kapok tree

Aiden's rainforest camp ended today with a sharing of their version of the Great Kapok Tree story. Between all our travel this summer I almost didn't sign Aiden up for camp, but I'm so glad I did. He seemed to love his afternoons in the rainforest complete with water day crazy sprinklers, crafting all sorts of rainforest animals, planting a mini rainforest to bring home (looks like a cup of muck right now), and making new friends. I heard Aiden talk about the book that inspired their little show and he was thrilled when we surprised him with his own copy.

He first makes an appearance as a squeaky bat, and then the slow moving sloth:

kabok tree from LB on Vimeo.

monkeys

While one monkey makes a mask at rainforest camp, another monkey makes faces behind the library puppet theater...

happy birthday

Dear J, Thank you for being the most authentic person I know.  Your consistency and discipline over your 33 years makes me proud to love you.  I put 11 candles on your cake and you immediately were able to peg why... We've spent 11 birthdays together and I look forward to many, many more.  I hope you enjoyed your beautiful 70 degree weather day watching baby cheetahs run around, swimming in the lake, eating your favorite signature wings and chili, eating your dark chocolate cake (luckily I was able to spread your mom's frosting recipe even after making it ahead of time! Thx for the recipe!), and picking out a new kick around guitar for your office.    

play group

We've met up with Aiden's new school buddies and even KC's buddies for a couple playdates recently. I'm usually not photographing this kinda fun, but it sure is cute to see them interact with their friends. KC especially is getting right into the mix now which is fun to see. We had a family picnic for the baby group with daddy to kick off the week....with water balloons!

fest

George Mason was hosting a Year of the Dragon Asian Festival, with many countries represented.  The food was tasty and it was all fun and games until KC arched back and got his hair covered in sauce.  The kiddie fun was just right.  The red monster Aiden picked in the face painting booth did a great job at the carnival games earning a coloring set. They had a campaign to encourage kids under 10 years old to play tennis, which appears to travel around the country.  Aiden was very jazzed by the tennis lesson and the chance to sign the giant tennis ball.  They even had Mario Tennis on Nintendo with free Mario wristbands.  KC was all tuckered out from cheering on his brother, and fell asleep with his cuddle bunny on the way home.

xmas in july

Old Town was hosting a Christmas in July celebration today.  Santa was wearing his beach gear!  KC thought this was funny ;)  I'm hoping he's as excited about Santa come December.  Mr. Skip, a favorite,  was jamming at the bakery.  Christmas cookies were stocked!  Mrs. Claus even hosted a story time.

lego

These giant building replicas are made out of Legos! I think my favorite was the Frank Lloyd Wright Falling Water. There were a bunch of Chicago favorites I remember from our girl's weekend boat cruise oh way back then... Including the corn cob buildings and the spire. They inspired some building in the fun zone next door.

putt putt

The mini golf at the Building Museum is ahmaziiing! Each hole was designed by a different architecture firm. Some were tricky, but all were just plain neat. Aiden 44, Dad 33, and Mom 32! KC 2 points for cooperating right up to the end...when he wanted to putt around a bit and play at the mini tea party hole.

oBYEo

It's much more fun to say oHIo! We already miss our sunny days enjoying the good company, playgrounds, swimming pools, backyard games, library, and farmer's market in Ohio! Huge thanks for everything to my folks, Lizzie and the rest of the fun crew! We were on track for an easy flight home after KC fell asleep in the ergo on the way to the gate. We boarded through the hottest jetway, and as we were getting settled something went wonk, wonk, bang, and KC started wiggling. The captain informed us that a circuit blew and he had to wait for someone to come reset it and sign paperwork, and bladdy blah blah blah - now KC was full on awake. Boo! We ended up getting going about 30 minutes late, which isn't that bad, but KC was awake for the duration. I figured out that if I let him sit in his own seat with a belt on, he was happy as a clam eating pretzels and pretending to buckle his belt... although sometimes squealing with excitement. He gets a A-. Aiden, Mr. A+, doodled in his doodlebook the whole flight! There were six eyed flying superheroes and Spick the spikey robot. It was an easy flight overall, although we could've driven all the way from Ohio to Virginia in the same amount of time...

