Lorrain County Fair

We hit up our second county fair for the season, the Lorain county fair. 
We went after work on Wednesday, so it wasn't too crowded.  This is one of the larger fairs, and was a combination of adult and junior showings.  We walked through the junior animal barns and the boys had fun talking to the animals.  At the time we were there, the ponies were being shown with their kid riders.   Tam was fascinated at being that close to horses being ridden around the field (he was at the fence).  Jude kept insisting that the mottled horses were cows.  When I corrected him, he would make his horse sound..."hee-haw."

 Jude: Tractor! Tractor!  My Tractor!

Translated: Can we take this tractor home? 

 Tamlin:  Look at these huge wheels!  Take my picture in the wheel, mom!  Look I'm a bridge!
Translated: I'm cute; Mom, you always take our picture in the big tractor wheels.

Me:  Hey, boys, let's get a photo of you two together in the wheel...
(This is the only shot of a dozen where they are looking at me at the same time.)

Of course, we had to get greasy fair food...like a bucket of fries and fresh squeezed lemonade.
And then Brian found...
Fried Cheese Curds made with Wisconsin Cheese!
We haven't eaten good cheese curds since Minnesota...they are so decadent and so bad for you.
Yummy!

Tamlin tried one and decided they weren't for him.  Jude, however, thought they were awesome.

We walked all over the fair and ended up in the game and ride area right before going home.  We usually never play the games (all rigged and giving away crap prizes).  However, there was skee-ball...and it was only a quarter for a game.  I, for once, had 25 cents.  Tam has played before, but mostly on the iPad.  He wasn't ready for it to be such an incline and Jude tried to climb up the track after the ball.  The two boys got a grand score of zero, but had fun.

 The rides were expensive and we weren't willing to pop for two wristbands for unlimited riding.  We compromised with 5 rides and told Tam to choose 4 (and hoped to find one for Jude).  Tam LOVES rides already and really wants to try the big rides too.  Thankfully, he isn't quite big enough for those yet, but soon.  He choose a mix of roller-coaster-like rides and swing-like rides.  Here is a bus that rotates in a circle up into the air.  Tamlin loved this and was grinning from ear to ear.
Jude wasn't as happy...  "My swing!  My swing!  Jude swing!" 

Right at the end, we found a ride that allowed little ones over 30" ride without an adult.  It was a scrambler-like ride but went pretty slow (no flinging the kids against the side of the cars).  Jude was super excited that he could ride, and super upset that he couldn't ride RIGHT NOW but had to wait in the short line for his turn. 

 Jude doesn't look so sure about this now.  

He did not want to ride with Tamlin but insisted on his own car.

 Once the ride started moving, Jude LOVED it.  He smiled the entire time!

 Tamlin had fun too...

 Tam insisted on making car sounds and funny faces whenever we waved at him :-)

Overall, the fairs were hits, though, I am sure we will have to budget more for rides in the future :-)

Bunk Beds

We got bunkbeds

...

Well, we had bunkbeds, but only had had one of the beds set up...

then we lost the screws to the other bed...

and then asked the company to send us new ones...

which they did...

and then we put the bunkbeds together.

And we tried to tell Jude not to climb up to the top bunk...

but this failed...

Jude still sleeps on the bottom bunk and Tamlin is on the top bunk ...
and so far it seems to be working out and Tam is ok with sharing his space during play time :-)

Family visits

This past weekend Nana Margie and Papa John visited (Brian's mom and step-dad).  They adored the only 2.5 hour drive instead of 7 hours. They came in on Friday and left Sunday afternoon.  I know our house is a little smaller here, but the weather was so nice we spent much of the time outdoors.

Tam spent much of the visit playing racing games with his Papa on the Wii.  I think Papa quite enjoyed it too.  They called each other "racing buddies."  Jude spent time enjoying all the attention and love from everyone.  I know I liked just having family here to hang out with and just share are fun little town with. 

Our friend Tom and his family came in on Saturday too...but they brought their own pop-up trailer to sleep in :-)  It was a bit of chaos, but a good chaos.




We walked to the beach down the road several times.  The waves were rough on Friday and Saturday, but calmed down greatly by Sunday morning.  The water was mostly clear and rather warm = great for wading and swimming.  With the wave action, our nearby beach was more rock than beach...but there was lots of driftwood for the picking.  The waves scared off any swimming, but we did have fun combing the beach for wood, beach glass, cool rocks, and treasure.  Both boys are fairly fascinated with rocks and create large piles of them (I have to limit how many can come home).  Tom collected drift wood for a decorating project for his house.  John was selected several sea bricks to become candle holders and Margie found some beach glass.

Tam insisted on wearing his goggles. 




However, on Sunday we went to the town beach and the water was much calmer.  Lots of swimming and splashing was done by the kiddos.  I couldn't believe how much Jude LOVED the water.  He waded right in without any prompting except to follow his brother.  And he kept on wading...until the water was right under his chin!  We all kept a very close eye on him, since it seems his fear of water has dissipated.  He even fell once or twice and pushed himself right back up off the bottom of the Lake.  We so need to get him lessons soon.

