Crappy Parenting.

I hope all of you have heard of Amber Dusick and her blog "Parenting.  Illustrated with Crappy Pictures."

This lady is hysterical.

Her blog posts are so spot on and I always find myself laughing out loud (which is rare for me from something online) and nodding my head vigorously in agreement.

She just published a book yesterday.

I bought it.

It should be awaiting my arrival after our vacation.

I seriously cannot wait to get home, just for this book.

You should buy her book too.

Or at the very least, read her blog.

Check it out!

Love,

K

What happens in Reno...

So, even after the forgotten massage and the washing dirty cloth diapers in the bathtub incidents, we managed to get out the door in high spirits on Friday morning.

The Prius was packed to the max with duffle bags, snow gear, paintball gear, books, toys, games, food and somehow we managed to fit both boys in the back also.

We drove the 9ish hours to Reno, NV.

The boys slept and Zeek watched episodes of Dinosaur Train, KidSongs and Sesame Street on the ipad (seriously, the BEST for road trips!), played with his plastic dinosaurs and read his books while mommy and daddy enjoyed our favorite road trip tradition: me reading a book aloud to Sky.

This trip - "Bringing up Boys" by Dr. James Dobson.

We're only on chapter 4 or 5 so far, but it's a really good read!  Loving it so far.

Anyway, we made it to Reno by bedtime and curled up on the family bed/air mattress at our friend Dusty's house and konked out.

 And in the morning, Dusty snapped this precious (although fuzzy) photo of us...

...and then woke up Skyler with a wet willy.

#Gladitwasn'tme

We explored Reno for the day.

Sushi at Sushi Ijji (which apparently the locals all think is garbage and we thought was the BEST sushi we'd ever had... ???  

I'm not sure how that works, but...  Reno peeps, don't try Oregon sushi then, ok?)

Then we drove around McCarran Blvd. (which circles Reno) for an hour while the boys napped.

We were just arriving downtown on the "Reno strip" when Zeek woke up so we parked at the Circus Circus and took the boys in for a little arcade and circus performing action.

Of course, we had to hunt down a smashed penny machine for Skyler and Zeek's collections. :)

Zeek is always so proud of his prize!

It was a fabulous day - great company, lovely sunshine and mild temps, new adventures and happy kids.  What more could you want?!  :)

The next day we headed out to Sacramento for the day for Skyler to play paintball with Dusty and some pro-players.  One of the players that Skyler got to play on his team was someone who was a pro since Skyler first started playing when he was 14-15 years old and always looked up to, so that totally made his day!

Of course, Zeek had a blast walking around and collecting paintballs.

That kid is obsessed with paintball now.

Following in his daddy's footsteps.  :)

And then that eve, we headed to South Lake Tahoe to join Skyler's family for the remainder of our trip...

More to come later.

For now, I'm off to shower and go enjoy our last day here on vacation!

Hope you've all been having an awesome spring break too!

Love,

K

When going on vacation is too much work.

I love vacations.  Love adventures.  Love planning, prepping and packing for vacations.

But sometimes, preparing to go on vacation just seems like an awful lot of work.  So much so, that vacation almost doesn't even seem worth it.

There's just so much to do before you can even think about leaving.

That's how I felt last week.

Getting tax stuff finished.

Laundry.

Packing for Asher.

Packing for Zeek.

Packing for me.

NOT packing for Skyler, because I would fail miserably.

Packing snacks and food.

Packing games and toys and books.

Laundry.

Packing snow gear.

Finishing up some paperwork for health insurance.

Skyler having his final.

I can't even think of everything now.  I probably blocked it out.

Cleaning house so that it was tidy to come home to.

Deep cleaning the car.

Baking snacks for the road trip to California and Nevada.

More laundry.

I was spent.

I almost threw in the towel and said I didn't even want to go on vacation.

