Blueberry Picking and A Family Canoeing Adventure

This past Saturday, we decided to go canoeing! We'd been talking about going since summer began, and this was our first weekend with good weather and without plans (except for a birthday dinner for Kevin at his parents' house on Saturday). I threw in the idea of stopping to let Lewis pick some blueberries on the way since I'd gone by myself this year (while Gma and Gpa T. had him). Since I'd already gotten the bulk of what we needed for the freezer, this was just more for the experience. We were there just around an hour, and I think we picked around 4 1/2 pounds (plus those that a certain 3-year-old ate). :)

 Out into the blueberry rows, we go. :)

 There was some picking on Lew's part, but let's be honest. :)

THIS was more like it.

I think right before this, he said, 'Blueberries are good, good, gooood.'

The blueberry farm was on the way, so we put the berries in a cooler and headed on out to Milltown to start our canoe trip:

  Ready to go!

The tiny paddle was cracking me up. I wouldn't say he learned how to paddle effectively, but he instinctively knew how to put it in the water to slow us down! :)

 Very excited Lewis, riding the school bus up to the drop-off site

  Pit Stop for Lunch

 He got in as Kevin and I were finishing lunch and said, 'Come on, I'm ready to go!'

By the end, we were so glad it was over. The last time we'd been there (when I was pregnant with Lewis), the water was really high and Kevin and I flew down the river (like, 7 miles in under 2 hours). This time, the water was really low, which meant we got stuck a lot and had to get out and walk through the shallow areas, and it took us the full 4 hours, plus time for lunch. Plus, we had a 45 pound toddler wanting to get up, lean over the side, and sit with Dad, then Mama, then Dad again. We never did tip, but there were a few times I thought we just might. We were/are both so sore, and we will have to keep this in mind the next time we plan a canoe trip. I think we said we'll go again, but next time will be kid-free and with beer, in order to improve the overall experience. :) At least I think Lewis had a good time. :)

Locust Grove (Cultural Pass #2)

Last week, we went to another stop on the Cultural Pass--Locust Grove. It's only about five minutes from our house, but we've never visited (except for a book sale a few years ago). It was built by the brother-in-law and sister of George Rogers Clark (William and Lucy Clark Croghan), and has a museum, main house, and lots of outbuildings.

They've created more kid-friendly tours for this summer to accommodate the kids using the Cultural Pass, but it was still a bit of a challenge to keep Lewis away from from roped-off areas and from touching and sitting on things he wasn't supposed to. The outbuildings/grounds were beautiful, though, and that was the best part of the visit (in my opinion). [And Emily, Juni would LOVE it, as it was a little reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie.] They were setting up for a wedding the day we were there, and it would be a gorgeous setting for that. 

We had a little time to burn before the tour began, so we went outside:

 'Oh, look, a house! Let's go there!'

 That would *not* be the tour we were allowed to go on, though Lewis got up to the porch before we caught up to them.

 One of the outbuildings

Some were pretty obvious in their purpose, while others were kind of a guessing game (like this one). Some signage might be helpful, or maybe there's a map that we didn't see. 

 There were slaves working at the house back in the day, and this was one of the family's living quarters.

On the other side of the same building was the kitchen.

I didn't get many pictures inside the house because flash photography wasn't allowed and because I was busy trying to keep my child from touching/breaking anything valuable. Before I knew flashes weren't allowed, here is Lewis in the boys' bedroom (I think there were four sons who shared this room):

  
And then, ahhh, outside where things can't be broken:

 Lewis in the herb garden (with the woodworking shop in the background)

 This is where Tonya said it was like Little House on the Prairie--the boys took off running down this neverending hill to the cold house and the creek (where they stored food).

 They kept leaning out this window, which dropped straight down into the creek below.

We climbed back up the other side of the valley to the stables, which were nothing but hay bales and a wooden cut-out of a cow (lame).  

Best attempt at trying to get the boys to pose on the back porch :)

:)

We wrapped up the morning with a picnic in the shade. It was a nice place to visit, though I think the house tour would be better when Lew's a little older. But, nothing was broken, and I think he got a little bit of knowledge and experience from it, so I'll consider it a mild success.

Lewis the Truest, Part X

The night before leaving for 4th of July, Kevin had to work late (11pm?!). I was in the kitchen, listening to Pandora and prepping food for the cookouts. Just when I thought Lewis might be asleep, I heard something very loud and clear, in the sweetest southern accent (all the 'I's were looong):

Lew: LIFE IS A HIGHWAY, I WANT TO RIDE IT ALL NIGHT LONG!

He repeated it a few times, clear as can be, and then he was silent and fell asleep. I was totally cracking up and had to call Kevin to tell him. I think we had watched Cars that day for the umpteenth time (and that song is in that movie), but I've never once heard him sing it aloud before. It was too cute. :) He wouldn't sing it for Kevin the next day, but finally the other night, he sang a little of it for him as we were getting ready for bed.

