A Day out with Thomas

 Let me start out by saying I was not the photographer for this day and while I explained to Lori how to use the simple point and shoot camera, she still managed to mess things up.  If you ever saw any photos taken by any member of her family you would understand she gets it honestly. Every trip she takes him on and I ask for photos, she does the same thing.  Somehow she moves the dial on the camera to some setting that  makes for super blurry photos.  E.v.e.r.y.t.i.m.e. I carried that camera with me for two years, every where, and never moved the setting.  E.v.e.r. It is what it is. 

The Strasburg Railroad has Thomas for a few weeks every year a couple of times in the year.  I  have driven past it on a weekend when Thomas was there and it was a sea of little heads and craziness.  I called to see if there was any time that was less busy and the lady on the phone laughed a bit before saying No.   I was not able to go with them but I have been to Strasburg with Baylor twice this year without Lori so it was OK for them to go by themselves.  Lori had to order the special tickets to ride the Thomas train but I had a free ticket to ride the regular train also.  There is Thomas pulling into the station.  Of course his face is nearly covered by a sign but we all know he is there, right?

The entire time we were talking to him about going to Strasburg, Baylor would tell us he wanted to ride the train with the conductor.  He is young and gets hung up on one thing and that is the only thing he will focus on.  Like ladders on construction vehicles.  If we see a digger he will ask were is the ladder?  We see a truck, where is the ladder?  It can be in a book and he will ask where is the ladder.  Anyway, of course when Lori saw the conductor hat she bought it for him.  He wore it the entire day and even during his nap.  I just noticed the butt shoot in the back ground.  Nice.  Sorry lady, your rear is now on my blog too. 

Another shot of Thomas but you can see the camera setting has now been changed for the rest of the trip.  I even showed her where it needed to be set.  Breath in and let it go.   

The Thomas ride was only about 20 minutes and then they rode the regular train which is about 45 minutes.  He fell asleep on the ride back even though it was still fairly early for him.  Two train rides in one day is a lot for a little guy!  I think Lori enjoyed her day riding trains too. 

Typical Weekend's Adventures

We all know now what pudding does to one's face but what about when a toddler is eating it frozen. On a stick.  Totally hilarious facial hair preview!  He looks like a little pirate. 

Saturday morning I went to let the dog out and found about a zillion beetles in between the windows that slide.  Gross!! They were not dead which meant a lot of squirming to try to get out.  I searched to cupboards for some alcohol to try to kill them without pesticides.  It is our primary door after all and I did not want extra grossness at the door to be cleaned up. I could not find any, must have used it last year on the wasp nests.  So I made extra strong soapy hot water and poured it into the space.  It worked to a degree because first all the water white water rafted the beetles out of the space, which is good because I was wondering how to get them out of there.  Second, because if there is a first there has to be a second, they were now on my door mat and deck squirming about.  Gross again.  Thankfully the soap water did it's trick and they expired and were swept off the deck before company arrived.  I hate summer bugs, except lightening bugs of course.

We had gone shopping to a produce market and Baylor of course wanted corn on the cobbers.  I usually  grill our corn so the husks and silks come off easier but he had other ideas this morning.  He wanted to cook it in his little kitchen and took the corn outside to husk it.  For being his first time, he did a great job.  He worked on it pretty much a leaf at a time and got it down to the corn.  He managed to get the silk off too and took a few bites.  He did two ears. 

 We had our first harvest on Saturday from the cucumbers and found two more on Sunday. We made him a bowl of sliced cucumbers and salad for the rest of us.  He horked down his bowl while waiting for lunch to be ready and then ate more in the salad. 