I was running around frantically on Thursday, finishing up packing and making food and cleaning.  Then my mother in law called at 4:09 pm.  As soon as the phone rang, I remembered I had a massage scheduled (a postpartum treat that I think I deserve! ;)) at 4:15.  It takes 15 minutes from our house to the massage office.  I hadn't fed Asher for over an hour at that point, but I thrust him into Skyler's arms anyway, told him I forgot about my massage and dashed out the door. 

I drove in a hurry to my appointment and was about 10 minutes late.  My awesome masseuse didn't even bat an eye at my tardiness (hopefully not because it's habitual of me to be late... but probably).  And I sank onto her massage table for that most desirable hour of not hearing "mommy eat, mommy poo poo, pee pee, mommy, mommy mommy!" 

I laid there and just had to laugh at my own frazzled-self.  (And apologize to my masseuse.)  I remembered my massage the day before.  It just was no where on my radar that morning.  Normally, I really prepare for either a massage or chiropractor appointment by showering, make up, full granny-panty underwear if getting a massage (since you strip down to just underwear!  Don't need to expose her to my bare buns!  Her poor soul...) Painted toenails and really clean feet (because I wouldn't want to massage gross looking feet!). 

By God's grace, I had at least managed a shower (which never usually happens if I don't plan on leaving the house for the day...) and had thrown on some decent clothes (not my yoga pants!  Go me!) and threw my hair up in my messy bun.

But otherwise, I was raw.

No make up.

Except for some smudged eyeliner from the day before.

No deodorant.

Teeth that hadn't been brushed since the night before.

No jewelery.

Chipped toe-nail polish while wearing sandals.

I had only shaved one leg that morning.

Yes, I did realize what I had done as soon as I got out of the shower, but I had so much on my to-do list that I didn't care to get back in and shave the other.  Call me lazy.  Or half-hippy.

Thankfully I WAS wearing granny panty's.  We'll call that luck.

Clearly, I needed the massage.

And it was gooood.

I got home relaxed and ready to conquer the rest of my to-do list.  I finished up all of the laundry and was just about to start the last load at 9:30 pm, which would be the cloth diaper load (so they wouldn't get moldy and rot for the week we'd be gone).  I loaded them in the machine and... nothing.

The power button wouldn't turn on.  

We checked the circuits.  We checked the electrical outlet.

Our wonderful new washing machine just was dead.

I'm not sure which was more irritated about.  My slightly over a year old expensive machine calling it quits, or the fact that it was stuffed full of poopy and pee-pee cloth diapers that would surely rot after just sitting there filthy for a week (been there done that). 

So, we did what we had to do:

 

We dumped them into the bathtub and gave them a good old fashioned washing.  With lots of soap and a wooden spoon or two.  Skyler, mister world traveler, wasn't phased at all.  "I had to wash my clothes like this all the time in Brazil."  

I took a picture to remember this moment because I knew some day that this would make me laugh.  Some day.  NOT that day.

After this fiasco, I was even more ready to throw in the towel and not do the whole "vacation" business.

But somehow, surely by God's grace alone, we managed to get out the door the next morning with a car loaded to the brim and two happy little boys.  And only 45 minutes later than I wanted to.  I count it as a win.

And you know what?  Vacation has been awesome.

I needed it.

And God knew it.

Thank God for vacations.  And how they always seem to come at a point in my life when I really need one.

Havin' a blast in South Lake Tahoe.  :)  Will post pictures and adventures tomorrow.  But for now, the house is quiet, the fireplace is going out, I'm finishing up my Blue Moon and I'm going to head downstairs and climb into the warm bed with my husband.  

Good night and happy spring break!

Love,

K

K is for...

