Bubbles

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, so Jack and I spent the morning outside. The highlight of the morning was bubbles. Jack's friend Sophie gave him the best bubble blower ever for his birthday (also the same kind they use at storytime), and yesterday he figured out how to blow hard enough to do it himself. This was kind of a big deal because past attempts had ended in a spitty bubble blower and no bubbles. But not yesterday. He spent at least 30 minutes blowing bubbles and chasing them, and yelling and screaming. He occasionally would let me blow some and tell me he wanted me to "Blow the bubbles up to the moon."

 

Colorado

We made it back from Colorado last night on our first real family vacation.  We all had a great time, but it was nice to sleep in our beds again.  I think Jack's words were "I'm so happy to be home!" 

We started out early last Saturday, and had made it almost to Topeka when the excitement started.  Jack decided that his breakfast didn't agree with him, and we (I) spent the next 20 minutes cleaning things up on the side of the road.  We had to throw away his clothes and the towel that I'd randomly tossed in on top of the suitcases as I finished packing the car.  I don't have any photographic evidence of this, but it was pretty remarkable that all that came out of someone so little.  Luckily, things settled down, and whatever was bothering Jack stayed behind in the ditch in Kansas. 

12 hours later, we made it to the YMCA of the Rockies, which is a nice family vacation spot.  Lots of on-site activities and tons for kids to do. 

like mini golf, which Jack decided was his favorite part of our vacation..

...and tetherball on the little playground across from our cabin

Here's us outside our coincidentally named cabin.

If you can't see the cabin name - it's the Heather cabin

Jack's room had bunk beds, which he really enjoyed.  He was still so excited the next morning when he woke up that he wouldn't come out of his room (which is very unusual).

We went on a hike almost every day in Rocky Mountain National Park, and Jack turned out to be a pretty good hiker.  He didn't do a lot of walking...he seemed to prefer to jump or run up the mountains and then get carried when he tired out.

The YMCA had these nice little carrier backpacks that you could check out

With a 2 year old and a pregnant wife, we decided that about a 2 mile round trip was our limit, and luckily, there were some really pretty hikes with mountain lakes and waterfalls that we could get to within our distance limit.

Jack on a little side hike off the main trail...this tended to extend our hikes a little

The climb up was usually ok..but the climb back down sometimes required a little assistance

We saw some wildlife - some marmots, chipmunks or "chickmunks" as Jack liked to say, ground squirrels and lots of elk, or "ilk."  We were driving past the golf course in Estes Park and had to stop to watch a very large, angry elk chase some golfers off the fairway on one hole.  One older golfer decided he wasn't going to move, and for a second, I thought I was going to have to cover Jack's eyes so he wouldn't have nightmares, but a guy in a golf cart sped up just in time to chase the elk away. 

We saw another elk outside a building at the YMCA the next day and Jack told me, very authoritatively, that the "ilk" was looking for a golf cart to chase. 

Jack and I walked through the trees to get this shot while Heather quietly freaked out in the background, sure that the elk was going to eat us or something

Jack did some fishing for trout in the same lake we saw the elk in.  We could see a lot of fish in the clear water, but none of them seemed to want to bite his bobber.  I tried to explain to him that we needed to put something beneath the bobber for the fish to bite, but the precautions the hook required cramped his casting style, so we just stuck with the bobber.

We didn't catch any fish, but Jack didn't let that get him down.  We all had a great time and even slept in late this morning, thanks to our bodies still being on Mountain time.  I think that may have been Heather's favorite part of our vacation.

Did He Just Say That?

Darling Jack just surprised us again at the things he says. He wanted me to move off of the chair in the living room so he could do a trick on it (which means he wanted to jump on it from the fireplace). He wasn't asking nicely so I wasn't moving. When nothing he was trying was working (he forgot to try "please") he finally yelled out, "Mommy, go make me some bacon!" So basically he was dismissing me to the kitchen. I guess he thought he needed to remind me that I need to make supper!

