Afternoon with Grandmas.

Great-Great Grandma Pary, Kai and Grandma Judy enjoy
a story about pets.

Sunday afternoon we went out to see Jake's grandparents at their farm again. Kai had a fun time playing with toys, reading books and running around in and outside. Jake and Kai experimented with echo in the empty barnyard by yelling and whistling while the grandmas and I played a game of Scrabble. (I squeaked out a win.) We had a fantastic dinner and Kai tried jello for the first time. Kai seems to really like his Grandma Judy and Grandma Pary. He shares things with them and likes to feed Grandma Pary. During times when Kai and his grandparents are enjoying the company of one another I am very glad that we made the move here.

Despite the extra help Grandma Judy received,
I still pulled out a win!

Farmers Market

This morning we went to the local seasonal farmers market. It really was kind of amazing. The main street in the central city in the area is closed down for three blocks. There are the usual produce stands that one would expect to find at a farmers market in addition to crafters'/artists' booths, food vendors and musicians playing in several locations. There was an amazing number of people there. It was unlike any farmers' market I have ever seen. We got some great baby red potatoes about ranging in size from a small marble to largish jawbreaker, which I made into a Cesar-y potato salad. Kai enjoyed the view from his stroller over the view from Jake's shoulders and checked out most of the goings on from there. Apparently every Saturday for the rest of the summer the same level of farmers' market madness takes place. I am looking forward to more things coming into season to snatch up fresh from the busy market.

Kai gets a pool.

I picked up a baby pool at the local hardware store. I wanted to get him a super silly air filled frog looking one that spouted water out of the head. My mom was afraid that the little dog featured in the video would get excited, jump in and pop it. I am officially going on record saying that the little dog is not jumping into anything. Kai seems to like this hard plastic pool very much. I think that I may have had the same pool at my grandparent's house one summer. My sister or grandmother will need to confirm this. Kai has little bruised knees and shins from throwing himself around the pool. He really likes to walk a step or two and then fall down in an exaggerated fashion. Anything for a laugh.

Kai eats food!

Many are familiar with Kai's struggles with the world of solid foods. He has had some recent strides in the snacking area. He is into Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and Bunny Grahams and a couple of different cereals. Then I let him try a tortilla chip and now he wants anything that comes from a bag. He had these little cheesy puffs from a local family cafe that has all organic snacks which they purchase in bulk and put into Kai's covered bowl. He likes them a lot. His biggest achievements in the food area have been in the past couple of days. Yesterday he fed himself yogurt, probably about a 1/4 cup, which is really a lot for Mr. Kai, then he followed that up with a couple spoonfuls of mashed potatoes! Today he ate at least a dozen tofu squares from miso soup at lunch. At dinner he ate two carrots which were cooked until tender in chicken broth and he dipped them into mushed up cottage cheese. Huge, right? That is practically real eating!

My little eater, chowing down toddler style.

Also, see that cup? He freaking loves that cup. He yells to have it near him whenever it enters his line of vision. He like to drink from it backwards. He has stopped letting the water inside dribble out his mouth. Not only does he eat...he drinks!

Strawberry Picking

On Monday Jake, Kai and I went to a local farm to pick strawberries. Kai is not much of a strawberry picker. He is actually not much of a strawberry eater. He is, however, a fantastic strawberry smoosher and marking flag waver. While Jake and I raced to pick berries before Kai lost all of his strawberry field patience, Kai walked up and down the rows waving Jake's marking flag and occasionally stopping by our baskets to smoosh a berry in his hand and out his fingers. Messy, messy, messy.

Turns out Kai likes tractors more in theory and small scale than in towing a wagon practice. He stuck pretty close to mama home during the ride in and out. As you can see by my shoulder, Kai was not the only one lucky enough to wear berry home.

Jake and I managed to pick just over 20 pounds of strawberries. So far we have eaten at least five pounds of berries sliced over ice cream. It was a Jake's insistence that I even tried this. Not only are they sliced, but also sprinkled with enough sugar to make a little bit of a saucy situation. It is pretty delicious. I made a strawberry clafoutis. Yummy little custardy dish. Tonight my mom and I worked together to make jam. It was my first foray into canning. There are also a few vacuum type bags in the freezer waiting for a less straw-bountiful day to make an appearance. I think that we may pick a few more to make more jam to gift this Christmas. I have to talk to Kai in the morning to see if he is up for another tractor ride.

