SUMMER!!!

There was a point when it felt like Seattle's Junuary weather was never going to leave. It even spilled into the first part of Julember, but finally it hit with a vengeance! It hit the upper 80's and low 90's for a few days before dropping into the 70's. The first day that it got hot DeA looked on the thermostat and saw "Cool" and so she shut all the windows and cranked up the "Cool". Well...come to find out that nobody in Seattle has A/C because you don't need it. So, eventually I got home from work and found the house at 84 degrees. So we all went with DeA to the YM/YW activity and Newcastle Beach and enjoyed the sunshine. DeA's hotness was even more pronounced in the heat.
Rock quenched his thirst with a delicious Squirt can filled with water. Apparently his jerk Dad drank all the Squirt and then refilled it with water.
Mama Rae came over to visit for a few days and we all enjoyed her attention, it's just that some got more attention than others.
Rock took a shot in the head by a Frisbee, and the gal that threw it made up for it by making him a s'more. He pretty much stuck to anything the rest of the night.
Yup, some people were attention hogs.
One of the undocumented milestones that Ryker achieved in the camera-less void of Central Point was that he started to sit upright, all by his awesome self!!
It's really been fun for Rock to have a more interactive friend on the floor. Ryker likes it, too...
and gets all giggly and excited...
and then Rock gets distracted and takes off to get into trouble somewhere else and lil' Ryker is left all alone.
He learned quickly that sometimes it is better to be left alone, otherwise your mommy and Grandma might strip you nekked and show off your adorable rolls.
He's smiling, but that's because they at least let him put on a diaper in these pictures.

Unca Neek came over on Friday and picked up DeA and the boys for a Tacoma Rainiers' game. I followed once work got over, and finally got there after a stupid amount of time in traffic and in following Google maps terrible, horrible, ridiculously dumb directions to the stadium.
Ryker wasn't as excited as Rock, but I guess when it's as hot as it was, and you are a rolly-polly as Ryker you don't get that excited about anything.
The other night we put Rock in his crib and then went to bed. We woke up in the morning to Rock laying between us. I asked DeA what time she brought Rock to bed, and she replied that it had to be me, since she didn't do it. So, we performed a science experiment to determine how this happened. This is the shocking truth:

So, now big boy Rock-o is sleeping in a big boy bed.
His new-found freedom has allowed him to wander around a lot at night, and sometimes we find him in interesting spots. Oh, and his room gets pretty destroyed.
Saturday morning we took DeA to the mall so that she could get a haircut and then went to the temple to pick up Bampa Dale. We went to eat lunch and then went to the Mariners game against the Yankees. Rock scored a Moose bubblegum card from an usher just because he was so darn cute.
See? He's adorable.
Both of the boys are good looking, and had two cute little girls in the palms of their hands.
Rock told her "Hey, I have a lady in Wisconsin!" but she didn't want to let him go. She was smitten.
The game wasn't looking good for the most part, with the Mariners playing like the Mariners...Rock was losing optimism.
But then the impossible happened, and Jose Lopez hit a grand slam to left! He posed like he was Babe Ruth or something after he hit it, and then it cleared the wall by about half a baseball width. They can trade him now and I'd be cool with it.
He couldn't believe what he just saw!!

Tour of Oregon, Phase III

As the sun started to set on our trip to Oregon, Rock practiced waving goodbye to Mommy and Daddy in hopes that they were leaving him behind.

He was working hard with Papa Dave building storage units when the foreman made him stop for dinner. He reluctantly took a seat on the tractor and munched his delicious lasagna.
The only way that the foreman could get Rock to eat the whole trip was to let him eat outside.
Corn dogs were big, because then he could just wander with ketchup in one hand and the corn dog in the other and supervise all the gardening and storage making going ons.

One trick that he learned and really liked was to soak the corn dog in ketchup for a long time, and then suck off the ketchup.



One of the best parts of the trip was spending time with family. He loved cuddling with Papa Dave at the end of a long day.
He also loved being clean and showered and chilling with Ryker on the couch and watch the World Cup highlights.
Things got tense during the matches, and so Rock offered to comfort Ryker.
Rock was more than disappointed in Argentina's performance, and made the appropriate hand signals.
Ryker had put money on Germany, and kept trying to collect from Rock. Rock wasn't amused.

Mawma and Papa wanted Rock to give loves to Ryker, but then got all worried when he gave loves to Ryker. They just couldn't seem to make up their minds.
The best part for DeA was at the end of the day when both boys finally ran out of go-go juice.

Rock and Ryker Invade Oregon, Phase II

To continue the enjoyment of sunshine that Central Point offered, Mama Zista, Debbie and DeA took Rock to the park so that he could run, climb, fall and eat dirt. First he showed Mama Zista how cool the tower was that he could climb all by himself.

Eventually he let Zista and Debbie gossip about their soap operas and Oprah highlights.
Rock left the women and continued to rule the other kids in his fort. He could climb up high and then rain down rocks and pebbles on the weaker kids down below.
Meanwhile, back at the Fortress of Judds, Ryker spent some more time in his bouncy chair. He wasn't sure if he was happy about it or not.
This is about the time that I rolled into town after two weeks of working up in Renton. I bet you are wondering why there aren't any more pictures of the two week vacation...apparently there was only one camera in all of Central Point, and it was out of batteries. But, here I am with Ryker, and he's still not sure if he's thrilled.

Rock realized that once I got there his time in the sunshine was limited, so he made Mama Zista come out and play in the sun as much as she could.

Lil' baby Ryker got in on the action as well.
Buddy once was Rock's fiercest enemy, but on this trip they forged a friendship while trying to steal orange Crush out of Papa Dave's fridge.
Now Buddy stands guard while Rock checks his oil.

Yup, bestest buds.

Rock isn't allowed to have cool weapons in the house, so he was pretty thrilled when he found some compact numchucks in Aunt Lindsey's golfing bag.

Rock and Ryker's Trip to Oregon, Phase I

About two weeks ago we loaded the kids up in the car and headed south to Mama Zista's and Papa Dave's. DeA tried to document the two weeks trip, but didn't have access to the internet...so we are going to catch up over the next few days. This is phase one of our journey into Oregon and back again. We arrived in Central Point at about 3 am and all crashed pretty hard, eventually. Rock was wicked excited and partied into the morning with Mama Zista. The next morning Rock woke everybody up with a rousing rendition of 'Cold As Ice' by Foreigner. That way everyone knew that he was up and ready to go.
Ryker got to try out a new bouncer chair that tricked him into thinking that he was being held. It worked for a few days, and then he realized that he wasn't really being held and wasn't cool with it.
But he was cool with the floor as long as Grandpa Dave was around with attention.
We would have more pictures of Rock, but he was too busy running around like crazy to get his picture taken. The only way that DeA could get him in a photo was to wait until he ran out of gas and crashed on Mama Zista's shoulder.
Rock has a train set that allows him to arrange the tracks in any fashion that he wants. He found out that he can do the same thing with Mama Zista's pans. He almost lost his voice from saying "Choo-Choo!!" so many times.
With all the extra attention from Grandma and Grandpa Ryker was able to chill in his personal hot tub.


Once again, Rock was busy running around outside and then just ran out of gas as soon as he found Mama Zista. He didn't even make it through brushing his teeth.

Rock didn't even realize how much the Junuary weather in Seattle had affected him until he spent some time in the Medford sun. He loved just chilling in the hot, hot sun and enjoying some energizing rays. He's just not sure what he'll do when he returns to the Julember weather back up in Renton.
Stay tuned for more Medford vacationing fun!!