July 11, 2008

The Dam:

• We took the boys to the dam a couple of weeks ago. They were having fun riding with Cameron on the tube. Even Ian loved it. We talked Brady and Brock into going by themselves. After only a couple of minutes the tube, now front heavy, was pulled under the water and sucked the boys in. Cameron jumped in to help because of the cries of disapproval to an uninvited swim. It was good for them to see that they could survive falling in the water.
• There was a lot of algae in the water. It looked like the tiniest little leaves you've ever seen. When Cameron asked Brady what was in the water, Brady pondered a minute and replied, "fingernails".

Camping:

• The weekend of the 4th I took the boys camping with my parents, as well as one sister, her husband and four boys. They all had a blast. When I asked Brady what his favorite part was he said, "playing with cousins". He kept calling them "crazy", which, as my mom pointed out, means "really cool". Brady woke up at 5:30 am the first morning because he needed to go potty. We were going to go back to the tent, but one of Brady's "crazy" cousins was just getting up with his mom. We lit a fire and waited for several hours before everyone else woke up. Papa took Brady fishing with my sister and a couple of her boys before everyone else woke up. My kids have never been fishing before so it was a big deal.
• Ian spent the entire time walking around getting dirty. He was in heaven! He would pump his arms up and down with a grin on his face that was indicative of a baby who has but few boundaries. His mouth and hands were constantly dirty, but he didn't care, and I, for once, had to not care. When we went down by the water, he sat on the side throwing rocks the entire time. I washed all the boys in the icy stream and they all cried. Ian took it the best. He fussed while I was doing it, but was fine once I finished. The other two cried and pouted for quite sometime afterwards.
• Brock, we discovered, is fascinated by fire. He was always picking up cups, forks and other garbage off the ground and asking if he could put it in the fire. I knew it was becoming a problem when he began pulling clean forks out of the bag to put them in the fire. He would just sit on the ground and run his hands through the dirt. He didn't go through as many sets of clothes as Ian, but he was so dirty. He got pitch on his face and in his hair the first day. One half of his face was covered in dirty streaks that would not come off. I just cut the last of it out of his hair yesterday. The first night we were there a lot of them went fishing, but Brock stayed. He talked about fishing the entire time. Finally the morning we were leaving my dad took Brock because he had his heart set on going fishing. They weren't gone for very long, but he had waited so long, and asked so many times that I couldn't see us going home without him having a chance to go.

The Dam (again):

• We had some friends visiting from Detroit/Florida who were staying with Cameron's parents. We went up to the dam and spent the day boating, jet skiing and sitting on the "beach" (not much of a beach). It was great seeing them, and it was also a lot of fun. They are adventurous and spontaneous, which I love!
• Everytime the boat was moving Ian would just sit or lay on me with his head buried in his blanket. He wouldn't budge. Once the boat stopped he would wander around again. I wish there was an easier way to recreate that feeling in him that makes him want to be calm and cuddle.
• Brock loved sitting in the front of the boat and letting the wind blow through his hair. He was a little too bouncy and out of control for my comfort level, so I had to keep reminding myself that he was wearing a life jacket, and that I'm a little over-protective.
• Brady preferred playing in the rocks and the water, or up in the grass. In the boat he had to just sit, and he much prefers playing with friends and cousins. Besides his cousin who is his age, there was also a "friend" a year older, and one a year younger. He just lives to play!

The Water Park:

• We went to the water park the next day. Cameron went with our friend who happens to be a big guy. He's about 6 inches taller than Cameron, and weighs about 130 lbs more than him. They went on one of the water slides together and Cameron said as they reached the top all he could think of was this friend falling on top of him and crushing him.
• Brady loved the kids' area. He would go on the slides by himself and loved floating on the "river", but when we took him on some of the bigger slides he cried and said they were too scary. The smaller pool was his dreamland!
• Brock would not touch the kid pool for the first half of the day. He would run up to go down the slides with Brady and the girls, but he would end up coming down the stairs. When we took him on the bigger slide which blasted you with water at the beginning and the end, was pitch black, except for some small flashing lights, and was quite fast, he loved it. We took him on that one four times. When we got home he said, "the slides were too scary for me".