Washington D.C. and beyond Part I

We took a road trip to Washington D.C. and Cincinnati for our family Holiday. We had so much fun! Here is a little bit of what we saw along the way. We counted and we went through ten different states along the way.

He thinks he has packed everything he needs. He followed me as I packed with an empty duffle bag and got in several times. This is one of his new games, can I fit in that?

He got to watch several movies on the trip. This is at the end of Night at the Museum, and he is dancing along with all the exibits.

Even Little guys don't like too much sun in their eyes. He got to borrow Daddy's shades to make him more comfortable.

At one of his pitstops he took Daddy on a little side adventure, just to see what there is to see. As it turns out, there isn't much.

A veiw of the Appellation Mountains, I think they were really lovely. So many trees!

Camping with Daddy

Last weekend there was a Father-Son camp out, and Adam took Lucas. It was strange for me because it was the first time in about four years I have been alone for a night. I ended up going to dinner with some friends, and then came out and hung out at home. Adam and Lucas had a really great time though. I packed their packs. Lucas was really happy to have a pack like Daddy. He carried the marshmallows and chips. Lucas kept Daddy moving and looking at new things around camp. He helped set up the tent, and enjoyed two and a half hot dogs, though he didn't like the bun.


Here he is investigating his tent




This shows the progression of putting him to bed. He starts out laughing hysterically or crying, you can't tell which, but both mean the same thing: no no no, don' t put me to bed, I have tiny amounts of energy I still want to squeeze out.



Then He calms down. He is so cute, and Adam said he went to bed pretty easy.

Here he is pretending to go to sleep, or something. He might be fussing again because Dad is about to leave, and let him fall asleep on his own.

There was a park at the campground. For those who don't know what Kansas camping is like, you put your tent out on a mowed lawn, and camp maybe with some trees. There is usually a park and flushing toilets. Lucas is very happy to have something to do.

They brought me home a surprise, this picture of a flower. I thought it was really sweet of them.

Visit to the Firehouse

We visited our local firehouse. Lucas was really excited to get to see the firetrucks. He loves any sort of vehicle. The firefighter went through some fire safety information. Then put on his equipment; Lucas was really scared of him once he got dressed. He would not sit on his lap or give him a high five. Then they let the kids loose on the firetrucks. He got to sit in the back seat, stand on the front bumper, and stand on the side rail. He thought it was very cool. There is one picture of him with a little girl. Her name is Megan. She was really afraid, so Lucas held her hand, and made sure that she went before him. It was really cute to see him be so considerate of a friend. He didn't want to leave when the time came, but since he isn't quite old enough to join them, I finally convinced him we could go home.

Manny for hire

I have a close friend that just got rid of the last of her thyroid cancer on Tuesday. She had to be in the Hospital, and needed a sitter for her 2 month old little guy, so she hired Lucas. He was a perfect helper to watch Jaden. He wanted to hold him as soon as he came over, and then wanted to feed him all by himself. We compromised on letting him help hold the bottle while mommy held Jaden. He listened as I told him how he needed to hold Jaden, and support his head. He got Jaden binkies, and blankets, and entertained him during tummy time. It helps that Jaden is an angel of a baby. He slept awesome, and only fussed a little when he was hungry. It was really fun to see Lucas in the big brother roll. I think he will do great. He wasn't too jealous of the time it took to take care of the baby. I had to be really careful though because Lucas thought he was big enough to lift the baby. While he can actually lift that much weight, ummmmmmm bad idea. It was so much fun to do.

Running almost like the wind

Lucas, Adam, Me, Kristen, Steve, Hannah, and Miriam

Another Race! I ran the Wichita River Run for the first time. I loved it. We ran thru downtown, and then through a neighborhood along the river. They had a hairpin turn at one end, so you saw the leaders coming back at the other end. The finish line was at the edge of a really pretty bridge, and made it really fun. Plus Adam and Lucas came and were waiting for me on the final turn so I could have a little cheering section. It is always fun to look for them in the crowd. I will have some pictures later. I ran with Kristen again, though she smoked me. My time was fifty six minutes and something, but I was too worried about passing the last person in my sprint to see the exact time. Overall, it was a little slower than last time, but I'm not too worried. The race was also really cool because there were so many people. It never thinned out much. You had to dodge a lot to make it to the front and try not to trip on other people's heels. It was nice to have the huge crowd because there were tons of people to pull you along and pass (or get passed by). The event was also organized really good, and had tons of fruit (I love orange wedges, they remind me of childhood soccor games), water, sports drinks, bread and candy at the end so you can put the calories back in immediately. A thirteen year old girl took fourth for the women. The guy who won is supposed to be an olympic qualifier or something. When he passed me after his turn, there was no one even close to him. There are usually a group of families from Kenya, but they weren't at this race, they might have given him a challenge. Anyways his time was about 30 minutes. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Fast. Afterwards we went to the River Festaval and looked at a bunch of pottery, and other handmade goods. It really made me miss my studio days. They also had a Kids corner. Lucas was so excited by a bunch of toy trains we sat for about 45 minutes and watched them go around a little oval. There were also a lot of bouncy air toys, and he enjoyed some rought play with the other kids. He gets really social when he is around other kids and tries to show them stuff, they just don't understand his two-year-old accent. It was a really fun day.

Cool things we've seen in the last two weeks.

I made eggs for breakfast the other day, and there was a twin yoke. I have never had this happen. I was a little unnerved by it, so I fed it to my brave husband.

Lucas loves to drive. He gets in the drivers seat when we get home and park the car in the garage, finds some shades, and goes cruising. He will play for quite a while. We have to be sure to turn off any lights he turns on because we want the car to start the next morning. He also loves playing Mario Cart Wii. We have a little steering wheel, and he knows which button to push to make it go. Another favorite driving activities are his bike (he can peddle, but not enough to propel himself, and a ride on fire truck with a steering wheel. We have a really steep driveway, and Lucas has learned it makes him go too fast, so he has learned to stay in the garage. Smart kid, he learns quick. (A little pain makes it even faster.)


We went to the zoo, and a peacock was showing off his feathers. I have seen the bird many times, but never all mad, so you can see all of his feathers. It made me nervous because there were some moms at the zoo who were trying to get their kids to go behind it to get them in the picture. I didn't think that seemed like a good idea, so there is no Lucas in the picture.

While we were on a run last Tuesday we found a baby turtle. We almost ran over it, but it caught my eye as we passed it. Lucas though it was really neat, he loves animals and at about 2" across, he wasn't very intimidated by it. I didn't think to take a picture until after we let it go, but it was really neat, so I wanted to share.

Because we are working on potty training our little tyke, we have been working on allowing him to dress and undress himself. He gets really frustrated because his head is usually too big to allow his collar an easy-off. He also gets a real kick out of getting stuck in his shirt. Here he is trying to put it on, and giggle at all of his effort. He is a real crack up. He also likes to pick out his own clothes. Mom has learned to offer options that are appropriate. He has a pair of bright orange socks that he will pick if given the chance. He will find his orange shorts to match, and he has a bright green, brown and orange stripped shirt that really completes the mix. So, if we don't' want to take a pumpkin out to dinner, we just hide those options (most of you probably know how his Daddy feels about bright colors, especially orange). He is adorable though, and at least he matches. When I was a kid, that wasn't one of my priorities. My poor mother ended up taking a strangely dressed child with her a lot of places because I changed my clothes as we were walking out the door.

Oh, and potty training is progressing slowly but surely. He really likes to use "Daddy's potty" so that helps get him on it. It is so much fun to watch him grow. What a funny kid.