Farmer's Market Morning

So what do you do when your son doesn't sleep in on a Saturday morning? Why load up for a trip to the farmer's market of course! Our local market is held next to the train station - which is also undergoing construction - so it's a double bonus!

We were just unloading the wagon (a must for hauling a toddler and our purchases at the market) from the car when the 5-minutes until the next train announcement sounded. So, we headed straight to the platform to get a close-up look! Will's face looks a little goofy here, but it's the only picture where I could get him to look away from the train. After our shopping and breakfast at the farmer's market, we walked to the other side of the train platform to get a closer look at the big diggers and all the dirt. We were lucky enough to be there for two more train coming through! This is really unusual on the weekends when trains are spaced further apart. We were not the only family train-watching and the conductor waved at all of us when he pulled away!

We were back at home in time for a morning snack of fresh blueberries. That should balance the apple cider donut that we ate there. Lunch was also all farmer's market: turkey bratwurst, corn on the cob, and cantelope. Will loves fruit and is getting a little more interested in the corn each week, but he didn't eat his "hot dog" as fast usual!

Picnics

Meals for Will are always pretty casual around our house, but we have had "picnics" a few times recently. On Sunday night we had a picnic on the patio because we needed a little change of pace. Our swim messed up Will's lunch and nap schedule and then he didn't end up napping at all (shockingly, because I has assumed he'd need a long nap after that swim)! So, he was a huge grouch by dinner time. As you can see his dinner consisted of an Eggo waffle, melon, pineapple, blueberries and a frozen Gogurt (cut in half for easier eating). It was a great success! I don't think I have posted this picture yet, but in May we had to eat at his art table in the kitchen because all of the furniture was moved out of the carpeted rooms so they could be cleaned before his birthday party. (We didn't think our guests would be impressed with the geriatric dog stains.) So, we enjoyed carry-out pizza slices and applesauce in the kitchen at the kiddy table!

Birthday Weekend

Friday was my birthday, and I asked my brother for the gift of baby-sitting so Jason and I could go out for dinner. He delivered! Much to Will's delight, Uncle Ryan came over on Friday night to play. While I got a pre-gluttonous dinner walk on the treadmill, the boys golfed on top of the pool table! Will conned Uncle Ryan into getting out daddy's golf putter (which we don't allow), but since I saw he was using it backwards, I got out my left-handed putter and pitching wedge and let him use those. Caddy Uncle Ryan at the ready with a new club. Will also conned him into getting out the ping pong paddles and the pool sticks. Will's ball selection included ping pong balls, golf balls, tennis balls, pool balls, and plastic baseballs.

Then on Saturday, Ryan treated us, plus Steve and two of Steve's friends to a wine tasting at a local wine cellar. It was great fun, and we all left with some new, delicious wines! We had a nice lunch at a Greek restaurant and then the city crew wanted Cold Stone Creamery (apparently all the downtown branches have closed); we were happy to oblige!

Our little family having a great Saturday out on the town! You'll notice Will's stickers. He came home from school on Thursday with a sticker on his arm, and now he insists on having one. Thank goodness Grandma Joni sent new stickers in my birthday card!

Oh, I almost forgot to cover our dinner out on Friday! We got dressed up and went to Sullivan's Steakhouse and had a delicious dinner. Jason got the special dry-aged bone-in ribeye that looked like a tomahawk. I got the petite filet. We shared horseradish mashed potatoes with peppercorn merlot reduction and a complimentary birthday dessert of peanut butter mousse in an Oreo pie crust.

Puddle Jumpers

At the recommendation of several friends, we bought Will the "Puddle Jumpers" pool floaties. It was a big success! Will was almost giddy in the water; I think he was surprised how much easier swimming was. And I loved how I could let go and have him swim to me.

This thing actually counts as a Coast Guard approved personal floatation device. I was more than a little suspect of the arm floaties. As a lifeguard in high school, I jumped in after several kids wearing "water wings" that came off when they hit the water. But this connected in one piece and buckles in the back, so the arms are not coming off. The real success in this product is that it keeps Will's head above water and it keeps his center of gravity leaning forward (most life jackets tip you backwards) for swimming.

On the floor in the background you can see the floatie we used before. It should be good to use again once he is a better swimmer and just needs a little support. It was fine when we was only a year old and weighed less, but now it doesn't hold him up high enough in the water.