Kai goes north again.

We were at the family cabin again over the weekend. There were tons of family and friends there for a scattered thunderstorm type of weekend. Although I did not get any shots of it, it was nice enough for more than a fifteen minute stretch so Kai and I got in some lake swimming action. He was into it. He had the best time walking around in the shallow parts.

Family friends, Bruce and Linda, brought up this awesome chair for Kai to use. It came from Linda's brother who is married to a Swedish woman. It has two positions, one is reminiscent of a restaurant high chair and for the other the bottom half flips up and makes a little table. I cannot find anything like it to link to and I didn't get a great picture. It is sort of visible in the photo below. This chair is awesome.

It is also nice for everyone to see that I gave Kai an entire cookie. It is oatmeal and therefore does have qualities that make it a moderately healthful snack.

Other than eating less than completely healthful and sugar free snacks in a cool chair, Kai did have some adventures. Maggie, a Welsh Corgi puppy was there to play with. She is tiny and sweetly takes all food offered by Kai. Bruce and Linda's daughter and her boyfriend were there and helped to watch after Kai while I was packing us up to head home. In the short time in their care Kai sat in the canoe, sat on the riding lawn mower, walked down and up the big hill and explored the bed of Bruce's truck. Not bad for 20 minutes. I am sure that you can imagine how busy the other 48 hours were for us.

Up a tree.

There are several trees in my mom's yard that are wonderfully climbable. If you are into that sort of thing. I am not. Jake and Kai are. To me, it is scary to be in a tree. Kai did have a couple of worried glances my way, but I put on an excited face to thwart the transfer of my fear to him. He mostly digs tree climbing. He is actually really into trees in general. He points to them out the window in the mornings and likes to walk by and reach up at low hanging branches. He is pretty much a little tree hugger - literally at this point - philosophical tree hugging will come later I am sure.

Good bye little sister, see you soon.

My sister, Katherine and my niece and nephew started their long journey back to California yesterday. My brother-in-law, Steve, is in the Army and they are currently stationed in southern California. Last week Steve was informed that he will have to spend a year in Kuwait and will be leaving for training in September. This was very unexpected news and threw my sister into a flurry of planning what will happen to her family for the next year and a half or so. She spent her last days in Wisconsin house hunting and made an offer on a home nearby just before leaving. We have not heard from her yet today but I am hoping that she gets good news. Her grace upon hearing from Steve about his deployment was quite admirable. She stayed very calm and strong while on the phone with him and in front of her children. It was amazing to see my little sister holding herself and her family together in a situation that would probably have me hiding in bed a blubbery mess.

House offer accepted or not, Katherine and her children will be moving back to the area just prior to the start of the school year. I wish that it were under circumstances that did not require Steve to be sent to the Middle East, but it will be a nice change of pace to have my sister a short bike or car ride away for a little while. Hopefully I can help to keep her positive and focused or distracted depending on her needs while Steve is away. Although, if the last week is any indicator of her coping abilities, she would fare just as well without my intervention.

Here is my first of many shouts out to Steve for a safe trip and speedy return.

Happy Father's Day!

I am so happy that I picked such a wonderful mate to have babies with! Lucky Kai and Mama!
Yay, Jake!

Pictorial: Serious Business in the Backyard

Every Kai Loves a Parade

Kai so absorbed in the parade
that he was able to keep his sunglasses on his face!

Saturday we attended Kai's first Flag Day Parade. It contained drums, trucks, cars and motorcycles. Of course, he liked it very much. The weather was absolutely perfect and we were in good company with our friends Nick and Genelle and their two nieces sharing some sidewalk with us.

Genelle and Audrey shake it.

Exalted Ruler of the Lions Club. For real.

After the parade was over the University of Wisconsin marching band played in a near by park. They were very energetic, especially for having just finished marching a long parade in the summer sun. Kai was a little unsure. I think it was the proximity of our spot (pure luck) that got him.

