The Josh Issue

Not that Josh has "issues", just that I happen to have a lot of Joshie photos collected. The first are from a recent Aunt Amy visit. Sam had a family-tree project to work on for school, and Aunt Amy nobly stepped up and played with Josh a great deal. They had a great time.

A recent bad-hair day:

Finally, today was again a Joshie day, for me at least, as Susan ran errands with Sam and then worked with him on schoolwork. So Josh and I went to the Play Museum, which has so many interesting nooks and crannies that one can easily spend a fun afternoon there. Josh did three things there: he played for a LONG time in the mini Wegmans exhibit where you collect your food in a mini card and then ring yourself out and get to keep your receipt. There's also a little deli there now, where he fixed me food. 

Second, there's an old exhibit of a post office. Josh endlessly unlocked PO boxes, placed mail in there, then collected the mail to be put in the mailbox and again delivered. Packages went to a conveyor belt. Kids wandered in and out, helping him and doing it with him.

Lastly he played with their large Thomas trains set:

Sam was at a birthday party for several hours so we ate with Joshie and then relaxed in front of the first fire we've had in a fireplace in a long, long time:

Closing up Camp

Last weekend was Columbus day and also closing-up-camp weekend. We drove through rain to get there, but true to the forcast, it was merely cold and cloudy when we arrived. It was in the 40s most of the weekend, with the porch thermometer reading 32 Monday morning.

And it was great to be up there. :-)

For the first time I brought bicycles up, and it made the weekend. The boys and I went on a trip around the pond, took the bikes down the Lampson Falls trail, and biked around the state park (which, happily, is free now that camping season is over). 

Visited with the Sitterlys, who are, I think, doing reasonably well.

Due to the warm September the leaves were just at peak, and were stunning. Below are some photos from the weekend.

This is Sunday. The dock's out (managed to get it out without getting into the 40-deg water!) and Josh is looking for leaves. We found several bright red leaves as well as a field of mushrooms on the Doran's lawn (see below).

Notice how low the water is. Amazingly, a couple of times we saw jetskis on the water.

Hanging out enjoying the warmth inside. Sunday night we had a family movie night and watched the first half of The Sound of Music. The boys really got into it! And for a 50-year-old movie it holds up extremely well--good acting, dialogue, music, the works. Finished it Monday night. Very memorable.

Josh, in midair. Notice J's in his jammies. He will often try to spent the whole day in his footie pajamas if he can. And why not?

Both boys pitched in with cleaning. Sweeping the deck is a coveted task since it's so satisfying. J did the Bounce dryer sheets and Sam did some other odd jobs, like checking the windows to make sure they were all locked. Usually Sam helps me sweep the roof, but this year it was both too cold and too slippery, so I did it myself, barefoot.

Monday morning was very foggy and beautiful.

The afore-mentioned mushrooms.

By mid morning on Monday the sun broke through.

This is at the end of Cottage Road by the big bay. 

Everywhere you looked there were bright leaves. Just lovely. 

A misty panorama

...and a sunny one

The leaves from the bridge in South Colton. Love the slate color of the icy water.

Okay, maybe this is getting redundant, but the leaves were so perfect!

 Chris Thomas is doing the water this year, which made closing up much easier than usual. The only hitch was our ladder, which was entirely and surprisingly missing. Still don't know where it is.

First Day Back to School!

The boys went back to school today. For Sam it's off to the middle school which is much larger than Cobbles. The kids are divided into three "houses" and have a three-day schedule they are responsible for navigating. They had two sessions when the kids could go in, set up their lockers, and walk through their schedules, and we did both. He'll certainly be getting a lot of exercise! Josh had a similar thing yesterday where he got to go in for an hour and meet the teacher and aides (there are 23 or 25 kids in his class). The teacher was very welcoming, and he got to see his coat hook, cubby, etc., all labeled with his name. It's full-day K, which is a big jump for him. During a get-to-know-you activity the teacher went around the room passing around a fish, and when you got the fish you told your name. When it came to Josh he hid behind Susan and let her say his name. 

Last night Sam was a little emotional. He's in house C, and most of his friends are in other houses, and I think the transition's a little overwhelming. But this morning they were both in good spirits. Sam catches the bus at 7:23, so started waking him at 6:30. (ugh!) Fortunately, there were two other kids at the bus stop with him, a 7th and an 8th grader who he at least is familiar with. 

Josh wasn't the only one catching the bus for the first time. A boy from down the street whom we met only a couple of days ago was there with his entourage of parents, aunts and uncles--about 8 in total--and his dog. Josh was THRILLED to get to ride the bus with his neighbors Ethan and Payton and Jacob. (P&Js grandparents are on the left in the photo below.) Josh's bus is at 8:20. 

Both boys enjoyed some home-made banana chocolate-chip muffins Susan made.

Now we are hoping they both enjoy their first days back.

Ethan, Payton, Jacob and Josh. P&J were excited that it's Josh's first day.

This white rock on the neighbors' lawn which the boys wait for the bus on.