Christmas in July

Will got his second-to-last unopened Christmas 2010 present today: a dump truck! Jason broke it out of its "hiding place" in our closet to beat the rainy Sunday blues. As you can see, it was met with great excitement! This may have been one clue that Jason had that Will would be a little stir crazy couped up inside:

And, yes, we seem to always have a half-dressed toddler in our house. Not sure why he's not wearing clothes this morning. I think it was because he got yogurt on his pajamas during brunch (no breakfast today; none of us got out of bed until after 9) and then decided a diaper and sandals were good enough for inside. He did put on clothes before we all went swimming and when Jason took him for a jog.

Pool Time

We are weathering through this summer heat wave the best way we know how: in the pool! We have even moved it into the shady/covered part of our deck because it's even hot there! Will likes "water play" versus "swimming" in his crab pool, so the deck and the rocks underneath it are getting a lot of water!

Happy boy!

Monkeying Around

In honor of Halloween in July (What? You thought it was only Christmas?), Will donned his monkey costume (for the first time since last Halloween), found his pumpkin bucket and begged some fruit snacks and Dum Dums off of me.

I should clarify the following:

1. The pumpkin resides in his toy box year round, so I may have created a monster.
2. See #1, above.

Will had a fun time practicing saying "Trick-or-Treat" and each time I gave him one of the Dums Dums left over from the parade. Since it was snack time anyway, I also put some fruit snacks in the bucket. Game over; time to eat! This was also a great opportunity for me to take the suckers back for another round later!

In this picture he is saying "Cheese!" We're at that stage. :-) He either says "Cheese" and gives a big grin that I hope my camera catches, or he shakes his head and says, "No cheese!"

Weekend Update

Another weekend has come and gone. We've been trying to grill more this summer, so on Friday this is what the boys did while I prepared some side dishes for swordfish. If you can't tell by the photo, they're watching a dramatic golf putt. Will is a huge golf fan and regularly wants his own golf balls to hold or roll around (in both hand below), as well as responding to the TV coverage (mostly "yay!" with clapping when a ball drops into the hole). I wouldn't be surprised if he's got his own junior set of clubs before Christmas. I think we should wait to be sure he's left-handed, but his daddy is eager to encourage his interest. On Saturday I worked all day and then met the guys out for dinner at a new place that my tennis friend told me about: Two Brothers Brewery. The food was good and they have a lot of brews to choose from, so I'm sure we'll be back again soon.

On Sunday, Jason got in an early morning round of golf while Will and I walked to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. It was already super hot at 8;30 a.m., but we made it. I asked Will to pose for a picture before we left and but he wasn't interested and told me, "No cheese."

However, it was easy to get a cheesy/icing covered picture once he was munching on his Munchkins! The photo quality isn't great on a lot of my recent pictures because I am taking them with my new Blackberry. But they're so easy to upload to Facebook that I find myself doing more and more of our casual pictures on my phone instead of the camera.

We spent the afternoon making trips out to the patio to play with the water in Will's crab pool in between art projects and indoor play. I wouldn't call it swimming since it involved standing next to the pool and dumping water between various containers.

Third of July Neighborhood Festivities

We hustled back from the farm on Sunday morning to be home in time for our neighborhood parade, lunch and pool party. Will decided he should drive to the parade in his Little Red Roadster. Luckily it was a short "drive" to our viewing station. On the plus side, he had a built in seat! This fire engine started off the parade. Will wasn't quite as excited about it as I expected him to be, but he wasn't bothered by the noise of it either.

Now the local soccer squad drilling balls. . . .that got him excited! So much so that he abandoned his perch for a closer view.

And what parade would be complete without participants throwing candy to the crowd? Most of it was hard candy that Will can't eat but he did score some Dum Dums and Smarties. Here he is enjoying his first ever sucker. I can tell it won't be his last!

We followed up the parade with a trip to the subdivision pool. The big pool was pretty cold but we splashed around a little in the kiddy pool and then played on the kiddy playground for awhile before heading home for naps. The lunch menu included a pig roast, cotton candy and sno-cones but we had eaten in the car on the ride home from the farm and weren't hungry yet so didn't partake in it.