Pillow Crashes

We hung out at Cailin and Declan's house today and had lots of fun at their playground, pool, and in the living room.

Jonah tried on a floatie and had an awesome time swimming all by himself!  Even better was the 2 1/2 ft kiddie section of the pool, where he could run around and dive into the water with the floatie catching him.  Nice for Mommy, who didn't have to be within arms reach every second.

Jonah and Declan also started a new game on the couch.  They would both lay face down side-by-side.  Grandmama would pile pillows on top until we couldn't see the boys anymore.  Then the pillows (and kids!) would come crashing down to the floor in a spectacular boom!  They must have done this a few dozen times in a row.

National Zoo

Jonah was reading his book about 100 animals on the way to the zoo, so we asked, "which animal would you like to see at the zoo?"  His answer: "ducks!"  And so we found a huge turtle pond with two ducks paddling across - and he was thrilled.

Daddy wanted to see the elephants, pandas and ferrets.  We were lucky to see the elephant and panda (which are not always out!) but the black-footed ferrets were 'coming soon'.  How disappointing!  And misleading, since all the signs pointing to the small mammal house had pictures of ferrets.  We did catch a very active armadillo, which is pretty strange to see.  Did you know armadillos had hairy armpits?  It was scurrying about like a giant bug.  Jonah was mesmerized.

For the Long Ride

We took our first long car trip to visit the cousins (and so Mommy and Daddy could go to Laura & Rob's wedding).  We didn't know how Jonah would take it, since most long trips end with screaming when he is done napping.  So the car was stocked with new toys and books, snacks, the iPad, and DVD player with toddler DVDs.  Long drives are not as easy while playing entertainment director and flight attendant, but Jonah did a good job of reading lots of books and watching Thomas sing alongs.  Much traffic later, we arrived!  Jonah and his cousins went nuts, but only for about 15 minutes before they all crashed into bed.

Old Davis Had a Farm

Jonah took Mommy and Grandmama to the petting farm!  (Yes, he took us, since adults aren't allowed without a child!)  He adored all the bunnies and was super excited to find two Starbucks!  One can only imagine the staff was trying to correct him: "this is a ferret, not a Starbuck".

Favorite Things: July 2014

Bruder Mini Excavator.  A very well built little truck with a multi-jointed boom/arm/bucket and crawler tracks.  This has been a great toy for rides in the car and goes with Jonah everywhere.

"Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site"  aka 'Night-night, Truck'  Beautiful illustrations and all our favorite construction vehicles.  Win-win.

Boat!

We spent the day up at the lake with newly engaged Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lindsay!  (Congratulations, kiddos!)  They took us out for a ride on the boat, which - after the train incident - we thought might go very badly.  But Jonah took it all in stride, fussing only a little when three adults attacked him with a life jacket.  As we waited on the dock for everyone to be ready Jonah made a B-line for the boat and practically jumped right in.

He loved it!  He took turns sitting in everyone's laps.  His favorite spot was the "driver's seat", which in his experience is on the left side behind the windshield.  So he drove from the glove-box while Captain Uncle Kevin navigated the throttle and wheel.  At one point early on, Jonah decided he was all done, but he came around quickly and enjoyed the rest of the ride.  We pointed and waved at every other boat on the water (and there were lots!) and sang "the motor on the boat goes vroom, vroom, vroom!"  After we docked, Jonah even got his own turn/photo op at the wheel.

Toddler Concert

There was a concert at Jonah's school this afternoon, so we went over after nap to participate.  Jonah cried through the first couple songs, ate snack through the next few, and then got up and joined right in the dancing!  I guess he just wasn't ready for the abrupt transition after nap.  It was great fun for me to see him flaunting his toddler moves with the best of them!  Of course, this didn't last long before the toddlers realized they were on the preschool playground, which is the forbidden fruit of the 2yr-old crowd.  So they spent the last half of a 45min concert playing with bark chips.

First Lesson in Circuit Design

Godfather II

Beach Day!