Red's Flame Hoop of Death or Nolan's New Toy

I am not sure if it is actually called the flaming hoop of death - but it sounds good to me. Grandma Murphy got Nolan this last night, he LOVES it. Red (the firetruck from Cars) can go through the hoop of fire, down the fire pole or around a loop-de-loop. Nolan's current fixation is the fire pole. Initially he was saying whee everytime he went down. Of course he would not do this for the camera. All you get from him is the twisted tongue of concentration.

The Carwash

When we got home from vacation the car had spiderwebs on it, that is to dirty even for us, so we took it to the carwash. Nolan was very excited to go to the carwash, but he wasn't sure about it once we were in. Some pictures:

Waiting patiently for our turn, making sure hoppy stays hydrated

Finally our turn - we head into the car wash

Nolan is not quite sure what to make of the experience:

:

Washington Trip

We headed to Washington for 4th of July, spending time in Bremerton, on Whidbey Island and in Seattle.

Nolan fell asleep taxing out to the runway and didn't wake up until we were at the gate in Seattle.

At the 4th of July parade in Bainbridge Island

Waiting for fireworks after a baseball game at Kitsap County Fairgrounds

Nolan's first ferry ride from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island

Nolan and Daddy on the Ferry
Nolan and Grandpa on the Ferry
Nolan and Zoe on the beach at Camp Casey
Nolan pointing out that there is "lots of water" on his third ferry ride (he slept through the second)
Looking out at the water

Jeff, Nolan, Cameron, Griffin, Trevor, Sydney and Zoe on the walk to Fort Casey

On the walk from teh Fort back to Camp Casey

Riding on Daddy's shoulders

"walking" to the beach

At the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle

Nolan's favorite part of the zoo by far was feeding the birds

The view from out hotel in Seattle

Nolan admires the ocean and the boats

Loving the giant fluffy bed at the hotel

Watching fish being thrown at Pike Public Market- finding this very confusing

Throwing fish

How to Walk A Cat

Nolan loves to push things- shopping carts, his stroller, toy lawm mowers, ball poppers, pretty much anything with wheels. So it was no surprise when we ventured into Build A Bear that he became fixated with a blue toy stroller. After some convincing that perhaps making an animal to go into the stroller would be fun he selected a grey kitty which he named "Cat". Here are some videos of Nolan taking Cat on a tour of Valley Fair.

Random But Cute

Packard Picnic

Some pictures from the Packard Foundation's Annual Picnic

Nolan loves sticking his tongue out:

Counting rocks...

Doing his best Popeye the Sailor Man impersonation

Oakland Zoo

We went to the Oakland Zoo (again) with Grandma & Grandpa Murphy for Father's Day. The zoo has become one of Nolan's favorite places, he asks if we are going there everytime we get in the car.

asleep before we wven got out of the parking lot!