Jumping Bean

This kid is a jumping bean.  He jumps off of anything and everything.   With abandon he jumps from the coffee table to the couch and back.  He jumps from the side of the couch, the  back of the couch, on Josh, off Josh.  He jumps off his bed.  After taking a few bounces on our bed, he threw his hands out in sky-dive position and sailed off.  Both my husband and I looked at each other in disbelief....it was a pretty high fall for a kid his size....but he was fine.  Before jumping he usually looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and states, "Jumping bean."  While I open my mouth to plead, "NO jumping bean," it's too late, he's already taken his jump.  I'm looking into trampolines for christmas.

First Taste of Fall

Back in the spring, before it warmed up significantly, I would sometimes take Ryan with me for a special treat at Starbucks.  I would get some sort of latte or hot tea and he would get a child's hot cocoa.  Now that mornings are getting chilly, Ryan's been begging to go back to Starbucks and get another special treat.  I was able to hold him off by buying hot cocoa packets at the store for a while...but one chilly, sunny, gorgeous morning, I decided it was Pumpkin Spice Latte time.  Ryan got his special treat.  He felt super triumphant I think, judging from the expression on his face.

Glimpse of Fall

 Well, it is "that" time of year again...Fall. We're starting to see glimpses of bright reds, oranges and yellows in the tree-tops.  It won't be long before the entire landscape is aflame with color.  Although this summer was very rainy, this fall is shaping up to be beautiful with sunny chilly mornings, and breezy warm afternoons. The kids and I went to a local park for a nature hike.  We were looking primarily for really beautiful leaves to take home with which to make a picture. 

 We did find a few, although the leaf in the picture above is not one of them.    

The hill on the opposite side of the road in this picture was...simply enormous. Ryan saw a few runners jogging up and down that giant hill and thought it looked like fun.  He persuaded me to climb up that giant hill with Dylan and run down with him.  Fall is so much fun! 

Apple Picking

We've been learning about the seasons in school and talking about all the fun things we get to do in the fall.  I think we cleaned the library out of all their "fall" season books.  One of the things we talked about (and actually do) annually, is to go apple picking.  Last year we went right around Labor Day and it was still super hot.  This year, it really felt like fall.  It was a beautiful sunny day with rolling white clouds and started out chilly and breezy but warmed up to a nice 65 degree day.  

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It's a bit of a drive to the farm, but once we got there the kids were SO excited to be there! We bough our apple bag but got sidetracked by the cool farm animals.   Dylan is obsessed with all animals and burst into a rendition of "Old Donald had a farm...e-i-e-i-o!" in front of one of the farmers, who took it good naturedly.  One of the little goats escaped through the fence and made immediate friends with my two food-holding little boys. 

Dylan was especially attached to the pig.  For the first time, he heard the pig "oink." Every time it oinked he got a little scared and backed up.  It was a big pig.  

 The apples this year were beautiful and round and red and virtually free of spots (unlike last year).   They were crisp and juicy.  

 Ryan and Dylan found a nice patch of tall grass to sit in and enjoy their apples.  

 Dylan gave me some sass when he caught me taking pictures.  

Before leaving, we bought them each an old fashioned soda, and by then it was starting to warm up nicely and we were all thirsty.  

 We let them play at the little playground and kids barn before we left, which really wore them out. They ran through the corn maze and climbed on tractors and up the ladder in the  barn and down the slide.  They got a good nap on the way home.  Ryan will be helping me made some delicious fall treats with our apples including: apple crisp, apple pie and apple dump cake.  We love fall!

Back to School!

Wow! It's already September?! The wonderful season of apples and pleasant days full of sun and breezes and cooler nights.....the season for yellow school buses and new fall clothes? The season for crisp new notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils? I LOVE this season!

This year, we are doing something new and I couldn't be happier.  We're going to try homeschooling.  I have a little nook set up with all the important curriculum and manipulatives.  I'm still not done adding visuals to the walls, but I'm sure as the year progresses, this won't be an issue.

We started our day with the obligatory "back to school" photo session.