11 Weeks

• You had your first rock climbing adventure and got to "boulder" the wall for the first time!
• You get ginormous big green boogers every night.  We hear you snorting and snuffing all night long.  We have to really work to get them out every morning.
• You are almost too big for your small GDiapers already!  I can't believe it!  Zeek is still wearing the medium and large sizes so we're going to have to get him really completely potty trained soon, or you'll be sharing diapers!
• You're so sweet in that you hardly cry when you're upset/hungry.  You just whine, which is actually pretty cute.
• You get scared SO easily!  Any loud-ish noise or sudden noise and you wail.  It takes a few minutes to console you.  Your scared cry is really cute too - I hope I can catch it on video before you grow out of that phase!  (Is that mean of me?)
• You always look so serious.  "Serious eyebrows" as Gramma A. says.
• You honestly sleep so much now that there isn't a lot to report! :)

Love,
Mama K

DIY Ruler Growth Chart. Because I'm the last one on the planet to do it.

WOAH.

A craft post?!

What does this MEAN!?

Is life "normal" again already after a newborn???

Settle down.

This super easy, no time, no talent, straight-forward project has been over a year in the making.

Truth.

When Pinterest first came around (has it been almost 2 years since I joined it already?!), one of the first projects I saw was this:

Project & photo by Tiffany from That Village House

And I thought, "well, that's fantastic.  And easy.  Will be done in no time with minimal effort."

I went out and bought the board and penciled in the inch marks.

I told myself I would have it done and and hung in Zeek's room by the time he was walking.

He walked on February 27th, 2012.

The board made it's way into our garage and well.  If you've ever seen our garage, you will be proud of me that this project ever even made it's way back out and into sunlight again.

Once Asher was born and Ezekiel all the sudden felt like a four-year-old in comparison, I remembered the growth chart and made it a priority to get it done before Zeek grew any more!

Like I said, it was minimal effort.
A ruler, a pencil, a stencil cut out (from my Silhouette) of numbers, and some black paint.
About an hour of time.
Hung up on the wall and admired.  :)

I'm glad I finally got around to doing it because I love how it looks on his wall. :)

Now time to mark it up with measurements! 

Love,

K

J is for...

 Your two month old photo that I never posted! Whoops!

Grandpa and you at his birthday dinner.

My boys. :)

10 Weeks

• I'm pretty sure you are completely out of your colic stage now.  I tried drinking milk a couple weeks ago and have had about 5 glasses now and it hasn't seem to affected you at all! yay!
• I have mostly stopped giving your probiotics too.  Mostly because I forget and mostly because you seem just fine without it.  I know it's still good for you, so I give it to you when I remember.
• I've given up trying to give you a pacifier.  You give me the craziest look whenever I try and I'm sure you've deemed it completely worthless because nothing comes out of it.  
• You like to self soothe with your fist though.  All through the night (and during some naptime's as you're putting yourself to sleep) I hear you sucking intensely on your fist.  :)  Not sure how I feel about this habit, but I'm glad you can and like to put yourself to sleep so I'm not going to worry about it for now...
• It is so hard for me to remember (and so against my mothering nature) that you not only like, but really PREFER me to just lay you in your cradle awake and let you put your sleep.  This would never in a million years have happened with Zeek.  When you're fussy and I try to coddle you to sleep, I have to remind myself that I'm probably actually making it worse for you and keeping you up and you really do want me to just stop touching you.  So weird.  But I hear uncle Jeremy was this same way... 
• Postpartum mommy still has about 5lbs to lose to get back to pre-pregnancy weight.  If only I could put the cookies down.  *ahem*
• Mommy taught in children's church for the first time back after birth, so you spent the entire church service hanging out with daddy!  He did so good with you and got you to fall asleep the whole time.  :)
• I pulled out the 3-6 month box of clothes this past week.  I cannot believe that I'm already onto the next grouping of clothes for you! :(  You are long and chunky though and 0-3 month stuff is just too snug.  I WAS excited for the "new" clothes though, since I was getting a little bored with your limited 0-3 month clothing collection! 
• I taught your brother how to dig for worms this past weekend and you sat contently in your chair in the sunshine with us for a couple hours!!
• You celebrated both Daddy's & Grandpa's birthday's. 
• You LOVE to sleep sitting up in our arms. You often fall asleep sitting up on my lap during dinnertime.  :)  At least once a day you fall asleep like that.

