An Ice Cream First

So my child has had ice cream before - let me just clarify that.  He has me (a chocoholic ice cream addict - especially while pregnant) for a mother right?  However he turns it down most of the time.  He claims it is "too cold" and refuses a bite.  In his defense (he has a major sweet tooth) it has been a bit too chilly for all the non-ice cream addicts to enjoy this tasty treat.  BUT a break in the clouds and a few hours to the east and voila!  The sun shines and the weather gets warmer.  While walking around Leavenworth, Trey expressed his extreme interest for an absolutely delectable, ice cold, creamy chocolate ice cream cone.  Although he has had it in bowls before, this is the first time we trusted him to hold the cone on his own.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest...

Before his first bite... (notice he still looks a little unsure)

First bite...

I think he enjoyed it!

E-I-E-I-O

The Brendels live by a farm.... E-I-E-I-O...  I'm cracking up now because I am wishing I would have thought to sing that to Trey when we go visit Kelsey Creek Farm.  Maybe next time...

 

It obviously isn't our farm, we don't even know the owners.  We know lots of the volunteers by now though!  We live in a unique little area of Bellevue that is surrounded by trees, nature, and trails. Our neighborhood park is within walking distance from our apartment and is a distance we have covered many, many times.  It is absolutely my most favorite place to visit in Bellevue.  There are probably more interesting things to do, but I am in love with the peacefulness (inside the city, mind you) and the country-like feel to it.  During the summer, Trey and I would take a picnic and have lunch on the blanket.  This past summer we examined every (every single) fence post for a spider web.  I love that it is free and we can go whenever we like and it is never crowded.  I always feel like it is this undiscovered little gem that we have found and should cherish!  Trey talks about the "aminal farn" constantly and is ecstatic when the weather permits and allows us to venture outside to the farm.

This is an interesting set-up for this farm - it is community owned, and the animals are lent out to the farm.  The big animals either stay in the barn overnight or their owners come and get them periodically.  They have cows (with the shortest legs I have ever seen - I still need to figure out what kinds they are), horses, goats, geese, chickens, roosters, bunnies, ducks and sheep.  As silly as it sounds, I worried when we moved up here that Trey would have no experience whatsoever when it came to farm animals.  Silly isn't it?  I loved getting to go to my Mawmaw and Pawpaw's farm growing up and have the fondest memories of feeding the cows, petting the calves, and helping out.  I am glad he gets a bit of farm animal knowledge with this amazing little neighborhood farm.  I can honestly say that this farm will be one of the things I will miss most when we move.

 

See the cows with the short legs?

  

Oh how my Trey Trey loves puddles.  It is a good thing we get lots of puddles over here because they can entertain him for a while.  He spent 20 minutes just throwing rocks in to this one.

  

Look another puddle!  I think it surprised him when we let him jump away in this one.  His pants are usually soaking wet when we leave...

Chasing ducks...

After a long, hard day at the farm, one can go relax on the toddler-size playground!

Our Rainy, Icy, Snowy Week

For the 3rd time in my life, I experienced four different kinds of weather in a single day.  Of those 3 times, they have all been in Washington.  Brian and I used to think the weather up here had to be the most boring in the country.  It is quite the contrary!  The meteorologists can not accurately predict a storm due to the mountain ranges surrounding Western Washington and other weathery things I don't understand (and don't care to, to be quite honest.)  Brian has become absolutely fascinated with all of these hard-to-understand weather patterns and is constantly reading theories and predictions to me when a "storm" blows through.  Anyway... I digress.

All of these inaccurate weather predictions had everyone on the edge of their seats a few days before the Arctic Blast hit.  Snow predictions went from 2 inches to 6 inches to 10 inches to (gasp!!) 12 inches!  I suppose some areas did get close to that amount, but they are also located closer to the mountains or are at a higher elevation.  School was cancelled all week last week due to the weather and it was an absolutely glorious week!  We were forced to stay home and had several jammie days.  We ate too much (out of boredom I suppose) and took naps.  I took the time to read a new set of books (I got through 2 of them) and Brian brewed and bottled new batches of beer.  Trey woke up every morning with excited exclamations of "No school today!  Yay!"  He enjoyed getting to watch several Disney movies (Dumbo is his new favorite), building extravagant train tracks (with Mommy's help), and building indoor forts with all the blankets and pillows in the house.

We only got about 6 inches of snow in our part of Bellevue, but I certainly am not complaining.  The city shuts down with more than an inch of snow due to the steep hills, icy conditions, and crazy drivers.  After the snow came, an unexpected ice storm sealed the deal and the city hunkered down for the rest of the week.  We ventured out to our street and had a blast enjoying the "Artic Blast" that blanketed our city!  I will let the pictures tell you the rest...

Take a look at this sunset behind the trees of our apartment complex.  It was breathtaking!

Leave it to Brian to find the steepest hill within walking distance... you can't tell because of the snow, but this is the flowerbeds of our apartment complex.

He took Trey down a hill a little less steep.  Trey loved it but couldn't move because of all the clothing his mommy put on him.  Haha see how he just lays on the tube?  However, he is warm!

Brian's mini snowman

 Trey decided he wasn't a huge fan of walking in the snow so he asked to be wheeled around in his wagon. 

Our winter wonderland!

