All by myself

Kale has literally taken it upon himself to become potty trained, so much that our daycare has put him in pull ups.  She said if things continue to go well she is putting him in underwear next week. It’s absolutely crazy. He thinks it’s so fun, and is already to the point that he tells Jane every once in a while that he needs to go potty. It totally helps that all the other kids are either trained or getting trained – he doesn’t want to be left out! I told Adam that we shouldn’t be surprised, because he’s done everything else early, so why not this, too!

Camping hiatus

After camping 3 of the last 4 weekends we’ve decided to take a break. We had a lot of fun this weekend, but on Saturday afternoon we were left wondering why we do this to ourselves. The kids try really hard to be good, but the surroundings sure start to test everyone’s patience after a little while! It rained Friday night, resulting in our campsite being extra muddy. The kids thought it was great – Kale so much that I just took his clothes off and left him in his diaper to jump and dive belly first in to them. I am not much in to dirt and mud so this was especially difficult for me to deal with! The kids had fun in the pool and Kale showed no fear going down a really big water slide, at least initially. He got a little more scared as the day went on and by Sunday didn’t want anything to do with. Nolan went down a few times on Saturday, too, but ended up getting scared after 2 times down and decided he had enough. Our campsite was a in a really pretty location along the Mississippi river, but it was a little too close for comfort with the kids. When Nolan and Kale woke up Saturday morning Nolan looked out the window and said “look at the big puddle!”. It was the river. The may files were pretty bad and the boys were eaten up worse than normal by the skeeters. Kale was on an antibiotic for a lake born bacterial infection, and Nolan ended up in urgent care on Sunday when we got home with gunk in his lungs. Luckily it wasn’t pneumonia, but they put him on a 10 day dose of antibiotics to clear it up. As we were leaving on Sunday the rest of the group we were with noted how beat up the kids looked. Thus our decision for a hiatus!

Summertime, summertime sum-sum-summertime!

Wow - it’s over half way through summer already! We’ve been so busy with all sorts of fun stuff, that I haven’t had time to update this as often as I’d like to! The week of the 4th we spent time at a house that Adam’s parent’s rented, not too far from where we live. Adam spent a few extra days there with the boys. They had so much fun swimming, fishing, riding in the boat and just being outside – despite the heat. Kale’s big accomplishment was that he caught his very first fish off the dock! Both he and Nolan have no fear when it comes to touching fish. He was very proud of himself. Both of them enjoyed playing with their cousins, too – especially in the kiddie pool. Nolan and Kale both played a game of “ready, set, go”, followed by a run and a jump in to the pool.

After coming home from that short trip we prepared for our friends to come in to town to join us at the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert at Target Field. While they were here we took a ride on the Steamboat Minnehaha on Lake Minnetonka. It was a little tough to take the boys because they can’t run around on the boat, but it was still fun. The concert was awesome. We even splurged and rented a car to take us to and from the concert. Well worth every cent!

Last weekend we enjoyed our 2nd full weekend of camping with our friends at Baker. It was easier this time because the boys had kids to play with most of the time. However, Nolan and Kale are pretty independent and don’t need a lot of entertainment from other kids yet. It was another hot weekend, so we spent a lot of time at the beach. Nolan enjoyed riding bikes and scooters when the bigger kids weren’t using them, and Kale generally just followed Nolan around. Nolan still won’t use the automatic flush toilets, so he did his thing on surrounding trees. Thankfully he wasn’t the only boy to do that! We went home again at nap time so the kids could nap in air conditioning. One of the highlights of Saturday evening was the huge bubble maker our friend Nate made and brought along. When the kids got done popping these bubbles their hair was covered in dishsoap! The other highlight was the fact our boys slept in until 7:25 Sunday morning! We call it our first camping miracle. We’re figuring out this camping thing, and decided a blender was a must have for cold beverages on these hot summer days. We’re going camping again this weekend, but this time it isn’t close to home. It’s going to be in the 90’s again, so we might just put the boys in the truck and drive them around for nap time.

Last week we took the boys on a farm tour where we have a CSA membership. There was an hour long hay ride around the farm and we learned about the techniques they use to grow our food. While we were touring one of the workers would pick fresh produce for us to eat. Both boys loved the strawberries, and Nolan ate most of the raspberries. Kale was a good sport and tried some of the veggies, but not like Nolan. He ate ¾ of a cucumber and handfuls of grape tomatoes. Jane told me today that he and Kale have both been eating the sugar snap peas out of the pod, and kohlrabi – of course dipped in ranch dressing. Who knew? I guess there might be hope for them after allJ

Adam has been gone this week for work. Kale asked Nolan where Daddy was. Nolan replied “in Minnesota”, because he couldn’t remember what city he was in. That cracked me up!

Kale is still busy, busy, busy. He continues to go potty some days at daycare, but rarely has the patience to wait it out on the potty at home. He woke up with a dry diaper this morning, but he couldn’t sit long enough to go at home. He’s still really young, so I’m just happy he’s showing some interest. He is also busy counting and learning his numbers. He loves the numbers 2, 3 and 9, but will count to ten if someone counts with him. He’s getting a longer attention span for movies, which has helped with his early morning wake up time when we’re camping! The bedtime routine has gotten better, but he hasn’t been feeling well recently. That, and the fact we’ve been gone the last 3 weekends, has resulted in a little more challenging bed time, at least for me. Kale does just fine with Adam, but likes to cause a big of a fuss when I’m around. Last night he figured out how to turn the doorknob to open his door, so from now on it won’t be nearly as easy to let him cry it out in his bedroom!

Nolan has discovered the joy of hunting for bugs, picking up and collecting sticks and rocks, etc. He is a pretty typical boy! He loves watching movies, so we’ve had to start limiting his screen time a little bit. His vocabulary is expanding every day. He loves construction sites, construction equipment, and big piles of dirt, too. He came home from daycare yesterday with his first family portrait. He has been drawing faces for a while, but this time most of us had bodies to go with it! It’s so cute, because Kale is drawn very small, Adam has a very large head, and I’m proportionate.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

We did it - we survived our first camping adventure! The weather was hot - in the mid 90's and humid. We actually went home for nap on Saturday. The boys (including Adam) slept for 3 hours! Plus I got to shower and relax, too. The boys didn't get to bed until late both nights, but at least they slept through the night - until 5:45 am! Those early mornings are tough. We spent a lot of time at the park and at the beach.  The boys loved the zip line, slides, and carrying water in their buckets from the lake to a hole they dug in the sand.  Our camper in going to serve us well.  The boys think it's a little like a jungle gym - run back and forth, jump on the beds, and run some more.  Their preference is also to eat inside the camper, which is fine for breakfast but warm during lunch and dinner!  Good thing we can override their preference!  We have a few more camping trips coming up this month.  We're looking forward to making small improvements every time to make it easier!