Love you, Chubby Bunny.
Mom

Bye Bye Google Reader & GFC!!

As you might have heard by now, Google recently announced that they are going to retire their "Google Reader" and "GFC" or Google Friend Connect programs as of July 1st.

What does this mean?  It means you'll have to find another way to follow along on the journey of this blog so that you can see when there are new posts.

I started using Bloglovin' to read the blogs that I follow a few months ago.  I actually love it so much more than I love Google Reader!  You can easily see what posts are new from your favorite bloggers and you can mark them as read when you're done.  You can sort by unread blog posts or by the bloggers' names.

It's a really nice clean and easy to read feed and much easier on the eyes to scroll through than Google Reader was (in my opinion).  I love that I can either log into Bloglovin' to see new blog posts or I can choose to have one email per day with all the new blog posts listed, or an email every time a favorite blogger posts.  I currently have my settings to one email each day so I don't miss my favorite bloggers' new posts.  :)

It also gives you the option to import your favorite blogs right from Google Reader so that you don't have to manually enter each blog. 

You can create a Bloglovin' account here (and can just login with your Facebook login if you choose to).

Follow along with my blog here.  And if you're nosy curious, you can see my profile here and see what blogs are some of my favorites!  (Yes, I still need to import ALL my blogs that I read over there!)

What are other ways you can follow along?

If you don't want to create a Bloglovin' account, there are several other ways to keep in touch with me and get new blog posts!

You can "Like" my blog Facebook page:

You can add me to your circles on Google+.

You can submit your email address and get an email every time I post.  (You can do that in the right column of this blog. -->)

You can follow me via Twitter. 

You can follow me via Instagram.

You can try to guess what projects I'll be working on or food I'll be cooking up if you follow along with my Pinterest. 

And if you STILL haven't had enough of me, well.  Mercy.  Lord, help you.

:)

Thanks for following along on this journey with me.

Love,
K

{A Year of Dates} March

March's date was a SUCCESS!!  There was a lot of pressure riding on this date because it was BIRTHDAY month for Skyler.  :)  I wanted to do something extra fun and special for him (which resulted in spending a little more for this date than I did for most of the others... anything for the birthday boy. ;))

If you can't make it out, the first stop was to REI (we have an obsession with that place) with a $10 gift card to pick up some more chalk (and we actually had a couple of $20 promotional gift cards which expired on the 18th, so we actually had $50 to spend!). 

The second stop was across the parking lot in Bridgeport Village in Tualatin to Whole Foods Market.  Another $10 gift card to pick up some drinks and snacks.

The third stop was to Stoneworks (Rock) Climbing Gym in Beaverton.

A little (ok, long) back story... Skyler and I started dating in September 2008.  For my birthday in January 2009, Skyler took me on a surprise date.  We had only known each other a few months and of course we were still in the stage of wanting to impress each other.  Skyler knew that I had been a member of the rock climbing club in high school and enjoyed climbing.  Skyler, himself, enjoyed climbing and had his own gear and everything - so in his mind, this was a perfect date.  At the time, Skyler was on a professional woodsball paintball team and is a very good player (obv).  I FREAKED out as we were driving up to Beaverton that he was going to take me to play paintball or lazer tag with him or something and that I would make a complete fool of myself in front of him because I wouldn't be near as good as him.  As we pulled up to Stoneworks, he made me close my eyes so I couldn't see where he was taking me.  All I knew was that we were in a sort of industrial area with warehouses.  I got out of the car, eyes closed and pitched a big girl tantrum, "I'm NOT playing lazer tag with you!  You better not have taken me to lazer tag!  I'm NOT doing lazer tag!" ... honestly, I'm surprised he didn't shove me back in the car and drive me home at that point.  ;)  It ended up being climbing and we had a great time.  That night we went to celebrate my birthday with his family and his sister Chelsea laughed when she heard what Skyler took me to do and made the joke about Skyler, "hmm, it's Kayla's birthday, what do I want to do?!"  This has been an ongoing joke since then.  Therefore, I had to make the note be a little reminiscent of that day 4 years ago.  ;)

ANYWAY, there's your history behind this date. 