Tubes

Jack got his tubes this morning and everything went well. He tried to be brave, but it was still a pretty hard couple of hours. There was a lot going on that wasn't normal. We had to get there at 6:30 and pretty soon we went back and they started getting him ready for the surgery. His main problem was the pajamas he had to put on. That, and the two bracelets he had to wear. He wanted all of that off, both before the surgery and after. 

We tried to cheer him up by taking a picture of him in the special PJs but that didn't work. He only wanted me to hold him. 

The surgery probably only took about 10 minutes and we got to go back and see him while he woke up. He remembered he wanted those PJs off, and the bracelet and the oxygen monitor on his finger and the heart monitors... We had a rough few minutes while he woke up and before we were allowed to leave. But he calmed down when we got home and by mid-morning he was pretty much back to normal. The rest of his day was filled with "special treats," as he likes to say -- lots of watching Mickey Mouse, he got to take a nap with Mommy and we made cookies. He also played lots of legos with Daddy and we read some of his read-along books. They were mine when I was little and so far his favorites are Peter Pan and Robin Hood. We are glad he got the tubes so he'll feel better now, but we are also glad the day is over! 

Boys Will Be Boys

The girls were a bit outnumbered at our house last night. Our friends the Turveys and Jones came over with their kids for dinner. Between all the families, there are five little boys! That's one three-year-old, 2 two-year-olds and 8 month old twins. The boys had a blast together. They started their evening of playing in the swimming pool. The twins are still a bit too little to play with the bigger boys, but they had fun watching all the action going on around them. 

This is the best picture I could get. They weren't wanting to stop playing to take a picture.
 But hitting the camera with the noodle was a good reason to look at me. 

Swimming wore them out so they had to watch Mickey Mouse for a little while to get their strength up again.

After supper they headed outside for brownies and ice cream, and lots of running around and playing on the swing set. In fact, Jack ran around around so much he threw up -- out of his nose. I wasn't outside when the unfortunate incident happened, but Nathan said he was much more concerned about having to stop playing than actually throwing up. After that it was time to come inside again and for everyone to go home. I think they probably all slept well last night.


Jack had another exciting day today because we went to the zoo to see the polar bear for the first time. The exhibit is really neat because you can see underwater to watch the bear swimming. The zoo was very hot though so we didn't stay too long. After nap time, Jack and Taylor played in the sprinkler and then we all played a game of washers. Everyone, including the 2-year-old and 6-year-old, scored more points than me. It was kind of sad. 

Uncle Will and Fluffy the Bunny

We've had an exciting week -- mainly because Uncle Will is home! Jack and I went to Mom and Dad's earlier this week and got to spend a couple days with Uncle Will and Gracie the Person. Gracie is Will's fiancé, but Jack calls her Gracie the Person every single time he talks about her. That's because his favorite bear is named Gracie (after Gracie the Person). So he wants to make sure we all know who he's talking about. 

Here they are reading a truck book that was Uncle Will's when he was little. 

Today we met them at Zona Rosa for lunch and then we went to Build a Bear. Jack got to pick out an animal and he chose a bunny. Build a Bear is really neat and I was surprised at how affordable it can be. He got to help stuff his bunny and put the heart in, and then he gave it a bath and we printed the birth certificate. He decided to name his bunny Fluffy. I know, not too original, but I was under pressure to help him with the name. But the thing he liked the most was decorating Fluffy's "house" after we got home. He spent about 30 minutes coloring it with markers and decorating it with stickers. And guess where Fluffy is sleeping tonight? Not in his house that's for sure. No, in bed with Jack. If he gets any more animals to sleep with there won't be any room for him anymore.

I kept trying to get him to look at me for a picture and he said, "I can't look at you right now. I'm busy doing something." I'm not kidding -- he said all those words!

Jack Quotes of the Day

Sometimes Jack says the cutest things. Today is one of those days. Here are a couple quotes from today.


