toy choos

We kicked off our visit to Strasburg area with a visit to the National Toy Train museum.

boom colors

We made it to the 9:30 fireworks last night with the help of glow sticks and a fun crowd from the neighborhood at the baseball fields right off our neighborhood a short walk around the block.  We got a good spot right by the playground and the concrete pad that was popular for the folks who brought sparklers and mini fireworks.  The fireflies were out "talking to each other" as Aiden like to say.  Daddy made a great lounge chair.

happy 4th

We hope you had a great holiday!  It was so beautiful around here with the perfect breeze to keep the bugs away.

Cheers from our red, white, and blue wagon to yours!

caboose

We had fun playing around at the Red Cab oose where we stayed in the Broadway train.  The petting zoo had some hungry animals.  There are plenty of fun places to play around the property.  The tower gives you a pretty view of the whole area.  We caught some fireflies and watched the sunset from the swings.  More on our Lancaster adventure coming soon...

Video all around town:
Lancaster from LB on Vimeo.

USA!

We accidentally ended up at a restaurant playing the overtime of the US vs. Belgium on every screen. There was a surprise late goal from the US and the crowd went wild. This video is the tail end of the excitement. This poor bub had just woken up from a nap and wasn't sure what was going on... He'll tell you that folks were clapping in his ears.

39 months

Dear Keaton,

We are two and a half weeks into summer and that seems like a short amount of time (I even have cut flowers that Aiden's teachers gave me that are still alive) but it seems like we've been in summer mode for a while.  If summer was measured by the number of times you go swimming or play in the hose/sprinkler you'd have an almost complete summer by now.

It took you about a week to realize that the routine had changed and Aiden was going to be around and we didn't have to take him to school. I'm relieved that my worries that you guys might go after each other all summer long were unfounded.  You guys mostly have fun together and I think that tiny phase of brotherly smothering was mostly when you were desperate for his attention and he was tired from school.

You have the best phrases lately:
"I'm very interested in you [insert name of the person you want to play with]"
If someone laughs: "Are you joking with me?"
When you fix up a game or finish a puzzle: "Now it's nice as new"
When I ask you to do something or Aiden wants to share, in a sing song happy voice, "Not today!"
When you need to go potty or go do something, "Pause break!" or "Pause the house, I'll be right back!"

You love singing and picking up on songs that are playing.  You are a noise making kinda guy: "Listen, I sound like a washer - swish uh uh wah!"  You were making a girl laugh at the playground the other dat singing "itty bitty fire fly…" set to the Fireworks Katy Perry song.  "Mommy you like this song? Cinnamon, ninnnnnamonnnn!"

We took a fun trip to Lancaster to visit the trains and Dutch Wonderland.  You had a funny way of greeting all the cows we drove past, "Moo Hi!"  There was a petting zoo at the caboose village we were staying at and when we handed you the animal food you remembered our trip to the Tucson farm saying, "Ooh is this where the evil ostrich lives!?"

You were so brave on the big swirly water slide (even the one that was completely dark!) and you loved riding in the front of the raft.  You were the funniest close to the wheel 'driver' on Duke's Lagoon boat ride (which we didn't have the heart to tell you followed a track). You won a muffin tin ball throwing game when one of your balls landed in the coveted red spot.  The ninja turtle you ended up was immediately your new buddy. It was also hard to correct you cute word mix up for hotel, "Are we going back to the show and tell?"

Occasionally when you cuddle in close you joke, "I'm a baby in your tummy!"  You had a long elaborate story that you told your dad about how you named yourself Keaton while you were still a baby in mommy's tummy.  Whenever we bring up babies or you see a baby, you love to tell people about your cousin Cameron.

It's inevitable that kids will ask for a dog, but I figured we had a few years before you realized you even wanted a dog.  You were rallying for one the other day, and you said, "I need a puppy to give a bone!" Not any time soon, bubba, I just finished cleaning up your  dirty diapers and I'm not ready to deal with cleaning up after a dog.

