My Barefoot Babies

Sinead Rocks!

Just because she buys us stuff though :o) OK, not really, she's kind of ok otherwise too.

Yesterday we went to the Dorsey's to spend the day, knowing it would be the last time we'll see Sinead in a long, long, long time. She told me she wanted to take Darius to pick out a birthday present, so she and I took the boys to Toys R Us. I'll admit I didn't think Darius would pick something, I mainly figured he'd grab one thing after another, as he spotted things he liked. But I was wrong. After looking around for a little while, he spotted a ride-on inch worm and was instantly drawn to it. He went over and said, "Yook at dat! Dat for me!" And just like that, he had his present (it even included assembly).

Taye, meanwhile had spotted a Buzz Lightyear puzzle almost instantly upon entering the store. He was convinced it was a real Buzz, and since we had told him we'd get him one if we found it (thinking flea market variety Buzz Lighyear's) he was sure he was getting it. Things were going to get ugly fast. Sinead asked a lady if they had any real ones, and the woman took us over to the Toy Story "section" which was basically 7 different kinds of Mr. Potato Heads. But there, tucked away on the shelf, Sinead saw a real Woody. Big, fabric, talking pull-string Woody (and Jesse too). Taye was in love.

All in all it was a very successful trip. Which is why Sinead rocks, she makes dreams come true. :o)

Loving Mya

One night while we were camping I was putting Darius to bed. He patted my belly, and said, "That your baby Mya." I said yes, and he said "I love her Mama!"

Another night as I was putting the boys to bed, Taye patted my belly and said, "Thats my little sister." I agreed, and he said, "Lets talk to my little sister." I said 'ok' and he put his face next to my belly and said "Hi my little sister!"

I think its sad they don't like her one bit.

Busted!

While we were driving the other day, Darius said to me, "Mama, you 'nember Jean give me coffee?"

Why, no - as a matter of fact I didn't know about that...

Trust

While at Arethusa Falls, Taye learned a new stunt. He was up on a rock, and Luis held his arms out and told him to jump. The video shows what he did instead, I forgot to edit out the beginning part, so you'll have to watch to the end to see.

I took this video a while later. The first time, Taye was facing him, and just turned around on his own and did it. So, do you think he trusts his Daddy?

Camping: The usual adventures

Last week we went camping for five days. We had basically been planning this trip since the day we got home from camping last year, the boys love it so much. We all do.

We got in on Wednesday around lunch time, and got to work setting up the site. It seemed to go really fast somehow...must have been all the extra helpers this year.

After we finished setting up, it was on to the usual fun. There was car grilling,

Taye grilling,

and (stale, nasty) Jiffy Pop grilling:

There were morning tea parties,

night time snuggles,

and lots of monkeying around in between.

And, of course, lets not forget - the bug bite on the eye. Number four for the year (7 or 8 lifetime) and on the very first day, no less.

We had a great time, the boys were so happy to be there. They got along so well, it was so sweet to see. One day Taye and I made the trek to the bathrooms, and apparently while we were gone, Darius decided he wanted to come and see us. As Taye and I started back down the path we saw Darius and Luis coming, and Taye started running and shouting "my brother! my brother!" When he got to Darius they hugged, and then held hands the whole walk back.

They spent the rest of that day playing 'Woody and Buzz.' Here they are, in character. Buzz is in the orange, of course - you can tell because he has his helmet on. The script went something like this: (holding hands) "Woody and Buzz Lightyear! Kkkrrt! Oh no - Woody's arm ripped! The man has to fix him!" (enter Luis, who 'sews' Woody's arm.) "All fixed!" And repeat. And repeat...

We made the usual rounds this year, and also found some new adventures (which will be given their very own posts). Thursday we went to Lower Falls for a couple of hours. As we were walking from the parking lot, we saw the enormous rock near the bathrooms. Taye's first thought? "I wanna climb that!" And climb it he did. Over and over, while Darius and I played in the water, and Daddy stood by as spotter.

Darius and I ventured out into the river a short distance, but once it started to get too cold, Darius was out of there. He much preferred the smaller (dirtier) pools he found.

It proved to be an awesome day for bugs at Lower Falls as well. There was a bee to watch on the few flowers sprinkled around,

the ladybug that landed on my back,

and whatever this huge, nasty, (thankfully) dead bug was too.