We also had our first raspberries.  When we were looking for a new home I said I wanted a place with big enough yard for raspberries.  We found the place and the first summer I had red raspberry plants in my new garden.  I found yellow berries one year and planted them also. What I was really wanted to plant was my grandpa's black raspberry plants.  They have had a rough time at my house and unfortunately I am nursing two barely alive plants hoping they will survive and fill in their new bed.  I don't have the option of digging up more so it they don't survive I will be very sad.  The red and yellow berry beds are jam packed with plants now.  I really cut them back last year so my harvest has been delayed as I usually can start picking in early June. 

Baylor has been eating off these plants for the last two years and remembered them from last year. He likes the yellow berries better for some reason but has been eating more of the red so far this year.

Don't you just want to eat it?  I did too and I did eat it!

While hunting for fireflies I found this little toad in the yard.  Baylor was less than impressed and I was disappointed.  He was a man on a firefly catching mission and was not to be distracted by a toad.

I suggested he let the toad free in the strawberries so he could eat bad bugs.  Baylor was happy to help with that process.  He was gentle tipping out the toad and I am sure he was able to hop under a plant and take a rest from his recent adventure.  We did catch several fireflies and I am amazed how fast he sees them and trys to get them with his net. 

And introducing Fred II with a spot on his head as we call him.  Grandpa Ron has many fish and many of them are too big for our little pond.  We fianally managed to catch a smallish fish and after a half day of being shy, he is now used to his new home and we are glad to have him. 

I think Mark is happy again too.  Although he is a bit fuzzy looking.  I will have to try to get a better picture of him. 

A day with Meme

Meme and Pap came down for a few days to visit.  Well Meme visits and Pap works.  He needed to hook up the plumbing in the new basement bathroom.  We now have more toilets in house than bed rooms!  We only have a two bedroom house and originally one and a half baths so it is a nice upgrade.  There is a bathtub too.  I am sure as Baylor gets older, it will come in handy!  Until then, Dave, our nephew is going to be living down there.  It could be exciting until we get used to things.  We live alone and it is hard to see in the house.  Running around naked or nearly naked after showering is not just for Baylor around here.  Back to Meme and Baylor.  He LOVES his Meme and I think she is his best friend right now.  She does not know the word no when it comes to him and they do everything together all day long.  When I got home from work they were playing outside, as usual on a nice day.  They have their own games they make up and today they were catching wiffle balls in the net.  He loved it when he would make a basket! 

Poor Eddy Mae Jean, she is such a good daughter in a dog suit and big sister.  She has been patient with him, for the most part.  When he was younger and less gentle, she warned him a few times but would get up and leave before even thinking of nipping or hurting Baylor.  He loves to chase her in the yard.  When she was younger and before her knee surgery that was her favorite game too.  She loved playing I am going to get you and would run circles around us.  She can manage a lap or three and then she is done now.  She is 10 years old now and just does not have the pep she used to.  But she will still do a round for Baylor and he laughs and laughs while they are running.  And then he gives her a cuddle because he really does love her.  In his own special way.

Will I buy anything I see I think he will like?  Of course I will!!  He loves his humming birds and all things sparkly.  I saw this spinner with a humming bird and I knew he would love it and he did!  We hung it on his play house.  He likes to move it to the fence to redecorate but I try to explain to him it will not spin there. Eventually it makes it back to the hook and spins away to make him smile. 

Now a walk to the gardens while they play basketball.  The strawberry garden is growing well and I think we will be able to have some soon.  They are everbearing so later in the summer we will be snaking on fresh warm strawberries.  See the bird in the garden.  Another garden gift for my bird loving son.   

Last year I grew cucumbers in large garden pots.  Baylor loved watering the que-toes as he called them.  Imagine my disappointment the day he corrected me and said Mom they are cucumbers.  Anyway, he loved eating them last year and still loves them this year.  I weeded the garden beds on another Meme visit and planted four cucumber plants.  We are ready to harvest already. 

