Cox Farms, part cinq

When the weather starts cooling down I can start thinking about fun family activities. Cox Farms is one of our family traditions in Virginia. We have gone every year but one since Josh was Ben's age. The kids run themselves into the ground and we all have a fun time. Unfortunately, with cooler weather there also comes more rain so our trip today was cut short, but we had a great time!

Last year, Ben was in the stroller for most of the time. That was nice. Really nice. This year he had opinions and legs to take him where he wanted. He definitely has that cute bowlegged baby run. He loved climbing on the hay and the couple of times I took him down the slide, but otherwise he mainly just wanted to eat or explore far, far away from the rest of us. Mommy has strong feelings about the latter so we had some tantrums today. And I was just thinking the other day how nice it was that Ben wasn't having the tantrums at this age that the other boys did...
The boys loved hanging out in these chairs set up for lost parents and teachers.
Both Josh and Michael were very independent today. They ran off to do all the activities with their buddies, Kevin and Alek, without needing much from me. That sort of thing gives me hope. The farm wasn't very crowded, so they got the chance to do the rope swing and go down the slides as many times as they wanted without much of a wait.
Michael loved the goats. I have several pictures of him petting/chasing/watching them. I don't know what he is doing in this picture exactly, but it looks kind of funny.
Here is just one picture of Michael going down the volcano slide. There are several of this kind of slide at the farm and they are the main attraction for the boys. They can pick up some speed coming down, but at the bottom it flattens out and they come to a gentle stop. Then they jump right up and climb back up the hill to go again and again and again. And then we move on to the next slide and repeat the process.

A couple of hours into our visit today it started to mist and then drizzle and then sprinkle and then rain. Between mist and drizzle they shut down most of the slides. Between sprinkle and rain I decided I was done being wet and didn't want to get much wetter so we went home. But the payoff (seen below) always makes this sort of trip worth it.

Meemaw

Yesterday, my Meemaw died after having suffered a stroke on Thursday morning.

Since her stroke was on Thursday, I had some time to prepare. I felt quite like the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and got my crying out before she died. Somehow, thinking that she might be suffering in her last days was worse than knowing that she has returned to our Heavenly Father once she died. Now my sorrow is for the living - for those she left behind who must cope with her absence. For Grandpa. For her sons and their wives. For all of us grandchildren.

In any case, I have spent some time in the last few days thinking over my memories of her and thought I would write some down.

--One of my memories of Meemaw is grocery shopping with her in Houston and how she used to clip coupons and shopped the sales. At the time, it seemed like quite a hassle and I find it funny that I do the same thing now.

--I remember the sweet look on her face when my Dad would tease her. My Dad knew just how to tease and compliment her at the same time and it always delighted her.

--She always encouraged me to write. When I sent her letters from camp, she kept them for me so I could have a record of my experiences. A little over a month ago, she called to thank me for the weekly e-mail updates I was sending them of my little family and encouraged me to keep them also as a record of our experiences.

--One of my treasured belongings is the photo album she made for my 14th birthday of pictures of me since birth.

--Not really a memory, but with our three boys I am more and more impressed with her having raised four boys. That takes some stamina. And to have raised four good men is an even bigger accomplishment.

--I remember helping her clean her room. She showed me the dolls she had since her childhood. She showed me the jewelry Grandpa had given her and how pleased she was with his taste and thoughtfulness. She showed me the broach made of the Eagle Scout pins of her four sons of which she was so proud.

Of course, there are many, many more but my littlest boy is begging for some snuggles and these kind of reminiscences make me want to hug my boys tight and enjoy the time (hopefully long) that we have.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Tuesday was Jason's birthday. His 38th birthday. He pointed out that is 2 years off of 40. I don't think it helped when I told him that 40 is the new 50. Wait. I must have gotten that wrong.

We celebrated by being busy and going 6 directions at once (yes, that is one more than people in our family). I did manage to make homemade bread (well, there was a machine involved) for French toast and a birthday cookie with crushed Nutter Butters and peanut butter filling. Yum.

A New Playground

Our town recently completed construction on a playground designed for all children. It is designed to accommodate any and all disabilities. Plus the ground is squishy, which is great for parents who get to spend hours standing and watching their kids play. So, on Tuesday, we went over after preschool for a picnic lunch and to check the new playground out. Needless to say, it was pretty much impossible to get the kids to eat after they saw all the cool equipment to play on/swing on/climb on.

And then the camera died.

The New Do

Sometimes, Jason surprises me. This doesn't happen too terribly often. But, when he said to the boys, "Do you want mohawks?" I was surprised.

So, he buzzed them and gelled them and this is what we got. A week later and I am still of two minds about this hairdo. Either they are super cute or they look like rednecks. I am a little sensitive about the latter because we do live south of the Mason-Dixon line. What do you think?

Michael

I almost titled this post "A (Self) Portrait of the Artist (Photographer) as a Young Man (Little Boy)." However, that seemed overly complicated and so I went with the word that best describes the images below: Michael.

Yesterday after school, we picked up Josh and went to the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian to check out the space shuttle and the airplanes. As I have mentioned before, this is a perfect museum for little boys. On a Friday afternoon it was relatively empty and the parking was free. The kids ran themselves silly. Then we found an empty picnic ground by the bus parking lot and dined on pizza dough rolls, fruit snacks and gold fish. Food of the gods!

All the while I, of course, was being a shutterbug and documenting our visit to the museum. However, one can have too many pictures of the space shuttle on one's blog (unless one is NASA), so I will refrain from posting them here. In any case, while we were eating, I put the camera down and Michael snatched it up. He has been taking pictures ever since. About 300 in 18 hours. Many of the sky. Many (unflattering) of me. Many (because there can be many of many different kinds in 300) of the ceiling. And many of himself (see below).

I was hoping that either the batteries or the SD card or his interest would wear out soon. But, the batteries are Duracell (curse that long life!), the SD card is 1 gigabit (curse you small and inexpensive data storage device) and Michael is indefatigable (and cute).

So, I had to hide the camera. But, we are thinking this might be a good hobby for him.

First Day, Preschool

Today was Michael's first day of preschool. And I was prepared for the worst. I was excited for him to go. He seemed excited to go (except for that one part when we actually visited the school and he became a human clam). And then, part way through breakfast, he said, "I don't want to go to school today. How about I go in two days?" And that is when I thought to myself that he may be a year older, but that doesn't mean it was going to be any prettier. This sounds very doom and gloom, but Michael is very, very attached to me. Very, very. Sometimes he is attached to my arm, sometimes he is attached to my leg and sometimes he is attached with his face planted on my butt. Love the last one in public. We tried to do preschool last year and he was carried off kicking and screaming for weeks. Let's just say Mrs. B is a saint. Eventually, we took him out since it seemed to be rather silly to spend money on something he didn't like. Well, that and after our issues with full day kindergarten and Josh, we decided to start Michael at 6 instead of 5.

Anyway, here he is showing off his first day style. Notice that he and Josh have matching backpacks. Because that will never cause any early morning confusion.

Here is Michael and his buds waiting for the teachers to arrive. The child in the middle is why today actually went well. Surprisingly and beautifully well. Michael refused to hold hands with or make eye contact with or speak to the teachers, but he could hold Jake's hand and sit next to Jake in class.
In the end, Michael wasn't super excited about his day. I got a lot of done and Ben was an angel. I could definitely get used to this. It would just be easier to get used to if Michael could be excited and enjoy it.