Kai not so sure about the crazy band.

There was a pow-wow in the same park after the non-marching band was finished playing. There were four drums and a surprising number of dancers in attendance. Kai was a little rammy after an afternoon of parade and band. He did do a little dancing and after we strapped him into the stroller to hit the road he was content to watch the dancers for a few minutes more.

In the end it was a long, long day in the sunshine, but Kai fared very well and was still up for playing when we finally made it home.

On a side note, Jake and I watched The Mist after Kai went to bed. Has anyone seen this?! It is pretty horrific, especially the end.

Rain, rain...

My sister arrived this week and so did the rain. It has been raining for days and is forecasted to continue through Friday. Thank goodness for the local children's museum! That is where Kai and his cousins spent some time this week.

Kai and Sami painting at the children's museum.

On Friday my sister and I were in pursuit of the perfect swimming suit. You know, the one that makes it look like pregnancy and breastfeeding have had the same effects on you that they have had on say...Heidi Klum...none. After I admitted defeat, we met my mom for Friday fish fry. Friday fish fry did not seem to exist in PA, but there are several good spots here for some all you can eat fried fish and potato pancakes. Delish. On the way there Kai watched a dinosaur video in my sister's car which has DVD players for the kids on their long trips from CA to WI. Kai had very serious and silly looks on his face several times. Eye brows knit, the "O" shaped mouth, and so on. He was super quiet until he said very seriously, very quietly, "Uh - oh." I can only assume that things were not working out well for a dinosaur.

Jake started his new job this week and so far things are going well. He had two days of orientation and training and they decided that he should join a crew and learn the rest as he goes. So, he had Friday, Saturday of six pm to six am. Tonight is one more night and then two days of 6 am to 6 pm and then he is off for a three day weekend. The new schedule is pretty nice, the most days in a row he will work is three and every other weekend is a long weekend. Unfortunately, all of the weekends that we wanted to go to the cabin as a family he has to work. On the bright side he will have off for five days at Thanksgiving and seven days at Christmas without using any vacation. I guess this is a fair trade.

Tomorrow I meet with my Le Leche League leader to continue conversations that are the beginning of the leadership process. I am really looking forward to getting good and started on this. I ordered one of the books that I need last week and am waiting for it to arrive at our local Barnes and Noble. I am looking forward to the process of becoming a leader because it seems as if it will give me a chance to reflect on the type of mother and person I am and that I want to be. It will be beneficial to have a reason to focus on that.

Welcome Hazel!

Hazel made it safely into the world!
Congratulations to Tasha and Bryan!

Kai and Liz give a shout out...

To Tasha and Hazel, hard at the work of birth!

Thinking of you and wishing you the very best!!!

Kai and Bikes

I got a new bike this weekend and I am pretty sure that they only person who loves it more than I do is Kai. He made all of the necessary adjustments to the bike before I took it out for the first official spin. Thank goodness he now has a garage in which to do his work.



This weekend Kai also went for his longest bike ride yet. About an 8 mile round trip trek to a park to play in the sand and slide down the slides. He did really well and seemed to enjoy the ride in his new trailer very much. There are miles upon miles of mutli-use trails in the area, so there are longer trips in his future. The library that we love is about a ten mile round trip, so we may try that out in the next couple of days.





Kai's other weekend pursuits were playing in the backyard and establishing to the dogs that he is indeed one of the pack leaders. To achieve this, Kai spends time yelling and waving his hands about at the dogs and occasionally shouting "NO!" in their general direction. This seems to be effective.

The most exciting new development is that my sister, niece and nephew are are less than two hours away. Tomorrow will be the first time that Kai meets his cousins! I am so excited for him to have live-in playmates for the month! Not to mention that my very best friend will be only a room away instead of across the country. I am sure a flood of pictures will be posted in the coming weeks!

Molars Continue

Molars are torture. They are torture for Kai and they are torture for me. Kai spent most of the early morning tossing, turning and crying and then the afternoon in a super sour mood. He requested an early bedtime, I was happy to oblige.

Will post pictures of bike riding and other adventures from the weekend tomorrow. Hopefully by then my brain will be back in functioning order.