So many Firsts for Jake these days but a few stand out from the crowd! Starting with our first family Fourth of July! It was SUPER sunny and just a little warm, as we strolled downhill to the downtown to see the annual parade! We all loved the small town pride and excitement. Jake especially loved the giant plow up duck and the bands! We might have a little muscian on our hands! We tried to stay cool by walking thru the farmers market and scored with some amazing snow cones that put any traditional snow cone to shame! Yeah... I said snow cones!!! And Jake LOVED them! Afterwards, we got some grub at my 'rents new fav spot, of course the Irish Pub: Wilde Rover, where we shared some irish nachos, cheeses, and where Jake got his first cheeseburger! He REALLY loves his food now!! We rallied in town and then ventured back up the hill.... wait scratch that... Poppi and Gigi went back up the hill and the rest of us hung out by the lake sharing some pleasant conversations (mostly about what to name baby petersen) and enjoyed the hub of pre-firework setup until Poppi came back to pick us up on wheels....it was almost 100 degrees that day!!! After we all got back, we hung out, ate some grub, listened to music, and prepped for the big show which we thought we'd miss due to two giant trees that seemed to block out view... finally we found our break. We ran to the street at 10:15pm, baby in tow, in the late night chilly wind, to see the coolest firework show! Jake was in awe! He couldn't take his eyes off the lights and kept pointing! Luckily we were far enough up the hill that the sound was buffered. A great intro to the "Almost Jake's Birthday Firework Bananza"!!! What a great day!!!!
And if that wasn't enough, we woke up to the intense anticipation of Jake's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! HOLY COW! Jake turned ONE!!! A celebration for both child and parents!! We all enjoyed a very fun and relaxed day! Jake, along with Momma and Dadda, went to pick out Jake's FIRST big boy walking shoes! Since it only comes once we decided to splurge and headed to Nordstrom for the big tada! Jake was greeted with a nice selection of balloons! He hung out with some other kids enjoying a similar experience, and got pampered by reps who very accurately and lovingly, measured his feet (4 1/2 WHAT?!), slipped on and off shoes of varying styles, before we all settled on some nice brown big boy fancy dinner sandals and of course some waterproof outdoor easy-as-pie to get on Teva sandals! Soooo Fun! Jake totally was enjoying the attention and seemed to know this was all about him! He finished his shoe selection with a memento photo from the store and a stuffy! How Cool!!! He even walked out of the store on his own, proud to show of his new skill to all those in the mall!
Upon our return to the Wigwam, we enjoyed a nice family BBQ with of course Jake's current summer veggie Favorite, grilled Corn on the Cobb Poppi style, and we all ate outside enjoying the perfect July 5th weather. Afterwards, the festivities began! We sang "happy Birthday" and Jake enjoyed his first cupcake made by mom with homemade raspberry whipped cream. Yummy!!! The whole time though, Jake was mesmorized by the pile of stuff just for him! He seemed to fall effortlessly into the flow of opening cards, gifts, and was super excited by each item and expressed his excitement with lots of "OOOHHS and AHHHs and mammadadaggagabaaaaaaaaa"! Super cute! Thank you so much for all the generosity and love from family near and far!!!It was as if there was a giant hug around Jake all day!!! Here are some shots...
And as if One Party isn't enough.... Saturday Jake had his first official birthday party with themes, and hats, and balloons, and friends, and cake, and wow... super fun!!! Check out Jake's First Curious George Birthday Banaza!!!
Of course to properly celebrate Jake's BIG BOYness, we had to take the little bugger to his first Baseball Game (outside the womb)!!! We packed up the whole family and headed over to Safeco Field to see the Mariners play the Tigers!!! Upon entering the stadium, Jake got a magic wand(ticket scanner) waved over his sleeping head declaring him a Mariner Fan for Life! It was pretty cute! We got to our seats and finally Jake woke up and I wish I had his expression on video.... Let's just say, Amazement crossed his face and Jake fell in love with his first professional sport! He kept pointing at everything and ooohhing and aaahhing and gasping! It was fantastic! He just couldn't decide which team to cheer for.... confusing with his newly acquired Mariner's Fan Title seated next to some hard core Tigers Fans. So he cheered for both. We'll let it slide this time!!!
Finally, Jake celebrated his first birthday with his PEPS pals at Seward Park this week. They were his first friends and they all share a close bday date so we decided to have a group party with a fun book exchange! Check out some of his pals: Gus, Josh, Miles, Malia, Lucy, Sadie, Quinn, and due to untimely colds not shown: Flora, Jimmy, and Aiden. Jake had tons of fun showing off his new mad walking skills!
Oh I almost forgot, Jake got his first little hair trim by his Momma! It was WAY harder than I thought trying to keep a baby still for a decent trim but we did alright and he can see from under his hair now! Gigi says it makes him look younger! Ahaaha, Mission Accomplished!
Well, I am sure we have lots more firsts to share with you soon!
Until then, Happy Summer! WCB
