Calvin's Capers!: Happy Birthday!

July was a very busy month for Calvin. Grandma and Grandpa visited to say say bon voyage to Calvin before he headed off to Seattle, WA. It was his very first airplane ride, and he was such a good boy on the flight to the west coast.

We were invited to Seattle to celebrate Cousin Lucy and Cousin Will's 4th birthday party. Calvin got to meet his Uncle Paul, and his cousins Will and Lucy for the first time. This was also Calvin's first kids birthday party and he had a ball. Calvin really enjoyed the pinata and watching all the kids celebrate and run around. He also met many of Keri and Paul's good friends. Thanks to those who let Calvin barrow toys, gear, and a great play mat while he was in Seattle!

The highlight for Calvin throughout the week was all the time that he got to spend playing with his Cousins Will and Lucy. They liked to share their favorite toys with him, and read to him, and teach him how to be as good as they are. It was a real treat watching them all play together!

Calvin got to do all kinds of great stuff while he was in Seattle. We went for a nice walk down at the locks and the fish ladder. Calvin really enjoyed seeing the boats go up and down in the locks as they passed through. However, his favorite part (and Daddy's too) was seeing the phish swim through the ladder on their way up stream so that they could make more phish.

We got to borrow the car on Sunday (thanks!) and go up to see Meghan's Cousin Greg, his wife Thu, and their two kids, Jacob and Liana, in Redmond. It was really good to meet them, and we had a nice BBQ at their house. It was lots of fun for Calvin to meet them all. It had been a good while since Meghan had seen her Cousin, so they got to catch up, and I am sure that we will be seeing them again when we are back out in Seattle!

Another day we got to take Calvin with Gee Gee and Pop Pop to the Pike Place Market. Calvin got to see all the pretty flowers, smell the fresh phish in the air, and take in the sites. Calvin was particularly impressed by street performer playing the guitar and hula hooping at the same time.

We also managed to get down to the waterfront one day and see the Seattle Aquarium. It was Greg and Meghan's first experience with Calvin and lots of kids running around and it was a little overwhelming. We clearly have a lot to learn in the very near future. We really enjoyed seeing the phish again, and Meghan got to touch a star fish! We also got down the block to see Greg's favorite store, the 'Ye Olde Curiosity Shop'. This was his favorite place to go as a boy, and while it seemed a lot smaller, that was partly due to the fact that they had moved the store into a smaller space than what it was in when he was young!

When we got back, Gee and Pop Pop had a big dinner of cracked crab waiting for us. It was super good. Meghan got to hear about Gee Gee's first experience at a crab dinner at the Ehle's house when she was just dating Pop Pop and how Po Po picked through her crab shells to rate her technique! At any rate, it was a really good dinner that we all enjoyed.

Calvin also got to go to the Seattle Center and have dinner at the top of the Space Needle, literally and figuratively. We had a great dinner there (thanks Gee Gee and Pop Pop), but Calvin got hungry in the middle of it, and needed a snack too! Mt Rainier was out in all its glory, as was Mt Baker. Afterward, we went up to the observation deck and checked out the views some more, and could even see Calvin's grandparent's house from up there!

We also celebrated Pop-Pops 70th birthday while we were out in Seattle! That's right, its no type-o! We had a great dinner, opened presents, and got to play with Pop Pop's new toy, an I Pad. It was a lot of fun to get the Ehle/Nasenbeny crew together for a good dinner, and a great reason to do so.

The next day we got up and packed up Gee Gee and Pop Pop's car, and took Calvin up to San Juan Island for the weekend. A couple of months ago Greg was talking to his old friend Doug down in Asheville, NC and as it turns out Doug and his family were coming out west at the same time as Calvin, Meghan and Greg. So we all met up at the Ferry dock in Anacortes and spent the weekend at the old Ehle family cabin on Limestone Point on San Juan Island. Doug and Greg had not seen each other since 2002, and it was really good for them to catch up and see each other. They had two great kids, Quinn and Maia, and they were very well behaved and great kids. Doug' wife Nel also had her sister and brother-in-law come along and we spent the weekend touring the island, looking for (and seeing!) whales, checking out tide pools, building sculptures with firewood, and spending some quality time checking out the big bald Eagle that roosts in front of the cabin. A big thanks to Uncle Byron and Aunt Pat for lending us the cabin!

On Monday the whole crew came over for dinner again, and we really enjoyed ourselves. It is so nice to have family together, be it in Seattle or Vermont, and Calvin, Meghan and Greg all appreciate all the love and support that we have gotten over the last year! It has meant the world to us, and we just wanted to say it, not just think it!

We also wanted to apologize to all our fans out there reading this Blog. We had a significant hardware failure when we got back from our vacation and the computer was dead. This required some help from many people to fix, including Aaron and Pop Pop, but now that Windows is reinstalled, and the computer is working we will have some more updates for you soon!

And now, what I know you all really come here for, the pictures!