Back home and Logan's lost tooth!

I started this week out at Laurie and Chris's in Holladay! It's been years since I last slept overnight at their place, so it was fun to do it again. I worked from their place on Monday and was treated to an all-you-can eat buffet of potato salad and Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets! Actually, as I was preparing to leave Monday night after saying goodbye to Jordan, Laurie remembered that there might have been more nuggets from the evening before, still in the oven where they were staying warm after we turned it off but while waiting for the guests to eat the chicken that had already been served. So... we opened the oven and sure enough! There were two more trays of chicken nuggets in there! Good thing she remembered right then because Tuesday morning was garbage day, and those two trays were already starting to smell not-so-good.

Potato salad and chicken nuggets, anyone?

I was really glad to hear from Mom that she was doing much better today and that she had been eating and feeling okay. She texted me this picture of another Share a Coke bottle that she was enjoying with her dinner at UVRMC (the hospital) where she volunteers on Monday nights in the gift shop. It made me smile to see that she had found another special bottle!

Mom sharing a picture of a Share a Coke with Luke

Before I left Holladay, I helped Chris get their hot tub back in place on the patio. They had been going back and forth about whether to bring it back to the house after moving it away for the farewell receptions. The heat pump has had perennial issues, so they were considered selling it, but when Chris found some affordable replacement parts for the whole system, he decided to bring it back and give it another go.

He backed the trailer right up to the patio, and the two of us pushed and shimmied the thing back into place on the patio, a feat that Jordan would have been proud of.

Mimi and Jack would have loved having a hot tub, I'm sure!

Laurie, Jemma, and I went out for an In-n-Out burger (another one for the burger blog!) cause we were all chicken'ed out! We decided to sit outside because the weather was so nice. Chris was back at home, "detailing" the hot tub, so we took him a burger when we were done.

Laurie and little Laurie (Jemma)

When it was time to go, Laurie drove me to the SLC airport and dropped me at the curb. Traveling solo almost feels like a pleasure after having done most of my recent traveling with kids.

Big sister, little brother.

It was great to be home after a few days away, and it was especially great to see the kids! There were a number of other fun events that happened this week, including Luke's Kindergarten Open House evening on Thursday! We stopped by Harmony Elementary and got to see his classroom. We got a letter last week with the teacher/classroom assignments. He had told us from the Kindergarten round up a few months ago that there was a Kindergarten teacher called Mrs. "Broccoli." We thought that was funny and weren't sure if he was being serious. So we were pleased and surprised to see that Luke's teacher would indeed be Mrs. "Broccoli" this year, though she spells it "Brockley." He seemed pretty excited about getting to go into his classroom and see where he'd spend his first full year of public education.

Luke in his Kindergarten classroom

It was only a few months ago that Luke lost his first tooth. Well, this week Logan lost HIS first tooth! Though it wasn't in the same or usual way for loosing a tooth. He and Luke were sort of rough-housing upstairs, playing in the play room on the guest bed we had put in there for visitors. Well, we're not sure totally how it all went down, but Logan and Luke had been jumping on the mattress that was partially on the bed, partially on the floor. They may have been sliding or jumping down. But we heard some commotion, followed by Luke yelling, "Logan lost a tooth! Logan lost a tooth!"

I came out of my office to find a teary-eyed Logan coming down the stairs, holding both hands up to his bloody mouth. Suzanna was very concerned and a little scared, but I quickly took Logan into the bathroom to clean the blood out of his mouth and assess the damage. Sure enough, there was a gaping hole on the bottom where a tooth had come out. At that point I was more concerned that maybe he had swallowed the tooth or it had broken into pieces.

A quick search of the playroom turned up the tooth, situated somehow underneath the part of the mattress that was resting on the floor. I was shocked to see the size of the tooth, as it including the roots and all! Turns out (and I just learned this from this experience), baby teeth roots dissolve and get absorbed by the permanent teeth as they grow in. No wonder baby teeth usually fall out so easy when the time is right! No more root to hold it in place!

Logan's first lost tooth, root and all!