Mostly the boys just liked running around on the rocks. Taye kept us on edge with his fearlessness, and we remarked later that its a good thing the back of his head is so cute, since thats what we see most of the time!

We got a good site again this year, with a nice path down to the river. I didn't make it down until the last day, since it seemed like the boys never wanted to go down at the same time. After we finished packing up Sunday morning, we had time to kill and walked down. The boys actually decided to go in the water this time (since we had no extra clothes out, and the duffel bag was at the very bottom of the jam-packed trunk). I was wishing I had my bathing suit on, it was so tempting.

After the river, we went to Clark's Trading Post to see the bears, and then out for a nice lunch with Nana and Jim.

We had so much fun that plans are already in the works for next year. Now I just have to figure out how to juggle 3 kids wanting to sleep next to me...

Camping: Hobo Railroad

Luis and I thought it would be fun this year to take the boys on a train ride. Taye has been asking to go to the train station for a long time, and this seemed like a good way to go. There were 3 or 4 different railroads to choose from in the area. We were originally planning on taking them to the Conway Railroad, basically since it was the cheapest and we figured a train ride is a train ride. Then we found out that Thomas the Tank Engine was coming this weekend, and thought that would be even more fun. And apparently more expensive - we called and found out that it would cost us $72 for the four of us, instead of the $24 that normal admission would have been. So, um no - we decided to catch a different train, and went to the:

The ride was just over an hour, on a very cool looking older steam engine. Here we are waiting for the train to depart:

checking the windows, making sure they're secure (or maybe trying to escape?)

When the train did start up, Darius was a little uncertain about the whole thing. He said he liked it, but his face told a slightly different story.

Either way, he decided my lap was the place to be.

Taye was just enthralled, and watched everything out the window.

Well, for the first part of the ride anyway. At some point he was over it, and thought lying on the floor under the table would be more fun.

The train rode along the Pemigwasett River, and some of the scenery was just gorgeous.

On the ride back, "Hobo Phil" came around and made some of the most interesting and imaginitive balloon animals I have ever seen. Taye's racecar, for example, seemed to have a rather large, human-like, behind. But the boys liked them, and talked a lot about 'Phil' on the ride home.

Camping: Arethusa Falls

Saturday morning Nana and Jim took us all on a hiking adventure to Arethusa Falls. It was a 1.4 mile trail, and we were all looking forward to it.

It proved to be a bit of a challenge at times. Taye fell and got a small cut on his hand not long after we started. Had he smashed his head open, he would have stood up and continued climbing happily, but for whatever reason he does not like strange "things" on his hands, including boo-boos. So he was pretty upset, and wanted me to carry him. Sadly, that was nowhere near possible, so he and Daddy ran on ahead of the rest of us. Apparently Luis asked a few times if Taye wanted to come down and find us, and he said he wanted to keep going up. So Luis basically ran the entire way, carrying Taye, and giving new meaning to the Superman tattoo.

The rest of us plodded along our merry way. Darius amazed us and did probably about half the trail on his own. He was very insistent at times that "I yant to do it myself!" which has been his mantra for a while now. We all decided that the pace of a 2 year old suited us just fine. :o)

It was tough, but so worth it when we got to the top. The waterfall was absolutely stunning, the pictures don't even begin to show it.

We all stood staring for a while and then found a nice spot for a well-earned lunch.

Taye had washed his hand in the waterfall, and was completely renewed. He barely finished eating before he (and his shadow) were off again. They went over close to the falls, climbing over every rock they possibly could.

Darius and I preferred to settle in to a nice spot by the river that ran down from the falls.

I actually found myself mesmerized by the little trickle, and almost forgot about the falls entirely. It was a very peaceful, beautiful spot.

I loved watching Darius' little fingers and toes playing as well. He kept trying to catch the water, saying "I gotcha!" He found sticks to throw in, and watched them float away. He stuck his feet in the current.

He just generally had no fun at all.

After a while, we regrouped down where Darius and I were sitting, and prepared for the hike down (yay, down!)

Again there was a lot of running carrying children, and again (about 3/4 of the way down) Taye fell and hurt his hand. He wanted to turn back and wash it in the waterfall. We told him we sure would miss him.