We dropped Zeek of at Gramma's and headed north with just the littlest in tow.

REI:  Because of the two $20 bonus gift cards, we felt like we made out like bandits with rock climbing chalk, two new water bottles and two travel games for our upcoming roadtrip to Tahoe!

Whole Foods:  We came across these beauties and each snagged one for our snack!

These were phenomenal and I'm going to try my hand at making them this week.  See how they say they were dehydrated?!  I would've never thought to do cookies in our dehydrator!

Sushi Land: Ok, we made an unplanned stop to our fave little sushi joint.  It was right next to Whole Foods and since neither of us ate lunch really, we stopped in for a few plates, Miso soup and our favorite bowls of salt & pepper calamari!!

Stoneworks Climbing Gym:  We had so much fun bouldering around the walls, as well as going up to the ceiling!  Of course, we were the only ones dumb enough cool enough to bring our 2 month old with us and of course he didn't want to just sit in his car seat the whole time!  Thankfully, there were a couple mom's there watching their 10-12 year old boys climb and one of them asked if we wanted her to hold Asher for us for a while so we could belay for each other.  I don't think I've ever handed my newborn off to a stranger quicker in my life! ;)  It was awesome and she held him for almost an hour for us! 

And of course, then Asher had his first experience bouldering too.

We had SO much fun on this date!  The best part?  I got to wear a t-shirt, my yoga pants and Merrell's for the ENTIRE date!  YAH!

Loving this date book more and more every month.  :)

A Year of Dates:

January

February

Love,

K

 

I is for...

9 Weeks

• You ROLLED over!  Not even kidding.  At 2 months and 2 days, you rolled from your tummy to your back!  I was in utter shock when I came back into the living room and saw you flipped over!  
• I drank a few glasses of milk this week and it didn't seem to affect you at all!  YAY!  I think we're finally *almost* completely out of this colicky stage!  
• You get startled and scared so easily.  It makes me feel bad, but also makes me laugh because your scared cry is so stinking adorable.  
• You went on your first walk in a stroller (which normally I hate a stroller and would usually just wear you) but daddy had the Boba in the car with him, so stroller it was.  And you loved it!  You were out in just a couple minutes.  Made for a nice walk with Zeek too, because then he could have plenty of snacks and water and a couple toys for the walk and we could throw them in the basket in the stroller.  You KNOW your brother needs snacks, so this was awesome.  :)
• You've been able to experience being outside a little more since the weather has been so nice this week!  I taught your big brother the joy of digging for worms and filling up a plastic pail with them, and you sat happily in your little chair for over an hour outside while we did this!  Was so fun to "play" with both my boys outside.  Can't wait till you can really play with us.

This is a late post this week, since we had such a busy week last week...and that is all I can think to report for now!

Love you, my little growing boy!
Mom

More than a hero. Happy Birthday, Daddy.

Dad,

I'm so glad that you gave me an empty photo frame for my birthday and that you requested I put a photo of you and I in it.  I knew which one of us I wanted to put in it.  It's my favorite picture of us and one of my very favorite ones from my wedding. 

The copy that I already had printed out wasn't quite as big as the frame opening, so I searched for some nice scrapbooking paper to put as the backing.  I lined it up and put it in the frame and as I turned the frame back around to admire it, I noticed that something special lined the photo of my loving father looking adoringly at me, his youngest daughter, on my wedding day.  Above the photo were the words, "make the hard times worth enduring" and below the photo, "so many of our priceless memories". 

I thought of how fitting these two phrases are for our relationship.  How you have always been that loving, compassionate and supportive daddy that so many little girls long for.  That not everyone is blessed with having. 

