My 5 or 6 days of making Colin write (for about 15 minutes each day) paid off and today he wrote the whole alphabet, well first he wrote “Holden” and then the alphabet. He got a few things mixed up but did a good job - a bit sloppy at the end, but I will let that slide. The best thing is that he is enjoying it, which helps. He was being so cute while he was sitting on my lap, talking to himself “Hum…what’s next, F … wait, wait…no E first. One line down, then over.”

I also asked him to write zoo - without telling him how to spell it - see the bottom:

The other night he asked for some crayons and paper so he could write in his room before bed. He produced the following:

Which I thought was great until I went into his room and saw that he had been “practicing” all over his walls. The crayons have been removed from his room for the time being.

Sunday we went to the Microsoft company picnic. It was crazy. I cannot even explain how much was going on there, food, games, about 40 bouncy tent things, pony rides, hay rides, beer gardens, bands, casino, rock climbing, etc and it was all free. It was held on a farm about a half hour east of Seattle, right under Mt. Si. Beautiful, really fun and huge - Chuck didn’t even see one person he recognized all day. We spend over 5 hours there and as a bonus Colin was wearing underwear and was accident free all day!

Here are some pics:

Mount Si in the background:

Ice cream boy:

Ice cream boy #2:

The crazy motorcross expo:

About 2 years ago my mom got Colin these alphabet books that had dry erase pens to use to write letters and words. When Colin was about 2, or younger, he could easily follow the lines and write the words in the books. Well, he has had no interest in writing at all since then, but I know he can do it. So over the past 3 days I have made him practice in a workbook for about 10 minutes before he could watch TV. By the time we were done the first day he could write his name and yesterday he wrote “Holden” and “Spud” (Bob the Builder character). He also drew a person and a sun, with the word “SUN” by it. I am saving those drawings - they are great. I wish I could scan them in to post them up here.

Holden has been extremely clingy and jealous. He cries at my feet the whole time I am making dinner. Trying to shove himself through my legs, between me and the counter. I know he is fine though because if he sees something at all interesting he will immediately stop to play with it and then comes back crying again when he is done. He also does not like me holding or hugging Colin and always comes over and climbs on top of me if I am holding Colin. Today Holden grunted/screamed when I pushed another boy on a swing one time. I have been leaving him with plenty of babysitters though, so he should get over it soon

I am almost completely done with the sandbox. I just have to put on the cover tomorrow after the paint dries. Then the back patio area will be complete. We will take a few pictures tomorrow to post up here, including more of the boys outside.

After months of rain, this is what we live here for - summer sunshine. We have been out and about enjoying the weather. Just went down to the block for a little happy hour with some of our neighbors, including one of Colin’s preschool friends. The boys had a great time running around, while we had a couple beers and ordered some pizza.

We don’t have any plans for the weekend other than being outside to enjoy the weather and of course there are always house projects to be finished. We are almost completely done with the sandbox, patio and planters, although I am now questioning my logic on having a huge sandbox so close to the house - it is like living at the beach. More sand ends up on the patio, grass and in the house than anywhere else.

Tidbits:

Over 4th of July weekend, we went camping for the first time. Although it pretty much rained the whole time, Colin and Holden LOVED it. They thought everything was great, the tent, making hot dogs, playing in the dirt, throwing rocks in the river and the marshmallows - oh the marshmallows, Colin loves marshmallows.

We went to a campground called Gold Basin out on the Mountain Loop Highway. We got there Friday afternoon after a late start. It is only an hour’s drive, but it took us almost 3 hours because we had to stop for rain gear for the boys, then 2 minutes later Colin had to pee, then 2 minutes after that he was hungry and immediately after that he had to pee again (although this time that was a clever ploy to go in the gas station to see the ice cream display.)

There was a break in the rain while we set up the tent and the rain tarp over the picnic area. When we got there a sketchy guy and his big dog were practically sharing the site with us, but luckily they left a couple hours later and no one camped there that night. There were enough breaks in the rain that we could be out and playing. Plus we were under the trees so most of the time the rain wasn’t that hard.

