Swimming, dinner, and a puddle…

"If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you."
-Bruce Lee

Cousin Amy turned 18 so the Wolfe clan got together to celebrate the occasion.  The kids had a lot of fun playing the piano and jumping dangerously from the fireplace hearth.  Ashlyn jumped once and as soon as James saw her do it he climbed up and heedlessly threw himself off.  Those two are dangerous.

Sunday was spent at Nina and Papa’s for a little swimming and fun in the sun.  James showed off his sliding skills while Ashlyn jumped halfway across the pool.

I’ll end with a story about a boy.  It was a nice day and the family all went to gymnastics.  The boy became bored and wanted to play outside.  It was a nice day, but this particular boy has an amazing ability to sense out even the smallest puddle.  His senses were true, and the puddle was found quickly jumped in repeatedly.  Below you will see the only puddle in the gymnastics parking lot.  James found it.

Fourth of July and a surprise event…

"It's not working!"
-James

With Uncle John and Uncle Scott off to Hawaii and Washing, D.C. respectively, the family got together at the lake this weekend to celebrate both the birth of our nation and our little family that lives in it.  I suppose I can’t call it “little” anymore when you think of the number of adults and children that ran around for 2 days straight.

The holiday started with a 4th of July parade in downtown Granbury.  We dressed up James and Ashlyn in some outfits that Grandma made, although we were only able to get one picture of James before he practically ripped it off.  Apparently he is not as patriotic as Ashlyn, who wore hers with pride.  At the parade itself James split his time between watching bugs and parade floats.  Ashlyn enjoyed some Dip n’ Dots and free stuff that the parade goers gave her.

After the parade it was time to cool off in the pool.  When the water balloons were brought out, both kids went a bit crazy throwing them everywhere.  They had fun though, although I don’t think we’ll every find all the pieces.

The fireworks were brought out as night started coming around.  While it was still light the smoke bombs and sparklers were used.  It was the first time either kid had held a sparkler and they both had fun.  I’m also happy to report that only Daddy got burned, which is a tradition of mine on 4th. 

I don’t have any pictures from the fireworks show we put on that evening, but both the kids seemed to really enjoy them.  We weren’t sure what their reaction would be to the first big booming firework, but I knew everything was going to be ok when I heard a squeal of excitement followed by “Again!”.  Next year we’ll see if we can keep them up long enough to see a full fireworks show.  The rest of the lake trip was spent playing with water, bubbles, and birthday cakes.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Oh wait, as I was typing this blog post an exciting event occurred in our house.  The kids had just finished their baths and were playing super heroes with their towels in another room.  They stopped, and James must have said he needed to use the restroom because I heard Ashlyn instructing James to sit down on the little froggy potty in the room.  I didn’t want to interfere, and really I thought it was going to be another failed attempt, but Ashlyn got excited and started yelling “you’re doing it James!”  Sure enough, James went potty in the toilet for the first time.  It’s funny how exciting little things like that can be, but it’s the first step towards getting one more kid out of diapers.  Just in time!

James turns two!

"There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why."
-William Barclay

This was a busy week for the birthday boy and his big sister.  It began with his actual birthday.  We took the day off to celebrate and started it off with some birthday presents.  James had a lot of fun opening the presents and playing with the new toys, but he didn’t have long to play.  It was time to go to the zoo.

You can’t ever go wrong with kids at a zoo.  The animals and merry go round are a guaranteed hit.   This year James was old enough to understand what was going on, and was excitedly pointing out animals wherever we went.  He fed the birds, waved at the giraffes, and was in awe of a crocodile that was 10 times bigger than he was.  Ashlyn was more than willing to show James around, and all in all it was a great day with the kids.

That evening we received a surprise call from Grandma and Grandpa Wolfe who have settled in with their new motor home in Florida.  The called on the computer, and James was fascinated by the concept of talking to Grandma and Grandpa when they weren’t in the room.  We took the opportunity to light the candle on his birthday cake and James got a second round of birthday song.  Who can’t say no to that?

We needed to take a break this weekend from all the birthday activities, and what better way to relax than taking the kids to a splash pad?  It turns out there are a LOT of things more relaxing, but not many that are as much fun for the kids.  They ran, splashed, swung, climbed, jumped, and in the end had a great time.  It was interesting to see how much more active Ashlyn was with James along with her.  The last time we went Ashlyn was a bit too shy to really do much, but with James along for the ride we could hardly keep up.

We really did get a little quiet time in on Sunday.  Instead of taking eating lunch in the house we packed a quick picnic lunch and took it out to the pond.  I think all the fun was catching up to them, they both were close to falling asleep in the wagon by the time we got back to the house.

A quick nap later and the Kids were back at it.  Luckily Mom thought up a great educational and messy game (their favorite combination) involving soap and colors which showed them what happens when different colors mix together.  Bath time followed quickly after.

Two years later ago our little boy was born… and it’s amazing to see how quickly he went from a crying little infant to a running, jumping, talking, laughing… James.  We love you little guy.