"Who loves Daddy? I do. It's my job."
"Don't eat my slush." This was a serious threat. Jack has discovered apple cider slushes and is a big fan. Today we stopped at Gordon's Orchard on the way home from Lebanon so we could get slushes and peaches and he had to warn me not to touch his slush.
"I have a new baby." Nathan's response: "Where is it?" Jack: "In my belly."
"I have a plan." This is his new favorite phrase. Tonight he was getting ready to announce he wanted to go play with his Legos. 


I could keep going but I won't bore everyone. There were just a few today that needed to be recorded.

A Big Day

Today was a big day. First, we went to the ENT doctor and Jack is getting tubes in a couple of weeks. We are hopeful this will make for an easier fall and winter for Jack and his poor ears. We want to avoid the constant ear infections he had last year. Because he was such a big boy at the doctor, he got a lollipop. He recently discovered lollipops and loves them.

Second, Will called at 6 and he is back in America! We are so excited he is home and can't wait to see him next week. Jack and I talked all day about Uncle Will coming home on an airplane today so he was very excited to talk to him on the phone tonight. 

And last but not least, tonight is Grandma and Grandpa's last night in Independence. Tomorrow is their big move to Baldwin. We are looking forward to having them closer to us so we can see them more often. Here is one of my favorite pictures of them.

Grandma's house has always been one of my favorite places in the whole world, and I know their new house will be the same. 

Summer

We've had quite a break from my last post, and I guess I will blame that on being sick from being pregnant. So, we'll do a bit of catching up on our summer in this post. We are having a great summer and Jack definitely prefers being outdoors to staying in the house. Here are some pictures from way back on Father's Day. 

A typical week for Jack includes going to the pool a lot, usually at least two times. On the days we don't go to our neighborhood pool, we swim at our house in our pool. Or, our neighbors get their pool out a lot, and Jack is best friends with their little girls so he really likes playing with them. Yesterday we had our pool out and Nathan got home from work a little bit early so he got to swim with us too. We also have a really great pool near us that has water slides, a spray park and a wading pool, all made for little kids. We've been there several times and Jack loves it. I did have to take him down the slide the first time kicking and screaming, but then he didn't want to stop. 

Jack calls this his airplane and he always has it when he's swimming. 

He loves playing on his swing set and yesterday he started calling it his clubhouse. Playing catch is another favorite and just this week he really started being able to catch balls when we throw them to him. Our garden has also provided all kinds of entertainment. We have to go check it pretty much every day, and he and Nathan go pick the ripe vegetables in the evening. He also occasionally wants to climb a tree.

He has turned in to quite the big climber this summer. This tree is one of the few things he's not been able to climb all by himself recently.


He is also just a wild man lots of the time. The other night he discovered how fun it is to put your t-shirt over your head. 

Jack keeps us laughing pretty much all the time. He says the funniest things. When he gets the hiccups he tells me, "I'm hiccing up." And yesterday I asked him what we should name the baby and he said, "God." Tonight he told me, "Mommy is pretty like a princess." I think he learned that one from Daddy. He also loves making up songs. He knows a million nursery rhymes and he changes the words to make a new song. This should catch everyone up on our summer, and hopefully I'll be a bit better about posts now.

The Foot Cup!

Today after nap time we went outside to play in the sprinkler and then Jack got to use, for the first time, the foot cup! It was mine (only at Grandma Pat's house) when I was little and was a source of quite a few fights between Will and I. Grandma even pretended to throw it away once because she was tired of us fighting over it. Then she wrapped it up and gave it to me for Christmas several years later. It was one of my best Christmas presents ever! So it was kind of a big deal for Jack to get to use it today. He thought it was pretty cool.

Here he is holding it up for you Grandma Pat!

All of his running through the sprinkler made him tired.

The best part of Nathan's day was supper. He smoked some delicious ribs for us. And guess who is a big fan of ribs? Jack! He kept saying, "I like meat." I had only two ribs, and he and Nathan ate the rest of an entire slab. He even passed up corn of the cob so he could focus on the ribs. That is a pretty big compliment for the chef.