A Vroom Room

Nolan's room got a little bit of a face lift last week, which was long over due. The last time you saw his room it looked like this:

This was before Nolan was born and just after finishing the paint, hence the paint can. His room stayed this way for pretty much 2 years. Toys and equipment came in and out, the mattress was lowered but it mostly looked the same. Around his 2nd birthday I packed up his nursery bedding and baby equipment and it sat untouched.

Recently, the pieces started coming together...well actually they first started coming together before Nolan was even born when we got this quilt made by one of my mom's friends at my baby shower. It's vintage transportation themed and I loved it but I didn't know if Nolan would be into cars and such so I tucked it away for safe keeping.

Luckily, Nolan naturally fell in love with all things transportation. He carries his 2 train cars or 2 toy cars with him at all times (along with his 2 blankies, he has quite the entourage) and points out every airplane, helicopter, bus, bike, train, etc that he sees. He knows what sounds each make and talks about them none stop, it's pretty intense. I guess we lucked out though with the quilt, good call Julie!

I'm getting ahead of myself though as this quilt is actually for his big boy bed. He is still a crib sleeper and is very happy in there so we have not converted anything yet. I do have the toddler rail piece on standby as soon as we feel he is ready though. For now, we bring the quilt out every so often to admire but Nolan knows it's for his big boy bed. I'm hoping this anticipation will make the transition smoother? But I based his room off of this quilt knowing it will be coming out soon.

I knew all along I would want one of these highway rugs, frankly because I loved them as a kid. I found this one on Zulily and had to have it (thanks yaya!), it has an airport, firehouse and was on a great sale!

I got the table and chair and small bookshelf from my mom, they used to be in my room. It's in original condition so I think I'll repaint the top of the table with chalkboard paint. The number boxes are IKEA, they hold all his art supplies and playdoh. He's been surprising great with keeping his supplies on his desk and not drawing on the walls and such. I was a little worried about giving him this responsibility but his co op teacher assured me he could handle it.

The vintage ABC print is actually sheet wrapping paper from Paper Zone and the frame is IKEA, only $25 for the whole thing and Nolan loves it. I hear him going through the letters over the monitor.

I made his blanket that will be on his bed, he needed something cozy now that it's getting chilly and this one is made from cuddle fleece which might just be the softest fabric ever.

Across from his bed is my favorite spot in the whole house. Pat hung the shelves (IKEA picture ledges) for us while we were up in Bellingham and when I saw them I literally squealed. Nolan loves having all his books on display and is reading so much more since we ditched the bookshelf. Above is what it looks like when I'm able to distract Nolan away from his room.

This is what it usually looks like. He likes to have multiple books open at a time and just rotates around them.

For now he really likes to put the books back up and is pretty particular on where each one goes, I think I will need more of those little ledges! He can't reach the top one yet but it works well when we want to take some books out of the rotation. Like when we read the airplane book 5 times in one day, it goes back on the top shelf!

This wasn't a huge face lift, his furniture is still the same as day 1 and even in the same place, his walls are the same color, the blinds are the same. But these pieces I intended to keep with him for as long as possible. Once he's through his toddler bed phase his crib converts again into a double bed meaning he could potentially keep this bed with him until he moves out. I love this and have romanticized the idea that someday a 16 year old Nolan could be sleeping on a bed with a headboard and foot board with his little teething marks on them. Or that he will store his boxers in the dresser where I changed so many diapers. See what motherhood has done to me? I'm all sentimental now! But honestly that would be pretty amazing.

Puyallup Fair III

We ventured South to check out the Puyallup Fair again this year and had such a great time! We weren't sure if Nolan would be tall enough yet to go on any rides so we just had to cross our fingers and give it a shot. Luckily he was good to go by just a hair (his fluffy hair added an inch) so we bought some tickets and had a blast. First up the giant slide. I love this one so I volunteered to go with him.

He was pretty ok with it, I still love it. We let him choose where he wanted to go, when he spotted the car/truck/helicopter/boat ride section he was so excited, luckily there weren't any lines that day and he could jump right on. First up was the dump truck ride.

Next up the sports cars. He had to share this one, but he didn't mind.

We also did the train ride that goes all around the park but I couldn't get a good picture, the countdown to a new camera is on!

Unfortunately we missed all the animals this year, have they always packed them up so early?! We made up for it by snacking our way around the grounds and playing on the mobile sound machine.