When Mr Sunnyman went down behind the Brown's house, Baylorism for sundown, Meme took him out to catch fireflies.  Last year when he was just talking he had a hard time saying lightening bugs but he would give it his best try.  They were in a book we read at night too and he knew what they were. Mamma and I usually have him in bed before the bugs start flying and it is dark enough to see them.  Grandma's have special privileges in our house and he can stay up past bed time.  He has a bug box, shocking I know, and they took it out to catch them.  Meme can see the bugs when they light up but not when they are flying around.  I was catching some also when I heard them say Oh we squished one.  It became his story for the last few days too. 

Lori came out to see the catch before we let them fly.  I am fine with learning about bugs but unless it is a stink bug, they need to be let go.  Especailly fireflies.  I don't remember them growing up out west.  I do remember coming to my grandparent's farm on vacation seeing the sparkle in the dusk and catching them in jars.  Baylor is lucky to grow up with them! Unfortunately he will also grow up with stink bugs! 

See there they are.  We had a few more by the time we were done.  I have learned fireflies fly up so if you keep the container with the opening down, they don't get out as quickly. 

Always playing catch up

So I started a blog for several reasons, the primary one was to show off my beautiful family, read son.  I had other ideas too about blogging but it seemed inappropriate to combine the ideas on one page.  So I have kept it about Baylor and most likely will continue to do so. Unfortunately I don't post as often as I wish I did but it is hard to carve out the time at home to sit in front of a computer when that is what I do all day.  And I don't stay up late so no late night posting for me either.  So I find myself catching up and more often than not, and usually there is not much of a story, personality, or detail.  And then I find I am not taking as many photos of things we are doing because I want to live our lives, not act like a producer/director looking for a good story or perfect shot.  Not that I don't really want these things too I just have not found the middle ground yet. I say all this so I can try to do better to post more, put more life into it, and enjoy it more! 

So let me back up to Saturday June 11. I am sure I have mentioned Aunt's Meetings before.  They have gone on for as long as I have lived in PA and for many years before that.  The mix of participants has changed a lot over the years due to births and deaths.  For someone who for the first 12 years of life was not around any family except my own, it was a wonderful way for me to learn about everyone and start to fit into their crazy, loving ways.  I look forward to them every month and am thankful Baylor will grow up in their combined love and craziness.   We take turns hosting at various homes, restaurants, and the reunion in July at some local park we decide on.  Saturday was my turn.  The hostess provides what ever she wants to and the rest is a pot luck surprise.  Mom and I bring the same thing every time whether we host or are travelling.  She brings sausage gravy and I bring homemade biscuits.  I think there would be a riot if we did not bring them.  Baylor helped me make the biscuits this time since there was not much of a rush to get them made and get out the door.  We live an hour away from everyone so we usually have to get them baked and run out the door.  He still loves to help me in the kitchen and helped me stir in the buttermilk.  I took over the rest and they were delicious. 

This meeting was a bit special because it was also a baby shower for baby Brigit and Heather.  Because of her complications when she was pregnant and a few meeting cancellations, we were never able to get it together before she was born.  Heather decorated the baby room in a French theme in hot pink and black. 

It is definitely a room she can grow into and not out of.

I took a photo of the room to the grocery store to order her cake.  I did not talk directly to the decorator but woman took excellent notes and the decorator did an excellent job!  There were words in French on all sides.  Too bad we were not too sure what they said.  Heather loved it and that is what was important. 

Baylor and Connor of course helped her with the gifts, as all little kids enjoy. She received a lot of super cute clothes and other gifts. 

Baylor was his usual excellent older cousin.  Brigit did not have much mommy time because it was the first time the aunts had met her.  Lynda pretty much hijacked her as soon as she came in the door.  As most moms of new babies that is usually a welcome gift to receive.  A few moments of adult time knowing the baby is well taken care off.  Baylor and Conner spent most of the time outside with the older cousins.  They love Baylor and he loves them.  It is a welcome gift to know my son is playing with the kids and I can have some adult time too.   

Are they not super cute, other than the apparent head lock Connor's has on Brigid.  She was fine and not harmed in any way. 