When we were at the farmer's market the other day, you said "look an eggplant from food factory!" and I couldn't help but laugh that you thought the eggplant was a character.  You can chow a bowl of pasta a batch of pancakes (especially crepey ones) - saying "I'm the pancakes guy!" You are a popsicle guy too.  You like these veggie straw chip strip like things at PB Jacks, and your favorite game is to use them as a straw extension - and it works!

You loved teaming up with some 'stranger friends' and playing hide and seek in the big climbing structure to find your brother.  You think of your shadow as part of you, and you say, "Hey, Aiden watch out you walk on my shadow!"  You made us laugh trying to copy Aiden's Spanish - Mamalita! was my favorite spanglish word you created.  You love to play with your brother while he reads or does something else - especially funny was you lifting his body parts with the grabber arm.

You love your daddy time.  When he arrived home from a long trip late at night and he is in bed in the morning, you asked "When does daddy open?"  He plays silly games with you, like you explained, "Daddy once gave me a bug to eat and I was so brave I chomped it, but it was just a pretzel!"  You had so much fun spraying your daddy at the water park while he jumped and tried to duck the squirts.

You continue to be funny about introducing yourself as Aiden's brother and saying cute little things like "You missed me!" to the waitress.  Your reaction to the G reat Z uc chini is really funny because you pull a fan boy every time.  When he had a fairly small crowd at P B J acks you really got a chance to talk to him. You showed him your version of the missing finger trick: "My dad taught me to do that when I was a baby! It's a trick look my finger is still on! No fingers actually cut - magic!"

You love finding Ks everywhere.  You are thrilled that KB initials make the knight boy logo from your latest favorite Dragon and Me book.  You loved the knights at the Dutch Wonderland shows and even came away with another foam sword for your collection.   I'm somewhat over my hesitation with the swords because you do know how to be a proper knight now…which you will tell me if I'm hedging on letting you carry it in the car.

If a stranger asks you, "Your name is Keegan?" You reply with "Nope, it's Kea-T-o-n."  You spell out your name which makes it easier for them to understand even though you sometimes rush those first few letters so they sound like one big letter.   I think it's from hearing me spell it out to people every so often.

You were a super giddy haircut guy in the big boy chair.  You explained, "Look at all these cut hairs these were mine!"  You love to cut paper and your kid scissors are definitely in the crafty mix frequently.  You like to do things that you think are for big kids like holding leaf blower - "It is powery!"

When your dad and I went on our anniversary trip to NYC it was the first time ever that someone else had successfully put you to bed.  You told me right away when you got home, "I had fun with gran and pop mama!" You are so lucky that to have loving, active grandparents that can keep up with you.  You were drawing pictures on window and you described the picture to me, "I caught myself when I was going to fall or I might get ankle hurt like Gran Gran!" You sure do understand what is going on...

You love telling jokes and this was one of my favorites: "Why did the Keaton cross the road? To hold his mommy's hand"  Lotsa semi jokes about monkeys lately that use funny parts of the word, so you sorta get what your brother is doing when he makes up the real jokes:
"My monkey's name is doc nut" - coconut? - "nope, like doc!"
"My monkey is a little sad, he wants to go monk home!"
 "Knock knock, Monkey, Monkey Who, Monkey banana on a tail!"

You had some funny question to ask Alice (the intelligent computer you can access online) - "Do you have Santa in your eyeballs? Do you have Siri in your brain? Do you have daddy in your head?"  You say some tidbits and I have no idea where you get the ideas:
"That's just dead skin, I don't need a nail trim"
"I'm now allergic to that, it makes my throat tickle"
You have all sorts of fun play ideas. "We could paint our cars like dragons and fly on them!"
What game do you want to play? "The same game you want to play called chasing mama!"  You and your brother are pretty good about playing games together and you can create scenes with your characters for a long time.  The recipe for a good summer is good ol brother playtime.  Looking forward to more summer time cuddles with my guy that likes to say "These are my hugging muscles!"