I thought of the immediate aftermath of the demise of my first marriage and how you welcomed me back into your home with open arms after having been moved out for 3 years.  How supportive and loving you were in my life at that moment, when the only other man I had loved and relied on was suddenly gone.  How you showed me that you were there to protect me.  I remember that first Valentine's Day after my divorce.  It was only a few months after and I was living back at your home.  I came home from work that day to find a Valentine's Day card and chocolate from you on my pillow.  You wanted me to know how loved and special I was and you were quick to fill that void in my life.  

You helped me pick up the pieces in my life again and you were always there to just talk with me.  I remember that during those two years that I lived at home again, my relationship with you and mom changed from a parent/child relationship to more of a friendship.  I remember very much enjoying living with my "new roommates" and loved hanging out with you guys night after night.  

Thank you for always being there in full support of me and helping me in every way that you could think of.  Thank you for your bear hugs and for always letting me crawl up in your lap to lay my head on your chest, even though I was 21.  Thank you for loving me tremendously and being such a good example of how our Father loves us.  I get a really good idea of His love for us when I look at you and your love for not only me, but for everyone you encounter.  Thank you for encouraging me and holding me up when I wanted to collapse and fall into bed and never get out.

You helped me endure through the hardest time in my life.  

Looking at the photo and the paper behind it, I'm pretty sure the saying goes "So many of our priceless memories make the hard times worth enduring."  For a minute, I thought about taking the photo out and adjusting it so that it would read correctly when you looked at our photo.  But I think the way that it happened is more fitting.  "Make the hard times worth enduring", followed by a sweet, sweet photo of you and I on my wedding day to Skyler, followed by "so many of our priceless memories".  Nope, I'm not going to adjust it.  It's perfect just the way it is.  It's more accurate in the manner that it currently is. 


I'm so so thankful for you, dad.  For your friendship and your wisdom.

I've recently told Skyler a few times, "whenever my dad passes away, I'm going to just be a big ol' mess!"  It's not something I want to think about, but something I try to keep in mind so that I never take for granted the time that I have left with you. 

I think about my childhood and my precious and priceless memories of you.

When I was 2 years old sitting on the potty and you couldn't wait until I was off the toilet even to give me a birthday balloon.  And I still have that balloon, 25 years later. 

When I was 3 years old and you taught me how to ride my bike without training wheels, on the same day you taught Jeremy.  You were such a good teacher.

I don't remember how old I was, but I remember when you built us a miniature golf course in our backyard.  Just because you wanted to.  

All the times we went camping when I was growing up and I never had a fear in the world because I knew my daddy was there.  I don't tell Skyler this, but I am not as fearless camping with him as I was with you.  You were my daddy and you would protect me from anything.  

When I was in 3rd grade, I had to make a diarama of a forest.  You helped me create the trees and shrubs and we even made a creek with real rocks and glue poured over top to look like water flowing over them.  Thank you for spending time with me and helping me pursue my creativity.

For all the basketball games, track meets and cross country meets that you came to and cheered me on: thank you.  And for all the many trips to and from practices.

When I was 12 and you took the family to Disneyworld, I thought you were the COOLEST dad ever.  You even went on rollercoasters with us and had fun. 

I remember being 14 when you came to me and told me that I wasn't going to be allowed to date until I was 16.  I remember being mad at you then.  But now I'm so thankful.  Thank you for saving me from the unnecessary heartache of early teenage dating. 

All the times when I lived out of your house but you still came over to fix any house problems or teach me something new about the house, I have been incredibly thankful for you taking the time for me.  I know you have your own house to take care of.  

Now, all the times you play with, cuddle, take care of and love on my boys.  It is the most enjoyable thing to watch.  They sure love their "Bopa".

Dad, I wish there was an easy way to "download" all of the wisdom and knowledge you have about life.  Not just about how to fix anything that is broken (because you really can fix anything!) or make treasure out of trash, though those are valuable traits that I do want to keep learning from you.  I want to learn how to love people like you do.  How to have compassion for everyone, even those who I don't think deserve it.  How to say "yes" to helping others and serving them, more often than you say "no".  How to truly be joyful in life on a daily basis. 