That same evening we went to DiAnn's for her son's graduation party.  She did not come to the Aunt's meeting at my house because she was getting ready for her own.  I was hurt and rejected but I got over it quickly.  That is how we roll in our family.  Rachel and Lexi were all dressed up and Baylor took to them right away.  He had been playing with them all morning at my house and he was happy to pick up with them at DiAnn's.  He does love his girls already.  I am afraid I should be worried but not so much right now.  The lady in the two colored dress sitting in the chair is Lexi's great grandma.  She was also my dad's kindergarten teacher.  He says she was always dressed to the nines back then and every time I have seen her she is the most fancily dressed. 

Since it was a party there was cake and ice cream.  Guess who loves ice cream?  Too bad there were no sprinkles or one little boy would have been in ice cream heaven.

DiAnn lives next to an empty house and even before it was empty the owner allowed her to use her yard also.  She was an older woman and was not using it anyway.  She has passed and the family has not cleaned out the house.  I had peaked in the window and if you did not know she was gone you would think someone was still living there.  There was still stuff in the dish drainer and she passed in 2009.  It is an old home in and old town.  My cousin said there are servants quarters in the attic and it is just a neat old home, crammed with the stuff of a long life.  The kids always play badminton in the yard and they shuttlecocks usually end up in the roof of the kitchen.  Well, since no one is there Eli just stayed up there throwing down a Nerf ball to the little kids.  Since Baylor loves Eli, he was in his glory watching him throw the ball down to him and the other little guys. 

Sometimes I catch a moment in time that just makes me smile.  He was just walking nothing special but I think he looks so cute! 

We stayed until almost 9:00.  It had started to rain about an hour before and we stayed as long as we could hoping the rain would end.  It got worse so we just braved the run in the rain.  Thankfully we did not melt. Baylor stayed awake until about 10 minutes from home so I spent those 10 minutes trying to keep him awake.  It is easier to get him ready for bed when he is awake and much easier to brush his teeth which is an absolute for me. 

Moving on to Sunday, Mom and Baylor made pudding pops. Remember them, delicious frozen pudding on a stick?  They don't make them any more but they are not hard to make.  Take a trip to Target and pick up popsicle molds for $1.00, buy the makings for instant pudding flavor of your choice, and head home.  Wash and dry molds, prepare instant pudding as directed, spoon into molds, cap, and freeze.  Then unmold and enjoy!  And Baylor did enjoy them.  And so do I.

We let Baylor make reasonable choices when it comes to clothes.  Sometimes it is just the accessories like the shoes.  Meme found the socks to match or who know what he would have chosen.  They were long socks that he pulled up high to his knees.  Kids shorts today are more like knickers sometimes without the buckles at the knees.  He was very proud of his choice of farmer boots. 

Meme was at our house all week and had to leave that morning.  He was not happy to be leaving his Meme and she was not happy to leave him.  But they shared a cuddle on the couch before we had to leave for the sitter's.

Saturday I frantically filled cookies and made cheesecake for the dinner we were having with friends.  Mark, Fred and their brood have come to our house the last two years for the festival but that is expensive with 4 kids at $16 to $20 a ride for all four.   I had the great idea of a get together without the fair and he agreed it was a great idea.  He invited Sue, Joy and their four children. We had met Joy and Sue before but not the children.  Mark's daughter was at the beach so he had the three boys.  With Baylor, there were 8 kids running rampant.  It was wonderful chaos.  The adults kept pretty much to the deck and the kids had the run of the place. Mark is an excellent blogger and wonderful person who I am glad we found on Craigslist.  He knows the story and has blogged about it.  Since he is one of my few readers, I won't retell it as he already knows it.  I wanted to get a photo of him which I did but I noticed the shadow of the globe light on his head.  I may have been distracted by a chicken or squawking kid because I never attempted to get a better shot from another angle.  I do feel bad as he takes wonderful photos of my son and I have one of them in the living room on the wall.  Maybe next time I will try for a better shot because we enjoyed it enough to all want to do it again. 

