A Swinging Summer

Hey, Mr. Postman...

Matt decided he wanted to write a letter to Grandma on my Facebook page while I was taking a shower.

Hopefully, next time he'll use the keyboard and not a Bic Pen.

Off to find some screen cleanser...

Naturing

Matthew was gathering rocks, leaves, and dirt into a bucket yesterday evening. I asked him what he was doing, and he answered, "Mom, I'm naturing!" It appears that nature has become a verb in our house, which isn't all that surprising.

We have been hiking in the woods, playing at the lake, and catching crayfish in the creek all summer long. One thing is certain: my children do not suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder!

Running off to play "witches and trolls"

Nolan on the footbridge

Venturing downstream

Inspecting tadpoles

Local wildlife-bullfrogs were everywhere!

Vacuum Automatical

Toys were everywhere. Everywhere, I tell you. Somehow the playroom had exploded and deposited Duplos, Hot Wheels, and blocks across every square inch of our family room.

After stepping on one too many Duplo bricks, I made the decree: "All toys shall be cleared from this land!"

I ignored complaints of tired arms, noodly legs, and fingers that suddenly wouldn't work, and left my two small boys in charge of cleaning up the mess. When I returned a few minutes later to check on the progress, nearly all the toys were in the exact same disordered state. All of the toys, that is, except for the Duplo blocks that went into this creation:

Exasperated, I inquired as to the status of Operation Cleanup. Matt held up his creation amidst the mess and declared, "I invented the Vacuum Automatical! It will clean the mess for us!"

Nice try, kid. Nice try.

The Best 5.6 Seconds of Summer

Water balloons take a surprisingly long time to fill and tie off. After half an hour, my fingers were pruny and shaking from tying off so many tiny balloons. I thought, perhaps, I had tied hundreds of balloons, but once I looked into the box, I realized there were only about thirty.

I gathered the kids and explained the rules:

No throwing balloons at anyone's face.
Only take one balloon at a time.
Don't eat the balloons.*

The kids gathered around the box, and for a full 5.6 seconds, sheerest glee was heard in the realm of Lefler.



My next task is to train the children how to tie off balloons, so that I can have cheap labor more balloons at the next swimming play-date.

Happy first day of summer!

*This was directed more at my children, who have a propensity to eat things they shouldn't.

Got Dirt?

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Lend me your ears, and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key

Oh, baby, I get by with a little help from my friends

All I need is my buddies

I said I'm gonna get by with a little help from my friends

I'm gonna keep on trying

Said I'm gonna make it with my friends

Oh, baby I get by with a little help from my friends

The Orchard

Our local nursery is not going to carry fruit trees anymore. Apparently, they don't sell- people want decorative, non-fruiting varieties. Their current stock of trees was on sale, with prices dramatically reduced.

The idea of having our own little orchard made us rush out and buy the last McIntosh and Braeburn trees on their lot. We planted our trees, and were ecstatic to think about all the pies coming our way in the fall.

Of course, now we know why apple trees don't sell very well. There's a little thing called fireblight that is about as pleasant as it sounds-there are lots of dead, falling leaves on the trees. There is also "rust." And "scab." Those are just the microscopic critters that attack.

We have to wrap the trunks to keep wandering rabbits and woodchucks from biting the trunks. There are the flies swarming that are probably the producers of the feared apple maggot. And then there are the deer, my arch nemeses. Sure, they look cute, in their Bambi-spotted hides. Trust me, they are a lot less cute when one wanders by with a prized Stargazer in her mouth! I am still in mourning over a lost group of Balloon Flower in my garden bed.

Still, we are trying our best to raise healthy apple trees, with the hope of apples in the fall. Unfortunately, something tells me our official "deer-proof fence" is not going to be very effective...

I know I'm not supposed to go in here...

Woo hoo- I made it inside!

Wheee!

If a two year old human child can get into our fenced off orchard, I'm pretty sure the deer will figure it out, too. It's only a matter of time until our beloved trees are deer fodder. But we won't go down without a fight.

Bambi, the war is ON.

Busy Bee

When Matt was a baby, I couldn't wait until he said his first word. As it turns out, that took a little longer than expected. I also couldn't wait to see his first real drawings- I wanted to see what ideas were in his head; the things that interested him. That was going to take a little longer than expected, too. His first words were at 2 1/2 (most babies start speaking at 12 months) and his first drawings weren't produced until well over the age of four.

Matt's fine motor skills aren't exactly well-developed. In fact, it was only six months ago that he stopped eating crayons and started to scribble with them. In the last week, he has experienced an "art explosion," drawing and creating many pictures. I am so, so excited to see Matt's ideas and thoughts put on paper- he likes insects and boats a lot.

