"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."
- Ada Louise Huxtable
Summer is getting close, and that means it’s time for watermelon. Both of the kids love watermelon, and I suspect there will be many slices of watermelon consumed at our house since Mom love the fruit even more than the kids do.
James is now staring to use spoons. He’s not good at it, and the food gets on his shirt or the floor as often as it gets in his mouth, but it’s good to see him trying to get more independent. He’s still cruising around on anything that can move around the floor, but hasn’t taken that all important first step.
Ashlyn is helping out her little brother as best she can. After gymnastics she taught him how to draw on the chalkboard. Later she taught him how not to clean up after making a mess with the chalk.
We were fortunate enough to have two visits from grandparents this weekend. The first was from Nina and Papa. The original plan was to go to the park, but that was delayed due to rain, so we ordered in some pizza and played at the house. The kids were everywhere and enjoyed playing with their cousin Ben. And no, the cornucopia in the first picture was not part of dinner.
We promised Ashlyn that we would take her to the park this weekend, and luckily the weather cleared up on Sunday so that we could make the trip. Ashlyn went from the swings, to the slides, to various climbing things, to this weird little teeter totter apparatus, and back through them all again. James played around as he could, but ended up having most of his fun sitting on the ground throwing the mulch around. If you look carefully in the bottom left picture, you’ll notice mulch flying in the air over his head. What you have to realize about this is that he’s already grabbing another handful of mulch before the previous throw has even landed. Destructo Baby™!!
Once again we’re surprised at how different Ashlyn and James are from one another in personality. Both are great in their own ways, but here’s one example of where they differ. Mr. Neato is our little robot cleaning friend that goes around the house each day picking up pet hair, mushed up cheerios, pieces of spaghetti, and pretty much everything else that’s small and caused by children. When Mr. Neato runs, Ashlyn moves to a safe vantage point to ensure that her toes are kept intact. James on the other hand charges Mr. Neato as fast as he can, and will take a ride on Mr. Neato while he is cleaning. One safe, one not, and we love them both for it.
The weekend finished off with another grandparent visit, this time by Grandma and Grandpa Wolfe. Ashlyn read a book to Grandma, and James played "Baker’s Man” with Grandpa. We all enjoyed some food, wine, and Ashlyn enjoyed her first taste of Strawberry and Coconut milk ice cream. Yum.
