What we've been up to

It's been a while since I've updated on anything more than my scrapbooking, so it's about time to let you all know what the boys have been up to.

First a little recap on our summer bucket list activities so far (activities we've done are highlighted):

• Have a picnic at a park - Just me and the boys having a picnic at a new-to-us park in Troy.

• Story time at the library
• Go to a parade
• Splash Pad
• Detroit Zoo (maybe Toledo Zoo, too?)
• Camping at the Pinery
• Go to a local beach
• Hit up the farmers market
• Go to a new park - Boulan Park in Troy - not too far, but one we haven't been to before

Why must I have boys that LOVE to try to climb on everything?!? Sure, that's what they are meant for, but it's not too easy for me to help both of them when they both want to climb different ones at the same time!

• Attend the Big Rig Gig - FRIDAY - Anyone interested?
• Ride the trains at Starr Jaycee Park - SATURDAY - Anyone interested?
• See fireworks (or at least play with sparklers) - Nope, this one didn't happen...
• Take a walk (sans stroller) on a local trail - Paint Creek Trail in downtown Rochester - connects right to the park we usually go to.

"Hey mom, are you coming?"  

So excited to have the freedom to walk on their own without having to hold my hand (like they have to when we walk around our neighborhood).  I seriously think that after this walk down the trail, Ellis would rather go for walks and explore, than play on the playground at the park!

• Feed the ducks at the park (without Ellis freaking out!) - At the same park that we play at, in downtown Rochester

Ellis was a bit more skeptical at first (which is why he is so far back), but luckily he could throw his bread far enough to make it to the ducks.

And here is a little video of them feeding the ducks.  In case you are curious, I keep saying "feed the ducky" because I swear Logan said it just before I started the video.  And sorry for the not-so-good footage.  It's not very easy to take video, give them some bread and make sure neither of them go too close to the water!

• Make homemade ice cream - soon, soon!

So, now that I look at our list of things to do for the summer, I feel like we still have a lot more to accomplish in these last few weeks.  Of course I'm not going to push it and force anything to happen, but it kind of reorganizes my thoughts and reminds me of what fun things I thought we could do.

There is quite a bit that we've done, also, that wasn't on the list.  

I'm so proud of Ellis for being willing to try some painting.  Arts and crafts is one thing he was NOT interested in, during the Parent/Tot class we've taken them to as part of their speech classes.  He has actually been much more interested in it than Logan lately!

A visit from Grandma last week.  It was a nice day for the pool so we spend the afternoon in the backyard playing.

These boys love the water (and showing off for Grandma, of course!)

Last week we went to the Bairds, and had a fun day playing in the water.  Cole was so kind to show the boys how to use a slip 'n slide.  Unfortunately for Cole though, once he showed them, they hogged it and wouldn't always give him a turn =( .  We are still working on sharing!  

Here's a little video of the slip 'n slide action.  I think Logan was more excited to sit in the mini "pool" at the end of it, but watching Ellis go down it cracks me up!

Last week we also visited Cari, an old friend from my CMU days, that I haven't seen in way too long.  She has 3 girls (which includes 1 set of twins) and the boys were just in heaven.  Logan just followed them around - hopefully not annoying them too much - and loved watching them play.  Towards the end of our visit the girls put on a show for us and Logan and Ellis got a kick out of joining them in the dance portion of it!  Hopefully we can meet up like that more often! 

Okay, so this picture might not be very appropriate, but I am trying to highlight the fact that Ellis' last two pacifiers are no longer in the house, hence the picture of our garbage.  He hasn't used them (or held them, as he did primarily for comfort after we cut holes in the tips) in quite a long time, so about a month ago, I took them out of his sight altogether to see if he would even notice that they were gone.  NOPE, he hasn't.  So, when I came across them when I was cleaning earlier in the week, I thought it was time to say goodbye.  Bittersweet moment for this mama!  

Aside from our normal pool fun, a lot of time has been spent outside playing on our playground.  The boys usually play on the slide the most, but this week they have been all about the swings.

And thankfully they seem to be done with the throwing sand phase of their life (hopefully).  They actually like to scoop it instead of see how much they can get in their hair!

And last but not least, this picture is a little older, but it cracks me up.  When reading about ways to help kids develop more speech, I read that sometimes kids need to build up their mouth muscles more.  One way to do that is to have them use a straw sippy cup instead of just the basic one.  I frankly never thought of that and never really got them to use a straw one because, well, let's be honest, who wants to clean out straws all the time?  Some of those cups have so many darn parts to them, it's ridiculous!  Well, anyways, I went to the store and bought some trainer straw sippy cups that help you teach a child how to drink from a straw (you push the bottom of the cup and liquid goes up the straw without them sucking - it teaches that they have to do some work to get the liquid up the straw - hence sucking from a straw).  Thankfully, they caught on really quick so I went out and bought some that aren't quite as easy to suck from, to get them used to using those muscles.  What made me laugh about the day I took this picture is that Ellis was having a hard time keeping the cup down so that he could actually suck up water.  They are so used to tipping the cup back to drink from it, but as we all know, if you do that with a straw cup, you won't get much of anything in there, so in this picture, he was trying so hard to keep the cup down so he could get some water to drink.  Too funny, Ellis.

Well, I think that's it for now.  It is way too late and I should be sleeping, but damn this Mt. Dew slurpee hasn't gotten out of my system yet.  

Tomorrow's agenda - continue working on the deck restoration (for as much as the weather will allow us) and have a BBQ with some friends at night.  Once the deck is done I will show before and after pictures, but with the progress we've made so far, I'm very excited to see the finished product.  Good night everyone!