie. During the summer Regal is putting on a Family Film Festival, and Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10 there are free movies. Well we thought we would give it a try, since the kid can't stay still to save his life, and that way we would have spent 6 bucks on a movie we wouldn't sit through. Well he lasted 30 mins, and that is only because we had popcorn (His new favorite treat)! I don't have any pictures because they are on Grandma's camera, but they were super cute. He was double fisting.

Last Saturday we went to the coast. There were to festivals going on: The Pirates Festival and the Sandcastle and Wood Sculpting Festival. It was hard to pick which one to go to since we went to both last year, but we ended up going to the Sandcastle one because there was beach access where Hayden could run around. The wood carvings weren't as good as last year, but there was a super cool car made out of sand that you could stand in and get your picture taken in (pictures are on Flickr). When we got to the beach, there were huge kites being flown. Hayden thought they were balloons and kept calling them "boons." Once we got onto the sand we took Hayden's sandals off so he could run and play. Wow did he not want to be put down. At first he hated the sand and didn't want anything to do with it. However, once we got down by the water and showed him how to splash and stomp on the water, that was enough to convince him the sand was okay.

Hayden got soaked! I was smart this year and brought an extra pair of clothes, blanket, a wet wash cloth, and plastic bags. But, apparently I wasn't smart enough to bring them to the beach (I left them in the car), so Hayden ended up wrapped in my coat while we finished looking at the sandcastles. Amazingly enough the semi-pro sandcastles were ten times better than the pros. All in all we had a great time. Hayden is starting to talk up a storm, in words: flower (bower), chocolate (kacolat - I think that is how he says it), swing (wee), and a if you ask him to say a some words he can mimic you a little.

Anyway, this weekend we plan on going to the parade tomorrow. Hayden I am sure will like all of the sirens this year. Then tomorrow night we plan on going to the festival that Tumwater is putting on. Hopefully this year Hayden can play in the big blow up balloons they will have. We aren't going to keep Hayden up for the fireworks, because the kid has to have his sleep. We are probably going to do what we did last year: grab him from his crib, drive to the top of our hill and watch from the car. So Hayden may or may not get to watch them this year!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great Father's Day! We went to an air show, which was just down the road from us. We figured Hayden would have a great time because, every time he sees a plane in the sky he yells "bye bye" at the top of his lungs like he thinks the air plane is going to hear him. He also points and says "pain" or plane.

At the air show it was no different. It was "hi," "pain," and "bye bye" all day long. He got to sit in a transporting army helicopter, and he thought that was pretty cool. In a couple of the pictures on flickr you can see him in the drivers seat and also getting buckled in. However, after he did get buckled in he shook his head no and wanted out! After that he was very intent to watch the officer buckle the other kids in, he then wanted to figure out how to buckle himself in. He wasn't too happy when we took him out of the helicopter, but has quickly distracted by the flying air planes.

We saw a helicopter drop an SUV from probably 300 yards up and it just completely flattened. That was pretty cool! Jon had a good day, I was able to surprise him with his gift this year (The first time I was ever able to keep it away from him!). Anyway, we had a good weekend now we are just waiting for vacation to come. It couldn't come soon enough for either of us!