wild

We picked up on the wild in Wild wood Manor at their family fun day. It was a great setup, but there were some funny wild moments. Right when we arrived a wild pony in training started bucking and running off (since he was only tied to a log). Despite that, KC did enjoy his first pony ride (despite the wild idea that they didn't allow me to hold him - but he was pretty chill as you can see in the video below). Then wild Aiden insisted that the bouncy wrecking ball game was a good idea. All fun and games until the bigger wild kid tapped it towards him and he toppled feet over head (see the wild video). The animal show was hosted by this wildly sarcastic jokester that somehow convinced Aiden to wrap a constrictor snake like a necktie (see next wild video). I managed to get wildly tired KC to snooze a bit, while the big boys got their faces painted. The face painted doggie friends were wildly cute, especially holding hands romping over to find the crafts. They created some little wild bug houses. Then both wild boys managed to get most of their ice cream in their mouths, I think. We attempted a geocache but wild poison ivy scared us off. By the time we were ready to leave, Aiden especially was a hot sticky wild mess running off from one bouncy house (inducing a short panic!) to the other. We owe my friends and family a huge wild thanks for being so easy going.

ride em

KC popped right on an old present from Aunt Lulu way back in 2008. Thanks again Lulu!  He loved the big bounces:
 
ride em from LB on Vimeo.
Aiden riding the same zebra right before he turned one:
Ride Em' from LB on Vimeo.

happy grad

We were excited to celebrate my cousin's high school graduation with some family fun! Her party really got started after the boys went to bed, although there wasn't anyone there to snag the bean bags and drink all the punch ;)

gully brook

They built a park down the way from the street I grew up on, and we finally had a chance to enjoy it. We are having perfect morning playground weather. We took a nice half loop walk and found two of the geocaches on site. KC loved playing in the water fountain. Aiden found a spider sunning himself.

walda meer

We arrived with one big guy sleeping (a rare nap!), so we drove around Presque Isle a bit.  It is really beautiful around there. We headed into the park and rented KC a wagon to cruise in, which he thought was a bit of a sham (since he wasn't old enough to ride any of the rides despite being a few inches over the height requirement - next year buddy!)  Lucky duck Aiden got to ride most of the rides a bunch of times in a row because there weren't many lines.  His favorites were the SS Wally boat that slides around and the mini Ravine Flyer roller coaster he was timid about at first. The only dud of the day was the Wacky Shack funhouse which was more of a haunted house.  Pop Pop and Lizzie took Aiden on the log ride and Pop Pop got the sucker seat and came back soaked.  We had funnel cake and cotton candy for dinner.  Just kidding, we found this yummy greek place right outside the park.

rides! from LB on Vimeo.

favorites from LB on Vimeo.

fairport

Before I left VA I signed Aiden up for this Metroparks program called Wacky Water. We all cruised up to the nice beach right near Fairport Harbor. The grandparents helped Aiden with his fishie filled jello snack and fish puppet craft, while Lizzie (yay days off!) and I sat and gabbed on a sunny bench with KC sleeping in my arms. A nice start to another fun day in oHIo. Our next stop included rides!

then

The garden fairies delivered some new surprise flowers to Lizzie and Woah's yard. Then we came home and played in the yard. The ladder balls that land in the tree get an extra two points... Then we headed to Menchie's for some froyo to go with our toppings. The sugar went right to Aiden's dancing ham bone.

playground

The prize for biggest best playground Eva goes to the JCC in Cleve! The Pop Pop mobile cruised there with one excited big boy and one little boy who skipped morning nap. We were able to meet up with the water worm Connor right after his swim class. Graham, my new cuddle bug buddy, gave me smiles before his stroller turned into the snooze mobile. It was so fun to see the boys interact. KC wanted to try to help push G around in his stroller. Aiden turned on his teacher/coach encouraging Connor to climb some tricky ladders and then taught them some lessons in the pretend schoolhouse. We had a picnic lunch and then headed on down the road with some snoozers. Great to see you E!

memorieeees

My super travel bugs were perfect cooperators on the quick solo mama flight to Cleve. A+ all around. Aiden was totally occupied by the Highlights hidden pictures booklet. KC slept through boarding which was a bit late which meant more time before the flight to shake his sillies out running in circles. He stayed asleep about a quarter of the flight then played with his brother's old sticker sheets and the sky mall catalog (although his barking at the dog pictures is screechy and a bit too loud and there are a LOT of dogs in that magazine). As KC is in the high demand years, it is nice that Aiden can take care of himself and even help me roll the smaller suitcase into the airport!

We had Skyline Chili for lunch - woot Chilito please! Then we cruised by the Y Dreamhouse and even looked at the model home (even nicer). As the nice inexpensive real estate made me jealous, Aiden said his legs were bored and stared wistfully at the board games on display in the basement. Smart KC napped in the ergo. Then we recharged, picked up Lizzie, and jetted to Max and Erma's. They still have the sundae toppings bar in a bath tub. These are the things of childhood memories ;). On a whim, we stopped to snag one of the urban geocaches, this time thanks to Lizzie's masterful geocaching instincts. We almost gave up searching in the loading dock area behind the stores by a sink hole that took out some guard rail - sounds lovely, eh? But the rush of finding it is worth it ;). Good travel day and ready for more fun Ohio tidbits...