Logan wasn't much worse for the wear. He got nervous about having to go to the dentist, but it was an easy visit, and the dentist was surprised/shocked that the tooth came out so cleanly and that no other teeth were injured in any way. What a fortunate kid! So he'll have a gap now for a couple years til the adult tooth grows in! We'll always be able to tell now from the pictures of Logan as a kid whether the picture was "before" or "after" the tooth getting knocked out shortly after he turned four!

Logan proudly displaying his 19-tooth grin

While in Utah, I picked up some new BYU t-shirts from Macey's. They were on sale for a decent price, and just last week, Luke had been asking me if I had a solid white shirt with a white Y and a blue oval on it. I said, "no" because I hadn't seen a shirt like that before. At the time, I was wearing my solid blue shirt with a white oval and blue Y. I was excited when, at Macey's, I found two little versions of the shirt I already had and one big version of the shirt Luke had described! So I bought them and brought them home to share with the kids. They were very excited to get the BYU shirts and to be matching!

The BYU football season started this week!

Logan being cheesy

We had a family night lesson about Noah's ark. It was after this lesson that we gave Luke and Logan the new animals I had purchased from Blickenstaff's last week in Utah. They were super excited, but not wanting to lose the animals, Suzanna and I told the boys they needed to find their own "arks" for the animals to stay in. They found these little green soap boxes that they've used for a variety of things. They worked perfectly for the animals, so now we've got a couple of arks full of animals floating around the house.

Logan's animals and his "ark."

Now that we've got our family portraits in hand, I copied the files to my work computer and set up my desktop to be a continual slideshow, randomly changing the picture every 10 minutes. I love it because at any point in the workday, I can look at my second monitor which often doesn't have many windows open, and I can see one of our great, recent family photos.

My second monitor

Oh, I also found out this week that Logan seems to know where nearly every kitchen item belongs! He helped me unload the dishwasher and did a great job! He did it all with a great attitude as well! That gives me an idea for the future, seeing as I seem to be on permanent dish duty!

Logan helping put the dishes away

msh

Letter to Logan (March 2014)

Logan,

Mom and I try to write down the funny and cute things you guys say and do, and sometimes we'll be lucky enough to get a photo or video as well. Here are a few photos and things you've said recently that have made us smile.

Logan, Luke, and Emmie in the bath

Mom sent me this picture of the three of you guys taking a bath a few weeks ago. Now that Emmie is getting bigger, we've started giving her baths at the same time as you boys. Luke got a big kick out of "styling" your hair after it got wet. It was pretty funny to see the three of you with funny hair, all sitting together, playing in the bath. I think every parent probably has too many bath pictures.

Case in point, another picture of you and Emmie taking a bath together. I thought this one was cute because you're both sitting there, playing with something I can't see from my angle. You have loved sea animals since Christmas 2012 when someone gave you a bucket of sea-life creatures for Christmas. The sharks and octopus are your favorites. Sometimes we'll play a game in the car or at the dinner table where we'll describe a noise or feature of an animal and ask the others to guess what animal we're thinking about. One of the first ones you did was, "Say which animal has spots" and the answer was the "sand shark" you guys play with which came from this bucket. It's a fun game and you guys crack us up all the time, especially when we get the answer right and you happily announce, "Yep! You got it, Dad!"

Logan and Emmie in the bath

A little over three weeks ago you and Luke must have been "wrestling" in the family room when we heard you cry out pretty loudly. Usually, if Luke has been rough housing a little too much, we'll hear you complain or cry a bit, but you generally quiet down. That day (I think it was Thursday, February 27th), we were concerned because you were pretty hysterical. Luke claims he "fell" on you, but we've since heard him recount the incident by describing it as "jumping" on you. We could tell something was wrong with your right arm or shoulder because you were favoring it so much. We decided to get you some medical attention the next day because you were still in pain and would cry anytime we tried to lift your arm. A trip to the doctor's office, an x-ray, and a bunch of phone calls later, and we had confirmed a diagnosis of a broken collar bone! That's two broken bones in our family this year already (Emmie broke her arm in January; ouch!). Check out the x-ray.

Logan's broken collarbone

You were a good patient though, and have been really pleasant despite not having much use of your arm for the last few weeks. After visiting the specialist, they prescribed you a sling, not so much to totally immobilize you (can you really expect to keep a 3-year-old still!?!) but rather to serve as a reminder to you and to Luke that we need to play 'softly' for the next six weeks. For the first week or so, we had to only dress you in button-up shirts or really big shirts so that you could get them on without having to lift your right arm up very high.

Logan with an Ace bandage, a couple days before going to see the Orthopedic Pediatric Specialist in Portland

Last weekend we did a "stay-cation" over Friday night into Saturday. I got off work early and we headed over to Embassy Suites by the Portland airport where we got a room for the night. We did some swimming in the pool and then went to dinner at a great Texas-style barbecue restaurant called Famous Dave's. You ordered a SUPER tasty cheeseburger; I was a little envious of your food because it was so good! You waited patiently for the food to arrive, but then in your excitement to take your first bite, and due to the gimpy arm in the sling, you lifted the burger awkwardly with your left hand and the meat fell right out from between the two buns, bounced off your shirt, and landed cheese-side down on the floor. You were so sad and started crying because you had waited and were really hungry. The people at the restaurant were really nice and got you a new burger pretty quick. I felt bad seeing you so sad, but I tried to reassure you we'd get you a new one, and I shared some of my other food with you while we waited.

After Famous Dave's we went back to the hotel and went to the reception they do every night in the big atrium/dining area. They had chips, salsa, crackers, and lots of soda. You and Luke were pretty excited to get some Sprite and then dip your tortilla chips in it (kinda weird, but funny at the same time). They also had a bunch of games out for people to play, like Sorry (your favorite!), Checkers, Connect Four, and a few others. The three of us boys sat down there and played Sorry and Connect Four for about an hour while Mom took Emmie upstairs to put her to bed. I was glad to see that the playing pieces were red (Luke's favorite color) and yellow (your favorite color). I taught you guys how to play and we had fun playing for a while. You were really sweet because you would let me take turns with your pieces and tell me "good job!" when I made my choices.

Logan pointing at his diagonal "Connect Four" (in yellow!)

You guys were also very intrigued with the fish that swim around in the indoor stream/pond that goes throughout the big atrium area. There was one fish in particular that was much bigger than the others, and he (she?) had a big brown spot on his head. You guys were fascinated watching the fish that swam over to us, looking up at us intently, opening and closing their mouths like they were expecting us to feed them. I don't know what kind of fish they were, probably goldfish, but they proved to be very entertaining to us all!

Fish in the 'pond'

We eventually went back up to the room and got ready for bed quietly as Emmie slept in the other room. We put on a show for you boys as a special treat as you lay in the sofa bed (which was also super exciting and intriguing to you: a couch that turns into a bed AND watching a show at bedtime!). It took a while to wind down that night and get comfortable enough in your surroundings to go to sleep, but I think you guys slept pretty well considering the excitement of it all.

The next day included a great breakfast at the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, yogurt, milk and juice. Of course, we checked out the fish again for a while before going back up to the room to get our swimming trunks on again. We then went swimming in the pool again and sat in the whirlpool for a few minutes. You guys asked me to tell you the Pool Rules which were posted on the wall and we started making up some of our own, like "No making hot dogs in the pool!" and other funny things.

Here's a picture of you and Emmie from a week or so ago when you and I had been playing "Sorry!" Emmie acts like she plays too and doesn't just mess all the pieces up. She'll grab an unused pawn and make it move like she's counting the spaces. 

Emmie and Logan "playing" Sorry!

Here's a "serious" picture of you and me from the hotel. Sometimes when we ask you to smile for the camera you'll go way overboard and make a crazy cheesy grin and squint your eyes so much that they close entirely.

