Blue Minion Moon

Between Jarrett and Baylor collecting Happy Meal toys we have nine of the 12 minions in the collection.  They all live above my desk staring at me and making noises when I sneezed or hit the wall.  Like some kind of weird fan club keeping an eye on me.  They attract a lot of attention. One guy walking through the office stopped and took a photo for his wife because she is a minion fan.  

I made sure we went out to see the blue moon of July.  It is hard to get a good photo on my phone but I try.

And I try to make sure Baylor gets to see them as well.  I want him to notice these things when he is grown, not take them for advantage or disregard them.  He fusses about going out but always goes out with me to find whatever it is I am looking for that night.  Love him!! 

Last Day of Level III Swimming Class

Gloria had to work on Baylor's last day of swimming class and I was glad to be there to watch his last day. He did great with all his strokes and was able to swim the length of the pool when needed.  

He can dive off the side of the pool into the deep end but he still could not bring himself to jump off the diving board into the deep end.   It is still too deep for him to jump into from that height.  He did not pass this class in one session, which is totally fine with me. I don't expect him to.  Maybe next time he will be able to jump in. I think he will love it once he does!                                   

A Day with My Parents

In the morning Dad headed to Wegmans before the rest of us were even up and moving.  I made Sunday breakfast for everyone (we all love my fried potatoes). After breakfast we drove to Gifford Pinchot State Park which is just a few miles from from our house.  And we have never been there! It is an odd park in that there are several entrances depending on where you want to go and what you want to do.  Thankfully the office has free maps and we went down four of the five entrances.  We walked around the boating area and I let Baylor play on the playground for a while.  He should not have to just sit in a car looking at fun things (which is what Dad expects I think) 

It was hot so he did not want to stay long so that worked out well.  We drove through the camping and cabin areas. While I love the idea of staying in a yurt, the run to the bathroom is quite far.  I am not sure I can handle that kind of camping!  

So we drove home on the back roads and Baylor took Grandma and Buddy swimming. 

He showed off his swimming skills which this year include underwater swimming across the pool.  Something he would have never done last summer.  That is progress for you.  

They swam and had water battles.  I got in too and Baylor showed them how I swim underwater at him and he runs over me.  He never gets tired of that.  Seeing him have fun with his family, I never get tired of that. 

Family Picnic 2015

The end of July is time for the family picnic.  It is not much of a reunion any more as it is mostly the same people every year and many of the family does not attend.  This year was the smallest I think we have had in many years.  We filled up only two of the long tables if we all sat together, which we don't. We sit in our little family groups and just mingle in between times.  Baylor and I ate outside where I taught him the joys of spitting watermelon seeds. 

The kid who usually shuns even the whitest, palest of seeds because a fan of the hard black seeds in minutes of learning about seed spitting fun.  

Baylor was the only kid under middle school age but the older kids played in the games with him.  First was the peanut toss with two ways to win.  One was finding a red or a black peanut (we never did find the black one) 

And the second was for whoever found the most peanuts.  Baylor had a lot of assistants including Lynda, me and Aunt Betty. 

Who is 92 and could be found under the picnic table gathering peanuts!  She is an amazing woman and a true example of what keeps you young, just keep moving and doing and your butt in the air like you just do not care!  

When I counted his bag he had 303 and one of the twins also said she had 303.  So I quickly looked for more in the grass.  So did the twin, who said she was not going to loss to a six year old.  To his credit, her boyfriend grabbed a large handful of peanuts from his bag giving them to Baylor and said, "yes you are going to loss to a six year old." Baylor won that round (this twin already had the red peanut so it was not like she hadn't already won something).  Baylor choose the freezer pops again this year.  

And graced Lynda with a hug for having the games.  

Kathy brought water balloons and they let Baylor toss some through a hoop.  Eli was willing to hold out for him.  These two still play together even though Eli is in high school now. The older kids played several rounds of water balloon volley ball with four kids on each team using a spread out sheet to catch and toss the balloons.  Baylor wanted to try it too and after one catch and toss got frustrated because he ended up being yanked around on his corner.  But they put him in the middle tossing in the water balloons and holding up the hoop so the teams could try to get the balloon through the hoop.  

As with most water balloon games, it ended with trying to hit each other with balloons. 

The adult crowd, not involved with the games, chatted all together at the tables.  

Lynda also had the clothes pin drop game.  Baylor did well but did not make it to the finals.  

We had the cookie walk and we ended up giving away the last few plates of cookies because there were more cookies than willing players.  My cookies went fast though!  

We had a nice game of now you have it, now you don't.  At one point he had one of our gifts, the paisley print paper.  But that was snatched away and he was left with the penguin bag.  

We pulled the tickets for the raffle items (Baylor won the back to school basket), announced the winners for the watermelon and candy jar and then people started packing up to leave.  No one wants to sit around and chat these days I guess.  So we all helped pack up and clean up and headed home.  Mom and Dad came to my house for the night to spend the weekend with us. Mom and Baylor got into the pool for the first time in two Summers (well for Mom that is).