Fish Story

We decided to head to the lake for Memorial Weekend.

Daniel caught some rays on the boat.

Heather caught a big fish . . .

. . . which really belonged to this guy . . .

. . . whose broken-down boat we towed back to its dock. Call it our good deed for the day.

Stacking Skillz

Daniel's current favorite toy is his set of stacking cups.

Someday he hopes to be as impressive a stacker as his sister is.

That's right, folks, she has a black belt in block stacking.

Doves

A few weeks ago, a pair of mourning doves built a nest in one of the shrubs in our apartment complex. Their two little chicks are now out of the nest, but apparently they aren't quite ready to face the big, bad, outside world.

Instead, they've begun hanging out among my container garden pots. Is that the bird equivalent of living in your parents' basement after you graduate?

Today I noticed that the nest is still occupied. I'm not sure whether this is the same mother caring for a second round of eggs, or whether she has moved on and this is a new mom making use of the existing nest. Either way, it's fun to see her as we walk by.

Playing Together, Sort Of

As the kids played at the park today, I got to thinking that although they can't do much together yet, they take an interest in each other and find some ways to connect.

For example, neither is the right size to swing on the other's swing set, but as Daniel glanced at Joy over on the big swings I noticed he still bore the sticker she had stuck on his back. It seemed to say, "Joy was here," or "Property of the Big Sister."

A little later, Joy wanted Daniel to go down the slide with her, but he was more interested in examining the sand down below. Before she knows it, though, he'll be following her everywhere.

Pad and Pond

It's that time of year again, folks.

This weekend we headed to my parents' house for their neighborhood's annual garage sale. We unloaded some clutter and made a few dollars, but since my parents have better junk than we do we actually came home with more stuff than we brought.

While we were there, Papa introduced Joy to the spa. She calls it "the pond."

Papa also showed Joy his new iPad. It comes in handy for giving presentations at work, but it also has a nifty fingerpainting application. Cool.

The Charts

Joy has been a member of the Potty-Trained Club for a few months now, but when she was first starting out she seemed somewhat indifferent to the whole process. In an effort to motivate her, I printed up a little chart she could put stickers on each time she successfully used the toilet. Suddenly she was in that bathroom two or three times an hour.

When Phillip noticed the chart, he asked what she would receive when she filled it all up. I replied that she'd get the satisfaction of having put a lot of stickers on some paper. If that makes her happy, why add sugar or some other reward to the mix?

Joy quickly ran out of space on her chart, and when we were out visiting Pink Grandma a few weeks ago she gave Joy a new piece of paper with a sticker on it to celebrate a successful bathroom visit there. That paper is now nearly covered in stickers (most of them courtesy of the generous cashiers at Trader Joe's).

I occasionally consider when we might want to put an end to the bathroom=sticker routine, but since Joy's having fun with it and it costs nothing I'm happy let it continue for now. Ah, the simple pleasures of life.

Quadrupeds

Daniel's shoes are wearing out . . . on top.

He is getting more adept at walking, but most of the time his preferred mode of transportation is still "all fours."

Sometimes that really is the better way to go.

A New Park

We felt adventurous today and decided to visit a new park.

The red swing is designed to be accessible for kids with handicaps, but anyone can enjoy it.

Even big kids like it.

Joy loves these suspended steps, and spent the majority of her time crossing back and forth on them.

Daniel is learning that slides are fun . . .

. . . and two-directional.

In short, a good time was had by all. :)