Dad and Logan, looking serious

Here's one other picture of you and Emmie. She took her first steps about a month ago, but it was finally just this weekend that she started walking all over the place. Since she can now stand up from sitting in the middle of the floor, she's more fun to play. The two of you played for a long time in the family room today. You would hold this little Octonauts toy (Captain Barnacles?) in your mouth and she would try to pull it out or shove it back in. Then after a minute you stood up next to her and she would "push" you over. It was so cute to see you playing nicely with her and being gentle.

Emmie and Logan playing on a Sunday afternoon

I got a good two-minute video of you guys playing. I'm uploading it right now to Vimeo, so I'll include a link here and hope that it works!

I love it because you get excited to come with me to Ward choir practice. You usually sit quietly next to me playing with toys and listening as we rehearse. You have a great ear for music and like to look at the sheet music and ask me if the songs have "crescendos" in them. You've learned a lot of music-related things from watching Little Einsteins, and you'll often hum the themes from classical music you've heard on the show or make up your own funny lyrics. Sometimes at night when I'm tickling your back and tucking you in to bed, you'll ask me to sing songs from Ward choir, and I love it when you sing along during practice or sing the songs to Mom when we get home. It's a pleasure to take you, and I hope your love of music will continue! Music has a unique power and ability to touch and affect people in ways that written or spoken word cannot.

Here are a few funny things you've said lately:

Today during choir you said, "Your first name is 'Dad,' your second name is 'Coach Mark,' your middle name is 'Park.' That's your nick name!" (I am the assistant coach for Luke's soccer team, so Logan heard the kids and head coach calling me 'Coach Mark' the other day.)

Also today, after hearing Luke reciting the "Bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?" rhyme, you tried repeating it and said, "Bubblegum, bubblegum, how many dishes do you want!"

You often ask, "Whobody's gonna play with me?" usually with desperation in your voice. I love that you created the word "whobody." I use it sometimes now, too.

Earlier this week you said to Mom, "You scoot me in too squeezey!" after she had pushed your chair a little too close to the dinner table.

For a while now, you'll ask us things like, "Mommy, do you think I need to go potty?" which is code for "I need to go to the bathroom right now!" It's usually accompanied by nervous dancing. Or you'll ask, "Mom, do you know what words I'm going to say?" And then you'll say, "I love you, Mom!" It's super cute and makes our hearts melt.

Last week in Primary you were chosen for the Spotlight. You're in the Sunbeam class right now, but you were paying close attention as they started at the top of the list and read all the clues. Kids in sharing time are asked to raise their hands if the clues read are true for them. The first clue, of course, was "favorite food" and when they said "Hamburgers" you raised your hand and said, "I love burgers!" Favorite color: yellow; favorite story: Nephi building the boat; and on and on it went. You raised your hand for every clue and were the spotlight kid for the day and were pleased to get a little treat out of it.

I think it's cute that while Luke mostly calls me "Dad," you often call me "Daddy," and Emmie will call me "Dada." That's pretty much the best thing ever, to hear you guys calling me by the different versions of "Dad." I still feel surprised and humbled and overwhelmed all at once when I realize that I am a "Dad" to the three of you little guys. I know you don't like it right now when I call you "little" since you insist that you're a big boy, but to me, you are Little Logan right now, and I don't want you to grow too fast! Your time as a kid is short. That's why I try to take a lot of pictures and enjoy making memories so we can happily remember what a fun, pleasant, exciting, sweet boy you are. You also don't like us using the word "sweet" to describe you since you think it's a "girl word" that describes Mommy. But it's true. You certainly are a sweet kid, and I love you, Logan.

-Dad

Tithing

Tonight we had our annual tithing settlement meeting with the bishop of our ward. We for to declare to him whether or not we are full tithe payers. This is the first year that we've 'paid' the boys an allowance, and they've been putting their money away into a little three-section savings tin with a section for tithing, another for their mission fund, and a third for fun. Tonight we emptied the tithing section for each boy, counted up the coins, and filled out a tithing slip. The boys then handed their tithing envelopes to the bishop, who thanked them and asked them if they knew what the money was used for ('beautiful buildings and temples' in his words). Luke was especially talkative and engaged when conversing with the bishop, both of which really pleased us since he is generally really shy around people he doesn't know well. When we got in the car to come home, he said to us, "I want to keep paying my tithing. I want to pay it every week. And I want to get more yellow slips" (the carbon copy you keep). We arrived home and he set about gathering pens and paper. He wrote each of our names on separate pieces of paper and said we could glue all our yellow slips there. I thought it was really cool to see him get so enthusiastic about something, and I'm glad to see his testimony of tithing developing.

