Airplanes!

We are lucky enough (just ask any male, of any age) to be close in proximity to a giant "aviation celebration." There are approximately 2500 aircraft in attendance and they have air shows and airplanes, helicopters and whatever else constitutes craft all over the huge place. We were only there for few hours and were not able to see a lot of what was there. Kai loves, loves, loves airplanes right now and points to the sky as soon as he hears one and yells. So, Kai was pretty much amazed by the whole afternoon.

This is a F-22 Raptor and an older military plane flying side by side. The Raptor is super fast and amazingly loud. It was quite impressive. Even to a girl. ;) Below Kai enjoys watching the airshow with Jake. There were lots of big "oh," "whoa," and "wow" exclamations from Kai during the show. Then he took a break to read his current favorite book, Richard Scary's Transpotation Book and enjoy some Pirate's Booty. I think he might have been a little overwhelmed. After that he ran around a little with Jake following close behind and then came back to our blanket to "oh" and "wow" some more.

There were these awesome little planes for little ones to sit in. When pedaled the propellers twirled. Kai couldn't quite reach the pedals but that didn't seem to bum him out about the experience at all.

Below Kai and I check out more airplane action while near a coast guard helicopter from Elizabeth, somewhere.

Kai was so tired and overstimulated by the time we were leaving to go home he just wanted to sit in the safety of his stroller and gnaw on his fingers. He fell managed to stay awake the whole way home, but fell asleep soon after he hit the bed.

Kai tries on clothes.

Lately Kai has been experimenting with clothing and shoes that belong to Jake and me. Here is a video of the silliness that occurred when he tried on a shirt of mine.

Harmonica Playing.

Kai playing the harmonica solo and with our close family friends Sarah and Andy.

I forgot!

On our boat ride, we saw (what is believed to be) Oprah's lake house located on a lake adjacent to the lake our cabin is on. We got back and I was telling our friend, Genelle, about it and she wanted to get back on the boat so she could track down Oprah and find out what Eckhart Tolle's credentials are. We stayed put.

Slow in the driveway.

Jake's grandparents have a super long driveway at the farm. With appreciation for Kai's love of vehicles, Jake let him "drive" up the driveway. This made for a pretty happy baby.

Pow wow.

Every summer on the reservation where our cabin is located and where I grew up, there is a huge pow wow that lasts a whole weekend. This was the first year that Jake was able to attend. Last year Kai was just six months old. Although he was interested in the goings on then, he was interested in just about anything. This year Kai did a little dancing and bouncing and seemed to enjoy the time we spent there very much. I was so happy to be able to share the experience with my new little family.

Boat ride.

Kai went on his first boat ride last weekend at the cabin. The boat is the very same boat that my mother learned to water ski behind in the seventies. It is in need of a little love in the upholstery and paint departments, but is running like champ at nearly forty years old! Kai was a little curious at first about the whole boat business and then became a little concerned. Aside from attempting to drive the boat he spent much of the ride cuddling Jake or me.

Pulling away from the dock.

Jake and Kai zip each other up. Brr.

Kai steers the boat, tentatively.

Perfect bread.

Crusty. Chewy. Delicious.
By far the best looking loaf to ever leave my oven.

This weekend.

Kai learned to play the harmonica. He sometimes even sounds like maybe he wants to play a little blues. I am completely serious and have been attempting to capture this on video. I will post as soon as we get a good one.

We looked at 10 houses, four on Saturday and six on Sunday. There are three in our maybe pile and zero in our yes pile. ZERO. We just complied a list of about a dozen more. Hopefully our house is in that batch because trying to find a house is exhausting. I took a nap with Kai both days!! Kai did really well with the whole thing though. He was a little rammy at times, but mostly just rolled with it and attempted to pet homeowners' kitties and yelled "mow, mow" at them.

Tomorrow we are going to a playdate at a house of a moms' group member and will be meeting all new people. Hopefully they are super nice and Kai has a great time. We are also meeting up with some moms from the Attachment Parenting group that we belong to. Kai really seems to enjoy playing with a couple of the boys from that group and the moms are fantastic, so I am looking forward to that.

Today Kai and I went to the home of Karla, the La Leche Leage leader, and her son Beau. Kai seemed to have a pretty great time. Beau had a great sandbox with lots of toys in it which Kai really enjoyed exploring. I got some clarification on the leadership accredidation process and some idea or organizing all of my new La Leche League resources. I am off to start working on that right now.