I know I will never gain all your wisdom from you before you pass on to the better life. There's just too much.  But thank you for always being willing to spend time with me and always teaching me.

I just couldn't have been blessed by a greater dad than you.  You are loved and cherished and celebrated, especially today, on your birthday.  So thankful that you were born.  And that you wanted three children and I was born.  :)

Love you dad.  You're so much more than just a hero.

Love,
Your Cuddle Bug

{Kids Play} Safari Sam's - Sherwood, OR (A+)

As a mom to a busy toddler, I'm always looking for ways to burn off some of that cooped up energy!  And often, the cheaper, the better!  Knowing I can't possibly be alone in this hunt, I wanted to give you (local) readers some reviews on the places we have discovered and are still discovering.  I always love when I stumble upon a list of ideas of where to take my family for a fun outing and hope this (ongoing!) list proves helpful to you as well. 

All of my reviews will be categorized as "Kids Play" if you want to search for all of the places we've discovered!

Also, I was in no way compensated for any of these reviews.  These are just my honest opinions about our adventures!

Safari Sam's

(Sherwood, Oregon)

I honestly have no idea how I have never heard about Safari Sam's before!  I stumbled upon the website last week and immediately showed it to Skyler to ask if he had ever been there.  He said he also had never heard of it, but thought it looked really cool and we'd better go check it out.  :)

We packed up the car on his day off on Wednesday and headed north to Sherwood.  From our house, it was about a 45 minute drive, which isn't too bad for a place where you can easily spend a few hours!

Safari Sam's is a giant indoor play ground, but so much more.  There's an arcade, glow in the dark mini golf, a bounce house room and a sports gym.  The jungle gym is for kids of all ages.  Unfortunately, the bounce house was restricted to ages 3+ and Zeek was incredibly disappointed that he couldn't go into the "Finding Nemo" house.  He will be glad for the day that he is allowed in there.  :)

Shoes off, socks on are the requirements for kids on the jungle gym (which I like!) but adults are allowed to keep their shoes on.  Adults are allowed (and encouraged!) to climb around the giant jungle gym with their kids.  In our case, one of us needed to go with Ezekiel to assist him.  Even at just barely two years old, he was easily able to climb around, up and down through the holes, over some of the obstacle course objects and just horse around.  He needed help getting up some of the blocks and reassurance while climbing up the rope ladders, but overall he was pretty capable of climb around and we let him choose the course for our adventure.  :)

Take a look at some of our fun:

As you can see, we all had a great time climbing around!  This was so much fun really playing with Zeek and letting our inner kid's out.  Not to mention - what a great work out!  I had a hard time getting a photo of the entire play structure, but here's a general idea:

This stretches alongside the length of the play structure.  You can just "claim" a table (there are plenty more scattered around, not in this area too) and just leave your belongings there while you play.  As you can see, it was pretty empty when we went!  We went during the week - Wednesday - at 1 pm.  The entire time, there were only a few other moms or dads and kids in there.  

A small portion of the play structure.

Their rules.  I love their playfulness, even in their rules.  :)

Right in the center of the play structure was a smaller area made for young toddlers.  It was a fantastic set up, because it was right in the middle so while your young baby played, you could also keep a pretty good eye on any of your kids playing above you in the structure.  There were two entry doors to this play area but both were closed off by a bench so your young tot can't run off without you being aware.  They are confined to this smaller play area - which any mom's of fast runners like Ezekiel always was can really appreciate that feature.  :)

Here's Ezekiel and Skyler playing in the "baby" area:

 After we wore Zeek out on the jungle gym, we played a round of mini-golf!  (And I experimented with taking photo's in a glow in the dark space... ;))

Zeek loooved whacking the ball around!  Mini golf was unlimited and we could've gone as many times as we wanted.

