Sunday, March 22, 2009

I can't believe Greyson is 3!

A view of the Olympic Mountains 3/21/09

I can't believe it's been 3 years since Grey was born. You may remember that I was due in late April of 2006 and when Grey decided to come more than a month early, once we got over the shock of it and learned he was healthy (albeit small), we thought it was pretty cool that his birthday is within a week of my dad, Mike's dad and Grey's cousin, Jake. March is a month of birthdays and we try to celebrate with one or more of them if we can.

Greyson at the Seattle Aquarium


Greyson & Nana- "Orca fin"
This year, my parents flew out on Thursday so Grey & Papa got to celebrate their birthdays together. My parents got to explore the city on their own for a day and on Grey's birthday, the 21st, the sun was shining so we headed to the Seattle aquarium where Grey got to stand right next to a seal trainer and watch him feed the seals fish. Needless to say, he was pretty excited. We visited Pike Place market, listened to the street musicians, watched the NCAA tournament (it is not lost on me that for the rest of Grey's life we will be celebrating his birthday in conjunction with March madness) and had dinner in the city. Greyson and Papa share a love of chocolate so the cake was perfect.

Grey & Papa's "guitar" cake

True to his word, my dad's gift to Grey was a "real" guitar; an electric, complete with amp, Strat replica. It's too heavy for Grey to hold but he is perfectly content letting it rest on his lap as he strums with the pick and sings songs both well known and made up. He got something from everyone that made his eyes light up. Puzzles and more from my sister (he LOVES the Noah's Ark puzzle), a basketball hoop from Mike's sister (BIG hit), Annie & Clarabel from Mike's parents (these haven't left his side)...he's an unbelievably blessed little boy and as I write this he's sitting quietly at the kitchen table putting together a puzzle from Mike's great-grandmother Beatrice. You're all much too generous and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

A 'brooding' rock star already?
Thank you to all of our friends and family for your birthday wishes and love from afar. It's not easy celebrating Grey's birthday without everyone near and dear to us but we know that you'd be here if you could!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Greyson!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Back to Reality


It's a Sunday afternoon at home. Mike is at the gym and Greyson is creating a 'monster' with puffy stickers he received in his stocking from my mom for Christmas (this 'monster' is made of pastel colored hearts, squares and circles...very scary, as you can imagine). We are still recovering from a 3 hour time change so breakfast yesterday and today started at 11am. Getting up at 6am tomorrow will be interesting, to say the least.

Hawaii was everything we hoped it would be after partying like teenagers in Cancun for 5 days. I will say little about that trip except that my mom saved the day, once again. I literally put her on a plane with 3 hours' notice after receiving a call from Sara who came down with a stomach flu after we'd already left Seattle. We had a great time once we knew my mom made it safely but our Hawaiian family vacation was much more relaxing, fun and memorable.

We rented a 3 bedroom villa with the Bertotto family. It was gorgeous, comfortable and perfectly set up for our families, flexibility and fun dinners in. We dined out 2 out of 8 nights (sushi one night and the famous Roys), but the dinners in were better than anything we could have found on the island...it's a place we will definitely come back to.

There were a lot of highlights from the week. Mike's parents were on the big island so they hopped a 15 minute flight over and spent 2 days with us. Grey was so excited to see them and we're very grateful to Grandma for taking him to see the sharks and stingrays upon request. The boys had a great time jamming on their ukeleles and the sunsets, as you can see, were amazing.

Until next time, Aloha Hawaii and Mahalo!