I think he is a genius.

We magically arrived at the public library right at story time. I thought that it was yesterday and that he had napped right through it. But, no, it was today. Yay us. During the last story time we attended there the story teller had the toddlers place a duck on a felt board. When it was Kai's turn he just went up to the board and stuck the duck on like it was no big deal. Now, that felt like a pretty big deal. The other little ones did not do this, so I was especially proud and frankly a little amazed. Well, today, they were supposed to take turns finding the little boy asleep under the hay (you know the rhyme, right?). The story teller brought her board around to each of the little boys there (all boys today, how weird) and Kai was third. When the board got to him she asked him where the little boy was. Kai first pointed to the hay, okay it was a little translucent, and then he lifted it right up. None of the other boys did this, she had to show them. I was one proud mama!

"Love you."

So, when we put Kai to bed at night we say a lot of the same things. First I ask him if he is ready for "night, night." Then we say "night, night" to animals, people, toys, whatever is around. Then we shut the shades and say "night, night" to outside. During this process I am mostly doing the talking and Kai says random "nie, nie" here and there. He also points, waves, blows kisses. and turns out the lights. Then we play down in bed and Jake says "night, night" "see you in the morning" Kai gives him a kiss and usually waves to him and says "nie, nie." He has in the past said "out, out, out" to him which was good for some laughs. Every night Jake tells him "love you" at some point in between the night, nights and see you in the morning and what have you. Tonight, Kai said, "ove ou" right back to him. Oh my goodness. What could break a mommy heart faster than that?

The perfect house.

Although it still eludes us, our Realtor has a long list of houses that we are going to see this weekend. Hopefully something looks like a winner. I will keep you all posted on where Kai will be living.

Did you know that some houses have not only toilets but also showers in the basement? Just hanging out. Chilling in the basement. No walls around them. No doors to shut. Just there. Toilet. Shower.

A new bike trail.

We found a new bike trail that we like a lot. We can pick it up just outside of my mom's neighborhood and then it links up with a trail that was built over a lake using old railroad trestle. It was a great ride and is a good route to get to the local family cafe that we like!

Pictures from the ride:

Fourth of July Festivities.

On the third of July, we joined our friend Genelle and some of her family at a park for fireworks. Kai made fast friends with Genelle's nephew, Josh, who is seven. Kai would take his hand a lead him all around, it was very cute. Perhaps a future babysitter? The fireworks were great and Kai was not afraid of the noise at all. He was into it a bit at first and then he wanted to look at them only out of his peiphery and then he fell asleep. Fast asleep. Through the super noisy finale and all.

On the fourth we went to the holiday goings on in our hometown. It will probably be more fun as Kai gets older, but was a little boring for us. We scooted home to enjoy the baby pool and some pizza with Genelle and her husband, Nick. Then we went back to the park for fireworks. After we located our blanket that we had left in the afternoon to hold our place, we settled in with some hot kettle corn to wait for dark. We were looking around to see if we recognized anyone from high school and I saw only about six blankets away my aunt and uncle. After catching up with them for a bit, it was about time for the fireworks to start. Which were obstructed from our view by a tree. We saw about a third of the display and Kai fell asleep, again.

It was a super low key holiday for us. I am pretty sure it was just what we needed. Now if I can only get Kai back on schedule after being out late two days in a row!

Jake and Kai play in a fountain on the fourth.

About that house.

It was no good.

Onto this house:


And another in the same neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. The house above has all original refinished hardwood floors and woodwork. Looks really great, but the shrubbery needs to go. It is super close to our favorite library and the children's museum.

Today we look at....

this house. I want it to be fantastic. Send us the proper vibes and prayers to make it fantastic!

Swimming Pictures

My aunt sent photos of Kai swimming in the lake!

No picture needed (or probably wanted!!).

So...Kai was playing in the pool again on this hot afternoon. I was hanging out laundry and my mom was playing with him (safely outside the pool). Then she says, "Liz, do you think Kai pooped in the pool?!" He was wearing a cloth diaper with no insert and it was kind of loosely fastened. He did poop, and it did make for a cloudy and stinky pool. Yuck. I don't even want to get into the logistics of cleaning such a mess up, it was a lengthy process. Yuck.