One thing we noticed is that whoever designed Safari Sam's, payed excellent attention to details.  Like this painted box in the mini golf area:

We loved that the boxes said they were shipped from Madagascar and Africa to Sherwood, OR.  The green box had a lion roaring sound coming out of it and if you put your hand on the box, it vibrated when the lion roared.  Zeek actually thought there was a lion in there and after that hole, he couldn't focus on golf very well, as he kept thinking about the lion in the box.  We reassured him that he was safe and mommy and daddy would protect him from the lion.  ;)

We didn't play any of the arcade games and as I mentioned, we didn't get to go into the bounce houses because Zeek wasn't old enough.  With all the playing, we spent a little over two hours there and easily could've spent more time there if it wasn't waaaay past Zeek's nap time!  The little guy conked out about 3 minutes into the car ride home.  Energy spending success.  :)

Now let me break it down...

Name: Safari Sam's (Sherwood, OR)
Website: http://www.jungleoffun.com/

Cost: Admission $7/per kid over age 2.  Adults get in free!  On Tuesday's, Wednesday's & Thursday's, you get the option of 20 free game tokens, a free bounce house bracelet (unlimited bouncing), or a free mini golf bracelet (unlimited mini golf).  We obviously chose the mini golf.  :)  So, for over two hours of play (but you can stay as long as you want!) for the three of us, the total cost was only $7!  There are more price package options which you can see here. 

Cleanliness:  As semi-germ freaks, we are REALLY picky about where our kids play.  This place was incredibly clean!  The floor was vacuumed, the jungle gym was really clean and wasn't all worn out and grungy, the mini golf was built well.  The tables were cleaned off and tended to.  Bathrooms were clean.  We really appreciated how clean this facility was!

Safety:  The jungle gym itself was extremely sturdy and there wasn't any part of it that I felt was shoddy or worn out or unsafe for myself or my two year old.  I also felt really great about the safety of Zeek in regards to him escaping the building or being taken out by another adult.  There was only one entry/one exit for the place and they had the exit/entry roped off and watched by an employee at all times.  Each child and their guardian were given a bracelet and glow in the dark numbered stamp which were verified upon exiting to make sure you were leaving with who you came with.  Loved this system and it worked well.

Employees: I'm always shocked at the number of places designed for kids that have really rude employees or who have the attitude that kids are annoying.  Safari Sam's was a beautiful exception.  Every single employee that I encountered was not only helpful and friendly but really seemed to enjoy their job and enjoy the kids that surrounded them.  Shortly before we were leaving, a bus pulled up and about 30-40 kids streamed off the bus and into Safari Sam's for the childcare program.  (YES, they do a before and after school childcare program!  HOW FUN!  If we lived closer, I know Zeek would've loved something like that.)  One of the ladies who I was near and I assumed was some sort of director or manager, greeted the kids with a smile and called them by name.  She asked questions about their day like she really knew who each kid was.  It impressed me that they knew so much about the kids in the program and it was clear that they really have a love for kids. 

Other:  We stopped at McMenamin's for lunch before we headed to Safari Sam's but next time we won't!  Next time we'll just eat right at Safari Sam's!  For some reason, I had it in my mind that it was just a pizza place.  It's so much more.  :)  Check out their menu.  Really reasonable prices too!  They also have some fun options for birthday parties. 

Cons:  We really are picky about where we take our kids, but we were blown away by everything about Safari Sam's.  The only "con" that we could come up with for this place was that I wouldn't be able to take Zeek by myself with also having a newborn.  I wouldn't be able to climb around in the jungle gym with Zeek while wearing Asher in the front pack.  So, we'll only be able to go when two adults can go - one to play and one to hold the baby and the camera.  ;)  BUT, since adults are free of cost, this is just a very very small con.  We'll just have to make sure we go here on family play days.  :)

Rating: A+

Seriously, if you're semi-local, go check out this place!  You'll have fun, your toddler will have fun, you'll both get great exercise and everyone will leave happy and smiling.  :)  I cannot wait to go back again.  I haven't felt like that much of a kid again in a long, looong time.  This was the perfect rainy day family fun adventure!

Love,
K