wander and sparkle

ah, the tradition continues!  just like on memorial weekend, my parents have everyone over for the 4th of july as well.  what has been fun the past few potlucks has been the fact that everyone's kids are getting bigger!  ledger fits in to the line-up, there are a few kids older, and a bunch of kids younger too.  he does ok playing with the other kids, but he seems to mostly keep to himself.  when the other kids were running around and playing, he would wander off, walking around the bushes and playing his own little games.  we would keep wrangling him back to the other kids, but he would loose interest pretty quickly.  although, he did think it was pretty cool when they took out the sparklers!  as a little preview of the fun fireworks they would see that night, the kids had a chance to play with some sparklers!  ledger didnt hesitate, he was all about them.  he did pretty well with them, but he kept wanting to touch the sparkling part- at one point he grabbed it, then shrieked when he realized how hot it was!  careful boy!
(more pics from the weekend)

swimming with daddy

diana, mom, and ledger headed out to the beach for the afternoon.  i stayed back to take care of a few things, but told them i would stop by and pick up ledge for his nap.  that way they could stay a bit longer and enjoy the sun in peace.  i decided to surprise everyone by putting on my swim suit and playing it the water with my boy!  ever since his swimming lessons, he is a lot more comfortable and sure of himself in the water.  we headed out there and had a blast just floating around and playing.  he always had to keep an eye on the seaweed, but other than that he doing great out there.  after playing for a bit, we went back to shore and i took him back to the trailer.  he must have exhausted himself pretty well, because it didnt take long for him to fall fast asleep!

rescue grabber

one of ledger's favorite things about going to visit mema and papa at sandy pines is all the fun toys they have!  there are tons of toys there, but not all of them are actual toys... ledge gets a bit creative with his play things- he was rooting around in the shed and came across this fun little thing.  its a little grabber to extend your reach, but to him it was the greatest toy discovery of the weekend!  after allowing me to show him how it works, he was all set.  at first he struggled a bit with getting the thing to grab, but after a few minutes, he had it all figured out and was actually able to pick up other toys with it!  he asked what is was called and we told him it was a 'grabber'.  i guess that name wasn't good enough for him, so he added a little to it, he called it his 'rescue grabber'!  all weekend he was playing with his rescue grabber, even after it had been put away multiple times!

in case of fire

we had been bragging about our new fire pit for a week or two, so miranda and levi decided to take us up on the offer.  they stopped by, along with barbara, to have our inaugural fire.  so far i had gotten it build and then we mostly just looked at it saying 'we should really have a fire, huh?'  in preparation of the first fire, i picked through our branches and lawn waste pile to get some good ones.  we pulled out some paper and cardboard from the recycle bin, and set out the grill lighter.  i tried to start it and failed miserably (big surprise there...).  giving up, i walked around the house to the garage to get the lawn mower gas tank- that aught to get it going, huh?- levi steps in and gets that thing going just right.  all that eagle scout training really helped out!  we were able to sit out there for the rest of the night enjoying the beautiful weather and the great big fire.  i'm pretty sure we will be doing this often this summer!

his first parade

one of the reasons we wanted to make sure we got to sandy pines the night before the 4th was so that we could take ledger to see the parade in the morning.  its a sandy pines tradition, a bunch of people decorate their golf carts (or kids deck out their bikes) for the parade, the local fire department brings their fire engine, and a few other fun sights to see, and they all drive around the main street of the park and throw candy.  its pretty low key, but the kids love it- and ledger was no different!  this was his first parade, and boy did he have a great time!  his eyes were as big as saucers as everyone drove by, waiving and throwing candy.  we had brought a bag for him to collect it all in, and he had so much fun picking up the pieces and collecting as much candy as he could!  he would comment, saying how he saw different things, decorative stars, a dog on a cart, or let us know that he had seen a truck (saying it as only he can...).  we let him have a couple pieces of candy when the parade was over, but the rest we will have to space out over the next couple days- we certainly don't want to deal with that kind of sugar rush all in one go- yikes!
(more pics)

boo boo

either i'm a glutton for punishment, or i really love my wife, because we did the tent thing again this time at sandy pines during our stay...  papa had gotten us a new air mattress, this time one that was queen sized so we could actually sleep under the same covers!
anyway, as we were setting up the tent in the empty part of the lot right next to the garage.  ledger got a bit excited about watching the tent building and must have wanted a better view, because he climbed up the one foot tall mason stone wall papa had built by the garage.  he was having a blast walking up and down the top of the wall- right up until he fell off it anyway!  he scrapped up his leg pretty good.  nothing serious, just some scratches.  one of the scratches down by his ankle was bleeding a little bit, so we took him in, cleaned it up, and put a band-aid on it.  this was absolutely thrilling for ledger!  he wasnt bothered at all by the scrape, in fact when he fell off he got right back up saying 'i ok!'  this was ledger's first band-aid, so he was loving it.  at first he was a little concerned because he didn't understand what it was that we were doing, but he soon figured it out and for the rest of the weekend loved to show off his 'bandage'!