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As we got to the exit for my parents' house, Hattie started to whimper in her crate. (She 'knows' and gets excited when we get off the interstate and onto an exit.)

Lewis: It's okay, Baby Girl. We're almost there, Baby Girl.

:) He has many nicknames for her--Baby Girl, Hattie Boo, Hattie Roo, Pretty Girl, to name a few. He loves the dogs so much (as they do him, most of the time). 

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We hit up the playground one morning while in New Castle. Lewis went down the slide and kind of missed a step and ended up on his butt about halfway down (it was short, but steep). He's been really into me kissing boo-boos to make them feel better the last week or so. He got up from the slide and said:

Lewis: Kiss my butt. Kiss my butt, mama.

:) And there, on the playground, Mama kissed his butt, and he said, 'It feels better.'

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Also at the playground, there were some overly social squirrels that kept coming close to us. He walked over to one and said:

Lew: Hi, Squirrely. My name is Lewis!

Unfortunately we were the only people at the playground until it was almost time to go, so I think he was just looking for a friend to play with. :)

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I almost forgot about this one! I wasn't there to see it, but while Lewis was staying with Grandma and Grandpa T. a few weeks ago, Grandma took off his shorts/underwear (or swim trunks, I forget) in the backyard. He apparently squatted in the yard, peed, and said:

Lew: I'm peeing like a dog!

4th of July Fun

4th of July was a very busy day for us! We woke up and drove up to New Castle to drop off the dogs, and then we headed out to two cookouts (first was with family, second with friends). When we got back to my parents' house late that evening, we set off some fireworks (which Lew was pretty scared of) and called it a day. The rest of our weekend was much more laid back and relaxing and unseasonably cool, which was lovely. 

First, pictures from the 1st cookout at Paula and Tim's house. Lewis and Mathilda played so (unbelievably) well together the whole time. They are sweeties to one another. Mathilda introduced her doll to Lewis as Cinderella, and I think that confused him--he was calling Mathilda, Cinderella, most of the afternoon. :) Close enough.

 Lew likes to grab the corn hole bags and run them right up to the hole to toss them in.

If people were really playing, he also likes to just grab them randomly off the boards, which most people (understandably) don't appreciate. :) 

 Playing chase

 Buddies :)

 Visiting the Greyhounds (that one is Ozzy, I think)

My aunt and uncle have four of them, plus Dietgard brought hers over.

 Checking out Uncle Jim's Mustang with the other guys :)

Next, it was onto Don and Brenda's house for more food and swimming and cows and gator rides:

 Lew spent most of his pool time floating around, asking to be pushed around.

He didn't seem as interested in swimming that day (maybe because it was a little cool outside)--rather, he wanted to see the cows (THERE ARE BABY COWS!) and play with the other kids.

There is a toy tractor that he was pedaling around, and then the real Gator came out and Lewis' day was made. Will took a bunch of kids and I on the first ride around the property, and then I switched with another mom while Lewis rode around with them a second time. We went down to see the cows (3 adults and 2 babies), visited the neighbors' chickens, and went to see a huge, freshly cut hay bale.

Beyond excited :)

I had Lewis on one knee and sweet Cora on the other at first, but then Lew decided he wanted to ride in the back instead. I still got to ride with Cora who was such a sweetheart.

This is her big sister, Avery, who is also such a sweet girl:

The look on Avery's face KILLS me. :) Like, 'Boy, what on Earth are you doing?'

Hahaha and then Lewis' face here!! It's too much.

I'm crying from laughing so hard. Phew!

We thought we might make it home in time to see the big fireworks show in town, but we took longer getting back than expected. Gramma Pat had bought some fireworks, so we set those off in the street. I'm not sure how Lew would have done at the big show, but he was not a fan of the little show we had in the street:

His reaction to the first one started out as excitement but quickly went to 'All done, I want to go inside' as the pops and booms happened.

He went inside and watched mostly out of the window, but he did come back out for a few (short) minutes towards the end. He had no interest in sparklers, either. No, thank you! Maybe next year.

Science Center on our Cultural Pass

Louisville has done a really neat thing this summer--they've created a Cultural Pass that parents/kids can pick up at the libraries, and with the pass, you can get into a bunch of different sites around town for free. There are historical sites, museums, the zoo, etc., so I'm going to try to get us to as many places as I can (around Lew's camps). [Here is the link to participating places.]

Last Monday I'd planned to go somewhere new, but Lewis voted for the Science Center (our membership has lapsed and we hadn't been in a while). There are quite a few places we've never been to that I'd like to check out, so hopefully we get to them. 

