Weekending

Phew! Another great weekend in the books. Nate was working all weekend, so Walter and I were on our own to find some fun. I have to say, I think we nailed it! A friend from work invited us to a fire department celebration on Saturday afternoon. There was a giant slide, tons of vintage fire trucks to look at, and you could use a real fire hose to put out a (fake) fire.

Patrick gave Walter a full tour of the ladder truck and we got to ride in the fire truck parade! He made our day! That's Patrick on the top left, answering all of Walter's questions.   

Walter says his waving arm got tired during the parade.

After all that fire department fun yesterday, we decided to be homebodies today. We spent part of our morning sewing paper dot garlands. These are so easy and fun. We used a big circle punch and some old paper samples. I set the sewing machine on slow, and Walter fed the dots through, one after another. We decorated the porch and had a festive lunch. 

A little gardening, a little cleaning, a little outdoor play. We spent the evening making 'welcome home' artwork for Daddy with sidewalk chalk. 

I love my weekends! I hope yours was great too!

More vacation photos

When you've spent the day at Sesame Place, and you're stuck in a dark hotel room with your kid asleep on the next bed over, and you have nothing but your phone to keep you entertained... well, you end up with an odd little collection of Muppets.

Sunday, funday!

Today was Walter's 4th birthday bash. He requested a volcano cake with dinosaurs so we ran with the dinosaur theme. From invitations that "hatched" dinosaurs, to a dig for dinosaur bones in the sand. And since it was a beautiful summer day there was plenty of outdoor play. Grampa hooked up a zipline and Nate brought out the sprinkler. (These dads sure know how to make things fun!) I think the kids had a good time. Walter was so worn out he requested an early bedtime. Success!

Happy birthday to Walter!

And, a very happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

For the bee nerds

If you have 11 minutes to spare, and you're at all interested in bees, watch this video. It's a short film from 1951 about the social life of bees. It's all still relevant – bees haven't changed in the past 60-some years. (Film quality has improved a bit!) At about 7:20 there's some info about how destructive ants can be to a hive. We found ants in the tops of our hives a couple of weeks ago, but managed to get rid of them by sprinkling cinnamon in and around the hives. Bees don't mind cinnamon and it won't affect the taste of the honey, but ants hate it. There's a little trivia for you. Don't say I never taught you anything! 

Thank you, to Brain Pickings, a blog I browse from time to time when I need a little inspiration. This video was posted there today.

Four years!

Our baby boy has made four trips around the sun. That's quite a distance to travel. He's still tall, often mistaken for older than he is. His playful behavior gives his true age away. Although, in many ways he is beyond his years. His speech is excellent, when he decides to use his words. He's curious and inquisitive. He fills silence with question after question – many that we can't answer. 
He loves to draw, paint, color, create. He tells us he makes money by selling his pictures. He also loves to run, jump, throw, catch, kick, bat. We spend evenings in the yard playing baseball and soccer. And, yes, he still loves trains.
He can be sweet and kind and he gives great hugs (he gets that from his daddy, I'm sure). He can be stubborn and particular (maybe from his daddy, too? :)) As SouleMama said, "The days can be long, the years most certainly short. Hold them close and love them." We certainly will. 

Happy birthday, Walter! We love you!

Travelin'

So, we went on vacation. A week-long trip to Pennsylvania, very much with Walter in mind. We visited Sesame Place, the Strasburg Railroad, Dutch Wonderland, Hershey, and a spontaneous stop at the Crayola Factory. We rode on planes, trains, cars, carousels, roller coasters, even flying fish, And it was mostly fun, except for the part where I came down with a wicked head cold halfway through the trip. A head cold stinks. A head cold during your vacation is a total pain in the, well, head. But I picked up some tissues and decongestants and did the best I could. And we still had fun. 
Walter tried every ride he could. The roller coasters were his favorite. Mama needs dramamine to keep up with this kid.



The muppets were friendly on Sesame Street. I got a high five from Elmo. Do you recognize this little worm on Oscar's trash can?


The day spent at Strasburg Railroad may have been my favorite. We rode the train to a picnic spot, had lunch, and played on the tracks until the train returned.





This was the view from the train – beautiful Amish farmland:

I'd definitely go back, next time without the head cold. And I'd figure out a way to spend a day or two browsing in all those big barn antique shops in Amish country. We might have to drive next time so we can haul home my treasures. But we'll wait until Walter gets past the "Are we there yet?" stage. Hmmmm... it might be a while.