Westerville Collinses visit plus some extras

Stu and Sue and Kevin and Emily and her friend Kelly visited us on their way up and back from camp, where they spent a week. On the way up we celebrated Sue's birthday, and on the way back it was Stu's (including a little pickup volleyball--not shown). It was delightful meeting Kelly, and as far as my interrogations could determine they had a very good time at camp. On the way back we made time for the Play Museum, where Kelly scaled a skyscraper to catch up with Sam:

Two book worms

This was at the Play Museum--it's made out of toothpicks

Okay, here's the last family Seabreeze trip of the summer. We happily brought along Sam's friend Ayden. Not so many photos of this trip because, well, you've seen it many times...

Josh wanted to spent the day mostly watching the world go by, in the shade. It was a hot day, but I think he was fighting something off. He has a killer immune system. Pretty much anyone else would have been in bed with a fever, but Josh just dragged a little. Still had a great time.

And here are some random photos:

Last night we happened to eat really late--8 PM. Going to enjoy the sun porch as long as we can!

This seems a little funny, but it's the boys in a pew at church. Josh is doing the activities in the kids' bulletin and Sam is drawing, both contently. One of the little things it'd be nice to remember as they grow older. :-)

Labor Day Zoo Trip

Decided to make a zoo trip today. Got there not long after opening to avoid the crowds and heat. 

Actually, the high today is only 80. But in the sun it felt hot.

Not as hot as the post-apocalyptic heat death the planet is in for in anther 50 years, just to put it in perspective.

Anyway, back to the zoo. All four of us were there, so we could split up. Makes it much more enjoyable. Susan hung out with Josh while he played in the stream and playground, while I went off with Sam to, you know, look at animals. 

Otters were hiding. Tiger couldn't be bothered. Alligator were immobile, but that's their thing anyway. However, Bela the young orangutan was quite active and seemed to relish the attention of the crowd. The sea lions, swimming as they were in cold water, were quite happy, as were the elephants, who were being sprayed down. (They raised their trunks to drink from the spray.)

But the highlight were the ring-tailed lemur babies, only a week or two old, climbing all over their mom's back. 

And we even thought ahead and packed a lunch! Which made us feel better about getting slushies down in the African exhibit. The visit began with a time out for Josh who'd hit Sam but whose apology was too anemic to count. It ended with the boys satisfied at three hours of fun, ready to go home. 

Sam learns to ride a bike!

Sam's ten. He's never shown any interest in learning to ride a bike, despite our nudgings. Finally this summer I told him we needed to get that skill under his belt. So we went out maybe 4 or 5 evenings total, all summer, and he cruised around the driveway on his bike, with the pedals removed. The idea is to get your balance and then to put the pedals on after. On the 3rd evening or so, I made a little course where he and Josh could cruise through and touch the various cones and obstacles to get some practice turning. 

Finally last week we took them to the parking lot of a local park. It was just after sunset but we had half an hour of light. After practicing a couple times more, I put his pedals back on.

Here he is just before learning to ride a bike:

And here he is just after:

I don't think he expected he was about to know how to do it, but it was easy. Since he already knew how to balance, once the pedals were on he immediately took to it and started zipping around the parking lot. He was ecstatic, as were we! In the following days he's wanted nothing more than to ride around the neighborhood with his friends, or alone.

Afterward he thanked me for teaching him to ride a bicycle. I really wish I had that on tape! It will certainly be one of the sweetest interactions of his childhood.

Yesterday we went out and got him a bike. The one he learned on was a little hand-me-down from some friends, way too small for him (but consequently good for learning on, because his feet reached the ground very easily). We went out immediately to Meridian Park which has a nice complex of paths and trails for the boys and I to ride on. (Susan's bike is being refurbished.)

Joshie is riding a little balance bike of his own. He's not yet sold on pedals--though he did give them a quick try last night. Maybe soon, he too will be riding...

camp, part 4--the falls and rapids of the Colton area

We took Katie and Stephen on two little hikes--one to Lamson Falls, and one to the Stone Valley trail in Colton. Okay, we also took them on the Beaver Pond trail in Higley, but I am now showing that here. 

Lampson was a lot of fun. It's a bit of a drive--almost half an hour--but a nice hike. We let the GPS and google's directions take us to the wrong place first, the driveway half a mile down from our destination. We pulled down an unpaved road for a few hundred feet and then saw a shirtless man with a white beard and his wife (who was sipping from a glass of white wine) driving a golf cart our way. They came over and very kindly let us know that the GPS was wrong and that they regularly get visitors who are trying to go to the falls. 

The roots of a huge up-ended tree

At the top of the falls

...and from the bottom

Aren't they a cute bunch? Not pictured here: the garter snake and the several frogs we spotted, or the beautiful little bird...course now I can't remember what kind of bird that was. 

Okay, now for the Stone Valley trail. Right out of Colton, short, but a huge amount of fun since it affords the opportunity to scramble over large rocks and wade in the shallows off to the edges of a stream with lots of rapids--if that makes sense.

Josh was pleased to find a rock which resembled an easy chair

I think this was meant to look like the cover of an album

Stone Valley is a really special place for us. We hiked it three times that week, in addition to the time Josh and I went earlier in the summer. It was a real pleasure to share it with S&K!

Back in Rochester for a couple of days we managed to make a trip to Dinosaur BBQ, followed by a quick stop by the High Falls (which we'd never been to), where we discovered a little visiting area at the Genesee Brewery. Very pleasant. But first, Katie reading to Josh: