Trouble 2.2

Jonah- aka Trouble 2.2 (2 years, 2 months)- has been at work.  He has no shame, which makes it all a little funny.  He knows perfectly well what he is and is not allowed to do.  When he is doing something naughty he calls out to us and lets us know he IS being naughty.  This is always followed by his evil laugh- ha ha ha ha.  For example, he will call out, "I'm standing on the table- ha ha ha ha," or "I'm in Mommy's closet, ha ha ha ha, " or "I bit Sissy on her finger, ha ha ha ha ha."  Like I said, shameless.  At least he's honest.

Of course, my first thought when he's been naughty isn't I better grab the camera.  So, very little of his naughtiness has been documented.  I did reach for the camera a few times and managed to capture a small portion of his troublemaking.

Erik was away and I need to take a shower last Saturday.  I shut Jonah in the bathroom with me while I quickly showered.  He had a few toys and I kept the shower door open so I could keep an eye on him.  While I was rinsing my hair (eyes closed, of course) he quietly shut the shower door and proceed to tear the bathroom apart- bath letters everywhere, Sissy's drawer of hair ties and lip gloss pillaged, and toilet paper strewn all over the bathroom.  I caught him doing this red handed.  He just smiled at me like an angel with a what's wrong Mommy? expression on his face.

There was more toilet paper than this.  This was his attempt to try and clean it up...

Sissy's lip gloss.

Do NOT document this Mommy!

 Jonah often sneaks out to the back bathroom to "wash his hands," which translates to playing in the water, getting himself and the bathroom soaked, smearing soap everywhere, and leaving the water running.  This time, he said he had to "clean my nails."

Ear piercing screams, toys strewn everywhere, pushing his Sissy's buttons, Kix up the nose ("Daddy I have Kix up my nose, ha ha ha"), popping unexpectedly in various places (on top of the coffee table, in his sister's closet, in the back bathroom) after bedtime, climbing on everything, and doing the EXACT opposite of what he's told are just some of Jonah's tricks. "Jonah, don't put plastic over your face. Jonah, get your hands OUT of your diaper.  Jonah, DO NOT push the buttons.  Jonah, please don't pull on the tablecloth, I'm trying to eat my lunch (just said by Erik was I was typing this). Jonah... Jonah.... Jonah...."  See the look of pure joy as Jonah was playing and making a mess with his food...

But in the end, he's still my sweet little baby boy who's just doing the things a two year old will do... only with a little more zest and zeal than his sister did.

We need a bathtub...

We knew when we bought the house that we wanted to remodel the bathroom.  Pink fiberglass isn't really my thing.  To compliment our pink fiberglass shower (which completely covers the only window to our bathroom), we have the matching pink sink and toilet.  Within the first few months we stripped the bathroom of the pink rugs, pink flowered wallpaper, and fake pink flowers the previous owner was nice enough to leave behind.  Lack of time and money, plus the thought of our one full bathroom being out of service, has kept us from gutting and updating the bathroom.  We thought that we would finally get to it this summer, but somedog, and I'm not naming any names- ehm, Guinness- decided to eat rocks and use up the money we set aside so that we could get them cut out of his tummy.

So, here we are, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, who both LOVE baths, making due with current situation.  We are really getting our money out of the infant baby bathtub... you should see Miss-all-legs-Cairo try to fold herself into it.  I had to finally ban her from in because I was worried she wouldn't be able to unfold herself.

So, project #12354 is going to be remodeling the bathroom... maybe next summer?

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a fantastic 4th this year! Erik's buddy Mike was in town, so Erik, Alvin, and Mike headed a few hours to the Van Duzer for a man day at the river.  Meanwhile, I took the kids and met Katie and Lili at the plaza.  Having the kids there and seeing their excitement about everything really brought the magic back to this annual, fun summer day.  We started by walking around the booths.  The kids got their faces painted, they made spin art, and won prizes for throwing beanbags through a hole.  We stopped at a booth full of sweets and let the kids pick something yummy.  They all walked away with a chocolate dipped pretzel stick.  Jonah picked the black one (dark chocolate).  Good boy.  Then, we made our way over to the fire station where we picked up and ate pulled pork sandwiches, got fun stickers, sat in a real firetruck, and took a ride around downtown Arcata in the old firetruck.  With no seat belts and everyone sliding this way and that when we turned corners, the kids had a great time.  Then, it was back to the plaza grass to run around and dance to the music.

Buns up!

Having fun!

My hippie boy dancing barefoot on the plaza.

We left the Plaza in time for a nap, had some dinner, and made our way over the Nick and Kyoko's for fireworks.  Katie, Will, and Lili met us there and then we all combined our fireworks with the other people in Nick and Kyoko's neighborhood for a fun show.  The kids started it off by lighting sparklers.  Jonah even got to do it by himself... though I was a centimeter away, ready to take control at any time.  The kids used their sparklers to make "worms" go off... and then we got to the bigger stuff.  Jonah LOVED the fireworks.  The louder, brighter, and more it startled him, the more he liked it.  Cairo did a lot of holding her hands over her ears and screaming and squealing.  She was all about the drama...but she had her cousin Mei there to help her with it.  Lili wasn't so sure about the fireworks at first, but her hands slowly made it from covering her ears to just covering he cheeks.  :o)

Lighting worms

After fireworks, we came home to Erik and the boys around the fire pit.  A quick 'smore, a few more fireworks by Mike and Alvin, and the kids went to bed exhausted, but very, very happy.  The next morning, they were ready to do it all again.

Tugman State Park, OR

We finally made the plunge and took the kids camping... but we cheated just a little.  Thank goodness!

