Who's on First?

As promised in Rich's email, I am including some pictures from the guys' fishing trip. Because certain traumatic events occurred, I don't know all the details...I guess that day is dead to him. I do know that with Grandpa Hank's help, Jack caught his first fish, which also happened to be bigger than the fish that Rich caught.After their fun day immersed in nature, I thought it would be fun to go for a hike over Labor Day. I was wrong. We went to a fairly new park near Gold Hill Mesa called Red Rocks Canyon, which was full of different trails, breathtaking views, and on that particular day, one very whiny two year old. Unfortunately, about a mile from the park I realized that I forgot the camera at home (so no photos this time). Before we even left the parking lot, Jack was wanting to go back to the car, so I should have expected an unpleasant hike. Paige was great, lounging in her jogging stroller, not making a sound, but just taking in the nature. Jack drug his feet, cried, begged to be carried, and he may have even threw himself down at one point.(While out of earshot of the kids, Rich jokingly said, "You are going to enjoy this nature, damn it!") The only thing that made him be quiet was to be carried in our arms...which is really hard (we tried carrying him on Rich's shoulders or me giving him a piggy-back ride, but that made it worse). Finally I got the idea to remove Paige from the stroller and let Jack ride, since Paige is so much lighter, she is easier to carry. Once we did that, Jack fell immediately asleep. Ahh, finally a little bit of quiet.

When we got together with our friends Chris and Brian (brothers), we introduced a little more than our life with kids. First of all, Jack absolutely loved those boys! He was crazy affectionate with them, and played non-stop, but that isn't surprising since they knew exactly how he wanted to play (becoming his jungle gym, or his puppet, or just rough housing). When it came to going to the potty, Jack announced that he needed go, so I got up to help him, but he rejected me and wanted Brian instead. I was more than willing to pass the torch, but I didn't think Brian would be so thrilled (this is a guy who probably hasn't spent a ton of time around little kids). To my surprise, Brian said that it was fine and sat with Jack in the bathroom, and meanwhile, Chris and I were listening to Jack tell Brian that he was making "brown"(poopies). Lucky Brian! Sure enough, Brian told me that"Jack browned," so I took over. Jack got a lollipop for his hard work, but I think Brian deserved one, too.

Chris future M.D.

Brian B.F.F. to Jack

When we went to the library last weekend, this was one of the books we chose for Jack, given his love for farm and road construction equipment (which all of those machines are called "tractors" since I don't know their proper names). We had kind of an Abbot and Costello moment when Jack asked for his tractor book, and Rich corrected him by saying, "That's not my tractor". Jack argued, "No it's my tractor", making Rich laugh, and correct him again by stating the name of the book. Well this highly entertaining banter lasted a while, and I'm sure it will continue until its due date in three weeks. I think I will make sure that Jack isn't in the car when I return it, because according to him, it's his tractor! (He also thinks that when we return library books, that we are actually throwing them in the trash...Blasphemy!)

Anyone up for some spelunking?

Little Hams

Jack is starting to take interest in playing with Paige. I don't know if this is a good thing or not...he doesn't know how to be gentle with her. Very much the boy, he tackles and rassles with her. At one time her little face would light up when he approached her, but now I think she looks around for the nearest emergency exit (which she should since she recently had a playschool barn thrown at her head and received a black eye). I'm getting really frustrated with his aggression, and I'm also a little surprised by it because I haven't seen him play that way with any of his friends. Any advice that anyone has regarding this issue would be greatly appreciated, because Paige has had about enough.

A Little Bit of Mischief

I'm gonna getcha!
Jack's latest artwork

A few weeks ago when we were outside playing with the neighbors and Travis's mom was in town visiting, she commented that it was too bad that we didn't have a playpen for Paige to play in when we were outside (so I wouldn't have to hold her the entire time). Jamie and I just looked at each other and said at the same time, "Well, there's the Pack-n-Play". It was like a light bulb had gone off. Why didn't we think of this two summers ago when Jack and Madi were this age, or last summer when Megan was this age? It's funny that it never occurred to anyone of us moms to use this to contain the kids. She's pretty happy in it, too, but she gets little rug burns on her nose from rubbing her face on the netting so much.

Chores
I saw all these hot air balloons from our back window one morning.

Playing together...Look, no tears!
I'm optimistic that Jack shares my love for reading
Paige shares Jack's love for tackling the dogs

Happy Tongue
Jack with his lollipop...you know what that means!