Pretend City, Take 2

 Hannah and Xavier met Andrew and I at Pretend City in Irvine on September 8th.  Originally we were supposed to have several other Bumpies join us, but between plans changing and illness, it was just the four of us. Andrew quickly remembered how much he liked the farm.  He picked tomatoes, strawberries, and dug in the "dirt." 

 I actually let him play in the beach this time.  He almost immediately started throwing sand on himself (like he does with water) and thought it was the best thing on the planet.

 We found a very cool room that Tawni and I had missed.  The "theatre" had a bunch of jumping/climbing tools.  Xavier showed Andrew how it was done!

 Being a firefighter!

 Using a screwdriver!

driving the fancy car

  Xavier was back into the sand playing with the big trucks.

 In the dentist office, Xavier played with the wooden blocks and Andrew excitedly cleaning the giant teeth.

 And, of course, both of their favorite parts was the Marina!  Andrew was pretty quick to splash all over, including Xavier who wasn't quite ready to get wet.

 See the dripping water off his head?!?  Yep, that was all him!

 He found a little ledge that he could stand on to make huge splashes!

 Xavier totally got into it too!

 We tried to go play in the house afterwards, but both boys desperately needed a nap.  I couldn't help but share their "sweat stain" water marks from playing so much in the Marina.

I'm starting to think that I probably should have bought the year membership--Andrew loves it and I do too!

Mowing

September 8, 2012

The weekend after camping (second week of school), I went out to my parents for Saturday.  I was sick with the September cold that I get every year and ready for a bit of a break.  Grandma and Grandpa played with Andrew for a few hours while I did laundry and laid on the couch.  Andrew went swimming with Grandpa and mowed with both of them.  He remembered the mower and what it was supposed to do right away.

 Yes, Grandpa has a big boot on still.  He found out a few days before this that there was actually a broken bone in his ankle.

Wordless Wednesday: Best Roommates Ever

Nine years later

Labor Day Camping Trip with Friends

For Labor Day weekend, we joined the Davis, Webster, and Newmeyer families for a camping trip.  I had started school the week before, so I did very little planning and pretty much just showed up exhausted with a scratchy voice.  They arrived on Friday night, but we waited until Saturday morning to make the trek down to San Diego's Sweetwater County Park. 

 

The weekend happened to be hotter than hot, so we were all pretty desperate for shade.  After hanging out for awhile, we drove into Lakeside (20 minutes away) to borrow the Buxton's pop-up and stop by Grandma Kay's for a short visit.  The drive gave Andrew time to take a good nap, but I forgot to take a single picture.  Both Tawni and Racheal took pictures are wrote great blogs about the trip back a month ago when we went (seriously, school consumes everything about my life).

 Photos starting on Sunday morning :)

Andrew and Elijiah found many interesting rocks to throw at each other!

 Just chilling in the big chair before it got too hot!

We had two sites, one for hanging out and eating and one for all our tents (we are light yellow on the left, Davis' are red, and Websters and orange).

 Mommy and Andrew playing!

 Dave and I took Reese, Jordan, and Andrew for a walk on the grass (seriously, if your site was one of the ones that backed up to this grassy park, this campground would be perfect in every way).  Jordan and Andrew had a lot of fun running after each other; Jordan loves Andrew, but she quickly decided that Reese was even better than Andrew.

 The other perk of this camp ground is the water splash park.  It's $3 a kiddo unless you're camping and then it's free.  It opens at 10 am and we were there and ready (it was already 91 degrees at that point).  Andrew immediately got wet and started playing in the water.

 Taylor and Nate

 Andrew yelling at Sam as he attempts to spray him (Sam just got Andrew over and over again).

 "Come on Dad, look at how cool this rainbow sprayer is!"

 "I'm going to give you a hug and get you all wet Mommy."

 Right next to the water park it a play structure.  Most of the kids spent more time here than in the water.  Sammy flew down the yellow slide (wet swim trucks will do that to you).

 Elijiah

 Back at camp, the little boys (Andrew, Nate, and Elijiah) spent a great amount of time watching Sophie (5 months old).  It was pretty funny.

 We tried to take a nap in the hot tent, but instead we just had Andrew steal the camera to take pictures of his own feet.  We ended up strapping him into his car seat for a drive/nap.  I slept in the backseat too :)

 After everyone took naps (and drove around Bonita to make it happen), we hung out with snacks under the pop-up (seriously, we would have died without it).

Racheal and Elijiah

 Tawni and Nate

 Matt with Sophie and Dave with Andrew

 Baby Sophie

 This picture makes me laugh.  Nate was on my lap first, playing and drinking with his squirt gun, but when Andrew saw that, he had to join us too.  Nate wasn't too happy to share.  His dirty looks captures it :)

 Feeding eight adults, six kids, and a baby at one time was a challenge.  Many props to Dave for cooking all the hamburgers and hot dogs on the fire.  Tawni and I usually prepared all the food inside the bug tent while Racheal watched all the kids outside.  We found another amazing use for our clip on high chair--it kept Andrew in one place!

 The rock base on our campsite wasn't the best for the little kids, so there was a lot of handholding.  Andrew face planted into the rocks several times, but thankfully we only had one small injury/scratch/bruise on his forehead.

 On Sunday night, we went to watch the bird lady show off her predator birds.

Jordan and Taylor watched on Justin's back

 Sam (in blue) and Andrew (on my lap) were very interested in the white barn owl as it hung up side down and flapped his wings.

 Sleeping at night wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  Our air mattress pretty much fills out entire tent, so Andrew slept in between us or on top of me for most of the night.  Dave took this photo Monday morning.

 Although we'd planned to be there most of the day on Monday, it was too hot.  We packed up and left the campground by 9 am.  As we packed, Andrew and Reese watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse on the iPad.

I love camping.  Next time, I think we'll go either early summer or later October so that it's cooler and I'm not in the first week of school haze.