green little boy

with the 4th of july upon us, we headed up again to enjoy the festivities at sandy pines.  the 4th fell on a friday this year, so we headed up thursday so we wouldn't miss any of the fun.  we got up there (after a short bout of car sickness) and gave big hugs to mema and papa, who were thrilled as always to see us (and by us, i mean ledger).  once we were all settled in, we had a little while until dinner was going to be ready, so ledger and i went on a short little walk down the road.
when ever we are at sandy pines and we take ledger for a cart ride, he always spots these little 'children at play' signs, they are in the shape of a person, usually holding a red flag or something.  every time he sees one he says 'look! it's a little boy!' (which he says in some sort of strange accent that we have no idea where it came from!..)  well, the neighbor a few lots down got one recently, so i figured i'd walk him down to it so he can meet this little boy that he keeps talking about!  he was very excited about it and walked around it petting it on the head.  'little boy!  i found it, little boy!'.

boat power

we have a pontoon boat to tool around on the lake.  all the neighbors have boats too, but for some reason they put these big motors on them even though there is a 'no wake' policy on the lake.  figuring there's no need for power, we opted instead for an electric motor that is strong enough to get us around the lake easily and doesn't create a wake.  its perfect: we never have to worry about breaking the rules, it does a great job of getting us around, and we never have to worry about filling it with gas!  the bother though is that it needs to be plugged in to recharge the batteries after every time out.  that means that there has to be a cord cutting across the backyard to the dock all the time.  this isnt too much of a bother except when its time to mow the lawn!  well, we figured out a great solution: bury the cord!  we had been talking about it for a year or two, so we finally did something about it.  david and i went and got an industrial strength cord, some pipes, and all the rest of the stuff we needed to make it waterproof.  that meant all that was left was digging up the lawn!  that sounds easy enough, so i got everything ready and took a shovel to the grass, digging out a path for the corded pipe, bringing all the way to the dock.  it turned out to be pretty easy and now we dont have to worry about chopping up the cord when we mow the lawn- not bad!
(more pics)

time out

for a while now we have been doing the 'time out' thing with ledger.  ever since he turned two he's been able to understand what it means to get a time out.  we had a pack-and-play type crib set up in the dining room corner where we would bring him when he was being naughty.  we have a two minute timer that we start when he is put in it.  oh boy, does he hate it!  when we put him in there he would whine and scream and cry!  i guess that let us know that it was working, right?  well, now he's getting old enough to take responsibility for himself.  when he's being bad he knows it, sometimes when we reprimand him he asks us 'i get timeout?', so clearly he understands the idea.  well, with that level of understanding, he should also be able to be responsible for his behavior during time outs.  that means its time to put away the pack-and-play and just give him a time out chair.  he's been doing very well with it, he actually stays in the chair when he has been put in it!  i'm so proud of him!  well, i'm not very happy that he needs to be put in the chair, but i'm impressed that he stays there.  oh, conflicting emotions...

the reading couch

in our dining room we have a 'reading corner' for ledger.  its got a couple of bookshelves and a couch for reading.  he spends most of his time in the living room, you know, where the tv and all his toys are, but lately he's been loving going over to the 'reading couch'!  we have been trying to instill in our boy the fun of books, and it seems to be working.  he loves to pull out a book or two and have us read it to him.  though we have hundreds of books, he always seems to go for the ones with a robot in them.  hmm... we always ask him questions about each page.  'whats this?', 'what color is that?', 'how many are there?'  and he always does so good at answering us!  he's gotten more and more interested in the books, maybe because now he can answer our questions much better, or maybe because of the fun and silly voices we add to the characters, but either way, we love to sit on the reading couch with him and watch him learn!

dive in!