Liam in his garbage bag rain suit:

We made hot dogs and roasted marshmallows. Ian started the fire and Colin must have asked him over 20 times whether it was ready or not. Once the fire was ready, he stuck his first marshmallow in it, burned it and from then on made “smores” like this:

Two pieces of chocolate and an uncooked marshmallow. Holden decided he only liked graham crackers so here is his “smore:”

We had brought the pack and play for Holden to sleep in the tent. Going to bed didn’t go so well, he woke up a few times and Colin kept talking in the tent. Eventually he slept until about 4 AM when he stood up and said “Maaaamaaa” in a really sad voice. At that point I was freezing and uncomfortable so I grabbed him, but then I had to use the bathroom so I passed him over to Chuck. I told Chuck I wanted him back when I got back in the tent because I was cold, but when I got back in Chuck said “Ok, if you want to disturb him” which really meant he wanted to keep the little heat ball. I said fine and then told Colin to get in bed with us. So all 4 of us slept on the half full air mattress for the rest of the night.

On Saturday we drove a bit to find a good hike for kids and then decided on the Old Robe Trail, which used to be a railroad track. Colin hiked almost the whole thing, including the pretty steep switchbacks at the beginning. Holden also walked by himself for about a half mile to a mile. It was the first hike either of them had done and they loved it. I was very proud of Colin, he complained a bit about all the uphills on the way back, but he did a great job all by himself.

Saturday afternoon we didn’t do much, it rained pretty hard and Holden would not nap. For dinner we made some pasta and ate under the tarp in our rain gear. The boys went to bed really easily that night and slept all night long - it was great. Colleen, Ian, Chuck and I actually got to play cards until Liam and Holden started to cry a bit - to the dismay of our new neighbors.

Sunday morning we got up, made some breakfast, played a bit and then cleaned up the whole camp. Neither Chuck nor I had a watch on so we had no idea what time it was, but when we got in the car and saw it was about 8:30 I could not believe it. I thought it was around 10:30 or so. We were home by 10 AM and the boys were beat:

We had to dry everything out, we had pretty much been wet and everything was damp for 2 days straight. Sunday afternoon we all took 2 hour plus naps, which were definitely needed.

Holden’s Breakfast
It is 10:30 AM here and let me just summarize what Holden has eaten this morning:

1 banana
2 eggs
1 bowl of cheerios with milk
1/3 of my bowl of oatmeal
4 or 5 big handfuls of goldfish crackers
10 strawberries (picked from our yard, the only way he likes them)
2 bowls of oat squares cereal…which he is still eating.
glass of orange juice

He only weighs around 23 or 24 pounds. I really just don’t see how this much food can fit into his little body.

We have a strawberry patch in our front yard which is about 4×8 and has produced a lot of strawberries this year. Every time we come home from someplace the first thing the boys do is run over to it and spend 15 minutes eating strawberries. After eating a few of the green tops we finally taught Holden how to pull off the green part before shoving the whole strawberry in his mouth. Afterwards I always see red stripes on him and I think he is hurt until I remember all the juice that runs down him while he eats the berries.

Holden and the M&Ms
Every time Colin was using the potty last week I gave him 2 M&Ms. Of course Holden is always around so I would give him one every once and awhile. So then after every time Colin went to the bathroom, Holden would go and point at the treat box and grunt indicating he should have an M&M. Then after he saw me going to the bathroom, he thought he should get an M&M, even after one of Colin’s friends used the bathroom.

Colin Has Turned Southern
Randomly last week Colin just started speaking occasionally with a southern drawl. He will just answer us “Yeaa-ah” or “Watch a-out”. I was joking that he sounds like a televangelist because when he is excited about something he will “oh yeaaaah-sss.” It is hilarious. He has also been talking about Texas non-stop over the past couple days and I have no idea why. He will be pretending something and it is happening in Texas, or we are having a Texas BBQ (that is due to the fact that Ed told me that’s what we will be doing when we go to visit them in August) or Texas has this or that.

Side note: Colin just asked me for an Obama sticker and he said and I quote “Obama is going to be president of Texas. Hillary Clinton is not going to be president because she missed something she forgot to say.”

Oh, and Holden is still eating…now more gold fish.