We forgot to set our alarm the night before so we didn't make it to Hutchins Street Square in time to see the hot air balloon lift off, but we did end up following it and saw it come back down in a field our near the District Office. We headed back to the square for some breakfast, and by 9am the boys had already jumped out a ton of energy in the various bounce houses, saw all the police, fire, ambulance, and SWAT vehicles, and even had a snow cone at 9:30 in the morning (Eek!)!
This is rare for Caleb - he usually isn't interested in petting animals in petting zoos, but here he touched the cow's nose and the pig's ear.
A nice young boy about eleven or twelve years old was helping Landon try to make some baskets
- Caleb has figured out how to zip up a jacket
- He is becoming increasingly interested in reading, spelling lots of words and sometimes wanting to pretend he is going to read something.
One of the highlights of our month was going to Jimmy's Company Picnic. At the last minute they changed the location from Lafayette to Napa, and it was at the home of a chef that his boss works with regularly for different events. She has a home and some land in Napa, which she calls "The Funny Farm" (she has a sign out front and everything). She was a riot - very free-spirited, crazy, fun lady with a lot of quirky interests, and amazing chef! Everything was outdoors under a big tent, and absolutely delicious.
This is the second TFC picnic we have been a part of, and there is always plenty of entertainment and entertainers to keep the kids busy and happy, and to give the adults time to enjoy themselves as well. Among the built-in entertainment on Kelly's property was a beautiful big horse named Rusty, chickens (who were fed plenty of grapes by the kids that day), goats, and a creekbed that had always been dry until the recent Napa quake, when water started flowing to it (I think she told us she was an eighth of a mile from the epicenter!)! In addition to all that, there was a hired entertainer who had about a dozen games lined up for kids and adults alike. Take a look at a few of them below...
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| Jimmy's co-worker, Darrin (father of three boys) doing sack races with Caleb |
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| T.P. Mummy Landon |
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| Get the Oreo from forehead to mouth with no hands! |
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| Chubby bunny with the world's largest marshmallows.. |
The water was quite brisk, but that didn't slow anyone down - shoes, clothes, and all, and Kelly was the first to hop in and lead the way in her chef pants, splashing water on her face and talking to the kids about how wonderful and fresh the water feels.
The final treat, which wasn't planned for, was getting to take turns riding Kelly's horse, Rusty, at the end of the day. The boys both really enjoyed it, and I got a turn too, which I was really excited about! I have been wanting to go horseback riding for years now, and though this was just a time or two around the corral, I was still excited I got to do it!
After a rough streak of several days each week not taking naps, I've started incorporating Impact's open gym play time into our week again to help wear Landon out. He's climbing the wall like a little monkey and loving it!
Of no great surprise because he likes so many things, but we also discovered this month that Landon loves Ribs (I'm sure all that sauce helps, and he never minds getting himself all dirty!).
Bought a new TV this month - we didn't think ahead about whether it would actually fit in our car... it just barely made it.
The other highlight of the month was the Grape Festival. The boys didn't remember it from last year, but they sure picked up quickly on the rides and festival food. The rides are so expensive that they each only chose two, but they had a great time!
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| Cars Grape Mural |
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| Our artistic lefty loves to draw and color, just like his mama |
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| Owl puppet from preschool |
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| Downtown date time with Mommy |
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| Hanging the bagel with birdseed that he made at school |
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| We love seeing how great of friends these two are becoming!! |