can you believe it- june is almost over and i still haven't gone swimming off the boat!  we as a family decided to correct that.  we got our suits on and grabbed some towels (and sun screen), and made our way to the boat.  ledger had only ridden in the boat so far this summer, so when we told him that he was going to go swimming he was thrilled!  we put on his life jacket and rode out to the middle of the lake, the whole way he was squirming and wanting to go swimming.  finally we put down the anchor and told him it was time to get in the water.  he couldn't wait!  david and mom hopped in first, then i lowered ledger down to them.  he was so excited!  diana and i jumped in soon after and all had a blast in the water.  we passed ledger around, giving him a chance to swim with all of us.  it was funny, he kept gettin annoyed that we wanted to hold him- he was ready to head off on his own!  now, keep in mind, he has no idea how to swim; but don't think for a minute that would stop him!  i would hold on to the back strap of his floaties and let him go to town.  he hardly noticed that i was still holding on to him, so he was all set.  he actually did a great job for his first time out, he was paddling his hands and kicking his feet like a real swimmer!  we are planning on getting him in swimming lessons this summer, but from what i saw, it looks like he will be a very fast learner!
(more pics)

the lake effect

i was busy working in the front yard and garage when diana came to find me.  she said that mom was playing with ledger in the lake and i could come and check it out.  it was the first time ledger had been in the lake this summer and it was so cute to see!  mom had him on the steps, life jacket on, playing in the shallow water.  he was loving it, kicking his feet around and splashing!  'i in the water, daddy!' he said when i came around back to check out the scene.  he was having a blast!  i asked him if he wanted to walk around in the shallow water, but he was not at all interested- there was seaweed!  we tried to calm him, telling him the seaweed wasn't so bad, but he didn't fall for it.  we even tried to tell him that seaweed is just 'water grass', but he wasn't buying it.  oh well, he was having fun with grandma just playing on the steps!  maybe next time we can convince him to explore further...

upgrade

david had an old laptop sitting around his office and offered it to diana if she would like it.  of course she would!  she was thrilled to have a laptop of her own.  she gave up on using mine years ago (granted, i should have given up on mine years ago too- i think its from the paleolithic age...).  it was fun to use, but super slow.  david offered to bring it in to have it cleaned up so that it might go faster.  we brought it in and were told that they couldn't do much to get it going faster- it was just really old!  diana was disappointed, but david had another idea in mind: how about he just get her a new one?  um, ok!  david has been working on getting his new business off the ground and wants diana to help him with it, and in order to do that she will need a good computer, so he figured he might as well make sure she has one.  diana wasnt about to tell him no, that's for sure!  well, he ordered it for her and when it came she opened it.  she was like a child on christmas morning!  its really fast and its got a touch screen!  she has been having a blast playing with it ever since!  along with loading her music on it and picking the perfect background for it, she has also been familiarizing herself with all the programs she will need to help with the business.  she's ready for the challenges ahead, able to figure out all the programs to help out.  thanks again david for the new computer- she totally loves it!  ...oh, and she's ready to work!

castle clearance

the other day ledger and i were wondering the isles of meijer.  this is not an uncommon thing; whenever there is grocery shopping to do, i always volunteer.  for some reason i really love grocery shopping, especially now that i've got a partner in crime- ledger!  the two of us will head out to aldi or meijer at the drop of a hat, we love it!  its gotten to the point that when i tell ledger that he needs to put his shoes on because we are going somewhere, he will ask 'aldi? m store?'  (we call meijer 'm store'.  if you want to know why you will need to ask papa...)  well, this particular afternoon we headed to the m store to pick up a few things.  before we start filling the cart with food, we usually like to stroll down to the other end of the store and maybe take a quick look at the toy isles...  well, this time we found something pretty amazing.  we happened across an amazing deal, a whole castle play set for only 8 bucks!  i knew we couldn't pass up a deal like that, so i picked it up for him.  granted, he has more than enough toys already, but for 8 bucks?  well, it really would be foolish not to, right?  we got home and opened it up.  it was pretty cool, if i may say so myself.  it had a bunch of extra stuff to go with it: a knight, his horse, a catapult, a treasure chest, and a few other fun bits to spark his imagination.  this boy was so thrilled that he could hardly contain himself!  that castle kept his interest for a good hour or more!  the next morning it was the first thing he said when he woke up- 'castle?'
what a great find!  sometimes it pays to walk past the clearance section in the toy isle, that's for sure!

