Last Week with Grandpa Here

I'm very behind in my blog now but this post is from the last week Grandpa was here.  Believe it or not, this was pretty much all on the Easter Sunday, when we started out at Freo's awesome park.

The big ferris wheel between the park and Little Creatures Brewery.

Happy as can be!

3 Baldwin generations dressed in plaid.

Fun sand pit at Little Creatures Elliott played in while we could eat brunch.

Later that evening, we went to Floreat Beach for a snag on the grill (sausage/hot dog).  This was the first time in 6+ months that Elliott was genuiely excited about the sand and water at the beach.  It took nearly 3 months for him to be okay with sand and the last few weeks of swim class have helped too. 

Dad took Elliott down for one trip and as I went down to take pictures, they were on their way up.  Matt went to the grill and Elliott insisted on going back down to the water.  I just want to say that it is difficult to walk up and down hill on sand but the little guy made a total of 3 trips in just 2 hours.

Beautiful Floreat Beach behind Matt and Elliott.

"So excited that Mommy took me back to the water!"

On the last trip, we went to watch the sunset.

After each wave crashing, he would exclaim, "More water?!"

All smiles!

Wanting to go into the water.

On Monday after Easter, it was Matt's birthday and all of us were tired from 3 full days of activities so we took it easy and hung out at the house.  Grandpa showed Elliott how to "fix" the bikes by pumping air.  He liked to put it on his and our cheeks and pump.  It was so cute!  Couldn't get a great picture because of the angle, but you get the idea.

Elliott "fixing the bike."

We are teaching Elliott to put his Hot Wheels to sleep in the new case and he insisted on getting his pillow and blanket and sleeping too.

Cooking and sharing his tea.

Playing so much, you can see the sweat in his hair.

Peek-a-boo with the blanket!

Life of a 21.5 month old looking for cars and trucks outside the window.

After bath time is our family favorite and while Grandpa was here, Elliott was spoiled by having two people toss him around. 

Mundaring Weir Hotel, Tavern in John Forrest National Park, Lucky Shag

Today was a jam packed day of activity for us and Elliott wore us all out.  Grandpa let us sleep in and and we woke up to them watching tv happy as can be.  Bare with me, in one day, I took 171 photos so I'll be posting quite a few of them.

We headed east (again, there is nothing west of here except the ocean) to Mundaring which is a town almost an hour away. We had brunch at the Mundaring Weir Hotel and nearby was a dam you can walk across.  Our child has no fear and would walk across the whole thing on his own if we let him.

Elliott knows "bing" means "cold" in Chinese and likes to put the back of his hand against cold drinks and say "bing bing."  It's so cute!

Walking to the dam.

This side, obviously, is the side with the water.

Nice view back at the water.  Note the beautiful sky again, typical Perth sky.

Note the narrow wooden plank walkway across the dam.  Elliott took off running and it is a full job to chase him down.  Don't worry, the fences were bolted down very well.

This child has no fear, check out the fall on either side.

Grandpa!

One picture of me from the day.

Elliott has been on a tongue kick lately.

We headed back towards the car and then...

Elliott took off back to the walkway.  I had to run back and chase him down.  He is one ball of energy that doesn't stop!

We then headed back west a little to a tavern in John Forrest National Park.  Yup, I just said a tavern in a national park.  Like, we paid $11 to enter the park and went to the tavern there.  Elliott and I napped in the car for an hour and then went inside to meet Dad and Grandpa. Kangaroos everywhere!!

See?  Kangaroos everywhere.

Enjoying beers at the tavern.  Elliott was a trooper all day.

Feeding time. Interesting to see local Aussies just as interested in kangaroos as we were.

Daddy and Elliott switched hats.

The male kangaroo came over right to our table let us know he ruled the area.  Again, our child has no fear while on the other hand, my maternal instincts were on high alert.

You can see Elliott's little hand reaching out to pet the kangaroo when he sees Grandpa petting him.

Just look at that face!  Eager little boy!

Yup, they are really that close to us.

The tavern also had a resident pink bird.

Then all of a sudden, Elliott took off towards the kangaroos and all the other patrons were staring in awe at Elliott while Grandpa had to run and bring him back.  He's such a handful, it's days like this that remind me of why sending him to daycare is a good idea.  He is just too much for one person to watch all day and has so much energy.

We then headed back into the city to the Lucky Shag for dinner and drinks.  It is on Riverside Drive in CBD by Swan River. 

View of CBD heading west into town.

Entertaining himself with the slinky from yesterday's birthday party of his friend Marcus.  Look at the concentration in his eyes studying the slinky.  We listened to our Australian CD and he sang along.  "Aussie Girls and Aussie Boys...."

Being mischevious at the bar/restaurant.  After eating, he wanted to go walking up and down the ramps.

We continued our walk in the park on the way to the car park (parking lot).

Elliott saying "Ready, Set, Go" as he squats down like he's gathering all his energy for the big sprint.  Nice view of CBD and the clouds in the sky.

Everytime he came back to us, he then took off farther and farther.  Do you even see him?  He never once turned around to check on us. 

Daddy had to chase him down before he got too close to the road.

Elliott sees Grandpa and is running back to us.  He's tiny in the picture, but Daddy and Elliott are way in the back.

Elliott insisted on pushing the camera button and this is the picture he took of Daddy.  Not bad.

This was the only way to get him to go to the car, he would've kept running up and down this lawn all night.

Good night, going to bed for another full day tomorrow on Easter Sunday.