In other news, Logan got his stitches out today at a clinic on Mill Plain called ZoomCare. He was really good and even got a flu shot before leaving. So he ended up with two band aids now! I took him for a frosty waffle cone at Wendys because he was a good and brave boy.

Logan, post stitches. Brave kid.

Logan and his frosty waffle cone.

I love these boys. 

msh

Innocence of Childhood

So Suzanna brought home a really neat surprise for Luke from Utah. Mormor made a couple of capes for the boys in red and blue with big "L"s on the back. Logan had already seen his in Utah, but Luke didn't know about it until Suzanna surprised him this afternoon after church. He was really excited when he saw it, and for the rest of the evening, it seems, the boys were playing "super hero" and zooming around the house.

Here are a few pictures (posed and not) of them playing. There was one point when they were both sitting on the same chair across the room from me, and unfortunately I didn't have my phone because it would have been a perfect picture! I realized at that moment, as I watched them playing together so nicely, pretending to be super heroes without a thought or other care in the world, that this season of life will probably be really brief, and I'm glad that I'm around to see it and be a part of the boys' childhood. I sometimes wish I could push a big PAUSE button and be able to come back at any point in the future to this moment to re-live what I'm experiencing now because sometime down the road, I will want to go back and remember exactly what it was like when the boys were young.

Superhero Luke, with a red cape

Superhero Logan, with a blue cape

On a totally different topic, I got to enjoy some Dominos tonight. A Domino is a little chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookie, not unlike an Oreo, from Finland. These became a weekly P-day-eve treat on my mission. It seems that on most Tuesday nights I would buy a little sleeve of these guys and enjoy 10 quiet minutes, dunking my Dominos in milk just before going to bed. So it was fun tonight to enjoy them with a little milk and ice cream. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I think I may just prefer them to Oreos. Well, sometimes.

Thanks to Suzanna's parents for bringing these back from their recent trip to Finland!

msh

TBT: Study Buddy

Emmelise has become my little study buddy. At least on the nights when Suzanna is gone at some function or another.

Emmelise (six months) all tuckered out from the studying

Tonight I outlasted her, and she's sleeping soundly in her little chair here in my office. It's nice to listen to her soft breathing, and she sounds so peaceful.

Logan was my study buddy for Exam C when he was about the same age. I should go dig that picture up, actually. Ah, here it is (one of many):

Logan (six months), my study buddy in February 2011

As a matter of fact, I took my very first actuarial exam (Exam P) when Luke was about two and a half months old and another exam (Exam FM) when he was nearly seven months old: about the same age as Emmelise and Logan in these pictures.

Luke (almost seven months) with a sock on his head in May 2009, two days after passing Exam FM

Hopefully Emmelise will bring me luck like the boys did and I'll have a successful sitting on October 31st when I write my (hopefully!) last exam, the Group/Health Advanced Exam!

msh

Haircuts and Home Depot

I took Logan with me to The Home Depot tonight to pick up some paint for the shed.

Cute Logan with a new haircut and a yellow paint swatch!

He insisted on wanting to paint the shed (and house!) yellow!

We got a few samples of paint to try out on the shed to see which we liked more in real life.

I think we'll go for the dark brown at the top

I let the boys help paint the samples on the shed and it was quickly becoming a messy project! Fortunately we avoided any major mishaps, but it makes me question out plans for keeping them around while we paint on Saturday.

We like this off-white color for the trim, but we were still trying to decide on the color for the main parts of the shed. I don't care too much for the blue, but I'm undecided between the two browns. Suzanna favors the darker shade, but I kind of like the warmer brown on the bottom. Reminds me of milk chocolate.

