thebynumfamily.com

Once again, I am hoping to start blogging more frequently. And, don’t let my lack of communication make you think we have been lacking in things to talk about, because we have been busy!

The Puyallup Fair… yeah we are those people who go to the fair!

I love these two!

Hank and Mom on the Sky Ride

Loving the rides!

Hank getting his "picture drawn"!

We actually had a blast at the fair! We watched a blue grass band, saw LOTS of animals, and we all enjoyed some good ole fair food!

Honey and Dap came to visit!
We had a great time with Honey & Dap in the Northwest! We did some fun things but their time was too short! We did get to spend one day at Mt Saint Helens …

Honey, Hank, & Dap

Hank and Dap

Honey, Hank & Dap

Kelley & Alex came to visit!
It meant so much to me to have my sisters come all the way to WA to visit us! It probably goes without saying that we had tons of laughs, tons of yummy food, and tons of fun!

Seattle for the day!

Post Alley Gum Wall

Our Little Auburn Fan…Thanks to Uncle Eric & Aunt Janine

Hank - The Tiger/War Eagle!

Hi, friends! This is Jason.

I am sorry this post has taken me so long to put together, but I am finally getting around to writing it.

During Elvis’s last visit, he and Hank decided to do some manly things together. Their manly things included wrestling, shooting hoops, and planting a dogwood tree in our backyard. This task was extra special to me because my family planted a tree in our front yard around the time I was born. I still enjoy driving by our first home and seeing how much it’s grown. For years that tree has served as a special reminder to me. It reminds me that I have a home. A home that has deep roots of love and support that gave me the foundation I needed to grow into who I am today. Needless to say, I was super excited for Hank to have a similar experience.

After a quick trip to Home Depot, the plan began to unfold with Elvis as the muscle, Hank as the supervisor, and myself as the documentarian.

The digging begins.

Hank makes sure Elvis knows how to use a shovel

A quick pose for the camera.

WOAH!

Good job, Elvis!

Cleaning up.

Hank gives the job one more inspection

Thanks for helping us make our yard beautiful, Elvis!

Hey friends. It’s me, Jason. Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures and videos on my phone. I thought it would be fun to start a themed and recurring set of posts of only the pictures taken with my phone.

This is the first pic I took with my phone. I thought Hank looked pretty cute.

Hank is trying to ride his pal Sophie

Hank's new favorite pastime is "driving" Dad's car.

Shai and Hank are taking a ride in the dump truck at the Children's Museum.

Hank and Daddy day. We went to Burger King so we could play on the "Rocketship Playground" (aka the indoor playground).

Shai and I couldn't resist leaving our mark on the pin wall at the Children's Museum

YIKES! It's a Shailociraptor!

Hank is cracking himself up while trying to give Shai a cracker.

The Wooly Bear Catapiller that we found in the corn maze at the pumpkin patch.

Happy Halloween!

Today we woke up to the sun shining, a rare event in Washington. Since we were rained out of our trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend, that was first on the agenda for today!

Green Pumpkins?!?!

Hank & Daddy picking out the perfect pumpkin

The Bynum Boys

Looking at the vine growning a pumpkin. Something so little, grows something so big!

Momma and Hank

This Pumpkin Patch also has farm animals. The owners let Hank go into the animal pens and get up close and personal! He was a little timid at first but really warmed up to the goats! He even introduced himself…”Hi goat! I’m Hank!”

The Goat named Molly

Hank introducing himself

The baby cow...a little too close for Hank!

Piggy kisses

Watching the pigs eat, Hank said "That's MESSY!"

They even have a kid friendly corn maze!

Corn Maze

Yummy corn!

Hank found a "Cata-pi-piller"

We took a little family trip to Seattle over Labor Day weekend (I know…I am way behind in blogging!). We had a great time, but didn’t really know what we were doing. So, next time I think it will be even better. There was a big music festival going on, and some the places we wanted to go, like the Children’s Museum, were closed. But, alas, the Bynum’s will not be stopped, come wind, come rain, come endless mobs of “Emo” kids waiting to see Fergie! We took it all on and we prevailed!

Waiting in line for the aquarium

Octopus Attack!