Abrazos, Mommy

brothers

These goofs goofing!  It's summmmertimmme!

good list

Some more additions to the good list:

These are the Harry Potter lego guys - Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco Malfoy - We had Harry from a book, but Aiden made the rest of the guys from his huge collection of mini figures.

The jukebox at your table at the Silver Diner - Can't beat the kids salmon dinner too!

At the end of tennis they all run around collecting the balls to earn their candy.

Aiden's peanut butter cereal turtle is a frequent treat.

This balance board where you can copy cat or play freestyle music is a hit.

These bat caves continue to get plenty of love.

Water table at play group was a fun addition.

A lego model of a scrambler carnival ride - it really spun around!

good list

Some additions to the good list:

The hippo like creatures, the Moomins created by Finnish author are a classic and Aiden likes the stories "just as much" as Harry Potter - woah, compliment!

The G reat Z ucchini bounced onto our favorite PB J acks performance schedule.

Some new art above the hidden toy boxes (those grey benches) - the circles on the left are by Keatonadinsky.

Puppyopoly is monopoly that involves barking for treats from the baker (instead of money from the banker).  Our dogs live monopoly like games.

The self checkout at the library is a favorite for these guys.  They are all business with that real scanner.

These Sir Cumference stories and the rest of these math adventures were made for Aiden.  He's officially hooked on retelling them and quizzing me on tricky fraction reduction questions.

The spy missions set in different countries set up by Highlights magazine are totally Aiden's groove.  Keaton helps by drawing maps on his own paper to help our.

This new croc kicks are water proof and adorable...two requirements for summer.

banana man

This guy made us all laugh.

showz

We have been cruising the kid show circuit lately.  It's really hopping now that Mr S kip is back from his winter vacation in Hawaii, the summer fests are happening, and the summer reading program kicked off this week.  Rufus the red nosed dog helped the kids learn that being different is ok with the help of a rhyming hairy banana dressed like Elvis. Keaton and his buddy Emma from school got to meet Rufus up close after the show.  Mr. F ris bee showed off his entire fris bee collection along with teaching some tricks.  He even helped everyone learn to spin after the show.

gz

We've seen the G reat Zuc twice in one week thanks to his show at PB J acks. This guy will have a sit com on FX featuring his crazy life sometime… Ha, I laugh just thinking about it!

Here is some really classic GZ:
Classic GZ from LB on Vimeo.

playdatez

We've had some meet ups with old buddies for some playdates.  There was some hot tub diving, some ninja soccer, and even a twister board painted right on the grass.   

brothers vid

The current edition of the brothers video… The year in these videos are marked by Keaton's birthday in April (so they are currently making the 3 and 6 year old memories)   There are so many little snippet memories packed in here.  Whoosh, time flies.

Brothers age 2 and 5 from LB on Vimeo.

go nats

There was a group from our neighborhood offering tickets to the Nats game.  It was the first day of summer and that seems like a good way to spend it!  The boys headed out on an overcast day where the rain stayed away - yay!  It was a nice cool evening for the game (Nats beat the Braves!) and a new addition to the foam finger collection.

would you rather

This guy needed a haircut, but oh boy do I love that full head of thick waves.  He told his teacher that his summer plan was to illustrate his joke book.  He kicked off the summer with nearly 100 pages complete in the first week!  He attempted some time on his bike without training wheels during a park ranger program.  He can balance and pedal along a bit but really isn't motivated to cruise along...says he doesn't see a reason to "go fast and risk his bones," so we don't argue with his simple reasoning.  He did learn to glide with his foot kicked back off the ice this week in movie moments class.  It's just what he decides to be fearless about.  His tennis clinic and summer piano lessons are breaking up many impromptu water fights, lotsa reading (he entered the worlds of Harry Potter and Jake Drake recently), and summer chillaxing.

Have sunglasses or goggles built in to your eyes?