In other news, Suzanna's parents were in Tallinn, Estonia today! They are on a cruise right now around North Eastern Europe, with stops in Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and ending back where they started in Helsinki. While in Estonia today, they stopped by one of my favorite restaurants which is located in Old Town Tallinn. It's called Kompressor and has a wide variety of tasty filled pancakes. I like to get the smoked cheese and bacon pancake which is served with a sour cream-type sauce. I also really like the apple and ice cream pancake for a treat as well. More on that place another time, I suppose.

msh

Trampolines

Last year for Christmas, MorMor bought two mini trampolines for Luke and Logan. Prior to having these trampolines (and even still sometimes since she gave them to us), the boys would climb and jump on whatever they could find: couches, chairs, tables, stairs, me, benches, and so on. Now that we have them, when the boys start getting a little rough or rowdy, we can tell them to just go jump on their trampolines.

Picture is a little blurry, but here they are, making good use of these springy mesh gizmos.

There have been numerous other families who, having visited our home and seen the excitement and fun had by their children on our trampolines, have since purchased similar trampolines for their own children. When Suzanna and I last counted, I think we determined it was at least four.

Thanks MorMor! The boys still love them!

msh

Moments

I love those moments when my kids are totally engrossed in their imaginative play. It's fun to hear the stories they come up with and to have them forget about fighting for awhile. Well, they usually forget about the fighting.

Perks of Working From Home

Homemade tomato basil soup and grilled cheese baguettes

The perks of working from home are many. Among other things, getting to enjoy last night's dinner a second time is a frequent bonus. Suzanna made this really great tomato basil and parmesan soup in the crock pot before church, so when we did finally get home, the house was full of a rich, warm, tasty aroma. She cut up a couple of mini baguettes and grilled them with some cheese to make a really great variation on the classic tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese combination.

Summer weather calls for summer fun!

Getting to see the boys at play is another great perk of working from home. I'll occasionally take a break for a few minutes to see what they're up to, especially if I know they're at home and they've been kind of quiet. I like to see what things they've gotten in to and what trouble they might be causing. Today Suzanna set up this little inflatable pool for them and two hours later, we finally had to drag them inside for dinner. I caught a minute or two of whatever they were playing and snapped the photo above just after Logan had thrown this truck into the air. Pretty good capture speed on the iPhone, I'd say.

Just another day in the life.

msh

Winsome, losesome

You win some and you lose some. Like today, for example. This morning, the boys played great together! From what I could hear from my office, the boys were happy and the week was starting out very nicely. This afternoon, the boys were a bit more (I'm under exaggerating here) silly and crazy. They wouldn't leave Suzanna alone, and I could tell there were some frustrations had.

Since we've got a "free* bowling all summer long" pass to Big Al's, we decided to do our Family Night activity before dinner and the FHE lesson. We headed over just before 5:00 pm and got bowling. And it was great! Check out some photos!

*Fine print: 2 free games per person per day. Still have to pay for show rental. But $11 for the four of us to bowl two games each isn't a bad deal!

Winsome

Not our best bowling scores today, but it sure was fun!

This picture is a little blurry, but his expression was too cute not to post! Here he's showing how old he turned yesterday. Note that he counts to three using his thumb and first two fingers. Cute kid.

It's not a foul if you're three years old.

Losesome

Luke went to his room to cool down and have a time out after some naughty behavior at the dinner table tonight. He was really quiet for a few minutes (usually a bad sign), and then instead of yelling or shouting, we heard him sobbing and then all out crying. I went to investigate and found he had 'broken his bed' in his words and also torn up the count down to Disneyland calendar I had made him recently. It wasn't a fancy calendar, but he has loved this thing for the last couple of weeks and excitedly marked off each day as we count down to our (potential?) trip to the 'happiest place on earth.'

