Summer Fun (and Cereal)

I know the big news right now is Carter's arrival, but I had this post in draft form and wanted to post our life in order...

A quick story first. Blake loves mints, and has learned that Pop Pop always has mints in his car and usually has a mint in his pocket when he comes to visit. The other day there were two mints on the counter, leftover from Pop Pop's last visit. One was a white lifesaver type, the other a spiral red and white peppermint. I asked Blake which one he wanted (pointing to each, do you want "this one" or "this one.") To my surprise Blake responded "RED ONE!" (pointing to the peppermint). I guess he is learning his colors after all! Yeah!

Here is a rated "G" photo of some fun in our kiddie pool on the deck. In the afternoon, once the deck is in the shade, this is a great way to keep Blake amused. I love letting him play naked! (Why bother getting a diaper or a bathing suit soaked if you don't have to?) I have some great video of him running around, dunking the side of his hea in the pool, pouring water from one cup to another and over the side of the deck, and drinking out of buckets, but we'll just keep that in the fam.

For my birthday we went to the Rio for dinner and Blake really enjoyed the live entertainment. Here he is having a "dance party" on Daddy's shoulders:

Dance Party at the Rio with Daddy from Sarah Thompson on Vimeo.

Blake usually just watches me eat my cereal with milk, while I give him dry cereal to eat from his tray. However, the other day he really wanted to dip a cheerio in Mama's milk to eat it that way. Since he shouldn't really have "milk" I decided to give him his own bowl with rice milk...and cheerios...and a spoon. And I was amazed at how well he did! Yeah, big boy!

 

Here is he enjoying a smoothie. It doesn't always turn out this messy, but when it does Blake typically asks for a mirror so that he can see it for himself!

Air Show

We took Blake to an air show in May. I have been wanting to go to this air show for years, but for one reason or another we never made it, until now. And Blake is a great was a great age to enjoy the big, loud airplanes. Little did we know that the shuttle transportation from parking to the base would be by way of....drum roll...SCHOOL BUSES!! Yeah, school buses! The ride was definitely a highlight of the whole day.

Mike got some great pics of the airplanes. While I was struggling to even keep the planes in the camera view-finder, Mike's pics of the planes in flight looked like this (no cropping involved).

Dada and Blake toured a number of helicopters and airplanes.

Hehe. Isn't he cute?

Blake kept saying "Big airplanes! More!"

It was a very warm day, and we took shelter/shade under the wings of the aircraft to wait for the Thunderbird show. Unfortunately it was running very late, and we had someplace to be, so we had to leave before the Thunderbirds actually took flight.

Of course, as soon as we got in the shuttle buses to leave the air show the Thunderbirds made their appearance, so we ended up watching the show (what little we could see) from the windows of our school bus. But I don't think Blake really cared!

Things Blake is Thankful For...

Recently, whenever Mike or I start to pray with Blake he immediately begins to list off all his favorite things, which we are interpretting as things he is thanking God for.  Prayer at the dinner table and before bed can tend to go like this...

Mom/Dad: "Dear Jesus, thank you for..."
Blake: "Enmayers*, de-AH-pops**..."
M/D: "..dieing on the cross for our sins"
Blake: "smoothies, enmayers..."
M/D: "thank you for Blake and baby Bebo in Mommy's belly."
Blake: "choo choo, trash trucks"
M/D: "Please help Blake learn to trust in you, God, and teach him how to obey..."
Blake: "Enmayers."
M/D: "and thank you for lawnmowers and popsicles and trash trucks. Amen."
Blake "More Amen! Enmayers, de-AH-pops. More."
(and we tend to continue to pray, thanking God for all of Blake's favorite things)

*Translation: enmayers = lawnmowers (believe it or not it is pretty close to the German word for lawnmowers)
**Translation: de-AH-pops = popsicles; for some reason this how Blake continues to say "popsicles" (and I don't think it is German!)

Memorial Day at Weekend at the Beach

We wanted to get Blake to the beach at least once this summer, and since we don't know when Baby #2 will make his appearance it seemed like Memorial Day weekend would be the last/best chance to do that. The weather was beautiful, and we had a great time.

As soon as we arrived we went down to see the "ocean" which we had been telling Blake about all day (as we were packing, as we were driving, etc.). He eagerly ventured close to the water, even splashing in the puddles made by the waves without any apparent concern. 

Intro to Ocean2 from Sarah Thompson on Vimeo.

I'm not sure what happened in his little head, but the next day he was petrified of the ocean and we couldn't get him near it for the rest of the trip.

But he loved the sand! Sometimes it was hard to tell if Dada or Blake was having more fun...

We set up a small pool at the beach and to our surprise this is what he did! His own rendition of a baptism, I think.

Blake dunking himself in baby pool from Sarah Thompson on Vimeo.

We love that he loves the water.

Since he wasn't too keen on the ocean (it was too cold to swim in in anyway), we stayed in the condo kiddie pool much of the time, and Blake was eager to go to the pool any time we mentioned it. And we had some sweet times with Mom Mom!

And here is the big boy eating a hot dog and french fries on the pool deck, sitting in a big boy chair and dipping his hot dog in "sauce" (ketchup) all by himself.

We took him to rides a couple of times, and he proceeded to ask for them each day. We actually put him on a few rides by himself (even though I think he was technically too short for all of them - the attendants didn't seem to care). I was shocked by how fast the kiddie rides went! Here are a couple clips that aren't stellar videography/photography, but Blake loves them so they have earned a spot on the blog.

Untitled from Sarah Thompson on Vimeo.

The boat was definitely a favorite.

Blake on boat ride from Sarah Thompson on Vimeo.

We enjoyed introducing him to boardwalk treats. 

Blake with water ice 2 from Sarah Thompson on Vimeo.

Like Blake would say "Yeah rides!" "Yeah Mom Mom!" "Yeah sand!" "Yeah ocean!" We had a great time and we are so grateful we were able to have an extended time away together before Baby #2 arrives.