Without further ado, I present his first "true" drawing, The Bee:

Mr. Personality

Big Shoes to Fill

If you tell a two year old to go and put on some shoes, it is probably a good idea to specify which shoes he should put on. Still, Daddy's shoes look pretty cute on him!

Pittsburgh, Day 3: Carnegie Science Center

Rain was in the forecast, which was fine since we were planning on doing the Carnegie Science Center. We were a little concerned that most of the exhibits would be "over their heads," so to speak, but the science center had plenty to entertain little ones.

We stopped by the Sportsworks complex first, which was great for letting off a little steam! The boys could throw balls and run to their hearts' content. Nolan, sadly, was too light to participate in the trampoline or human yo-yo activities (the minimum weight for the trampoline was 36 pounds- Matt barely made the cut-off)!

Matt on the "You-Yo" exhibit.

Jumping on the trampoline.

Nolan, playing a large version of "Operation."

We spent the rest of the day exploring the submarine, miniature train exhibit, and playing on the fourth floor, which contained a large play area for small children. Nolan really liked the ball factory in this area, and Matt was fascinated by the water table.

Nolan in the "ball factory"

Checking out the miniature trains.

Nolan on the sub.

After a day of exploration, we hit the road to return home. The three hour drive went by quickly, with Nolan watching "Signing Time" on the DVD player and Matthew snoozing off the day's excitement.

Farewell, Pittsburgh- we will miss you!

Pittsburgh, Day 2: Station Square and the Duquesne Incline

Matt dubbed it the "Du-Climb"

Station Square was a hit- with trains running through the area regularly, any boy would be thrilled. Matt and Nolan would hear a train coming, then run to the wrought iron fence to watch it pass, shouting and giggling the entire time.

Watching trains race by in Station Square

Matt's favorite thing was the fountain, which was coordinated with music. There's nothing funnier than watching your four year old son dance in the fountain mist to "It's Raining Men." After we had left Station Square for the evening, Matt was still talking about the water "zooming" and "booming." According to Matt, "It wocked my world!"

The boys and Mom in front of the fountain

After dinner and dancing in the fountain spray, we drove over to the Duquesne Incline. Both boys had been longing for this activity since we arrived in Pittsburgh. Every other hour, Matt and Nolan would ask, "Are we going to the Du-climb yet?" We reassured them we would ride the "du-climb" and they were in seventh heaven once we bought our tickets and were sitting in the car. Nolan got quite a thrill out of the ascent, which was steeper than pictures can describe!

Matt and Mom riding up the hill

Nolan's excitement at going up the hill

Oh, I can't look!

The incline from the parking lot

The view from the top was absolutely stunning-you could see most of Pittsburgh and its beautiful suspension bridges. We wandered around the station for a while, then rode the funicular back to the bottom of Mount Washington.

Pittsburgh from Mount Washington

We had a beautiful last evening in the city before heading back to the hotel for a swim and bed. Tomorrow, we will visit the Carnegie Science Center and say farewell to Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh Vacation, Day 2: The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium

Sunday morning dawned with a dazzling, hot sun. We were very appreciative at all the trees in the Radisson's parking lot, otherwise we would have been cooked alive! After a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet, we loaded up the car and drove to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.

I am fairly sure our GPS system was trying to kill us, as it tried to send us on several roads that either didn't exist, had a different name than on the GPS system, or were under construction. Fortunately, Dennis was driving and has a fairly good sense of direction. We arrived at the zoo without having accidentally driven to Cincinnati, which is no small miracle.

After seeing several animals in the African Plains section of the zoo, I had a very special phone call to make. I have a really cool friend who has a brother who works at the Pittsburgh Zoo. It's really awesome to have connections like that! After calling his cell phone, we met up with Jon and got an awesome behind-the-scenes tour of the primate area. Being so close to the monkeys freaked Nolan out a little, but Matt was quite interested. Michele and Jon, thank you for this amazing opportunity!


The heat was starting to get to our little red-faced boys, so we stopped for lunch and found a nice spot in the shade to cool everyone down. We decided to head to the aquarium next, because it had really nice air conditioning fish.


The Pittsburgh Zoo has an amazing children's zoo, so after cooling off in the aquarium, we headed to the playgrounds and children's areas. Matthew was very excited about the polar bear exhibit, which did not disappoint. Having a polar bear swimming above your head is a pretty awesome experience!

The boys loved the kiddie rides at the zoo. We loved the reasonable price- $1 per ride. The cars and the log ride were just their speed, and a great way to end our day at the zoo.



We left the zoo at 3:00pm, and headed back to the hotel for a rest. We had plans to visit the Duquesne Incline and Station Square that evening, and we wanted well rested boys before dinner. Hopefully our GPS wouldn't decide to send us to Toronto instead!