Camping

For weeks (months) prior to our scheduled camping week, we had been advised that we needed to bring precious little for the kids. Nana had bought clothes (many clothes!) and toys (many toys!) for the kids. Thanks again, Effie!

Thanks Nana, for the Elmo... sweatshirt?

Maia eats bananas at Nana's camper.

Maia was fascinated by this radio/cassette player. Since they really just don't make them this big anymore (she's used to ipod docking stations and portable ipod speakers), she wasn't really sure what it was. But it had a lot of buttons and knobs to play with, and she thought the cassette buttons was a piano (or pa-nano)

Maia and Rachael run across the playground.

MmMmM Cake. Actually, I think she was more interested in the ice cream. For Uncle Wayne's birthday: Cake before dinner. For Rachael's birthday: Cake before lunch. It's good.

While being held by Nana, Maia dropped a piece of paper she was holding. She bent over to pick it up, and then raised herself back up using her abs. Nana, as you see here, is working hard to hold her legs as she does this. Maia was delighted by this little game, and did it probably 10-15 times. Her abs apparently weren't tired, but Nana was! MmmmMmm... more cake.

In the background here is Macy (8 months) and her father, Bryan.

 Ah... NAP TIME. It was so wonderful once we finally got her settled for naps. Less hitting of Mommy and Daddy (and, unfortunately, Parker). Less yelling at Mommy and Daddy (Don't lell a' me!!) Fewer "Noooo-wah!"s or pointing her finger saying Don't tahk to me leyik dat!! Happier girl, better able to handle herself and her frustrations. Ah, the "Terrific Twos!"

But isn't she so sweet when she's sleeping?

Actually, she's really a lot of fun most of the time, and the teenagers and other kids loved her. I'm sure it has something to do with how verbal she is, not to mention her quick ability to parrot what's she's heard. Many of which sounded really funny coming from a toddler.

Another little challenge was that while Ray and Maia got over their colds several weeks ago, Parker and I seemed to pick one up. Same one? Who knows! Especially with Little Miss I-drink-it-myself! taking off with everyone's beverages. We had decided to spend meal times working on Maia's skills with a regular cup (no sippy, no lid, no straw), and she did well (when she wanted to), and quickly moved on to full or partially full bottles of water with success. And soon she didn't really care whose bottle of water it was, she was just excited to get a hold of a bottle, unscrew the cap and show off her mad drinking skills!

Poor Parker, for his part, got saline flushes and quality time with the nasal aspirator. Half-way through the week, I decided Parker needed a bath. All those little creases needed cleaning!

I didn't want to waste room on his pretty pink bath chair (poor 2nd kid!) so we just made do with a bottle of water, a washcloth and some Burts Bees wash (YUM!)

Check it out - he's finally starting to get some neck. When he was born, there was essentially no separation between head and shoulders when looking at his back side. Hence the "you've got a linebacker in there" comment. Well, that and he was just BIG.

Fortunately, it was a warm day and he was fairly content being wet and mostly naked. He even did a great job lifting his head, and started pushing up a little with his arms.

More Parker, with moving hands!

Maia watching her DVD.

Parker is getting more wiggly, and managed to totally upset his blanket balance. He wasn't too pleased about this and was turning his head back and forth repeatedly while yelling.

He also spent some in the stroller doing this.

Ah, fire. What camping is all about.

Look. In the Tree. A Piñata!

And the biggest nest like this I've ever seen.

Lynn advised the Park Staff, since this next was in a tree between two busy campsites and a path to the water. We thought they wouldn't do anything, but they eventually sent to teenagers (okay, maybe they were 20) in a pick up truck to get it down. They hadn't the first clue what to do and couldn't reach it anyway. We sat around an early fire and watched them try to figure it out, wondering if we'd all end up being stung. There were no stings following this incident, However, Ray did manage to get stung on his pinkie earlier in the day when sitting in the grass. Fortunately, his bee sting allergy seems to have drastically decreased in adulthood. Yay.

So, on the last campfire night, we sat in the misty rain and watched the ships go by.

Maia was given her first s'more this night as well, however, she was too distracted to eat it.