Mom and Dad and Amy Pass Through; Camp; Sneezebreeze

Mom and Dad and Amy Pass Through

On their way south from camp they stayed overnight with us. AND were generous with their time and efforts helping me as I hobbled around the house. Great to see you all!

 Camp!

The last week of August was spent at camp. This meant time splashing in the water, which was always low at the start of the day

And playing on the beach at the state park. (Including burying mommy's legs.)

And a few kayaking trips. I took Josh on his first kayaking ride, which lasted well over an hour and which he loved. Later I took Sam out, and then both of them to Deer Island. On D.I. we ran across a recently-occupied lean-to, complete with animal skull on a stick. 

Spent time in Potsdam, which is always fun. Here we are driving by the Lot Of Toilet Planters. (There are two such lots now.)

...and we went mini golfing outside Masena, as is our tradition.

Feeding the goats while at the mini golfing place

In what ought to be a tradition I took the boys into the dollar store and let them each pick one thing out. Josh chose a little plastic dolphin, which he still plays with in the tub.

This year Josh slept in the middle bedroom (lower bunk) and Sam in the end bedroom, upper bunk. But that didn't stop them from both playing together in the end bedroom. This is what camp is all about!

It's hard to underestimate the central place that band-aids occupy in the life of a young boy! (And his stuffed animal, as it turns out.)

For the first time, we explored a really nice park on an island in the Grass river in Canton. Nice trails and the ruins of an old sawmill, all of which was just magical for the boys.

Family movie night, watching Rio 2

Did I mention splashing in the water?

Here's Maxfield's in Potsdam--one place we didn't go. Maybe in a few years...

Back Home Again

No longer on crutches or wearing a brace, I am here being aided in my physical therapy exercises by Josh.

Found a toad in the front yard while Susan was inside working on test-item contracting work on Saturday. The toad survived, I am happy to say, despite Josh's loving attention

Jobh sacked out in the deserted fifth floor of Eastman while Susan and Sam are off at Sam's lesson

And Josh at his dentist appt. They loaned him sunglasses so he wouldn't be blinded by the bright lights.

Seabreeze

Earlier in the summer we had a trip to Seabreeze, but the end of the trip got rained out. They were kind enough to give us rain checks which we used last weekend. They allow you to enter at 5 pm for free. The park closes at 8 pm. We were joined by Sam's friend Ian. Here they are on the Tilt-A-Whirl. So happy I insisted that I am Never Riding That Again. Makes me feel sick for hours afterward.

The Teacup ride is a much milder version. This picture shows how serious Josh is when doing these rides.

I agreed to ride with Sam on something which goes up in the air and spins wildly. Just as bad as the Tilt-A-Whirl. Never Again.

As usual we played a few of the carnival games. Josh got a second little stuffed snake, which he refers to as a "Seacrate", which I think is a corruption of "sea snake."

And Sam, in collaboration with his friend Ian and his mom, won a giant bearded banana. Very strange, but a source of much joy.

School's started. Sam's in a class with few of his old classmates, and is working on making new friends. Josh is heart broken most mornings going to Montessori, at least at dropoff. The teachers tell me the tears often end soon. Three days ago they lasted 20 minutes. Today just a minute. Maybe he's adjusting.

That's all the news for now!

Can't believe how much time has passed since the last post.

On the other hand, not much has happened.  We've been at home, and aside from a single Aunt Amy visit, it's been a quiet couple of weeks...

Susan took the boys to an indoor play facility with lots of bouncy castles and slides today. Here's Josh on the way home.

Josh, having decided it's time to be upside-down

Josh and Mommy baking a crumb cake

Josh and Sam playing on Sam's kindle

Sam, enjoying a summer evening at a local playground

This is Josh a a tennis lesson. It was his only camp this year and met four times. They did tennis and basketball and soccer and something else. 

Josh has adopted one of Cousin Emily's donated pokemon dolls. He's named it Baby Margaret and has spent hours nurturing and holding and swaddling it. Very cute.

Josh again, this time doing basketball. He *does* seem to be good at sports. But his concentration sometimes lagged a little.  :-)

Sam's discovered the tree next to the sun porch is very climbable.

Josh playing with trains with friend Ben, who is nine months older. They played well together, we is never taken for granted at that age!

No real excitement aside from Joshie's Potty Training Boot Camp, which is underway.  Hoping to have him all settled in a new potty routine by the start of school in just two weeks.