Baylor loves his frozen treats and when Charlie crashed his lip on one of Baylor's toys and was bleeding, we shared the popcicles with the kids.  That face is the one he gets before he asks for a cuddle to cure the brainfreeze. 

That is handsome Fred, who is Mark's other side/half.  The kids are Joshua, Jacob, and Johnny.  Their sister Claire was shopping at the beach with her grandma so I am sure who was in heaven. The boys had fun in climbing the fence rather than using the gate a few feet away.  And then climbing the trees outside the fence.  I loved it!   

Baylor showed them the pond several times. It happened accidentally, but the fish are named Mark and Fred also.  It was good they came over when they did because Monday a cat apparently got a hold of Fred. I went out to feed them and found a skitzy Mark and Fred covered in deck dirt under the chair Johnny is sitting in.  Poor Fred is dead, a candle lights his head. He's looking so peaceful and serene.  I did not hide it from Baylor and we buried him in the garden with a rock over him.  He really was a handsome fish and I was really sad over his death.  I contacted Grandma Karen and she is going to let us get another fish this weekend.  I am glad because I really think Mark is lonely now.  Simon the snail is not much company. 

Back to the party, the boys were also climbing over the castle.  It is a glimpse of my future I suppose.  I cannot wait!!!  Being the lazy photographer, I never took a photo of Sue, Joy and their children.  It is a shame because they are super good looking.  Sue is a new blogger and if I knew how to link to it I would and to Mark's also.  It was funny to see her blog has the same background as mine.  I think we are related somewhere along the rainbow! 

Sunday Lori was off work. Yippee!  It does not happen much that we are home at the same time during daylight hours.  Shockingly she wanted to go shopping.  At IKEA. For things for me.  A-W-E-S-O-M-E.  I cannot spell that word without doing the annoying cheer in my head the cheer leaders did with it in high school.  Baylor likes IKEA also and insisted on his own shopping list.  Here he is writing down his selections.  I now have a huge shelf unit, sewing table and small filing cabinet for my sewing and craft room.  Now to try to put it all together!   

There I am caught up to this week.  Hopefully I can keep up with things and not have to cram in a week into one post! 

Photo Dump

Lori stopped at a yard sale and found a three wheeler and a gas tank. He loves them both especially the gas tank.  He runs out of gas all the time and now can fill up when ever he wants to. 

Meme bought him a scooter like Otto in a Toot and Puddle book.  He does really well on it.

Going

Going

Gone

Monday and Tuesday Lori and Baylor went to Meme's.  We have a deal, If you leave, I will weed.  And this time I mulched also.  It does not look like I did much but I moved at least half of it.  Honestly, I would rather weed than shovel mulch, twice. 

When they were away Baylor wanted his hair cut like Connor's with spikes.  I love his hair longer because he looks so much younger.  I think he looks like he is four or more with his hair cut.  I am sure it cooler for him and I do love his face no matter what his hair looks like. 

I also put in a bird bath for Baylor's birds.  The jug is hanging from a shepherd's hook and has a small hole in bottom to drip into the saucer.  It may be a bit tacky but much more affordable than the ones online.  See my driving master in the yard doing circles around the castle?  Why is it the only thing he runs into is my minivan? 

Meme also bought him a new hummer feeder.  This boy loves his birds.  It could have stayed up there but that is ok. We have lots of hummers to feed. 

Baylor loves his books also.  He asked Grandma to read The Grumpy Dump truck which is a really cute book, especially for a little boy who loves his construction vehicles. 

They looked at a house in the area and I am hoping Dad gets off the pot and moves!  I would love them 10 miles away instead of over 50.  I met them at Wegmans for lunch which was a nice treat for all of us.  We all love Wegmans and it is another reason for them to move!