 I'm still not sure if I want to label this as "Ryan starts Kindergarten" or "Ryan continues preschool." The math, reading and science curriculum are all kindergarten...but with parental glasses, that seems too far "in the future." Technically, Ryan would be in preschool anywhere else because his birthday is after the cut-off.  So, the jury's still out on this one.  We're doing kindergarten work but right now I'm calling it pre-school part 2.

Here's Dylan at 2 years 3 months.  He will primarily be learning through play and stations and generally watching what Ryan does.  He was such a good boy on this first day of school! He held the flag while we said the pledge of allegience. 

I was really surprised how quickly we breezed through math, bible and science (our reading curriculum hasn't arrived yet. That will start next week). Our science experiment led us outside with home-made boats to experiment with the affects of air (e.g. how can we make this boat go across the water without touching the boat?) 

Once the kids were outside....Dylan couldn't help himself.  He just had to get in that water. So off came the pants and shoes (but not before he got in the water fully dressed).  While they enjoyed some gross motor activities, I cleaned out the sand/water table. 

When I dumped out the old sand, Dylan couldn't resist that either. 

We are all so excited for this school year and enjoyed our first day "back to school." 

Water baby

This kid is my water baby.  He is happiest when submerged in water.   It was significantly hotter at my parents house than our own little corner of the U.S.  Besides, after experiencing the wondrous ocean, this little guy was really missing just being wet.

My parents don't have a pool.  But they do have some pretty big storage buckets.

 We rounded up some bath toys and filled it with hose water.  He got his swimmy diaper and climbed right in.  He was happy as a clam for the next hour.  For the next hour he was content to pour water into various containers,  put things in various buckets....for the next hour he left Grandpa's turtles ALONE and his mommy was able to relax, reading a book on the porch.

Flashback: Alligator Lake

After our little scare at the beach last week, I have been reflecting on a memory where my own Mother must have felt a similar type of panic.  

I had just celebrated my fourth birthday and my brother was two at the time.  We lived in some small apartments in Florida.  It was a nice little complex which contained a private pool and was within walking distance to a lake complete with a wooden dock.  However, as in relatively common in Florida, the lake was home to a population of alligators. 

I used to watch them, holding very tightly to my Daddy's hand, as the alligators sunned themselves in a scaly row on the banks.  The dock did not have rails and I remember clutching Daddy's hand very tightly walking on that slightly swaying dock and looking into that murky water, fearing a misstep would make me a tasty meal.  My parents were always very clear that this lake was dangerous and I must never go there alone.  I was very cautious and more than a little scared of the lake and the alligators and had no intention of ever going near that lake without a trusted adult.

However, after my fourth birthday, I had been praised as being "such a big girl!" I really believed I had done all the growing I needed to be big enough to visit that lake by myself, just like an adult.  While I did fear the alligators, I was also aware that from a distance it was safe... and they were fascinating to watch.  

So one morning, I decided I would take my little brother with me to the lake- by ourselves, to watch the alligators--not on the dock of course, but from a safe distance in view of the bank.  At the time, child leashes were popular and my little brother had one.  I hooked him up to his leash and led him, toddling, to the lake, slipping out the front door quietly, some sense telling me my mom would not be a fan of my plan to go without her.

 Because it was mid-morning, many adults were at work and no one else was around. Miraculously, neither were the alligators. None were sunning themselves on the bank.  So we took a seat high up on the bank and waited, I holding the end of my brother's leash while he sucked on his pacifier.  

I'm not sure how much time passed, but we did not see any alligators.  We became bored and I decided it was time to head home. A few steps into our journey home, we crossed paths with my Mom, who was looking frantically for us and headed our direction.  

I was in enormous trouble.  I was scolded and disciplined. Not long after that, my Dad installed a latch high up on the door, one I could not even reach by standing on a chair.  Not long after that adventure, there was a news report on t.v about a young child who was a victim of an alligator attack while swimming with some older kids in a Florida lake (a different lake than ours).  Looking back, we were very fortunate that day.