 

Trey is waiting patiently for Daddy.  He is coming back from helping a man push his car up the hill to our apartment.  The guy still didn't make it, but they managed to push the car to the side.

Trey got tired of waiting and decided to take matters into his own hands.  

Momma and Trey in the snow!

Brian (again) searching for the highest point in the vicinity,  and (again) it happens to be in the flower beds. 

This snowman is a little bit bigger than the first...

 Trey overcame his dislike of the cold and discovered the fun of throwing snowballs... at mommy.  Thanks daddy and Trey for ganging up on me and pelting me with snow!  Haha Trey is about half a second from getting me... this is his battle face.

Making my first snow angel!

My little-bit-bigger-than-the-first-two snowman.  I am proud to say that he was one of the last things to melt in our community!  Apparently a Texas girl can build a good snowman (even if it was only about a foot and a half feet tall).

 

Trey was putting the finishing touch (the arm) on our snowman.

Our "Merry Little Christmas"

Trey and I returned to Washington on Christmas Eve to continue the festivities with Daddy.  I think he missed having us around that week - I'm sure the quiet was a huge change! 

We decided to continue our tradition and take a walk through the Bellevue Botanical Garden's "Garden D'lights" tour on Christmas Eve night.  It has half a million lights (all garden or nature related) and are absolutely stunning.  Last Christmas we walked in the rain and under umbrellas, so we were thankful to stay dry this year!  It was a wonderful way to start off our "merry little" Christmas.

After returning home, we ate dinner, Trey took a bath, and we prepared for the arrival of Santa Claus.  We wanted to make sure Santa felt welcome and appreciated, so Trey left him milk and cookies....

He was preparing to take a bite (thinking I guess that Santa should share the cookies)...

but then found out Santa's cookies weren't to be shared.

Santa was forgiving though and brought Trey some amazing gifts!  His favorites were his red wagon, his legos, his new books, and (most importantly) the real train that choo-chooed around the Christmas tree.  He ripped through the wrapping paper like a pro and I suppose he was - this was technically his 4th Christmas in a week's time.

He loved his red wagon so much that he wanted to eat breakfast in it!

That morning our family went to Christmas mass and thanked God for our family, our friends, and most importantly for sending Jesus into our world.  It is the true reason for the season and we were happy that Trey was able to tell us "Happy birthday, Jesus!" that morning.  We were truly blessed this year and hope all of you were too!

A Texas Christmas

It looks like November 5th was my last post... 2 months ago!  In order to not feel completely overwhelmed into blogging about our every move over the past 2 months, I am going to pretend that I had never missed a beat and just do a recent post.  There!  I feel better already...

It's the most wonderful time... of the year!  I can still hear the music happily playing; probably because I subjected my family to almost 8 weeks of nonstop Christmas music.  Brian says I am silly for putting up all my decorations before Thanksgiving but I love to enjoy the beautiful lights and colors for longer than just a month.  It is an amazing holiday to celebrate so why not drag it out as long as possible?  For me, Thanksgiving is the jump-start feast for Christmas... it is the ready-set-go for the holiday season and in my opinion, the most wonderful time of year!

The most amazing part of this time of year is getting to spend so much time with family.  It was a whirlwind of a trip (as usual) but the time was priceless.  Here are just a few moments we captured...

Trey enjoyed taking a walk with Papa and Pup.  (Notice all the boys have their hands in their pockets!)

Thanks Pup and Kat for driving up to spend Christmas with us!  Trey enjoyed getting to play in the backyard and read stories with them.  He loved getting to hang out again!

 

We enjoyed getting to laugh with Aunt Bebe (a lot!)  Trey is going through quite an independent phase which prompts him to express his disapproval when he doesn't get his way - most of the time it is yelling "NO!" or blowing raspberries at the offending disciplinarian.  It is very hard to discipline a toddler when Aunt Bebe is cracking up - now I can see how we used to be able to get my mom to laugh so easily!  Trey is also a big fan of giving Aunt Bebe big kisses - on the mouth!  He is not blind to a pretty face.  :)

Trey did so good with Santa Claus this year!  When we were waiting in line he must have decided that he had waited long enough and he yelled (in Santa's direction), "I wanna wagon Santa!!"  He was shy when sitting with the big guy but was all smiles.  He did, however, have a difficult time understanding why the wagon was not waiting for him after getting off Santa's lap. 

Trey loved getting to catch up with Memi and Boppie.  He remembered their house so well that he went straight to their back door to see Boppie's trains!  They gave him an amazing gift of Memi and Boppie reading The Night Before Christmas.  He has listened to it almost every night!

The Farek Christmas is usually on Christmas eve night, so we were so lucky this year that our family decided to have it early so we could be there.  It was wonderful to get to see all of our family at Mawmaw and Grandpa Royce's house.  Trey remembered playing with Mawmaw in the backyard and wanted her to go with him right away!  He enjoyed getting to swing her on the swing!

 We had an incredible time at Nana and Papa's house.  One of my most cherished memories growing up was making sugar cookies at Christmas time with my momma.  Trey loved getting to continue our tradition!  Ironically, the smell of the icing made me feel sick when I was pregnant!  Trey, however, didn't seem to have a problem with the icing...

Trey even got Papa to play on the floor and wrestle!

We had such an amazing time in Texas and we are looking forward to being closer to home next Christmas!