Swimming Season Begins

Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer, and we celebrated after returning home from camping at our community pool. We had the pool practically to ourselves on the pleasantly warm day (there was one guy sunbathing, but I think Drew's excited squeals sent him packing).

While I stayed on the side catching a few rays, Dave & Drew went inside the pool and practiced kicking and dunking heads. After watching Daddy do it a few times, Drew found his courage to do the same thing. Even blew a few raspberries in the water - only swallowing the chlorinated water a few times. We were thrilled that the gagging didn't turn into puking in the pool (the simple things that make us happy - not swimming in vomit being one of them).

By the end of our pool time, Drew was ready to mimic Daddy's cannon balls. Well he was perfectly happy to jump into Daddy's arms anyway. Drew managed to jump in a few times and always said "again, again". Our little daredevil!

Our Hitchhiker

It seems we brought a hitchhiker home on our camping trip this past Memorial Day weekend.

While getting ready for bed on Tuesday night, I noticed something sitting beside our shower & the bath mat in our bathroom. So I pulled the rug away, to find this little guy.

Because Drew was sound asleep on my bed, I refrained from my instinct of screaming and running to Dave. Instead I calmly went to the front room where Dave was catching up on sports, and said - "Um, you need to perform your husbandly duties and remove this snake-worm looking thing from the bathroom."

Armed with a few napkins (what did he think he was going to do, kill a spider), he went to the bathroom, and said "Ew, it's a snake alright". I tried to prevent him from killing it, imagining the mess that it would leave.

The whole time Dave was trying to wrangle the snake, he kept saying "Ew, gross it stinks! Ugh, it just Sh*@ everywhere. I think I just scared the Sh*@ out of it - literally. Nasty, it stinks!" Meanwhile I'm laughing but keeping a safe distance from the bathroom. Needless to say, the poor little guy didn't survive the wrangling, despite our attempts to set it free outside.

So in my google searches the next morning I've determined our uninvited houseguest was a Blind Snake, which all the descriptions show it resembles an earthworm. Which is exactly what I did - mistook it at first for an unusual looking earthworm.

At first Dave and I kept asking ourselves how this little guy got into the house - having flashbacks of our Jerusalem Cricket that found it's way into our house a few years back. (That was a battle in itself to capture and kill that freak of nature). However in doing my google search it dawned on me we likely picked up the hitchiker in our weekend travels.

Hopefully this was the one and only escapee, I'd like to avoid being surprised again...

Camping Makes a Splash

It was the Grand Opening of the Splash Zone at the Gold Country Campground this past weekend. Here's part 2 of our weekend camping trip this last Memorial Day.

When we were up there camping 2 weeks ago, we saw them building this water park area, and on Saturday afternoon we heard the announcement - the Splash Zone was now open!

Dave woke me from my afternoon, post wine-tasting slumber, to go and check it out. So all three of us donned our swimsuits just so we could say we were one of the first people to see what it was all about.

Well they had the water brought in, and boy was it COLD! Poor Drew had blue lips and chattering teeth in a matter of minutes, but he was having a blast with all the water spouts, bucket dumping and shower trickles.

You can see the cold shock on Dave's face as he ran through the water spouts.



After about five minutes, the "fun" was now old for Drew and I took pity on him and his chattering teeth, and wrapped him in a nice warm towel.

We did try and warm him up in the heated swimming pool adjacent to the splash zone. Unfortunately the wind was starting to pick up just enough to foil our plans. At least we managed to clean off all the dirt for a few hours anyway. Of course he managed to find more later that evening. Needless to day, Drew got a much needed bath every night we were out there. Grammy wasn't so thrilled about the ring around the bathtub.

Who knew all the fresh air and days jam packed with activities could knock our kid out for hours! Drew slept so well up there, better than our last camping trip. Again, we had two air mattresses blown up, and Dave and I took turns sleeping with Drew. It's a big task making sure he stays on the mattress and doesn't inhale the side of the tent - which he does like to do. Here he is looking so peaceful cuddled up to "Baby".


And finally I leave you with one last picture of Drew with GrampC.

"Dirty" Campout

Can you say DIRTY? That was our little Drew this weekend as we returned to the same campground we were at earlier this month. This Memorial Weekend, we joined members from Grammy & GrampC's church in Pine Grove (the California foothills in the heart of "Gold Country").

Drew, Grammy & GrampC drove ahead of us, in the trailer and Dave and I met up about an hour later after we both got off work.

After a week away from Drew he was so excited to see us again! We got the "happy dance" and a few squeals of delight. He even "helped" set up our tent. Or rather he'd send the ball we gave him to keep him busy, down the hill... and say "ball where are you" - while Mommy & Daddy tried to set up the tent while playing fetch the ball at the same time.

Did you really think a 20-month old would help set up the tent? Needless to say, after about two trips down the hill, we put the ball "nigh-night".

Immediately after our weekend home was set up, Drew found his favorite part of camping - the dirt! In no time at all his nice white shirt turned a "lovely" shade of brown. I guess that's what you get for bringing a toddler camping!

Of course I took far too many pictures, so I'll spread them over another day or so. Here are a few from the first few days:

Daddy & Drew on day 1 at the Rec Center making a poster


"Guy" protects the beer from bugs during yet another ball-run


Drew intoxicated from one glass of wine too many... ok so he's just napping on our wine run.

Camping Trips Past - Part 2

OK, for another blast from the past here are more pictures from various camping trips. We'll have something new to share tomorrow.

Enjoy a look back...


Drew & Grammy - 5 Months


Drew and his Boom Stick - 5 Months


Drew in the jogger - 5 Months


Drew Chillin' in Grammy & GrampC's Trailer - 11 Months


Drew & Grammy taking a walk - 11 Months

Camping Trips Past - Part 1

Since we're enjoying the great outdoors this weekend - camping yet again - I thought it may be interesting to show pictures of Last Memorial Day weekend, Drew's second camping trip. For those that need help with the math... he was 8 months old. We're going back to the same campground this weekend.

Enjoy!


We barely remember him that little anymore. Be sure to check back on Monday evening for updates from our trip this weekend!

What you do when you're childless for a week...

We're looking forward to seeing Drew tonight at the campsite! But it has me thinking - what did we really do for the week without him?

Sure Grammy stepped in to help us out because I had to travel to Kansas City for work - which ended up being cut short a day due to an illness by my co-worker. And Daddy couldn't manage all the day care drop-offs and pick-ups due to a busy work schedule, and softball two nights this past week.

So while most parents jump at the opportunity at a week of no kids, here how we "celebrated".

• Sunday - after dropping Drew off we went to dinner & a movie
• Monday - I traveled, Dave worked & played softball
• Tuesday - I traveled home and Dave laid around the house, presumably watching sports
• Wednesday - After work I did some pleasure reading, Dave played softball
• Thursday - caught up on a few TV shows, did laundry, started packing and made a trip to the Library
• Friday - we're going camping
  

You'd think we'd have done something more exciting! Well now that I think about it, sleeping in every morning has been wonderful...