Y So Serious?!

For the record, Chris said he would put that headline on a poster IF he were a BYU Cougar fan:) I was obviously outnumbered by the males in my household in my blue-btw what shade of blue are they these days anyway?! I must admit being outta the Provo scene for 8 yrs. I was kinda confused:) but I do realize the horizontal stripes are not very flattering on my prego belly-oops!)
Unfortunately Cole changed his mind to be equally divided this very morning & wanted to wear his Locker jersey 'cuz he idolizes his dad & doesn't know any better!:) I later found out that Cole was clearly bribed by Chris with a lego set to trade sides but it was "their little secret" until Mon. night?!
Before the game, I let 'em bow down to WA: After the game since we made a deal that the boys would have to rise & shout & change their colors if BYU was victorious; perhaps they'd be more excited if their Cougar apparel options were better i.e. jersey but I forgot both times to bug my sisters when they visited from UT over the summer so this is all they had thanks to hand-me-downs:Chris will probably fill more of an editorial re-cap of the game; otherwise you can check out his response to my cousin under Seabrook post?! I also have to say that my school pride came out more than I thought during the game even though I'm a big Husky fan on any other day:) I truly just wanted the Cougs to show up so they could lay to rest the typical comment in the NoWest that they can't win outta MWC; however, not thrilled with outcome 'cuz hard to say they won fair & square with that call by the officials @ the end-ugh! Why couldn't the officials just let 'em finish? I'm also a big fan o' Jake Locker so hard not to feel badly for him...He's the last guy you would call unsportsmanlike! Didn't want to rub it in too much since I do share a bed with a die-hard Dawg, but had to capture the afternoon somewhat:) Now that it's over (even though I probably won't stop hearing about it for quite a while!), I hope the Huskies show up against Oklahoma next week 'cuz they did show considerable progress from their defeat in OR & I'd love for the BYU Cougs (we do need to clarify for the boys between 'em @ WSU:)) to beat UCLA! Oh, & we can join together on Sun. & cheer on the Seahawks-hope you will too! They've got some room for improvement too, but ya gotta love 'em!

Back to School

The first days o' school have come & gone for the Parker boys!
















I must admit Cole was a little confused as to when he actually started kindergarten 'cuz he had a classroom tour following my parent orientation on Tues. (9/2),
then an assessment with just 5 other kids on Thurs. (9/3);
however, the latter was preceded by his first trip on a school bus (I followed behind in the car then ran like a mad woman to make sure he knew where to go once he got off-he was a little miffed that I picked him up vs. letting him take the bus home as well 'cuz that's half of the fun & definitely part of the coolness factor:)











His official first day was Mon. (9/8) & I think he's cried/complained for the last 3 mornings 'cuz I've had to awaken him from deep slumber Apparently (no pun intended) we can't seem to get the whole school night bedtime in gear-ugh! It's really cramped our style:) We actually had to leave a Mariners game early vs. waiting to see if they had any chance of a rally in late innings (btw, the answer is nope!) Cole says his eyes hurt & a half day is really long despite recess being only 3 or 4 min. (gotta love his time frames:) Plus his legs are sore when his teacher makes 'em sit "criss-cross applesauce" on the rug?! We are happy to have Ms. Cunningham though!
Technically it's the same time frame as preschool but EVERY day is making a difference to him:) I guess it didn't occur to me that the thrill would be gone in the first week?!
Dane, on the other hand, has his share of angry youth moments later in the day but seems to be enjoying preschool. He started Weds. (9/3) with everyone else in the area. He's certainly waited long enough for it to be his turn, but most interesting part was watching Cole show him around & miss him just as much when they were apart! I had to make big brother leave 'cuz he was so comfortable after 2 yrs. there himself.
















His teacher, Mrs./Sis. Johnston, is known for singing, so he's become quite the vocalist himself lately:) Obviously they do that a lot together-He's looking forward to Fri. when it's tradition for his class to have their pictures taken on ponies in her backyard!Both the boys also started a new session @ YMCA so they're taking gym classes & are in a splash camp making for a busy Sept. indeed! Gotta pack a lot into next month before newborn slows us down a bit...but hopefully not too much! He shall remain anonymous for time being but will certainly have to be along for the ride:)

Up Up & Away!

We always try to do something fun as a fam on Memorial/Labor Day not to mention the fact that a rare day off is a good opportunity to venture somewhere new-especially when even Chris ends up with a few hours to spare. He worked in the a.m., but then we drove up to Seattle in time to see just about everything @ Museum of Flight that afternoon with exception of Boeing's history in the red barn?! Sorry if that decreases our status as true Washingtonians:)
All that science gave Chris & I a whole new appreciation for pilots & astronauts-


















However, Cole & Dane are pretty sure they could fly a plane themselves after taking the wheel on a few and studying other aspects of aeronautics.














I've never seen so many different planes in one place although I still felt pretty ignorant by the end. Keeping track of the controls alone was enough to give me a headache! 'Course it's easy for me to be over-stimulated these days:) Hard to narrow down the several artistic shots that Chris took, but here are some notable ones:
Cole in front of speedy Concorde Climbing onto the tarmack-sp? after touring Air Force One that flew Pres. Nixon & Eisenhower (if I remember correctly; bear in mind I've got a pregnant brain & packed a lot o' history into a few hours:))Chris' favorites (boys & plane=Blackbird:))











Nice to get up close & personal with a Blue Angel since we always seem to miss out on Sea Fair-














We checked out a lookout tower with examples of everything that air traffic controllers get to stay on top of-whoa! No pressure keeping all of those flights straight & even understanding the lingo...Also spent quite a while in the hands-on Flight Zone; Chris discovered that a hang glider is a lil' trickier than it looks to maneuver let alone land near target! We learned (not gonna lie! I've already forgotten most of it:)) new vocab. i.e yaw & even equations that go into even taking off the ground & definitely the art to landing!


















I've never been a huge fan o' the solar system, but that's probably 'cuz the people smart enough & willing to leave our planet to explore space are way outta my league! I must admit t'was fascinating to see all that entails...from what's on board to the years of preparation/training!













Cool planes from World Wars I & II respectively incl. Dane's favorite one "with the shark nose"; can't imagine how chilly & dangerous that was to fly exposed like that in combat-whoa!














After all that, this mean mom wouldn't let any of her boys pay extra for a flight simulator 'cuz we have lots o' different directions for our money this month including the upcoming famous Puyallup fair:) Otherwise all had fun & we stayed until close! Last but not least, we hooked up with my parents & 2 sisters for dinner @ Cheesecake Factory in SoCtr before Brooke headed to SeaTac for her own flight back to UT for fall semester...Guess it's back to real world with work & school!