Even More Summer Fun

I unintentionally may have caused our son to become obsessed with weather. During the winter, he would ask to go outside to the park and I would usually point to the window and say, "not today buddy, it's really cold and very rainy" which I would repeat almost daily for something like five months straight. Once the end of spring came into view he would get really excited by giving me a weather report in relation to his play time aspirations: "mommy it's sunny, we can go outside and blow bubbles and play at the park! Ok?! C'mon let's go!"

Northwest Washington in August is almost always sunny and warm and the summer of 2012 has not let us down, we haven't had measurable rain in a month and we've had a few days over 90 degrees. Taking advantage of the great weather, Harrison and dad have had some action packed weekends (while mom mostly stays home shut up in the house with the curtains drawn and fan on to keep her pregnant body cool!).

The last weekend of July they went on the annual Dads and Kids camping trip, this year extending their stay to two night and two and half days. Although dad "forgot he had a camera" in the bag, Harrison was able to report to me the following:

• He ate LOTS of marshmallows and s'mores. How many? 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11!!!
• The potty was very stinky 
• He played with lots of friends
• He borrowed and slept on Zaidy's extra bed (our air mattress unexpectedly had a hole in it)
• It was really cold at night 

Dad agrees that his report is pretty true. They swam in the lake each day, Harrison played with four or five other friends his age and ate roasted marshmallows in some form each night. He went to bed late, after ten each night since the sun is up almost until then, dressed in his warmest jammies, zipped into his sleeping bad and covered with a big, thick blanket. In the morning he would wake up, complain he was cold and climb into dad's bed to snuggle up and get warm. 

On the second night, dad put him to sleep and then sat by the campfire for another 90 minutes. It was pretty late so he decided to go to bed although he wasn't yet terribly tired. Walking up to the tent he heard a noise that sounded like teeth chattering and upon opening the door found Harrison completely out of his sleeping bag and blanket, huddled in the fetal position, teeth chattering and shivering with cold! Dad asked him if he was cold and he muttered with closed eyes, "uh-huh" and dad zipped and tucked him in again and the exhausted little dude immediately fell into a deep sleep. 

When the returned home, they had been gone so long I had really missed them and was happy to get a big, filthy hug from him. And then I immediately threw him into the bath tub and started washing everything they had taken with them! Harrison always has a good time, although he really wanted me to come with them. Next year buddy, next year we can talk about it. As soon as they walked through the door though, I could see that he and his dad had really bonded and he spent the next couple weeks turning more to dad than usual. Now we are back to business as usual and nearly everything is "mommy, mommy, mommy!" again. 

The next weekend dad took Harrison, along with friends Aaron and Lilah, to see the Blue Angels air show for Seafair weekend. If you ask Harrison about it, instead of telling you he will fly his hand around like an jet, make loud jet noises followed by an almost unintelligible slur of words describing how the jets were really loud and buzzed the crowd just a few hundred feet above their heads to which Harrison screamed in fright and ran to dad and sat huddled in his lap. Dad admits he was even taken by surprise by that fly over. It was about 90* that day so they got there early and found a spot near the shoreline so the kids could play in the beach. Harrison will also tell you about his Spongebob Popsicle they got from the ice cream truck; these are the important moments kids really remember! 

Later that week, Krissi and Gain joined mom and Harrison for a trip back to Remlinger Farms, yes the same farm we visited with Argenta a few weeks earlier. The weather had cooled and the boys had a great time riding the train, cars, canoe and especially the ferris wheel, a big step for Gavin who is just shy of two years old! 

After play time and lunch, Harrison said he had enough energy to pick some blueberries before heading home so we stopped at the field and picked about 2.5 pounds worth. Dad worked late that evening so I made blueberry pancakes to which he declared they were the best pancakes I had ever made! If I instilled a weather obsession into my son, I also instilled a love of picking berries with me. His stamina doesn't quite match mine but his enthusiasm is there, we both can't wait for the blackberries around the corner to be ripe and he recalls picking them with me last year (jams, baked goods, over ice cream - oh my!)

Lastly I finally brought the good camera to soccer class although I realized I need the big lens next time. In any case, here are some clearer photos of one of his favorite weekly activities. In the second photo they are playing a kicking game where they pretended there was a buffalo stomping through their garden, this is why he has his fingers up like horns.