Each summer we try and meet up with one of my favorite people, Anna, and her family- Tyler (husband), Madeline (2 1/2 yr), and Ben (10 1/2 mo). Last year we spent the 4th at their house outside of Portland.  This year, we decided to meet halfway between our homes and camp out on the Oregon coast.  Instead of trying to deal with kids and tents we rented yurts for three nights.  Thank goodness we did because it ended up raining on us while we were there.  The yurts came equipped with beds, a table and chairs, lights, plugs, a heater, and a nice covered porch.  The only thing it lacked was a bathroom (which, sadly, I had to venture out two nights in the rain to use).  The yurts made what could have been a stressful time (wet, muddy, cold, bored kids) into a very pleasant and comfortable adventure.

We camped out at Tugman State Park not too far north of Coos Bay.  The campground was a hop, skip, and a jump from Eel Lake, a quiet lake with a swimming hole and boat ramp to launch our new-to-us canoe.  We were also close to Oregon's magnificent sand dunes and some nice hiking trails (minus the mosquitoes).  A short drive to the north and a short drive to the south provided additional activities to partake in.  With four kids- ages 4, 2, 2 and 10 mo.- naptimes, and rain we were a little limited in the amount of things we could accomplish in a day, but we managed to get out and about anyway.

Day 1: Set-up camp, community meal of grilled basil, tomato, and cheese sandwiches, and an early bedtime.

Jonah, all packed up in the sleeping bag tote.

Cairo was really excited about sleeping on the top bunk.

Day 2: A hike around a small lake (which we couldn't quite finish due to a flooded trail, mosquitoes, and short-legged, tired kids).  Playing in the sand and kite flying on a very Humboldt-feeling beach.  Lunch, naps, and a trip to the Tugman State park playground and swimming hole (we put our feet in).  Jonah bonked his head on the pavement (some how he got a scratch, a goose egg, but no bruise).  Dinner- pasta with summer veggies.  Dessert- 'Smores around the fire.  After we put the kids to bed, us adults stayed up late talking around the campfire and enjoying the beautiful night.

The pond/lake we tried to walk around

Anna and Madeline

Cairo, checking out the trail...

Group shot (minus Anna who's taking the picture)

At the beach

Trail to the ocean

Nap time for Daddy!

Jonah could spend hours playing in the sand...

... so can the big kids.  Tyler dug a big hole for the kids to play in.

Jonah enjoyed collecting stuff...

... and more stuff, like crab shells.

The big girls

The only person who enjoyed the sand more than Jonah was Ben.

Our yurt

The baby pen- somehow Jonah made his was into Ben's baby enclosure.  Madeline was there to keep him company, though.

Cairo, collecting stuff.

The happy camping couple

Ben did a whole lot of this...

Trouble anyone?

Ring around the rosie

While Erik was climbing the tree, Jonah tripped and donked himself on the head.

Dippin' our toes at the swimming hole at the lake.

Concentrate on making those 'smores

J made the 'smores, but he couldn't eat them... that's what you get when you don't eat your dinner!

Day 3: A cool day that really never warmed up.  Breakfast- biscuits cooked by Tyler in the dutch oven and scrambled eggs.  A husband and a little boy who slept in until 8:30 (wow!).  A trip to the lake and a paddle in the canoe (it was too cold to go swimming).  Lunch and naps.  A trip to the Umpqua Lighthouse.  At this time it started to drizzle, so we went back to the camp ground and while I entertained the kids in the yurt, Anna and Tyler cooked up a fantastic meal of grilled veggie burritos.  We ate out in the rain/drizzle and then Anna and I were very brave and took all four kids to the showers while the boys cleaned up.

The showering was quite an event.  We had to walk a little ways to the showers (in the rain/drizzle) and somehow wash the kids (of who not all wanted to be washed and not all wanted to get out of the water) and make sure the things that should get wet did get wet, those things that should be dry did stay dry, and those things that shouldn't touch the community bathroom floor didn't.  It was an amazing amount of noise and activity, but in the end we had four kids all squeaky clean and ready for bed.  Anna and I both agreed that the boys wouldn't have been able to handle with the ease, finesse, and patience we did.  :o)

Getting ready to take the canoe out.

An over the shoulder photo

At Umpqua Lighthouse, looking out at the ocean

Day 4: Our last day.  We spent the morning packing the cars and then we headed south for one final adventure- off to Shore Acres (southwest of Coos Bay) Botanical Gardens and Sunset Bay.  The botanical gardens were set right up on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  The views were amazing.  We wandered around the gardens doing all we could to keep Jonah from picking the plants and flowers (one of his absolute FAVORITE pastimes), then we headed for a picnic lunch on the beach at Sunset Bay.  The bay was nice and protected and the sun came out and warmed things up for us.  We took advantage of the nice warm weather, changed into swim clothes, and played in the ocean.  As kids started to get crabby, we packed up, said out goodbyes, and headed back home.

Botanical Garden entrance

more trouble

I told Cairo and Jonah to strike a pose.  Jonah had more fun with this than Cairo... she was concentrating too hard.

A beautiful white fuchsia.  I want one.

At the Japanese garden

The view from the cliffs

Picnicking at Sunset Bay

Running from the waves

We had a great time camping out with the Hohl family.  The kids did a great job entertaining each other and gave us adults a chance to do a little relaxing.  Though Ben was the odd man out this year, I know that when he's walking next year he and Jonah will have as great of a time as Cairo and Madeline had.  We had so much fun that the only questions that remain are- when and where are we going to do this next summer?