Hank loved to watch the seals swim.

The Bynum Family

...And the dinner time meltdown!

The next day we went to the Pacific Science Center. It was fun, mostly a little too old for Hank. But, we did find a few smaller kids areas. I think it will be a big hit in a few years, but we will probably wait until then to try this one again. Hank’s favorite part might have been riding the “train” to get there!

On the Seattle Monorail

Dino footprint

Drum room

Water table, I let Dad take over for this fun game!

Check out the snake following my finger!

Hank bringing up the rear...of a bug.

Looking at the bugs

After leaving the Science Center, we got trapped by the music crowds and stuck out in the rain. So, after a long and wet day, we opted to spend the evening relaxing at the the hotel pool…Hank certainly didn’t mind! He has asked to go swimming every day since!

We spent our last, and my most favorite, day at the Woodland Park Zoo. It was AMAZING! Hank and I even got to feed the giraffes! This zoo is huge and filled with great animals! We are excited to go back soon.

Giraffe feeding time

Hank loved the lion! He has been working on his own ROAR after seeing this big guy.

This one was a bit bigger.

Otter Hugs

Daddy and the worm

The hippos are Jason's and my favorite!

Tuckered out...A rare sight!

Hi, friends. This is Jason and it’s the first time I have blogged here in a while. Shai has been doing a tremendous job keeping the blog updated, but I wanted to take a moment and share some pics from Nana and Elvis’s recent trip.

On Sunday, the girls had a shopping day, so the boys decided to do something manly. After much consideration, we decided there is nothing more manly than volcanoes. It just so happens that we currently live near a few, the most famous being Mt. Saint Helens. Here are a few pics from our little outing.

Hank comes face to face with bear.

At first, Hank was pretty scared. He kept backing away and saying “scary, SCARY!” Once he was convinced the bear couldn’t hurt him. We had fun pointing the bears eyes, ears, nose, teeth, and tongue.

Hank and Elvis looking out over Elk Creek.

Hank and Elvis take a moment to enjoy the view of Elk Creek. I’ll take this moment to note that the telescope view are free! I was really surprised.  I am used to always paying a quarter or more for a closer view. I would also like you to know that the sign beside this telescope read “Look for the tan rumps of Elk in the gorge. Also be on the lookout for sly cougars dragging off elk for dinner.” YIKES!

Hank going down the volcano slide.

At the field center, there is a volcano themed playground, and we all know Hank LOVES a playground! Although, it is a bit weird that Hank is sliding down the volcano. If one were to draw some analogies from this photo, it would seem that Elvis represents  thousands of years of pent-up tectonic plate pressure and Hank liquid hot magma. (I know that’s dumb, but I couldn’t resist a little Geology humor. GEOLOGY ROCKS!)

Hank and Elvis

The boys had a great day out. Hank and I can’t wait for Elvis and Nana to visit again.

On Thursday afternoon, Nana & Elvis flew into Portland for a (way too short) visit. We had such a great weekend! I am not going to write too much because I start getting sad that they are gone We miss everyone so much and have started feeling a little home sick at times. So, it was so much fun to get to share our new home and some of the Northwest with them. The only thing that could have been better was if the weather was about 10 degrees warmer and they could have stayed about 10 day longer .

Friday we spent the day in Olympia. This might have been my favorite day of the trip.

Lunch at The Oyster House

Hanging out on Percival Landing Pier.

We met the owner of “The Sand Man” boat and he let Hank come abord to check things out on a real live boat.

Hank found this cool map and decided to roll on it…naturally.

We stumbled upon this great city-wide sand castle building contest that was sponsored by the children’s museum. So there was a ton of fun stuff to see and do!

AMAZING sandcastles!

Hank even found a playground worth checking out!

Elvis brought Hank some Titans gear, so he wont forget his roots! Lets just say that Hank has carried around a Titans football and a UT football for about 6 days now and has yet to put either down.

I think the Titans hat coordinates well with the frog boots, don’t you?

We spent a COLD Saturday in Cannon Beach, OR. It was fun and beautiful but I think Nana and Elvis will have to come back when it warms up a bit…oh wait, it’s August! Sorry guys, I guess the Northwest is just a little unpredictable.

