What we talk about when we talk about passing time at camp

A successful venture into "society"

Ordering. Note Josh pulling on Susan necklace, which he would later also suck on contentedly

From Susan, after our dinner at "1844 House", a nice restaurant between Potsdam and Canton, New York:

Cost of son #1's good behavior at a very nice restaurant: conversation about what the point of dinner at a very nice restaurant is, and how one behaves to family and to restaurant staff; mild threats; one bribe of an after-dinner scavenger hunt ending in a $2.50 toy prize, should dinner go well.

Cost of son #2's good behavior at a very nice restaurant: Cheerio appetizer; one walk outside before soup and salads arrive; several diversionary tactics involving bottles, peek-a-boo, Daddy's keys, and Mommy's keys; Mommy's cell phone offered as a rare sacrificial "toy" for end-of-meal peace.

Hearing the waitress say at the end of dinner that we have such beautiful children, and they are so very well-behaved: PRICELESS.

Josh in the parking lot before the arrival of bread or salads. The boys got to spend a good 30-40 minutes after the meal there as well

Josh at our small-group picnic this afternoon

some perspective

Some artwork Sam did over breakfast. 

Last night a neighbor eagerly told a story about his grand-daughter in which she used the word "nocturnal" to describe a security guard. He was very proud. Having heard Sam use nocturnal, diurnal, etc., I didn't respond with the same level of enthusiasm.  Having a slightly older boy I think I am harder to impress. 

Which is my way of saying, I know I may be the only one who finds Sam's drawings (below) very interesting, in which case I am saving this for posterity and you can skip this post. 

I know they aren't flawless.  He applies perspective inconsistently. A wall in the upper right actually touches the horizon without diminishing to nothing. Still, he really gets 3-D volumes well for his age, at least.

Click the image to see it full-screen and not cut off on the right.

Josh learns poise

Seabreeze

Rochester has its own amusement park, Seabreeze, located on the shore of Lake Ontario. It is also a water park, but not for us, when it's in the low 70s. After Josh's nap we took our annual family trip to Seabreeze, with Sam's friend Ian, staying til sunset. It has all the classic rides. It is, after all, over 100 years old. We ate a dinner of hot dog and pizza there, with a dessert of fried dough. We played the games of "skill" and came home with enough stuffed snakes to fill a small pit. And Sam is now tall enough to ride all the rides, though happy to ride only about half of them. Josh we took on the carousel and he looked tense and suspicious the whole time as if a medical procedure were being performed on him. His happiest moments were when I ran with him on the way to the men's room to change his diaper, and when, purely for his amusement, I jumped up and down with him on my shoulders. 

Susan and Sam doing the bumper cars. The line for this was  huge for a reason. A good time was had by all.

The aforementioned carousel. Complete with mechanical organ music thingy. True out-east  fun.

There was a very impressive Canadian gymnastics troupe. Here's Sam with the two female gymnasts.

We spent a while waiting for the others to ride this roller coaster, "The Bobsleds." Josh had a whale of a time just meandering and then playing with some wood chips.

Just before the "Music Express", a ride which is hard to describe, but involves going in a circle really fast while listening to loud rock music. It was a blast, and the only ride daddy got to go on as well (unless you count the carousel).

Finally, here's a brief movie taken on the last ride of the day, a little train ride. By this time, as you'll see, Josh is about out.

Your Joshupdate

Josh and I hung out at the playground next to the library the other night...

Wood chips!!

Thirty-foot Josh

Engaging Josh

Sam: You know that saying about the chicken and the egg?
Daddy: Yeah...
Sam: I think it was the chicken first, not the egg.
Daddy: Why?
Sam: Because of Adam and Eve!

Susan claims this is an old thought of Sam's. Maybe she's right. I like it, though.

I've mentioned this book Josh loves, called Hug. Here is a sound file of Josh practicing "hug".

We debate whether this is his first word, which is appears to be, since we think he understands what it means. (Susan, do you agree?)

He's understanding a lot of what we say now. Last night I asked him, "What does a lion say?" and he responded with a wonderful little roar. He also knows what snakes say, and his hiss is a quiet, meek little thing.

Geology Dig!

Sam, reluctantly agreeing to a photo before heading in to camp

Today Sam goes to a geology dig! He's been in geology camp all week. Today (high of 89 deg F) they drive an hour to an old quarry to search for fossils. The quarry site says,

At Penn Dixie, you can walk on the site of a former quarry operation that was once the source of calcareous shale excavated and used for cement aggregate by the Penn Dixie Cement Company.  During the 1960s, 9 to 10 feet of shale was removed revealing 380 million year old Devonian era fossils preserved within the Windom Shale.

Apparently this area was, during the Devonian, a vast shallow tropical ocean with lots of little critters in it which silt, solidified into shale, has preserved for us.

Hoping he comes back with one.  :-)  He claims this is the best camp he's been to, and he's been to some good ones (Hochstein music & art, Memorial Art Gallery art camp, etc.).