Thunderstorms at the Zoo

Susan and  the boys are even now at the zoo while thunderstorms rumble overhead. The zoo has lions and you can board a two-level bus to view them. They can also board the bus, or at least sit on the hood, as you can see below!

Annual Seabreeze Trip

Friday I took the afternoon off and we went to Seabreeze, a local amusement park situated right next to Lake Ontario. It's not a huge park, which is part of its charm: it's easy to get into and move around in. The boys are still young enough that Sam hasn't ridden all the rides yet, and Josh is just getting to the point where he's comfortable on all the kiddie rides. 

We got there around 2 pm intending to stay until it closed at 8 pm, but around 5:30 an electrical storm rolled in, shutting down all the rides.  We foraged for food, sprinting through the rain from shelter to shelter and then played some of the games in the causeway which one associates with parks like this: throwing bean bags at milk bottles, the ring toss, etc. Josh and Sam walked away with several little stuffed animals. The rain let up a little but when it was clear it wasn't going to stop completely we left--around 7 pm. The park was nice enough to offer rain checks for another visit. 

They've revamped the kiddie area and Josh quickly started cycling between several of the rides. 

As you can tell, he had a ball. Sam wondered why they have little rifles in the kiddie area.

This was the first ride Josh went on in the kiddie area, and he looked very serious the whole time.

For the first time ever, Sam and I went on the second largest of the roller coasters, the wooden-framed Jack Rabbit. It has some history: it's the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in the world (and the fourth oldest operating roller coaster, period). When it was built in 1920 it was also the fastest, and still provides a great ride. 

Yikes!

Here we are on the Bobsled, which is smaller than the Jack Rabbit.

We also did the Tilt-A-Whirl--once. Not going to do that one again! Ugh!  Another one which goes in circles is the Music Express, which is not at all nauseating, and can actually provide a pleasant rest break.

It's not the first ride on which I've put my head back and closed my eyes. I kept wondering if they attendants would think I'd passed out.

And we rode the Sea Dragon:

This one swings you back and forth. It was very enjoyable, except for the part of the cycle where you are at the highest point looking down at which you wonder why in heaven's name you decided to risk your life like that.

All in all, a very good day despite the rain. :-)

South Dakota Addendum

My friends Ed and Barbara Hull used to tell of how when their kids were young each of their family trips managed to turn into an odyssey. Broken-down cars, surprise illnesses, violent storms stranding them--the gamut. I remember when I was young on one of our annual summer camping trips the limbo of car trouble and having to pass the time in a parking lot with Stu and Amy, giving Mom and Dad some space while they figured out how to climb out of the little small-town-mechanic gravitational well that had trapped us in its small, expensive little orbit.

We'd planned to drive to Sioux Falls from Mitchell, depart at 11:30 for Chicago, and with a one-hour layer be on our way to Rochester and home by 4:40.

The FAA rearranged those plans a little, finding problems with a couple of screws on the plane which grounded it, awaiting confirmation from the plane's manufacturer in Brazil that it was airworthy. The delay grew hour after hour longer as we wandered the single concourse of Joe Foss International Airport, becoming better and better friends with the nice woman running the gift shop there. Ran into the pilot in the rest room and he couldn't have been more exasperated. The delays made our connection in Chicago impossible and the airline's solution was for us to fly on Friday. Susan persisted and we found a way to make it to Buffalo by midnight, where we would get a rental to drive home to Rochester. As the afternoon passed by and it became increasingly clear the plane wasn't going anywhere we switched to a 5:45 flight to Chicago. 

We made it eventually. And Susan and the boys managed the amazing feat of maintaining good attitudes the whole way. Well, okay, Josh fussed over dinner at a Chili's in Chicago, but that's a very long day for a three-year-old.

Glad to be home.

Sam and his kindle and Susan alerting relatives of the latest news

A good attitude, as I said.  :-)

Josh met a friend in the Sioux Falls airport (FSD), a beautiful two-inch moth. He's not scare of bugs and happily petted it.

Finally, in the air! On the first leg Josh didn't sleep a wink. (He didn't on the flights out either.)

Susan and Sam, happy to sit down for a leisurely dinner in Chicago.

The final flight home--well, to Buffalo, anyway. Don't let Sam's expression fool you--he was a great traveler.