Watch out Hank, Elvis is old…he might slip a disk!

We MISS you guys so much already! Come back soon

Last weekend we took a little beach trip. Since the beach in Washington was SO COLD, we decided it was worth the 2 hour drive to a warm beach in Oregon. We were actually planning on going to Cannon beach, but on the way we got distracted and stopped at Seaside which is about 30 mins less of a drive. We set up and Hank was having so much fun, we just stayed at Seaside all day. It was pretty overcast and foggy most of the day, but warm on the sand. The water was freezing so it was more enjoyable looking at the ocean than actually playing in it. We are still getting used beach days in the northeast…a little different than down south!

Bobbi met us there on her way to Portland

Digging a hole with Daddy (this must be a “boy thing” because they both love digging holes!)

Trying out the water with Daddy…these guys are crazy! It was FREEZING!

Hank’s first sand castle

Hank smashing his first sand castle…almost as important as the building!

The Bynum Beach Bums

I am happy to report that I think Hank loves the beach as much as his parents do. He hasn’t stopped talking about it since we left and I think we might even try out another beach spot this weekend!

Well, we finally found our camera accessories and wouldn’t you know they were in the VERY LAST BOX we unpacked! I feel like I also want to mention it was in a box labeled “Books” and there were a total of 0 books in that box… the actual moving experience is a whole other story that might bring out feeling/words that are not blog appropriate, so we wont go any further with that.

Now, we are all moved in and loving our house. We made our first mortgage payment this week, and, needless to say. it is really starting to feel like “ours”! We are also loving Washington! It is amazing here! A little cooler than we are used to in the summer (75-80 degrees with NO humidity!) I know the weather sounds perfect, and it is wonderful, but it doesn’t really feel like summer to me so it is taking me a little while to get used to it…aka i am wear sweaters in July. My job is going great! Busy and lots of learning but it is actually amazing and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity! Jason is plugging away with web work. We really prayed that if God wanted us to move west, he would provide work for Jason (however that looked), and He has! Jason has gotten several “unexpected” jobs that are keeping him very busy and we are counting it as an answer to prayer! On the flip side of all the great work, is the plan we had for Hank and Jason to hang out together during the day…not really working. Again, we have been praying for God to provide and He has! We got a recommendation from one of the doctors that I work with about a lady who has an in-home program. Two weeks ago we went and met Ms.Martha and then spent a day with some of the kiddos in her program. Jason and I both felt really good about the whole set-up and Hank started at Ms. Martha’s house last week. He loves it! She currently has about 6 kids, all between 2 and 4 years old, so Hank is right in his element! This is amazing on so many levels that I could go on and on about, but all that needs to be said is that, once again, God provided!

Now that the details are up to speed, here are some pictures of our first 3 weeks in Washington!

Our Home

Hank and Nana (before she had to go back to TN)

Playing at Penny Park, Our favorite park so far.

Cheers to the 4th of July (Hank was not really a fan of fireworks, which are totally legal to set off in neighborhoods in WA)!

Egg Day Parade in Winlock, WA. Just about 10 miles from Centralia.

“Bobbi” (Hank’s nickname for Bethany), Hank, and Momma at Egg Day

World’s Largest Egg

Pacific Beach (FYI: The beaches in WA are cold and windy and gorgeous!)

On Friday we got the opportunity to celebrate a very important person… My Dad or, as Hank calls him, Elvis! It has been a busy year full of changes and we really just wanted to slow down and take some time, as a family, to let him know that he means a lot to us! What better way to celebrate than with a homemade, semi-disastrous dinner?!? Jason grilled some steaks, which were excellent, but our oven broke in the middle of roasting potatoes, so those were not so excellent! Also, my first go at the cake tasted like soap, probably from the pan, and luckily the second cake was a little tastier. My Dad, as usual, was a very good sport and appreciated all our effort. He even went as far as to say, his birthday was even more special because now we will remember it for a long time! HA! Leave it to me to make it “memorable!”

Everybody BLOW!

Peas in a Pod!

That is DANGEROUS, Elvis!

Yum Yum

Hank got him an Elvis magnet!

We LOVE you, Elvis and maybe next year we will have the perfect party!