Goggles because it would easier to look underwater

Ride a bike everywhere or swim everywhere?

Swim everywhere because I'd have goggles built into my eyes!

Be a pizza delivery guy or a postman?

Pizza delivery guy and I can't answer why

Eat all your food off a skewer or melted into soup?

Melted into soup because who likes eating off a stick?!

Write a joke book or a piano music book?

A joke book because I've already written one!

Would you rather... Be a mixel lego guy or have magnatile magnets in your teeth? 

Neither because they sound too weird.

Never eat anything or never drink anything? 

Never drink because I like food better.

jammin

We went to the joint Great Zuc chini and Ba rry the Magician show at Jamm in Java... Those guys had the same schtick, and it's so amazing how they get the kids rolling with laughter. The kids needed to recharge after all those big belly laughs so we found some kabobs and cupcakes nearby...

tidbits

The first week of summer felt like a spring break… All the preschoolers were out from school, but none of the big elementary kids yet.  The old courthouse hosted a puppet show put on by some fun fire fighters that sang songs like stop, drop, and roll.  Keaton is a fan of taking photos himself lately (and he caught that gem of Aiden in the top right and the one of Aiden and I eating at Bombay Bistro in the bottom left)   We stopped by the library to sign up for summer reading, but it hadn't started yet.  Hold your horses kiddos.  

We couldn't hold back the beast any longer.  Aiden was engrossed in the first Harry Potter book and read it in a day.  He is now carrying around the lego figures he already had that sparked the beast in the first place.  

I expect many more pool scenes like this one all summer long.  The pool is already treating us well.  I also expect these popsicles will be a familiar favorite.

The Mosaic story time was handing out a fun monkey book with a plush guy to go with it…Alex is a new favorite dancing buddy now.

Haircuts for two funny giddy guys.  Aiden had gel in his hair for the first time and his forehead loved the cool off ;)

We did something new for crafternoon with the crazy pillow feathers that broke loose.  You should see the almost 100 page joke book this guy is working on too.  He told his teachers his summer plan was to illustrate all the jokes he's been saving up.  So his summer plan is really cooking...

I get two very different reactions to my nap time on the hammock idea - one skeptical guy and one ready to snooze guy.

six hours later

We are milking this summer and my philosophy is to get out of the house and then let the kids entertain themselves.  I'm looking forward to exploring some new spots, and hoping that 3 and 6 is the good age combo I think it is.  Thank goodness a potty trained 3 year old is usually eligible for the same fun as a 6 year old.  Kid Junction had a pass available as a daily deal so I snatched it up not quite sure what to expect.  The boys saw me looking at the website and immediately started asking when we were going there.  Turns out it's a great children's museum-esque place with a tiny bit of arcade thrown in... And we spent almost six hours there!  Seriously I could not believe how quickly timed passed as we played air hockey, gave shots to all the animals in the vet clinic, ran a sale on popcorn in the Sunshine Market, made fruit salad to go with our pizza in the parlor, delivered mail all around imagination town, played a few arcade games like the tornado, threw a few skee balls, and mostly climbed, hid and slid in the giant climber. They made about four sets of friends to play with that came and went in our marathon play day.  We ate lunch there and just kept playing. I kept thinking they'd reach a breaking point, and I really wanted to see how long it would take... But alas, the traffic and Aiden's tennis clinic were calling... So with one last chase through the climber - boy did Keaton get fast! - we hit the road for home with two tired guys.

brothers vid

So while I was rooting around for good Father's Day videos I realized how much big/little brother video action I had.  I have so much in fact that I decided to divide it out by year… So here is the first edition when the boys are ages 1 and 4 years.  Set to my favorite kiddo station remake song by Andrew and Polly, Forever Young.
Brothers age 1 and 4 from LB on Vimeo.

brothers

I'm so happy when I manage to get a good batch of both boys in the same photo.  It's fun that they get to spend even more time together this summer.  Best part of summer IMO!