MarshallAndFamily.com

We skipped swim class last Sunday and went to the Seattle Cheese Festival. Our plan was to get there before it opened at 10AM to secure parking, and to beat the crowds. We found street parking and arrived a few minutes before opening but it didn’t look like it judging from the amount of people already there. It was raining and there were still a lot of people there. 

 We played tourist a bit, listening to music from the busker in front of the original/first Starbucks at Pike Place Market.

 Inside the market, at one of the many flower stalls.

Over the next hour, we sampled too many cheeses to count. Cheddars, Goudas, Epoisses, Chevres, the smellier the better. Nothing was too strong for Marshall. He tried everything (well, almost) that I gave him.

 Marshall was in a backpack, eating his cheese and crackers off the back of Marc’s coat. Good thing I brought a lot of wipes. I never thought I’d see him say no to cheese but the breaking point came right before we finished the last of the vendors. My personal favourite was Humboldt Fog, a cheese made north of San Francisco. If it wasn’t so expensive I’d have it for dinner every night.

We had a busy five days in Edmonton. Here are some more photos of our visit with friends and family.

Ora and I visited Karen and her twin girls. Here is a photo of us munching on frozen Girl Guide cookies for dessert. Girl Guides are the Canadian version of Girl Scouts. And yes, their cookies are different.

Marshall and I before we dug into my birthday cake. My dad and Baity hosted a large multi-course dinner with Uncle Bill, Auntie Agnes, Tai, Bliss, Claudia, Jude, Jet, Auntie Christina, Ora, and my Grandma in attendance. The grande finale was a chestnut paste-filled cream cake. YUM! Marshall liked all of the food and really liked the cake. He kept taking food off Ora’s and my plate, cake included. After the food was cleared away, the kids tore off to the lobby to play video games. Here’s a cute one of Jet and Marshall playing with the buttons and steering wheel of a racing game.

Marshall got to spend some good quality time with my dad. Here’s a rare photo of both of them looking at the camera.

We arrived on Wednesday early afternoon. After settling in and after Marshall’s 2.5 hour late nap we took a trip up to the General to visit my grandma. She is doing well and was very happy to see Marshall. He loved visiting with the other residents and really liked the fish tank near the nursing station. He stayed still long enough for us to get a few photos.

Super Anne. That’s what Ora called Anne as we left her house after a great visit.

I’ve known Anne since I was a first year Medical Laboratory Science student in University at the U of A (Alberta, not Alabama). I worked with her at the tissue typing lab at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas. In Dallas we used to go clothes shopping, out to the bars and after that we would go have breakfast at 4AM. Notice that I’m speaking in the past tense.

Fast forward 18(!!!) years. We are now moms to two rambunctious boys. Bedtime for us is now 9:30 PM. She is now mom to 3.5 year old Kieran, and just had a baby girl, Madeleine, five weeks ago. BTW, the photo session above lasted all of five seconds, as Kieran and Marshall squirmed off our laps at precisely the same time.

Ora, Marshall and I dropped in to pay her a visit and she managed to entertain us, carry on several conversations, manage a very hungry toddler’s near-meltdown, feed the baby, make and serve us all a home-cooked (from scratch, no boxed or instant stuff here) meal, INCLUDING gingersnap cookies that her and Kieran made together.  That’s quite a feat even for some child-less people that I know.

 Kieran and Marshall played with trucks, tractors, anything that had wheels.  Kieran kindly shared his 100+ collection of Hot Wheels cars.  As we were leaving Anne gave Marshall a starter box of five Hot Wheels.  Anne’s Tip: Buy one as you go into the grocery store, it keeps them occupied (how else do you think Kieran ended up with all those cars?). 

  Marshall loved his gift so much that he fell asleep clutching the box of cars.  You rock, Anne!

Marshall and I took a trip to Edmonton from May 9th to the 13th to visit my relatives and friends. Ora flew up there with us as she was already in Seattle. It was a huge help having her with me to take care of Marshall for the short 1.5 hour flight up there. Marc dropped us off at Seatac airport 2 hours early and we lounged around the new concourse. There was enough space and noise to accomodate His Noisiness but there is only so much of plane watching a wee one can do. Although it was only 8:30 AM we broke out the food and fed Marshall

 a ham sandwich, an apple,

 and latte foam. Keep in mind that this was his second breakfast. This kept us occupied up until boarding time.

As soon as we got on the plane Marshall didn’t want anything to do with sitting down. Not wanting to be on the AP wire like the other couple who got kicked off the plane because their kid wouldn’t sit down for takeoff, I got out my arsenal. This was Karla’s suggestion since Marshall LOVES food. It was a large ziploc bag with about 15 small zippies full of different kinds of snacks. First, the sunflower seeds. He was instantly distracted and picked at those for about 10 minutes. He went through two other bags before they came around with refreshments. As soon as he saw the bag of mixed dried fruit and nuts he did the “more” sign and started into the dried fruit. After a few sips of water, he started putting his head down and fell asleep, staying that way until we landed. A good start, for sure.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had anything to post. We’ve been busy taking care of the garden. I put in about 20 tomatoes in the last few days, a pumpkin (for Marshall), and a zucchini plant. I’ve sowed a lot of peas and other seeds – I’ll have to see if they come up.  It’s amazing how much I can get done with the early Daylight Savings Time this year. I love it!

As you can see from Marshall’s outfit (overalls), he was outside too. I spent two hours removing a patch of invasive Euphorbia in the front yard. All the while he was playing with a huge, fat earthworm. At one point he had it in his hand and was just staring at it. I kept telling him to be gentle with the worm (in the same tone of voice I tell him to be gentle with the dogs). He was holding it with such force that if I didn’t intervene his new little friend would soon be dead, or squished into two pieces. The worm kept contracting, expanding, wriggling, struggling to escape the toddler’s death grip on him. Marshall was fascinated with the wriggler. I appeared nonchalant and cool about it but inside I was wondering how long it would be before he tried to eat it. Eventually he attempted to put it in his mouth, and I caught him just in time (EEEeeewwww!). That’s when I grabbed Mr. Worm and tossed him back into the freshly dug up dirt. I was amazed that he was still in one piece. Traumatized I’m sure but still in one piece.

We went back inside and I gave Marshall a pencil, a highlighter, and a piece of paper to draw on. I kept a keen eye on him as he scribbled away (my nightmare would be if he scribbled on the kitchen cabinets). Somehow he ended up with pink highlighter on the top of his lip. You can see it in this photo: 

Later in the evening, I made a batch of cookies. Marshall loved watching me drop the cookies on the sheet and made the sign for cookie – over and over. We had to explain to him that they needed to be baked first and he actually was patient and waited! Here’s a photo of me and him hanging around the oven. He’s pointing to the cookies inside while signing “cookie”.

After the cookies were removed and cooled, he got the first one.

As he kept eating his cookie Marc laughed as he watched Marshall uncontrollably make the cookie sign over and over and over…