Here are our pictures from the Science Center. Lewis did a pretty good job of playing, though we did have to take a timeout to talk about taking turns and sharing (he got a a little hoarder-ish). He did better after our talk, so the morning ended well:

Get on the bus, Mama!

Loading up his excavator

Annoying the captain in the cockpit

The other boy in there was taking the whole captain/pilot thing very seriously and saying, 'Please take your seat, sir' and 'Please exit the cockpit, sir.' I was cracking up, but the captain/pilot kid was getting really annoyed by oblivious Lewis. Eventually Lew moved on.

Tackling the rope obstacle course

And then the hoarding begins. Just when I thought he couldn't hold anything else...

He found one more boat to hold (the red one).

Thankfully they got new raincoats that seemed to do a better job of keeping his shirt and shorts dry. His feet did get a little wet, I guess, and he went over (on his own) and dried them off:

:)

He could have stood up there forever, dropping his letters in the mail slot and retrieving them from the bottom.

This is when the whole taking turns issue came up--that little girl in the background wanted a turn, and he wasn't moving. After a little fussing, I told him that it was her turn to go and that he could go again when she was finished, and he actually stepped away to let her go (GO, Lew!). I was so proud of him in that moment.

We went into the little grocery store area, and he became obsessed with gathering as many silicone cupcake forms as he could find:

Exhibit A

He was happy to find an empty cart to empty them into and build upon his collection. :)

Checking out (what I call) the Rube Goldberg on the way out.

He could have stood here for awhile, too, watching the balls take different paths through the contraption.

Hey, everybody! There's a plane up there, everybody!

That's what he was saying (semi-screaming)--he was trying to point out an old airplane to everyone walking by.

We got home, and he wouldn't go down for nap in his room when I tried. In a first that I can recall, he passed out on the couch, watching TV:

If he'd just napped when he was supposed to, he wouldn't have had a crick in his neck!

Happiness on a 90 Degree Day is a Splash Pad

Two weeks ago (oops!) we headed out to a different-than-our-usual splash park with Tonya and Carlton. The one we usually go to has been really crowded as of late, and this new spot was nice and uncrowded. We had to drive a little further out in the county, but it was worth it--a real, live deer ran by (twice, going in and out of a field) while we were there, so my nature-deprived self was happy to see that. It was a pretty hot morning, but they had a nice shelter that provided some shade.

So anyway, onto the pictures. The splash pad is adjacent to a playground, which Lewis seemed to enjoy. He went back and forth pretty steadily all morning, and we had a nice time:

 Abandoning the buckets we brought

 And there goes his shoes...

 Even though this one didn't have any fancy water features, he was content to just run around and get sprayed. Water is water, I guess!

Lewis the Truest, Part IX

We all did a lot of napping on vacation. Lewis woke up from his one day while I was still sort of asleep, and as Lewis and Kevin were talking, this is what I heard:

Lew: I want to go to the pool.
Kevin: Ok. Let's wait for Mama to wake up.
Lew: Ok. MAMA, I'M WAITING FOR YOU TO WAKE UP, MOMMY! (Like, right by my face.)

Thanks, buddy. I couldn't help but laugh (and get up!).

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Of course we stopped at a lot of travel plazas and rest stops along the way to vacation. At one, Lewis was walking around the aisles (looking for toys) and said:

Lewis: Look at all these cars! HOLY MOLY!

:)

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On the way down, we stayed overnight in a hotel. Kevin buckled Lewis in his seat while I finished loading up the car to head on to the beach, and apparently I wasn't moving fast enough for Lewis:

Lew: Wait, Mama! We're leaving you!

Gee, I don't know where he gets his impatience. :) And I have only told him I'm leaving him a few times.

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In the pool, the nice brother-sister that Lew met asked him his favorite food:

Lewis: Quesadilla at Moe's.

Very specific! :) He does really like to go there. It probably has something to do with the cookie that comes with his kids' meal. And the tortilla chips.

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On the drive home (June 21), we were talking about the summer solstice and Uncle Joe and Auntie Schwee's wedding anniversary. Kevin mentioned that my birthday was in six months (December 21). And we told him that Dad's birthday was in a few weeks (July 6):

Kevin: What should we get Mama for her birthday?
Lewis: (instantly) A TRACTOR.
Mama: What should we get Dad for his birthday?
Lewis: (instantly) A BIG FIRE TRUCK.

(break for giggling)

Lewis: Are we having a party? At our house?
Kevin/Mama: Maybe we'll have a little party, with just us. How about some cake?

The next morning, after we were home, Kevin and Lewis were playing in the basement. Without any mention or prompting, Lewis brought one of his fire trucks over to Kevin and said:

Lew: Here's your fire truck, Daddy.

And he is officially the sweetest boy in the world. :)