Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Aaron turned three on the 16th. 

I think this was the most fun birthday to witness so far (although, I may be forgetting Daniel and Matthew's earlier birthdays...). 

Aaron was so excited to have a birthday, and he just LOVED having people sing the birthday song to him. 

 

 We sang and lit candles many times in the days surrounding his birthday, and every time he just sat there beaming as if having us all there celebrating him made this the best day of his life. Which makes sense (because he is three, after all)...

...but there was just something different about him than other birthday boys who have been a little uncomfortable with the attention (which also makes sense...they are their mother's sons, after all).

 Aaron had a fun birthday, especially because Auntie Laura had literally just gotten back from China.

 And of course, there were presents.

 Like bath toys.

And airplanes.

 And books. (His exact words were "Yes! A book!")

 And olives.

 And Dick's cheeseburgers and milkshakes for dinner!

 

 And let's not forget about the cake.

 A few days later we celebrated with the rest of the family...which meant more presents...

 ...and more cake!

Three-year-old Aaron's Top Ten Favorite Things (in no particular order)

1. His brothers
2. The Swedish Chef from the Muppets
3. Airplanes...especially the P51 Mustang
4. Baths
5. Olives. All kinds
6. Auntie Laura (or LaLa, as he calls her)
7. Cats, especially Auntie Laura's cat, Finn. (We play a lot of pretend games where he is Finn and I am LaLa)
8. Cake (this was also one of his first words)
9. Mom (because she makes the food)
10. Dad (because he plays the rough, tickling games)


Three-year-old Aaron is:

1. Passionate. There is no medium with Aaron. He is either really happy (and he'll tell you "I so happy!") or really mad. He has a fair amount of rage in him that shows itself anytime he is even slightly disappointed. This earned him the nickname "Angry Aaron" early on, and though we don't really call him that now, he still fits the bill.

2. Polite. When he isn't raging mad at you, he is very polite. He rarely ever asks for something without politely using "please," and is the one kid who most often says "thank you for the ______" without being prompted. (This is especially nice at mealtime).

3. Athletic. This kid is the most athletic toddler I've seen. He is super agile and has incredible balance. He will jump fearlessly off of anything (so watch out if you're within arms reach), and climbs as high as he can on any play structure we meet. He flips over in one fluid motion if you hold him by his hands in the air, and also learned to do this on the rings on our play structure. He flies down our sidewalk on his scooter, which makes anyone who doesn't know him nervous, but manages to stay upright and in control 99% of the time.

4. Independent. He takes after big brother Daniel in this department--usually saying "I do it myself" if you offer to help him with anything. Putting shoes on, buckling himself into the car seat, getting dressed, you name it and Aaron will want to do it himself. Or at least try for 10 minutes before accepting your help.

5. Helpful. Anything we do, Aaron is asking to help. Chores are now taking quite a bit longer to complete with all the "help" we're getting, but at least he's learning how to do things...right?

6. Sweet. If you say "I love you" or "I missed you" to Aaron, he usually replies in his very cute little voice "I love you, too" or "I missed you, too." Melt my heart.

Happy birthday, buddy! We love you oh so much. :)

Fly Days

Back in June we stumbled across a really cool event at Paine Field in Everett. Paul Allen has a museum of historic aircraft called the Flying Heritage Collection, and every other Saturday throughout the summer they pick two or three of the planes to do a flying demonstration. We just happened to go on their first free fly day of the summer, and it was so much fun we've gone again.

The first day we went was gray and drizzling, and they almost cancelled the flight because it's not safe for them to fly with any precipitation in the air. But, lucky for us, they waited a bit and were able to fly a little later. These two planes are the Focke Wulf Fw 190 and the boys' favorite, the P51 Mustang. The 190 crashed in Russia in 1943 and wasn't found until the 80s (!); it is the only 190 in existence that still flies. These two planes are flown by a father and son team. And, since we had purchased admission to the museum that day, we were treated to a meeting with the pilots and signed photos of them flying the planes.

 I'm not sure if Aaron was more excited for the airplanes, or for the kettle corn snack we had there.

After the free fly day on the 14th, Daniel kept asking if we could go back for the next one on the 28th. I'm not much for going on big outings on my own with the boys, but this is such an easy event to go to that we went even though Chris was out of town. We almost didn't make it in time (there were quite a few tears when we pulled into the parking lot and saw the planes taxiing toward the runway already), but we somehow managed to make it over just in time. Today's planes: the IL2, the P47 Thunderbolt, and the P51B Mustang.

Since Paine Field is in operation during these flight demonstrations, sometimes larger aircraft get in on the fun. The boys LOVED seeing this 787 up close!

After the flight demonstration, the pilots taxi by the crowd. Here's the IL2.

 The P47.

 The P51 Mustang.

The lady in the wheelchair is THE Tallahassee Lassie, who the plane was named and painted for by the man standing next to her, the pilot.

Today was supposed to be another free fly day, and we were excited to go and introduce Grandma to the festivities. But, when we approached the museum we found that today is actually a huge event called Skyfair, and there wouldn't be any flight demonstrations till much later. Having been out so late last night, missing naps was not an attractive option (neither was joining the massive crowds) and we opted to go to a nearby playground instead. 

This new-fangled playground equipment is fun, but it's no free fly day. Aaron cried all the way home. :(