That was definitely a favorite of the day for Nolan, we parked it here for a good 30 minutes.

So far we are 3 for 3 on great Puyallup Fair experiences, it's an amazing thing to watch him love a place that was so important to me as kid. Now that we know he will be able to go on all the rides, we're going to have to get the bracelets for sure! I already can't wait for next year!

Preschool

We signed Nolan up for our neighborhood Co-op and it started last week. I mom-ed out on this one and treated it like his first day of school. Of course I know preschool is just practice for Kindergarten and beyond but I couldn't help myself, I had to take first day of school pictures.

I guess Nolan knew this was just a practice day as he wasn't taking it very seriously.

We started off promising...

But I realized I forgot his backpack so I grabbed it and our photo session went downhill from here.

This is what I got when I asked him to sit next to his backpack.

Not quite the effect I was trying to achieve. So I asked him to put on his backpack.

This will have to do for now. I'm glad we have 2 more years of practice before Kindergarten.

Once we got to school he had a great time, it took him about 10 seconds to find the car table.

He also like the ball maze thing.

Circle time was by far his favorite. He loved having his very own dot to sit on.

This week he starts going by himself 1 day a week and with me the other day, I'll keep you posted on our progress.

This is why I wanted a good picture.

I guess it worked out afterall!

Tacoma Adventures

This month was Yaya's _0th Birthday and to celebrate we took a day trip down to Tacoma for some adventures.

We started off with a morning trip to the Annual "Touch a Truck" event with Yaya and Gigi.

There was plenty of truck touching, but of course Nolan liked the 1 thing that wasn't an actual truck. He preferred the trailer that hauled the trucks and equipment. He ran back and forth on this thing at least 100 times.

He got to climb into vintage police cars, school buses and semi trucks. He was a little overwhelmed with all the options but he talked about those trucks all week.

At the next stop we met up with The Revards at Point Defiance Park for a picnic. Nolan preferred to chase the squirrels over eating.

Finally we tried to document this day with a Yaya and babies picture. Here's a good one of Yaya and Clementine.

and a good one of Yaya and Nolan

but this one has to be my favorite.

I don't remember telling them to make funny faces!

The Revards kept the fun going with a trip to the zoo. It was nap time for us so we loaded up the car and headed back North. I'm sure there are tons of zoo pictures to report on so take it Emmie!

Game Reserve

We left our lovely lake for a day trip over to the Sequim Game reserve. It's a park where you stay in the car and drive around very slowly amongst the animals. I guess this place is where Disney used to film their animal movies or something as many of the animals were trained to do "tricks"

This bear would wave hi, another one would stand up on it's back paws, another would growl and look all tough. This guy was my favorite, he was also the biggest.

We also got to see zebras VERY close up. No zoom lens needed here, it was right outside our window.

There was also a petting zoo with a llama and goats and such. Nolan just wanted to play in their little house.

They also had an aquarium with salmon and trout swimming around. When Nolan says Fishy it sounds like Vicky, we saw lots of Vickies that day.

In the end I think Nolan's favorite part was riding up front and holding the map, but he looked up a few times to enjoy the scenery.

Lake Sutherland

We had a great time. The lake was warm and quiet, Nolan napped (although somewhat reluctantly), we read, napped by the lake and relaxed for 4 glorious days.

Port Townsend

Next stop was lunch in Port Townsend, my home away from home growing up. Our entire family used to get together here every Summer for 2 weeks of camping bliss. We got to stay up late, eat smores every night and play with our cousins for endless hours. My favorite memories usually can be tracked back to this little town. Luckily since it's one of those places that time stands still those memories are safe and I can't wait to share them with Nolan as he gets older. Of course this isn't Nolan's first trip over there. We stayed a few days here back when he was just 6 months old, he had such a great time playing with his cousin Clementine and exploring the town!

First stop was Waterfront Pizza for lunch. I have eaten way too much of this pizza in my lifetime so it was great to see Nolan enjoy it as much as I do.

This fickle eater ate an entire piece on his own, which is no small task.

Next stop was Elevated Ice Cream, another place we spent much of our time. He enjoyed his cookies and cream ice cream but preferred my swiss orange chocolate chip.

We weren't able to stay long as it was getting close to nap time but we did drive around town a bit before heading to the Lake. I told my stories for each landmark and was amazed how much came back to me. I really hope Nolan will be so lucky to have a memory time capsule like Port Townsend.