baking creamer

the other night diana and i were cleaning up the kitchen and we came across her mom's coffee creamer.  it was mint chocolate flavored.  i hadn't ever seen that before, so i popped open the container and took a whiff of it- it smelled really yummy!  as diana and i were talking is said 'you know, this would be really great for baking something, just use this instead of milk!'  diana thought about it for a minute and said, 'your right, lets do it!'  so we pulled out a brownie mix we had in the cupboard and had an impromptu baking session!  we gave the creamer a try, replacing it with the milk in the recipe, and put everything together, popped it in the oven, and waited.  when it was done we pulled it out, let it cool, and then gave it a try.  would the minty part be lost in the ingredients or would it shine through?  turns out, the mint was strong enough to be noticeable!  it wasn't very strong, just a hint- which made the brownies all the more delicious!  especially at 11:00 at night!  so, here's a little word of advice next time you bake: replace the milk with a flavored coffee creamer- its amazing!

ledger's lawn care services

one of my parents friends at sandy pines works at a company that makes leaf blowers.  while we were out there he stopped by and dropped off a special gift for ledger: his own leaf blower!  apparently the company also makes a novelty toy blower- so he gave us one!  my mom always pulls out her little battery powered leaf blower to get rid of all the leaves and pine needles off their deck and ledger always loves to watch her as she does it.  he has always been enthralled with the blower, and now he had a little leaf blower of his own!  it even has a switch that turns it on and it makes blower noises and has a tiny little fan in it that blows a little.  ledger was so thrilled, when mema got hers out, he would follow behind her blowing the leaves while she did!  what a fun toy for him to play with- helping out with the cleaning!
(more pics)

the pines

you know, its summer- we should take advantage!  me thinks a quick visit up to sandy pines is in order!  it had only been a couple weeks since our last visit, and a couple more till our next, but who cares, we love to go up to the lake anyway.  we had a chance to see the kids and ledger got to play with his cousins, which he always loves!  it goes without saying that he was thrilled to spend even more time with his beloved mema and papa!  one of the highlights for him was going with mema to the pool and splash pad for the first time this year.  diana and i stopped by to see them for a minute and he was loving it!  its always a treat to spend a weekend at the pines!
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at rest

ledger usually goes down for his nap around 12:00 or 12:30.  he usually sleeps soundly till about 2:30 or 3:00, but lately he's been sleeping a lot longer- some times he will even stay down till after 4:00!  now that sounds like a good long nap!  well, one of the days he was sleeping a bit longer than usual i went in there.  we had something to do for the evening, so it was time to get him up and start getting ready.  i walked in there with him still sound asleep- at that little guy melted my heart!  just to sit and watch him sleeping, it reminds you just how much of a gift it is to be a parent!  and that cute little guy was just so precious, i wanted to eat him up!  look at those strange little adorable feet!  what a treasure!
its during these quiet times that the reality of being a father really hits me.  its such a great responsibility, but its also such an honor to be given the opportunity to be accountable for another human life, to raise him, to instill in him as much wisdom and understanding as we can.  he is truly a blessing, even if he wakes up cranky...!
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dad's day

its father's day, so diana, ledger, and i headed over to celebrate with her father!  its always fun to go over to dad's place and spend some time with him.  ledger especially loves it because dad has some really fun play sets for him in the yard!  as soon as we pull up poco is on the defense, barking away.  once we call out to him and he realizes who it is, the barks turn to yelps of joy!  when we get in the yard he goes nuts, running back and forth, excited to be picked up and cuddled by his dear meem!  ledger ran up to grandpa, gave him a hug, then asked him 'swing?'.  he then proceeded to spend the next hour going back and forth on that thing!  eventually we gathered around the table for lunch.  barbara and james stopped by as well, so dad had his whole family to celebrate with him!  we stayed for a few hours, but eventually had to head home so ledger could get something resembling a nap...  by the end of the day i called papa to tell him i loved him, and we got to let david know how much we appreciate him too!- so many dads, so little time!
i know, i'm a dad too, but my father's day gift is still to come... and i eagerly await it! (i don't mean to ruin the suspense, but its a whole day of going to the movie theater and seeing as many movies as i possibly can in one day!  last year i saw six!)
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a little (more) off the top

it seems like diana has a new look every week, changing hair colors and styles, but i've looked about the same ever since we met.  granted, i've grown out my beard in the winter, but thats not all that big of a chance considering i always have facial hair.  well, now that its summer, diana convinced me to take the plunge- to shave off all my hair!  well, not all of it, but to let her use the clippers on all my hair, cutting it all short.  i was a little hesitant, knowing how little hair i still have left, i was nervous to get rid of those precious few!  in a moment of daring i said, 'ok, do it!'  and off it came!  it is taking a bit to get used to, but i must admit, it's starting to grow on me.  diana loves it, so i guess its here to stay... maybe...