   

Kick, Kick, Kick, Jude!

Saturday night we roasted marshmellows over the grill and played with sparklers.  I wasn't even sure the sparklers would light since they were left from a mega-pack I bought way back in Minnesota in 2003.  The kiddos quite enjoyed staying up until dark, sugary marshmellows, and fireworks :-)



We did spend time at the farmer's market and showing off our quaint little town.  Tam did a good job pointing out the candy shop.  Jude did fairly well with an outing in underwear (potty-training success)...Here I'm jetting across the road to the bathrooms with the little guy.

We also insisted on getting ice cream and malts at the soda fountain...I think Tamlin got most of his into his mouth and not all over it.

 

The kids also showed off the swings in the park and the best places to watch the boats come in and out of the channel.  Brian and I had fun of dreaming of the day we could own one of the boats to cruise around the lake in :-)

Sweet moments on the lake

Have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE being near the Lake again?  One of the publics beaches/ parks is only about five blocks from the house.  We walked down there tonight after dinner in the hopes of tiring the boys.   Tamlin rode his little bike.   He is getting pretty good at pedaling now.   Jude rode in the wagon which I pulled.  He adores riding in the wagon and kept a running commentary of everything he saw as we walked along.  It was a slow enough pace that Brian and I could hold hands and just enjoy time spent together outdoors.

  I love watching the lake change with the weather and hearing the waves crash on the breaker walls and seeing the sunsets.   This evening the lake was a bit churned up from recent storms earlier in the week.  This meant virtually no beach and waves swallowing the rocky breaker wall most of the way. We braved the waves together as a family as we walked along the rocks.  Tamlin was nervous and insisted on a hand being held.  Jude was more brave and wanted to jump the puddles and waves.  

We sat together as a family...Jude in Brian's lap and Tamlin in mine.  My oldest child insisted on my arm being firmly around his middle in a hug to keep him safe.  

Yes, buddy, I will always try to keep you safe.  Always.

When we tired of listening to the waves, we played on the playground for a bit.  There was lots of swinging and sliding :-)  We didn't stay for the sunset tonight because of bedtimes...but soon...I told Tamlin that at our new home we will be able to watch the lake change through the seasons.  He was curious about this and how waves are made and why wind is invisible.  Trips to the library may be in the future.

Latest notes on the boys

Tamlin...
Is sleeping on the top bunk bed and loving it.
Has mastered pedaling his two-wheeler with the training wheels and using the hand brakes.
Is working on making the swing go on his own, but loves being pushed high.
Loves going in the water and will jump into the deep end with Daddy.  (He's thinks he wants to jump from the dive board, but backs down).
Recognizes a few words on sight, "Truck", "Car", "Dinosaur" and "Stop"
Can do some simple addition
Has started doing chores: Put dirty clothes in hamper, hanging jammies on hook, putting dirty dishes in sink, shredding paper.
Loves playing games with others on the iPad
Sayings include: "One more game", "I wasn't talking to you", "I love you", "What are we going to do today?","Let's go see the cousins","I'm going to see the neighbors", "Hey, Mom...I've got something to tell you","Can I play on the iPad?"
Often wants to play with whatever Jude is playing with





Jude...
Has figured out how to climb the ladder to the top bunk, but can't get down again.
Loves to ride in the wagon on walks.
Adores swinging and has learned to lean his head back and laugh like a maniac (thanks to brother).
Can kick when on his belly in the water
Is starting to put words together, such as adjectives and nouns like "Big Car"
Knows his body parts
Knows that he is JuJu or Jude (exclaims this and pats belly)
Will count to ten on his own, but tends to repeat three and five and forget six and seven.
Recognizes many letters, including M, O, F, T, I, H, E
Has figured out how to push the kitchen chairs around to climb up to the counters
Has figured out that he can swing on the galvanizes clothes bar in the upstairs cubbies.
Amazes me with how his much his brain is thinking...such as walking on a fallen tree on the beach and hooting like a monkey, then saying "JuJu, Monkey"
Often wants to play with whatever Tamlin is playing with




Probably a few others that I'll think of soon...

Potty training update

We are back to the potty training Jude...

And we are "mostly" successful!

He will say "potty", sometimes before he needs to go...but sometimes just as he starts.  We are rewarding the early acknowledgements and consoling the misses.  The rewards are M&Ms and stickers, so we get "Pee!"  followed by "M!" shouted loudly from the toilet.  For going number 2 in the potty (mostly misses currently), he gets a prize airplane. 

He is still in a pull-up diaper for the night, but he does say dry a good portion of the time.  I've been bold and placing him in underwear during the day...Brian is not quite as brave and often gives him pull-ups.  But, we have cleaned and placed all the cloth diapers away.  No more diapers!

Jude has certainly come to understand that he can control his pee and is fascinated in watching it come out.  He is the thinker compared to his brother.  I'm just so proud of him hitting this milestone!

Of course Tamlin is the helpful big brother.   He is often asking Jude if he has to go potty...but he knows that if Jude is successful on the potty, he gets a M&M too :-)