River Front Park and Both Grandparents

Grandpa C tickle attach

chillen' with Grandpa K

both sets of Grandparents!
It's so great that our parents are friends.
Grandma & Grandpa C just celebrated 62 years of marriage September 5th!
Grandma & Grandpa K are about to celebrate 36 years of marriage on October 5th!
J and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on June 5th!
As you can see "5" is a lucky number for this family.

chillen' with Grandpa C

River Front Park, on 100 acres.
1974 World's Fair Expo site became River Front Park
The park serves as a base for major community events and celebrations including Bloomsday, Hoopfest, Fourth of July, Spokane Falls Northwest Indian Encampment & Pow Wow, Unity in the Community and Pig Out in the Park.
This statue represents our Bloomsday runners

1909 Looff Carrousel, beautiful hand-carved wooden carrousel.

Radio Flyer slide

Notice the 5 MPH speeding sign... slow it down Grandma and Grandpa! =)

ice cream break

Manito with the Charette's

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Frann drove up from Oregon to see us! Of course, Connor had to get them out on the field (yard) to play some baseball.
This is after they hit some golf balls...

my little out fielder waiting for a good hit

showing Grandpa his play room.. and all his cool toys

story time with Aunt Frann.

cuddle time with Nala, or as he calls her Nona.

taking a relaxing walk around the neighborhood after dinner

Manito Park!
Our most beautiful park, located on 90 acres.
This is the classical European Renaissance style Duncan garden.

Connor just adores his Aunt Frann. He's been attached to her side since they got here.

so cute, Grandma and Grandpa enjoying Duncan garden... walking hand in hand. =)

taking a break in the Gaiser Conservatory, which contains large tropical plants combined with diverse flowering displays.

Bird of Paradise plant.

Connor and Aunt Frann playing around

peanut cactus and pepper plant

Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden. Rated number 16 out of more than 300 Japanese gardens in North America.lunch break in the middle of the park at this cute little cafe.

Duck pond

Aunt Frann and Connor found 4 turtles in the duck pond!

Nana and Grandpa's

We took a trip up to visit Nana and Grandpa. On the way I stopped at 1 of the 5 coffee shops that I frequent... Connor usually gets a sucker, but today the coffee lady gave him this book instead. How sweet is that! Connor loved it and read me his book for half the drive.

He loves his little rocking chair at Nana's house

cuddle time with his favorite kitty... Spaz!

helping Grandpa figure out how much to cut off the bottom of their new breakfast stools to make them the perfect height for grandkids.

watching the fish in Nana and Grandpa's pond.

Nana and Grandpa's Hazel nut tree. I didn't even know Hazel nut tree's could grow in the Northwest?!?

Nana horsey ride... gitty up!

helping Nana in the kitchen

kisses for Grandpa

Grandpa trying out Connor's bowl-helmet. Looks good Grandpa!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

We had a tough week! J was in Mississippi all week, came home for the weekend and now he's in Missouri until Tuesday. Lil' C caught a cold, ear infection and he's cutting 2 teeth AND a molar. Poor little guy wasn't feeling good. But Grandma and Grandpa spent the night Monday and helped cheer him up! Plus it gave me some time to study. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!
Lil' C had so much fun playing with Grandma! Piggy back rides, story time, playing with his little people barn, patty cake... checking out what Grandpa's doing on the laptop. Lets put together more puzzles Grandpa!
What a nice way to end a rough week! Thanks for putting smiles on our faces Grandma and Grandpa! =)

Christmas with the Kortus's

We had a low key New Years Eve this year. Jasper helped me make 3.5 dozen mini cheese cakes and we spent the day relaxing. That evening J and I watched the movie Four Christmas's and laughed until J's sides hurt. I made New York style cheese cakes but in mini form so everyone could have their favorite topping: plain, Apple, Caramel Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Chocolate and Cherry Chocolate. I think the chocolate was the biggest hit.
We celebrated Christmas with the Kortus's at our house. I made a turkey dinner with all the fixens, a new green bean casserole recipe (which was a big hit), stuffed mushrooms for the appetizer, some new yummy salads Nana brought and the mini cheese cakes for desert. Everything turned out really delicious!
John and Laura
Present time!
Madi opened her first present (one of the many books she got) and was all ready to settle in and start reading. We had to make her put the book down and keep opening presents.
John and Ryan. I just love his little boots! So cute.
After presents the kids (Madi, Livi, Lil' C and J) all headed down to the play room to have some fun. Lil' C, or as I've been calling him now- Jasper is setting the mood for play time with some wonderful music.
Livi thought his play room was pretty neat! She had fun testing out all his toys with him. Here they were playing in his ball pit.
Slam Dunk! Nana and Papa got him a basketball hoop for Christmas and he's already pretty good at making shots!
I'm not sure who had more fun playing with his basketball hoop... him or the other kids (J included). Madi and J played Basketball-Hockey.
Then Madi and Livi broke into ballpit war. They built forts and tried to destroy the other person's fort with the ballpit balls. This is Madi's fort built out of mega blocks and Jaspers table.
And Livi's fort made out of Jaspers tent, pillows and blankets.
The War!
The girls tackling each other after the war. The kids had a lot of fun in the playroom! They were down there playing for hours.
Family photo =)
Jasper reading a book to Papa before bedtime. We had a wonderful Christmas!