He definitely felt remorse and sorrow, which is sort of an uncommon thing for him up to this point in his life. He said he wished he hadn't ripped up his calendar when he was upset and was now sad because he thought it meant we aren't going on our trip anymore. He was a bit more subdued and mellow the rest of the evening. Here's to hoping that he'll keep this a-little-bit-more-penitent attitude around for a while. He's a sweet kid and definitely very sensitive, so I hope this works out for his good.

msh

Oh! How could I neglect this great picture taken today!? Definitely a 'winsome' moment to walk out of my office and do a double take when I saw this!

Baby Emmelise, sitting in the high chair for the first time. Age 5.5 months. 

Logan is three!

We celebrated Logan's third birthday today! Pictured above are the birthday boy, his cheesy grin, and a super tasty chocolate cake with Oreos and cream cheese frosting! It was a delicious dessert after a fantastic dinner. We had grilled burgers (his favorite and mine!), fresh fruit (thanks SMTs!), and some veggies and chips. Not a bad break-the-fast dinner at all!

Logan was pleasant and gracious throughout the day. After we sang happy Birthday to him, his first reaction was to say, 'Thanks Mom!' before even blowing out the candle. He was smiley, and said thank you for everything. He got some play dough with shape cutters from the Tanners, a cool magnetic toy with various shapes and colors that you use to make designs shown on cards from MorMor, a few Sandra Boynton books and a toy castle with little figurines (kind of like a doll house for boys) from Suzanna and me. He was very excited about his great haul!

He has been in to Monsters, Inc. lately, so he was especially thrilled about the birthday card from MorMor, the plates and cups for cake and ice cream, and some green Mike (Mike and Sulley) bracelets that Suzanna got for the kids. 

Good day all around. Love that big three year old boy! He's become very enthused about potty training and insisted on wearing big boy underwear tonight instead of his overnight undies (pull ups). Glad to see his willingness to learn!

It's a cake!

They created a scooter, a ball, and a house with these Imaginets from MorMor

msh

The Potholes

Lately we've been taking advantage of our close proximity to Round Lake to do some Saturday hiking. Usually, we hike along the well-maintained Round Lake Loop trail that's just over a mile in length. We've done this hike a number of times, and I think the boys are getting a little tired of doing this trail. They've even started to ask me to carry them!

To mix things up, the boys and I took a hike today which began as usual, along the west side of the lake and over the first little outlet which connects Round Lake to Mill Pond. Instead of taking the usual route and immediately crossing the dam, we diverted into the forest and found our way down to the Camas Potholes. I didn't realize I had actually made it to the Potholes until I came home and did a Google search to see what the Potholes actually look like! Apparently, this is a pretty popular spot, and there have been a number of deaths and serious injuries from people jumping off the rocks in recent years. We were very careful as we navigated around the rocks and up the steep embankment.

The Potholes

After leaving the Potholes, we got back on the usual trail that crossed the dam, but then again veered off to the south to get away from the main Round Lake Loop trail. We took a trail toward Lower Falls but didn't quite make it all the way there on this trip.

Logan and Luke, trusty tour guides

A picturesque view of the trail, a small creek, and a bridge

The boys got stopped here for a while, checking out a big slug on the ground. We saw one last week as well on a nearby trail. It's so funny to hear Logan protest each time we suggested moving on. "I want to keep seeing this slug!" He'd bend way down over the top of it and watch intently as the little creature crept along, leaving a wet trail of slush behind it. I took the above picture while waiting for the boys to tire of watching the slug.

Reward at the end of our hike for the day

We eventually found a small off-shoot trail that led down to the water's edge. There were some good broad and flat rocks that jutted out in the river a ways. It was a perfect place in the shade to sit down and relax for a few minutes before starting back up the trail. The boys enjoyed some goldfish crackers and water at the edge of the river while I hiked around taking some photos.

Panoramic view of the river, from south (on the left) to north (on the right)

Heading back up the trail

Awesome picture of a stoic Logan, taking in the view

In the end, we went a little over three miles (great job boys!), and I was really glad we took the time to scout out a new trail! Ben Francis and I actually rode down this trail last fall when we were biking around the area, so I kinda knew where we were going, but it was fun to see it on foot this time. I think there are plenty more things to discover and explore in the coming weekends.

msh